1984 Special Report: Video Games--Atari Crash--Halcyon

February 1984
John Culea explores the popularity of video games in this two part series.
Atari Dragon Slayer, Firefox
Space Age
Halcyon
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[@kumrogames]

So awesome that you are posting these old interviews! Some serious game history to share with the world!

[@channelstatic9235]

Interestingly Atari had a Laserdisc player for the Atari 7800 planned for release as an expansion add on but it never made it to market, they were planning on releasing games like Dragons' Lair, Space Ace, Firefox & Knight Rider.

[@AlanMcClelland]

Absolutely stellar interview with Rick Dyer’s company and the origins of laser disc technology!

[@spike8002]

Can’t thank you enough for posting this. What rings true always is the one constant is change. I grew up in arcades. I’ve had many generations of consoles. I now have an 18 game arcade in my garage. 9 electromechanical games pinball through novelty. 9 video game 3/4 scale Arcade1Up, 60-1 build, and two Pandora boxes. Also have consoles that are packed away for now. I’ll be building my own sit down Star Wars Battle POD. I’m far from a tech wizard but grew up in this world. Anyone can do this…it’s a great hobby that keeps me home with my family now all adults. They love this arcade. It’s cross generational and important our children understand its history as it keeps evolving. Again, I love these historic news reports.

[@pedrozatravel]

The funny thing about this is Thayers Quest never was released, neither was the system to play it. There was a PC version but it got really bad reviews for being too repeative. The company eventually went bankrupt

[@mikecarter8880]

Thayers Quest was released. Probably very limited. I played it, didn't really understand it, took too many quarters and didn't seem worth it, it had a keyboard no joystick. If you look at pics of it online and remember those kinds of buttons on electronics sometimes the keys were not responsive. I was young but don't remember it as a good experience. I also don't remember anyone else throwing quarters into it, it was too daunting with a keyboard.

[@pedrozatravel]

@@mikecarter8880 Interesting, I was told it wasn't released in the public

[@spazzman90]

My arcade had an arcade release of it. I'm not sure whether it was a conversion of a DL or dedicated, but it was in that style of cabinet. It had a fully backlit membrane keyboard. Didn't take long for some of the buttons to stop responding, and then shortly after that for the membrane to be torn off in areas from frustrated players. I'm guessing this is something that was probably rushed out as a kit to try and generate some revenue, as a home release of the title would make much more sense. I don't think the timeline of Halcyon, TQ, and it's arcade release is documented clearly.

[@DummyThiccOwO]

@@spazzman90yes, it was a conversion kit from dragon’s lair

[@jjgillmen]

2:00 -- Note the shirt that guy was wearing during the interview. "Revenge of the Jedi" was the original title of the third part of the original Star Wars trilogy -- but George Lucas changed it to "Return of the Jedi," noting how Jedi folks don't seek revenge.

[@loganq]

@ 1:58 Revenge of the Jedi.

[@CrepeSuzetteDance]

"Revenge"?

[@loganq]

@@CrepeSuzetteDance The movie was renamed "Return of the Jedi" before it was released because Lucas decided a Jedi shouldn't have "Revenge." So that t-shirt predates the movie.

[@ericrietschel6854]

anyone know about the super secret project that was teased at the end?

[@DummyThiccOwO]

My best guess would be the Halcyon console

[@DummyThiccOwO]

And Thayer’s Quest, which was going to come with it

[@d-pad_dad]

You can see the logo for Thayer's Quest around 8:09 and it was developed for the Halcyon (plus the references to 2001...), but I doubt it revealed much to TV viewers at the time given the low resolution of broadcast TV then and no context around it.

[@GregsGameRoom]

FMV games like Dragon’s Lair were about as flash in the pan as it gets. Dyer didn’t have the foresight he thought he did.

[@E36FTW1]

I'd have to disagree with that. We've just gotten to the point where full motion video is integrated seamlessly into gaming. Just look at Alan Wake 2

[@Urban_Flux]

unskippable cutscenes are totally annoying, Valve kinda got that right.... we could go on.. haha @@E36FTW1

[@bubbythebear6891]

​@@E36FTW1Yes but it wasn't the entire game. Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, and Thayer's Quest were entirely made up of FMV clips. Now it could be argued that games have taken on a much more cinematic approach with narrative being at the forefront, that much is true.

[@MerelyAFan]

Post-Crash/ pre-NES is such an interesting little period for video games in North America. The industry's been devastated and is looking for another path forward, but the major Japanese companies that will eventually dominate are only somewhat established in the West so you get all these experiments like the laserdisc FMV titles. Not all the ideas in this interim period will prove to be practical long term, however its genuinely fascinating to see the what ifs of where the industry could have gone.

[@RlsIII-uz1kl]

Look into the 3dsen software that makes the old retro Atari games 3d. I believe that such softwares will push retro gaming into the future broadening the consumer base.

[@plawson8577]

This WAS the Crash.

[@RlsIII-uz1kl]

Disney's rolling in his grave unfortunately.