Changing the Game

[StomperYoshi]

"You can't just butcher a deal like this; you're looking at the next big thing!" - Bill Enders

Ralph Baer had spent at least a year at Sanders Associates bringing his idea of a home video game console to life, and had been spending even longer to bring it to the market. First, he and the team behind the Brown Box tried selling it to TelePrompter Corporation, but nothing came from the deal as that company was hit by an economic recession. Then, the Brown Box was pitched to the biggest names in TV manufacturing, such as RCA, Magnavox, Motorola, Zenith, and GE. RCA was the only company to express interest, but Sanders Associates had to back out due to their disagreement with the terms of the deal. At that point, it seemed like the video game console was a lost cause.

That is, until one of RCA's negotiators, Bill Enders, furiously lobbied to strike a better deal with Sanders, as, in his own words, it was 'the next big thing'. [1] After at least a year of negotiations, by 1970 the deal was settled: RCA would offer the Brown Box team a fair royalty fee, and the RCA Studio [2] was greenlit. The rest, as they say, is history.

[1] This is this timeline's POD. OTL, Enders moved to Magnavox and convinced them to give the Brown Box a second look instead.
[2] Given how RCA manufactured a game console OTL and named it the RCA Studio II, I would have assumed that they'd use the word "Studio" ITTL as well.

 

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By the fall of 1971, the RCA Studio was finally introduced to the market. It mildly resembles the Magnavox Odyssey of OTL, but has a woodgrain exterior not unlike the prototypical Brown Box. As it was the first device of its kind, it was hard to market, and the initial pricing of $100 (around $600 in today's money) did not help. The odds were overcome by demand for the Studio, which eventually sold 130,000 units by the end of the year. Later marketing efforts and a price drop to $80 during the holiday season of 1972 (equivalent to around $480 today) brought the total up to 250,000 units sold - almost doubling the amount.

By 1973, Ralph Baer thought it was a good time to advance the Studio even further. In February he proposed to RCA an add-on which allowed the Studio to output sound and play potential additional games. [1] By July, a proof-of concept was demonstrated, and the add-on - dubbed the Studio Enhancer - was set for the market. The Studio Enhancer was released in September of 1973 with an initial price of $35, and demand for both the Studio and the Enhancer brought the final sales figure to 400,000 units by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, in 1972, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Danny had founded Atari after their success with Computer Space. The first engineer they hired, Al Alcorn, was given the task of designing the first game to be released under the Atari label. However, no ideas for the game were seriously considered until Bushnell had seen a demonstration of the RCA Studio in action. As soon as he returned to Atari, he had a task for Alcorn: Make a better version of RCA's table tennis game. And thus, Pong was brought into the world in November 1972.

[1] Something Baer did OTL, but Magnavox shot it down.

 

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Once Pong kicked off in popularity, it wasn't long before RCA's newly-founded gaming division noticed. In 1973, RCA publicly threatened to sue Atari due to similarities between RCA's Table Tennis and Atari's Pong. However, since simulations of table tennis had existed before the RCA and Atari's examples, such as 1958's Tennis for Two, so it was expected that Atari would win the suit. The recently-founded Atari didn't have enough money to defend themselves in court, though, so RCA settled for Atari to pay a $700,000 licensing fee [1] instead. Both Atari and RCA would end up having other Table Tennis clone manufacturers cough up the licensing fees themselves, but that wouldn't prevent any competition, at least not for the next few years.

[1] Magnavox did the same OTL.

 

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1975 would see the debut of Atari in the home arcade* market with Pong, a system that was capable of playing the arcade game of the same name. While the product was completed in 1974, it wouldn't be until 1975 when Sears was willing to sell it through their catalogs. Part of its minor success was due to how it was an all-in-one experience as opposed to RCA's Studio and Enhancer. By the end of its lifetime, sales for the Pong unit slightly exceeded 300,000 units.

On the other side, RCA would release an all-in-one system of their own in the form of a re-release of the RCA Studio with the Enhancer built-in, bringing their sales figures up to 650,000 units by the end of 1977.

Notably, 1975 was the last year when RCA and Atari were the only firms in the home arcade market.

