Video Chess: Atari Archive Episode 31

We wrap up 1979 with a game that was thought impossible on the VCS: Video Chess! This joint effort between developers Bob Whitehead and Larry Wagner - with assistance from chessmaster Julio Kaplan - is a technical marvel, and two of the three men were happy to share their memories of developing it for this video. We also wrap up with an overview of 1979 in the home console industry and how Atari was poised to break out in 1980 and dominate the North American marketplace.
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[@BeyondTheScanlines]

Chess isn't something you'd imagine could make for an interesting tale - but (as always) you've done a cracking job with it. I really enjoyed how you also showed where the industry was at the end of 1979. It's the type of context you rarely get, and it's really valuable :D

[@Phediuk]

I like how there's a story behind every game in this series.

[@mavrick45]

did you say TEN HOURS??!!! good lord

[@MikeDijital]

I've lived next to the Osram / Sylvania HQ all my childhood in Danvers Massachusetts and my best friends dad worked there as in Inventor/engineer from the 60's till the 90's and we have always called it Syl -Vain -ya with a hard A in the middle like Train or Spain . I could be wrong, but that's how I've always heard it said out this way

[@beedwarf]

Thank you so much for this; a proud & avid fan of the Atari 2600; recently picked up the book, 'ATARI FLASHBACK: The Essential Companion' published by Prima Games; there was also a documentary last year on PBS (or maybe it was on the History Channel?) covering the game designers of the Atari 2600 I'd highly recommend to all those interested.

[@ace942]

Thanks for the video. I remember playing it back when it first came out for the Atari VCS. I am a fan of chess and I got an Atari classics for my Sony PS4 so I was able to record some games against it on my channel. It was also enjoyable to see some of the other chess games that were released within the same period.

[@mslinklater]

Fantastic video. Thank you !

[@OneSwitch]

Excellent job, Kevin. Really enjoyed that.

[@prophismusic]

Outstanding video on the topic!

[@chriscorsello]

I just completed watching the first 31 episodes of your Atari Archive series in 2 sittings. I have been watching "reviewers" and "historians" along with "ramblers" on the topic of classic video games for years. I am thrilled at what you are doing here. The style here is much more academic... well researched, sources and images cited and all very matter of effect. I appreciate that you covered the games as close to order of release as possible (as noted in your videos, not a lot of information exists on exact release dates) and that you aren't skipping games. No frills here, no guessing...just well documented and well researched and you almost always adds something to the conversation about the history, story and general lore regarding the games that I loved so much in my childhood. So many video creators just regurgitate what they have learned from other people's videos and often propagate falsehoods about many of these games. I will be continuing to watch your series (not just those posted- but also those to come). This is an amazing and comprehensive documentation of the Atari 2600 and I am very grateful for what you are doing here. Thanks for making some of the "boring" releases interesting and relevant by putting them in the true context of the time. Keep up the good work!

[@johnrickard8512]

About the one thing that the Atari did have was a relatively strong CPU

[@bigwoodytrucking491]

Can you do one on the Basic programming language cart that was made for the 2600? It's honestly am interesting story about false advertising and a lawsuit and you can do some neat things with it though very limited.

[@AtariArchive]

It's coming up soon enough! I'm going in chronological order, but near as I can tell it's a 1980 game.

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

Another great episode. You did not spend much time on the Odyssey 2 chess game.

[@AtariArchive]

Nah, couldn't find much info on it outside of the writeup in the Videopac newsletter and the fact it required a whole module with a separate microprocessor. Channel F Chess was similarly slim pickings until I found that someone had asked Lawson about it in 2004!

[@bradhig]

Is that wood grain from a heavy sixer?

[@AtariArchive]

If you mean from the thumbnail/title card, it's actually from a VCS game holder from back in the day! My grandparents had it for their games, and it's got a nice woodgrain pattern so I just took an up-close photo of that portion.

[@quasimojo345]

If that cited reviewer wanted a two-player version, he might as well have just bought a real chess board.

[@sandal_thong8631]

A video version would make sure kids obeyed the rules and didn't cheat or make mistakes.

[@mr.pavone9719]

That reviewer didn't realize it would have been possible to have two players by utilizing the set-up mode via the difficulty switches.

[@sandal_thong8631]

@@mr.pavone9719 Yes, but it wouldn't tell you if you made an illegal move. I remember fighting with other kids about the rules of castling, en-passant and even check. Just read today that having a two-player mode in Pac-Man meant they had to use limited system resources to store score, lives and every dot still to go for both players instead of 1. They only had 1-player mode the next year with Ms. Pac-Man.

[@sandal_thong8631]

Green and blue Atari Logbook challenge: Win at successively higher levels. Pro (Learning Fast): Level 3, Master (Chess Master): Level 5, Wizard (National Treasure): Level 7. This is the last game reviewed featured in the green logbook (1979?), which I didn't know about until a few years ago. I like calling the successive levels Pro, Master and Wizard, which is easier to remember than the specific titles in the blue logbook. I liked chess in grade school and high school, but didn't get this game until much later. In 2006 I went up the levels until I beat level 5, making Master. Since there's a glitch starting in level 6, and each computer move takes longer, I figured this was enough for me.