Why The Fairchild Channel F Failed! - Obscure Console History

[@GRIMEREPORTTV]

R.I.P Jerry Lawson & big up to Top Hat Gaming Man

[@Choralone422]

I had a Channel F as a young kid. It was a neat console for the time but paled in comparison to the Atari VCS/2600. One big issue the Fairchild unit had was the controllers. They were innovative but broke easily. That was ultimately the reason my family got rid of our unit. Plus Atari was known for Pong and other arcade machines so it was easier to sell people a home "arcade" machine with their name on it back then.

[@jeff0064]

R.I.P Jerry Lawson

[@kevinstrade2752]

This system never gets enough coverage!!! I love mine, its real history and is significant on a technological level for reasons mentioned. Just got Pac man for it and it looks better than the 2600 version.lol but is a bit tricky to control. Thank you for covering this almost forgotten system.

[@chiroquacker2580]

YES! Thank you for creating and posting this, it brings a tear to my eye to see Mr Lawson get the credit he deserves. I own one of these myself and had no idea they ever sold outside the United States. Fun fact: As far as I know, this was the 1st cartridge based game console and the Atari VCS/2600 was the 3rd. The 2nd was the RCA Studio II, but even the Fairchild blows it away. Fairchild vs Studio II vs Atari 2600 is like Megadrive/Genesis vs Crappy 1977 Pong Clone vs Neo Geo

[@benseac]

My parents bought one of these for my brother and me way, way back in the day. From what I remember, it was fairly fun!

[@GeekHero_Bubba]

Always happy to watch these informative videos.

[@JasperXoR]

This is what I got instead of an ATARI, it was kind of fun and taught me Poker! Dad never got us an ATARI 2600, he finally caved and got us a ATARI 5200. Instead of getting a Nintendo SNES I got a SEGA Master System. 3 duds in a row. I still managed to love video games though. The Master System actually had some decent titles compared to its competitors and the 5200 also had some decent games and was kind of a lone wolf.

[@58jharris]

Your parents really knew how to pick 'em lol.

[@chiroquacker2580]

This is now the second channel I support on Patreon, and Kim Justice is great company to be in. I can't wait for the inevitable / eventual RCA Studio II video. There is a great thread about that console on Atari Age in which one of the original production engineers shared stories, answered questions, and provided a ton of information about what is a very obscure console.

[@ztothepunk]

I find Richard's gratuitous use of waifus and retro pinups amusing

[@jacksmith4460]

The Fairchild corp also created audio equipment that was THE standard in the 50's and 60's and became legends and sought after by the time of the 70's. To this day Fair Child stereo bus compressors are one of the most expensive and sought after devices in music making. You have heard Fairchilds more than you realise, they are on just about everything pre 70's and still on many things after that, because even in the 70's Fairchild compressors and audio gear was considered exceptional and classic even then. Even today you get 100% digitally created music getting run through analog gear to give it a certain warmth and vibe that is almost impossible to get in digital form . Anyone with ANY audio/recording/production background knows the name Fairchild as a kind of holy grail compressor that are on the same level of legend as a 1950's Fender Telecaster or Early Marshall Tube/Valve stack amps. They ARE the sound of professional music in the 50's 60's and 70's and even a lot today (Analog gear is STILL the sound of pro music, sorry my digi champions, but analog gear in audio is still king tone wise although cumbersome and unwieldy). This is the main reason I clicked on this video, to confirm if it was the same company, because the Compressors are infamous in mixing and mastering circles

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Wow! I had no idea Fairchild was such a huge deal.

[@CommodoreFan64]

Yep, we owe a lot of the basics of modern computing to Fairchild semiconductor like advancement in memory technologies.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

@@CommodoreFan64 this is honestly one the most informative retrogaming videos I've ever seen, in terms of educational value.

[@edrosa3485]

Love the history lesson!

[@AdmiralBison]

0:08 That Sega 'Wondermega' looks pretty slick and futuristic for a console from the 90s. It looks like it could fit into today's consoles aesthetic wise.

[@evilinsecticon3813]

My uncle purchased this, thinking it was an Atari 2600 in 1980, for the kids. Later on I visited him and he still had it with 4 games. I offered to buy it, he just gave it to me. I said it's worth at least 5 bucks....lol

[@chiroquacker2580]

Gaming magazines were calling it primitive and obsolete....in 1982.

[@thegroove5099]

If you still have it, there's both a Tetris and a Pac-man for the Channel F.

[@e5frog]

@@chiroquacker2580 It was, there was VIC-20...and Channel F carts didn't fit there. ;)

[@chiroquacker2580]

@@e5frog To be fair, the Fairchild Channel F released in 1976 and the vic 20 IN 1980 The technology was improving by leaps and bounds at that time. The RCA studio II can't use that excuse. It released after the Fairchild and was obsolete right off the assembly line. The Channel F was a Neo-Geo compared to the studio II to the point of being it being hilariously pathetic.