*Thanks to RCA's marketing at the time, early video game consoles were referred to as home arcades.

 

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Coleco Telstar
Coleco was the third major American firm to enter the home arcade market. All it played was a variety of Pong clones, but it was the most successful of the abundance of Pong clones in general. Coleco would later release many other Telstar models, some of which introduced new games to the series. However, as the market for primitive all-in-one arcades dwindled, Coleco began to approach near-bankruptcy.

Atari Space Race
Space Race was nowhere near as successful as Pong was in the arcades, but Atari decided to give it a second life by giving it the Pong treatment. Released in the late summer of 1976, it was only a moderate success at 150,000 units sold.

Fairchild Channel F
A major step forward in the home arcade industry was the invention of programmable ROM cartridges, which was credited to Jerry Lawson of Fairchild Semiconductor. Released November 1976, the Channel F would eventually reach 350,000 units sold. Despite the low number, it was an early mover, and the "big two" - RCA and Atari - were taking notes.

Magnavox Odyssey
Magnavox regretted turning down the Brown Box. Despite this, they found little to no success rushing a Pong clone into the home arcade market in the middle of December. The system was regarded as a flop, and Magnavox quietly exited the home arcade business after a few months.

 

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And to top of the first generation of home arcades, here are final sales figures for each firm.

~475,000 units - Atari Home Arcade Series (Pong, Space Race, Stunt Cycle, Video Pinball)
While Atari ended up at the bottom of this list, the success of their arcade machines helped them continue through this era of gaming history. Most recently, their 1976 title Breakout become one of the most successful arcade games of the era. The engineers behind the game, however, would leave Atari to found a computer company the same year. As for their home arcade machines, Pong and Space Race were the more successful of the two, whereas Stunt Cycle (Atari's attempt at riding off the Evil Knievel craze) and Video Pinball were much less successful. Plans for a Breakout home arcade never went through in favor of another project inspired by Fairchild's latest home arcade.

~650,000 units - RCA Studio and Enhancer
For a first mover, RCA proved to be a successful force in the early gaming industry. While 650,000 units sounds weak by today's standards, it was a breakthrough in 1971, and the Enhancer allowed demand for the Studio to continue.

~1,000,000 units - Coleco Telstar Series
Coleco ended on top in terms of sales, but almost every cent made off a Telstar unit was spent on development of a new part of the Telstar line. This would eventually lead to Coleco's decline, and, as mentioned earlier, had the company in a near-bankrupt state. Only by paying attention to recent trends in the industry would Coleco be able to recover.

~3,000,000 units - Nintendo Color TV-Game Series
On the other side of the Pacific, the video game industry was kinking off strongly in Japan, and Nintendo played a major part in it all. While the toy company lobbied for manufacturing rights for the RCA Studio in Japan, they were given to JVC instead in 1974. 1975 saw Epoch Co. produce Electrotennis, kicking off Japan's homegrown home arcade industry. Nintendo was swift to follow suit and release their own Pong clone, the Color TV-Game 6. The machine took off in Japan, but it wasn't until 1980 when Nintendo proved successful enough to expand into the USA.

 

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Pictured: The original six-switch Atari VCS model.

On September 11, 1977, Atari released their microprocessor-based home arcade, the Atari Video Computer System (VCS for short). Taking cues from Fairchild's Channel F, the system popularized the usage of ROM cartridges, effectively killing off the Pong clone market. The home arcade was packed in with the tank-fighting game Combat, which was one of the launch titles alongside Air-Sea Battle, Basic Math, Blackjack, Indy 500, Star Ship, Street Racer, Surround, and Video Olympics. It had a moderately successful launch, but later titles released for the system helped drive sales much higher.

Meanwhile, it had been a long year for Jerry Lawson. The Channel F was off to an early success, but eventually had to be taken off the market due to its inability to compete with Atari and their VCS. It was about time for him to look for a new job. At first, he thought 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em', and started looking for positions at Atari. But then he shook his head and realized that Atari wasn't the only firm out there. It would be a risky gamble, he thought, but RCA just might need his assistance in preparing for the ROM cartridge era of gaming. His decision was made, and he was ready to set off.

