Robbedoes (Spirou) and KIJK magazine ads from the early 80's....& more :)

[level42]

OK, two nice ads from CBS Electronics.....no comment necessary I'd say....

Naamloos 3 by Level_42, on Flickr

Naamloos 7 by Level_42, on Flickr

Of course they showed the Colecovision versions on the TV.

OK, here's another one from KIJK magazine. KIJK is a popular-science magazine aimed at young people. The Atari ad above was from the same magazine.

Now...a computer I think most of you never even heard of. The COMX 35. Yes the 35 is indicating it's 35 (!) Kb RAM memory

It is probably the only homecomputer to ever use the RCA 1802 processor.
The ad says "THE SAME RELIABLE TECHNOLOGY AS USED IN THE SPACE SHUTTLE"........uhhhhhh, yes this was before....

Wikipedia says the processor was used in Space Probes....that sounds different then "Space Shuttle" but oh well...

The strategy of the company importing these from Hong Kong to The Netherlands was to include a LOT of software when you bought the machine and offered a lot of support through courses etc.

The price was somewhere between the Atari 600XL (which was cheaper) and the C64 and 800XL (which were more expensive) at the moment, but it had inferior graphics and sound to both of these systems.

They sold 5 of these I guess .....wikipedia says it was probably most popular in Holland but I have never seen one in my life.

Naamloos 26 by Level_42, on Flickr

And then.....this is how Commodore tried to sell their computers. Strangely, they don't even mention which one !
Also..because this was in KIJK magazine, they tried to sell the machines as "scientific" as possible.
All the "regular" reasons for getting a homecomputer for serious stuff is mentioned, adressbook, tax-data, record-collection inventory, you name it.

And how about calculating that falling apple...yeah we really did that on those machines

I guess the machines sold themselves pretty well though

Naamloos 28 by Level_42, on Flickr

[level42]

But I kept the best for last my friends....

While browsing through all the KIJK magazines for ads like these I found a really old edition of july 1977.

Please note that date....pretty early !!!!

And then I find THIS article and it made me so happy

The text is a mix of trying to be enthusiastic about videogames and mentioning the evil of running down pedestrians (Death Race). In essence, the whole text seems "to go nowhere" ....it reminds me a lot of the "Driester" TV program about the arcade games in the early 80s....they didn't seem to have a clear point or didn't want to make one....

Anyway, some great pictures IMHO. The screens on the top are from the Fairchild system which is also mentioned in the article as being the first system to have cartridges (which is correct !). No word about the Atari VCS yet

Pretty funny that the also have a picture of en EM game and act as if it is a videogame....which shows how new this stuff was then

The title of the article is "Spanning en sensatie op Nederland 3", which translates more or less to "Excitement and sensation on Netherlands 3".

For the younger readers (and non-Dutch): In those years, there were only 2 (yes TWO) television channels in Holland. Nederland 1 and, you guessed it, Nederland 2. Those stations stopped broadcasting during night, and I think only wednesday afternoons (when small kids are off from school) one of the channels was back on air....can't believe such stuff now.

So....they mention "Nederland 3" as the alternative for regular TV watching, being the videogame consoles of those days (mostly Pong systems)....

Naamloos 16 by Level_42, on Flickr

Naamloos 17 by Level_42, on Flickr

Naamloos 19 by Level_42, on Flickr

 By the way, the photos were taken at "Play-in" arcade in Zandvoort.

If anyone is bored, feel free to translate the text.....I lack the time at the moment

[level42]

That's it guys, hope you enjoyed it.


 I ditched all the Robbedoes and KIJK magazines except for the one with the article, nice to keep that one.

The Robbedoes one's I put on marktplaats but no-one is interested in strips anymore.....let's hope our games won't go the same way  

[Q*ris]

That's it guys, hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks for that cool trip!!!

[Etienne MacGyver]

its nice to see old stuff 

Thanks !

[level42]

Oh guys, one more funny thing about that article in KIJK.


They describe an F-1 game they saw at the VAN show recently. People who know my SW cockpit may remember that it has a VAN sticker (masterfully recreated by Etienne).
VAN was the association of Dutch businesses in the coin-up industry.

Anyway they obviously went to a show by them and played an F-1. seeing the name, what they describe about the game and the year, it has to be Atari's or Namco's F-1. We all know that F-1 was Atari's only EM game they ever made.....the funny part is that they write that the game has a combination of CRT projection and movie projection......well they clearly didn't have a look inside the machine

http://youtu.be/i1WSYdn1b8I

It's also funny how they describe the crash scene of the game. ""in a flash you see the car exploding and the blood drops scattering about". I don't know about you guys, but I cannot see any blood in that picture that is so cleverly lit up at a crash......so this says something about either the imagination of the writer, or how the general tenure was about these games being violent....



I actually remember playing that machine at a camping site in Zeeland.....there were more EM games just like that but the special thing about this one was that you sit down in what looked like a car and the huge screen and loud sound effects, I mean really loud. I think it must have been the first or at least one of the first sit-down racing machines and as such was amazing at the time.

[Laschek]

We all know that F-1 was Atari's only EM game they ever made.....

You could call this an EM game, though I am sure it has CPU controlled electronics inside, but at least the game itself is mechanical:


There are a bunch of other redemption machines that Atari built in the 90s.


F-1: I have a few parts from that game laying around, including the plexi with the explosion picture on it, there is no blood to be seen. The picture is pretty cool though, I was considering making it into a backlit wall decoration/lamp.

[atarimania]

Added!

http://www.atarimania.com/

Thanks

[level42]

OMG.....I didn't even know about those machines from Atari ! ....welll mmmmm, let's say it is probably not what we all like to remember Atari mostly for.....

See I knew there was no blood involved....this shows again...never trust completely what you read in papers and magazines


You're welcome Franck

[Laschek]

See I knew there was no blood involved....this shows again...never trust completely what you read in papers and magazines

Maybe they mistook the flaming cloud in the forefront of the picture as blood, but then..., is this supposed to be the driver in flames?!?

[Q*ris]

That is some gorgeous art!

[Laschek]

I agree. They just don't explode like this anymore nowadays.