 

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Ralph Baer met with the newly-hired Jerry Lawson. Much was said about the home arcade industry during that meeting, but what ultimately came out of the meeting was that Baer was looking to retire his position as the leading engineer of RCA's gaming division and give it to Lawson. Baer had admired Lawson's Channel F's ROM cartridges, calling it "the next step" for the industry, and he had been planning to retire from RCA since he wanted to work of more things. Indeed, he co-developed a light-up memory game named Simon and distributed it through Milton Bradley. Lawson was set to lead the development of the RCA Studio 2.

The Studio 2 launched in the early winter of 1978, just in time for the holiday season. Unlike the Studio (often referred to as the Studio 1), the woodgrain was swapped for silver-colored plastic. It came with two hard-wired joysticks and a keyboard on the central unit. The keyboard was used for educational games and programming software, albeit it uses a dome-switch keyboard unlike the membrane keyboard in OTL's Odyssey². The system was initially bundled with a cartridge containing three games - a one-player racing game, a two-player racing game, and a game involving alphabet ciphers. The Studio 2 and the VCS went toe-to-toe during the Christmas of '78, with no clear sign of a leader yet.

 

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The home arcade industry was beginning to boom. In development for two years, the Intellivision was released by the electronics division of famous toy company Mattel in 1979, planning to join the ranks of RCA and Atari. The system launched with titles such as ABPA Backgammon, Armor Battle, The Electric Company Math Fun, and Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack. Like the Studio 2 and VCS, the Intellivision later saw success by licensing arcade titles from famous arcade companies.

As Mattel expanded into a new industry, so did Atari. Whereas the home computer landscape had an array of successful firms like Apple with the Apple II line, Tandy with their TRS-80 series, and Commodore with the PET line, Atari made their computing debut in 1979 with the Atari 400 and the Atari 800. The computers used cartridges like the VCS for ease of use. However, Atari's involvement in the computer industry would be shorter than expected due to unforeseen circumstances back in 1979.

 

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The dawn of a new decade began, and with it came plenty of crazes.

Atari's Missile Command was an arcade game that simulated nuclear warfare and missile defense, but was popular in its own right.

However, Namco's Pac-Man prevented Missile Command from being the most popular arcade game of 1980. Americans just couldn't get enough of that dot-munching action.

Nintendo made their debut in the western gaming industry with the Game & Watch series, a line of LCD handheld games developed by Gunpei Yokoi.

As for the home arcade business, RCA continued to keep up with Atari and newcomer Mattel, but all three were popular gifts by Christmastime.

Speaking of popular toys, the Rubik's Cube made its international debut in 1980.

1980 was a big year for horror films, with the debut of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and popular slasher film Friday the 13th.

But the biggest movie of the year had to be Lucasfilm's iconic sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. Its success turned a blockbuster sci-fi film (and a crappy holiday special) into a beloved franchise.

As for Japanese pop culture, the first Gundam model kit was released this year.

But the most shocking pop cultural news piece of 1980?
On December 8th, ex-Beatle John Lennon was shot walking out of the Dakota Apartments. His would-be killer, Mark David Chapman, fired towards him and successfully wounded him with one bullet, but his aim went awry for a few seconds, allowing Lennon to survive for just enough time before the police intervened. Chapman had one bullet left, but when he saw the police arrive, he suddenly opened his mouth and shot himself into a vegetative state. Lennon was rushed to the hospital and was expected to recover.

 

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Arcade
To say 1981 was a good year for arcades would be an understatement. Pac-Man fever was still going strong and showed no signs of stopping all year. In face, it was only boosted by its sequel, Ms. Pac-Man. Pitched to Namco by engineers at Midway, Ms. Pac-Man was just as successful - if not more successful - than the titular character's husband. Namco's in-house space shooter Galaga also ate up plenty of quarters.
Nintendo would also find themselves hitting the big time this year, and it only took one game: Donkey Kong. The platform game was originally envisioned as a Popeye game, but when Nintendo was unable to obtain the licenses to the characters, director Shigeru Miyamoto would end up creating his own characters: an damsel-in-distress named Lady, a blue-collar Italian-American guy named Jumpman, and brutish ape named Donkey Kong. Back then, Miyamoto had no idea that his characters would eventually eclipse the Popeye gang in popularity.
Other notable titles include Frogger and Defender.

RCA Studio 2
Like the other two firms in the home arcade race, RCA mostly got by with ports of the latest hit arcade games and a few minigames here and there. That would change with Quest for the Rings. Quest for the Rings was unique for its time in that it was a hybrid of a board game and a video game. The game required three players - two heroes who have to find ten lost keys using the joysticks, and the "dungeon master" who managed the game with the console's keyboard. The game received positive reception all around, and its success would indicate that it wouldn't be the last video/board game hybrid.

Intellivision
After being teased a few times since launch, the Mattel Keyboard Component was finally launched. This allowed the Intellivision to function as a personal computer, and as such, most of the software that would be released for the add-on would mostly be financing and educational software.
While the Keyboard Component was the most talked-about, the Intellivision did have plenty to offer on the gaming side of things. The influential city-building game Utopia saw its release this year, as well as the fixed shooter Astrosmash.

Atari VCS
Atari's first-party games were nothing new - most were ports of their earlier arcade games. In addition, a port of Pac-Man was released by Atari themselves, but its rushed release for the Christmas season would in time be regarded as a failed cash-in on Pac-Man fever. Most eyes were on third-party companies such as Activision, such as the best-seller Kaboom!. Overall, RCA's Master Strategy series and Mattel's Keyboard Component would mark 1981 as the year Atari began to decline.

 

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Arcade
The arcade industry was certainly not slowing down at this point in time. Games like Dig Dug, Donkey Kong Jr., Q*bert, BurgerTime, and Joust proved that arcades were still going strong. So much so that ex-Disney animator Don Bluth would turn towards arcades as a profitable industry, planning two Laserdisc games to be released next year.

Atari VCS
In minor news, the VCS's casing switched from woodgrain to black plastic this year. In other news, the VCS was doomed not only by stiff competition, but sleazy scandals regarding quality control. Unauthorized, poor-quality porn games such as Custer's Revenge came incredibly close to tainting Atari's reception. As a result, Atari decided to cut back on game development for the VCS and focus on its upcoming successor. Controversially, moving projects from the VCS to the upcoming home arcade meant recoding the project from scratch on the new system. As a result, a tie-in game for the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial would not be released by the end of the year as originally planned. The VCS did have one saving grace in the form of Pitfall!, but that would eventually be ported to other platforms.

Intellivision
The Mattel Keyboard Component sales figures peaked this year. Another component saw a release this year - the Intellivoice, which allowed certain games to "speak" in a synthesized voice. Games like B-17 Bomber would be remembered for hammy voice direction, which was hilarious even for a computer to manage.

RCA Studio 2
After Quest for the Rings struck gold, the next logical step would be to emulate that success. Two Master Strategy games saw release this year. The first game, Conquest of the World, was functionally similar to Risk except battles were settled by competitions on the screen instead of rolling dice. The second, The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt, simulated a stock market, with news events affecting stock prices. The goal of the game is to have more money than your opponents by the end of the year. Both games sold incredibly well, and as a result, the Studio 2 was the hottest gift of the holiday season.

ColecoVision

After the short-lived success of the Telstar line, Coleco would eventually make a comeback to the public eye with the ColecoVision. Thanks to a deal with Nintendo, the ColecoVision was launched with Donkey Kong as a pack-in cartridge, and things could not be better for Coleco. Sales were strong enough that ColecoVision sold more units than the Intellivision this year.

Atari SuperSystem

Atari was determined not to give up the ghost. The SuperSystem, released in November 1982, boasted better graphical capabilities than the VCS, but was still capable of playing VCS games via backwards compatibility. The launch titles were mainly arcade ports, but Pitfall! was quickly ported to the home arcade in early December, allowing Atari to have a successful year in the end. All a good move - at the cost of their computer division.

With the rise of the IBM PC and MS-DOS, the computer industry was beginning to change. The rise of IBM PC clones contributed to IBM's rise to the top, much to the dismay of other computer firms. Apple dedicated themselves to improving the Apple II line after the failure of the Apple III. Tandy would spend the next few years trying to catch up only to leave the computer industry by the end of the decade. Commodore would keep themselves afloat with the Vic-20 and its eventual successor. As for Atari, the computer industry's new direction plus the decline of the VCS would force them to cut costs. The final decision was to focus solely on the home arcade industry, which meant that they would sell off their computer division. It eventually made its way into the hands of emergent computer firm Compaq, who would spend the next few years building upon the Atari 8-bit line.

Oh, and speaking of computers...

Commodore 64

While computer gaming proved possible in the '70s, it wasn't until the Commodore 64 era where things really heated up. The Commodore 64 had a humble start with clones of arcade games and ports of other computer games (like Choplifter and Fort Apocalypse), but things looked strong for this computer.

 

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Arcade
Don Bluth delivered the hit Laserdisc fantasy arcade game Dragon's Lair this year to massive success. Delays would push his second arcade game to next year, but the success of Dragon's Lair was more than enough to hold over his studio. Bluth was not the only one to bring a cinematic experience to the arcade this year, as Atari was given the rights to create an arcade game based on the Star Wars films. The game is a vector-based simulation of Luke Skywalker's attack on the Death Star, and was incredibly successful.
Other notable titles this year include Tapper, a game about serving drinks at a tavern, and Nintendo's Mario Bros., notable for being the first game to feature Mario's brother Luigi.

Atari VCS
The VCS was, simply put, on its way out. Atari was quick to move to the SuperSystem, where they focused on quality control and more technologically advanced games. As a result, the few games released this year were mostly arcade ports, with the most glaring exception being the SwordQuest series. The concept behind the series was a spiritual successor to the 1979 VCS game Adventure, but also serving as a contest split into four games representing earth, fire, water, and air. Each game came with a comic strip that explained the plot to the game and contained clues that would be crucial to solving a major puzzle in the game. If the player puts an item in the correct room, the game reveals where the clues are found in the comic. Those who submitted the right words from the comic to Atari first for each game were dubbed the winners of each game, and would move on to the second phase of the contest. As of 1983, only the contests for Earthworld and Fireworld have been held.

Intellivision
Mattel had received flak for the Intellivision II model released last year. The name implied it to be a successor to the first Intellivision, but in reality it was just a cosmetic redesign. Just like the VCS, the Intellivision series was kept afloat by a plenty of arcade ports.

RCA Studio II
1983 would see the release of the fourth Master Strategy game, Space Monster Invasion. The premise involves one player controlling Earth's defense force while the other player controls a large army of creatures from an unknown planet. Conflicts between the two factions are settled through events on both the board game and the home arcade. Critics say that while it might not hold up to the first three in quality, it was an enjoyable game in its own right. It was a commercial success, but RCA was slowly losing its stronghold on the home arcade industry thanks to stiff competition.

 

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Atari SuperSystem
Once again, Atari focused on arcade ports as per norm. Games this year include Mario Bros., Pengo, Q*bert, and Pole Position. Movie tie-ins were also available, with a pair of Star Wars games and a game based on E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. The latter game was released in time for the holidays after a year of development, and was considered the SuperSystem's killer app.

ColecoVision
Toe-to-toe with the SuperSystem as the must-have home arcade of 1983, Coleco was no slacker to drive the ColecoVision to the forefront. Hits this year included Donkey Kong Jr., Frenzy, Pepper II, Mr. Do!, Q*bert, B.C.'s Quest for Tires, and SubRoc. Plans for a module that allowed the system to play Atari VCS were quickly shot down by lawyers.

The Japanese Console Wars

Two big names in the arcade machine industry, Nintendo and Sega, wound up releasing two competing home arcades on the same day: the Nintendo Family Computer and the Sega SG-1000. Both firms competed for dominance in the Land of the Rising Sun, with plans for international releases only a few years away.

 

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Commodore 64
C64 gaming still had a ways to go in terms of entering the mainstream, but the release of Lode Runner for the system helped kickstart the computer's gaming scene. While the ZX Spectrum was dominating Commodore on the European front, Commodore proved strong in North America. Little did they know their British rival had plans for the American front...

Timex Sinclair ZX Spectrum
The partnership between Timex and Sinclair allowed for Sinclair to easily export their products to the other side of the pond. Timex originally had plans to release a modified version of the ZX Spectrum called the TS2068 but Sinclair heavily pushed Timex to just release the Spectrum as-is. Timex Sinclair would end up with a sizable amount of share in the computer market, and in terms of gaming, titles like Manic Miner and Jetpac kicked off its gaming scene.

Compaq 1000/1000X
With the computer business off Atari's back, Compaq entered a conundrum as to how they should continue Atari's line of 8-bit computers. Before selling their computer division, though, Atari did have plans for upgraded versions of the 400 and 800 with less expensive parts. Compaq ended up taking the gamble and went through with making the computers Atari abandoned, only with Compaq's branding instead of Atari's Mt. Fuji. The computers ended up moderate successes by the end of the year,, with computer magazines deeming Compaq a worthy successor to Atari.

Apple Lisa
Apple's 1983 machine wasn't quite as lucky. Upon launch, the Apple Lisa was known more for its poorly designed and overall unreliable floppy disk system then its implementation of a graphical user interface. While Steve Jobs was involved in the product's development, he was kicked out of it early, prompting him to develop a different kind of all-in-one GUI-based computer. The Lisa sold barely enough to keep Apple afloat by the end of the year.

Microsoft announces their GUI
Whereas Apple had been experimenting with GUIs for a few years, Microsoft had been doing so since 1981. In November 1983, however, Microsoft publicly unveiled their work in progress, with the codename changed from "Interface Manager" to "Windows". A full release of the product is to be expected in two years.

 

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Arcade
Industry analysts predict that the popularity of arcades would wane in favor of home arcades by the end of the decade. Notable titles released this year include Namco's Pac-Land and Gaplus, Capcom's 1942, and Atari's Marble Madness.

Atari VCS
At this point, the SwordQuest competitions are the only things keeping the VCS alive, and the SuperSystem's native backwards compatibility allows them to safely continue. The competition for FireWorld ended with Michael Rideout winning the chalice, and the contest for WaterWorld commenced shortly afterward.

RCA Studio 2
With Space Monster Invasion being the last Master Strategy game to be released on the Studio 2, the home arcade eventually fell behind the competition. Rumors as to there being a Studio 3 are unconfirmed, and Jerry Lawson has expressed interest looking for another job. The Studio 2 did have its fair share of arcade ports.

Intellivision
Since the Intellivision was well-known for its sports games at launch, Mattel founded an in-house development label named "INTV" and released some new sports games to keep the Intellivision and Intellivision II fresh. Just like RCA, rumors about a potential Intellivision III are aplenty.

 

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ColecoVision
Hit after hit made the ColecoVision the hottest home arcade of the holiday season yet again. Games like Jumpman Jr., War Games, Fortune Builder, and Antarctic Adventures - combined with arcade ports aplenty - sold both games and home arcades aplenty, with Coleco looking at a strong, bright future. At least, what seemed like it at the time.

Atari SuperSystem
ColecoVision owners, however, were jealous of the SuperSystem's new killer app, Pitfall II. It wouldn't be until the next year when the hit game eventually made its way to the other home arcades, with the exception of the Commodore 64 port. Other games, such as H.E.R.O. and Rescue on Fractalus proved to be popular enough to keep Atari from surrendering to Coleco.

An update on the Japanese "Home Arcade Wars"
What started off as a seemingly fair competition ended up with Nintendo maintaining a strong lead ahead of Sega, with titles like Duck Hunt and Excitebike proving popular in their homeland. Both companies are currently negotiating potential ways to releases their respective home arcades in North America. Nintendo had approached Atari about importing the Famicom, but Atari declined as they wanted to make their own 8-bit home arcade. Sega was much more desperate about finding a potential American business partner, going so far as to approaching multimedia companies that had never done business with video games before. Analysts believe that both companies should just let their American branches release the home arcades themselves, assuming that there is enough elbow room with Atari, RCA, Mattel, and Coleco already fighting amongst each other.

 

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The Vectrex was released by General Consumer Electronics in 1982. Upon release, it was praised by many electronics magazines as innovative, but didn't sell many units compared to the other home arcades at the time. GCE would be acquired by Milton Bradley in 1983, and Milton Bradley's marketing appeal would result in a price drop and more widespread availability, driving up Vectrex sales significantly. Milton Bradley was seen by some as the "fifth pillar" alongside RCA, Atari, Mattel, and Coleco, while others saw it as a niche product with a cult following. Bandai released the Vectrex in Japan, but the Famicom and SG-1000 would dwarf it in sales there.
In 1984, Milton Bradley was bought out by Hasbro, which continued to use the MB name on the Vectrex and other board games. By this time, the Vectrex seemed to be growing in popularity, even outselling the Atari VCS, RCA Studio 2, and the Intellivision during the holiday season of 1984. Hasbro continues to support the Vectrex, and a new Vectrex model is currently in the works as of New Year's Day 1985.

 

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Commodore 64
Going into its third year in the market, the Commodore 64 still holds up as both a business computer and a home computer. At this point, plenty of software is available for the computer. The C64's gaming scene is slowly rising from the underground with titles like Bruce Lee, Impossible Mission, and the cult classic The Castles of Doctor Creep.

ZX Spectrum
1984 was the year the Speccy became a serious threat to Commodore and Compaq thanks to a price cut (not unlike how the Spectrum was half the cost of a C64 in its native UK). It still paled in terms of software library size, but said library included cult classics like Sabre Wulf.

Compaq 8-bit line
One of the biggest computer games this year, Boulder Dash, made its debut on Compaq's 8-bit series of home computers. On the computing side, the 1000 and the more recent 1000XL models continued to keep Compaq in the more competitive computer wars.

Welcome to Macintosh

The biggest name in computer news that year, however, was the Macintosh. With a launch price less that that of the Lisa, the Macintosh's user-friendly GUI would end up revolutionizing the computer industry. The gaming scene, however, was relatively silent compared to its competitors, as Steve Jobs did not envision the Macintosh as a gaming platform. It would, however, spawn an underground gaming scene similar to that of the Apple II.

 

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Blockbuster Movies (The adjective, not the rental chain.)
Jaws marked the turning point in Hollywood towards an era of blockbusters, and Star Wars solidified its new position. The 80s saw a wave of movies that would enter pop culture, and the merchandising certainly helped.
Return of the Jedi
The thrilling conclusion (at the time) to the famous space opera trilogy had the Rebels thwart the Emperor's plan to crate a new Death Star and Luke trying to get his father back to the light side of the Force.
Superman III
While it proved successful in the box office, it never made as much as its two predecessors due to drama between the directors and actors - the same reason why fans think a fourth Superman film might not come to light.
Ghostbusters
This was 1984's biggest movie, and its success helped kick off the urban fantasy genre in multiple media. ITTL Ernie Hudson's character has a bigger role in the film than OTL due to Hudson and Murray bickering with the studio. And as always, there's the timeless Ray Parker Jr. song.
The Terminator
Arnold Schwarzenegger made his big break in Hollywood by playing a robot that travels back in time to assassinate Sarah Connor. This film would gain a reputation as the beloved underdog fighting against Ghostbusters for the title of the biggest film of the year.
Beverly Hills Cop
Eddie Murphy was considered for the role of Winston Zeddemore in Ghostbusters but he declined, as he was busy filming his first lead role: Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop.

Notable Games
Marble Madness
Mark Cerny's first claim to fame was this Atari arcade game. As the VCS was primitive and near obsolete, Marble Madness would eventually get a port for the SuperSystem, which required a trackball controller. It's planned to be a launch title of Atari's next home arcade as well.
Tetris
In 1984, Soviet computer scientist Alexey Pajitnov designed an addicting game on an old Soviet computer. While it was popular with his coworkers, it would take a few years for it to go viral around the world.