[@BetaBuildFilms]

I've seen this stated before as the definitive version of events but when it concerns electronics (going back to the earliest ones) with their many intricate parts that they incorporate and parallel development to tackle similar issues of their day. Who really knows the true answer? As far as I read Lawson was integral to the refinement and developing a commercially viable unit to show the board of directors, under a secret department spearheaded by Fairchild's V.P. that even Lawson boss was unaware of at the time. Though the Channel F story really begins with the Raven console by Alpex computers which was founded by a few AMF employees that had prior experience a similar cart system for storing bowling scores in the late sixties and previously developed their prototype console on a Intel 8080 development kit that employ a rewritable but not quickly interchangeable chip. It was also shopped around to four huge television manufacturers of the day before Fairchild. Respect is due to Lawson was one of two African Americans in the early garage days of gaming and proud that he's from my native Queens, New York but even in the video it stated that Atari's Stella was in development of a similar system in '75 and actually had a similar system in mind in 1969 but it wasnt even commercial feasible with pricing and lack of semiconductors that wouldn't hit the market till 1972. From the 2015 Fast Company article "The Untold Story of the Invention of the Game Cartridge": As the game library expanded, it made sense to devise a way to interchange Haskel’s programs, allowing players to easily switch between them inexpensively while using only one relatively expensive computerized console at the heart of the system. That way, the consumer would only buy the expensive part once and reuse it with a wide variety of software. General purpose computers at the time approached interchangeable software with an array of removable storage options-often paper tape, magnetic tape, or packages of spinning magnetic disks-that required far too much expensive hardware to be practical in a consumer product. Kirschner and Haskel found a better solution right front of them, as a natural part of the development process. Intel’s 8080 development kit encouraged the use of EPROM (Erasable-Programmable Read Only Memory) chips-a form of ROM chip that allowed the programmer to write and erase a program multiple times to speed up the development process. Typically, once an EPROM was programmed, a hardware designer would either solder the chip directly to a printed circuit board or insert it into a delicate socket soldered onto such a board. It became obvious to Kirschner almost immediately that if consumers were going to use their console, they needed a way to change out those ROMs in a user-friendly fashion. So Alpex’s engineers decided to mount the fragile ROM chip to a circuit board and, in turn, connect the chip’s pins to a more durable connector that could withstand repeated insertion and removal. That’s how the first prototype video game cartridge was born. “We went to RadioShack and bought these little plastic boxes,” recalls Kirschner. “And we were able to plug the little box into the console with a connector we put on it.” Kirschner remembers RAVEN’s cartridge enclosures as being about five inches wide by three inches high by a couple of inches deep. Each black plastic box encased a circuit board with a memory chip containing video game code mounted on it.

[@melloyellofreak]

I actually have all the games. I bought a box of old games years ago at a flea market and they just happened to be in there. However I have never once seen the system. I still have the games though.

[@chiroquacker2580]

If you don't plan on getting the console, I am sure someone would be very happy to give you a lot of money and would be happy to have them. Win/Win

[@walshdigitalarchiving5461]

This was the first cartridge based system I ever saw for sale. It was in a hi-fi and record LP shop. Brilliant video & thanks!

[@michaelvau4818]

Thank you for posting more videos and moving to do this f/t as much as you can. Great entertainment and informative.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Those joystick.. things... always struck me as interesting. Like, they'd either be super-comfy or super-awful, you know?

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

From my experience at expos, they are very comfortable!

[@jasonblalock4429]

@@TopHatGamingManChannel Nice! I'd love to get to try a Channel F for myself someday. I'm old enough to have played a VCS, but never a Fairchild.

[@Stoppskylten]

They are both!

[@ImpaledGryphon]

@@TopHatGamingManChannel they are pretty comfortable to use but failed frequently, luckily they were pretty easy to dismantle and fix.

[@chiroquacker2580]

General consensus is most people like them. It actually seems to be the best thing about the console. It is a combination of Joystick / Paddle.

[@artificialfrontiers4603]

I watched this while having a vertigo attack. Best way to watch as it makes all the scrolling images twist out of control all over the screen. Also, very informative. I did not know the whole story of this company.

[@ZachAttackIsBack]

Rather than only focusing on different consoles, it would be interesting if you picked a little-known influential person from the gaming industry and gave us more info on their life and how they came to influence the hobby we all enjoy. Maybe you could even interview the person and some of their former co-workers, family, or friends. I am always most impressed by KZbin content that does original research beyond what just a Google search can provide.

[@fortunax22]

Zach Becker yet you come to a channel that is literally built on reviewing different consoles. Like the whole point of the channel.

[@ZachAttackIsBack]

@@fortunax22 His name isn't Top Hat Gaming Console Man. No reason he couldn't branch out, while staying on the topic of gaming. Eventually, he will run out of game consoles to talk about.

[@litjellyfish]

Love crystal hammer music at 4:00

[@PartyDude_19]

I have always been fascinated by this system ever since i saw the CGR review because it just seems like it was the beginning of the modern definition of a gaming console

[@ExecuteOrder]

I don’t think even Farrah Fawcett could sell this console

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

You underestimate my power

[@maxwelsh6121]

My tv doesnt have a channel f. Cant play. 😂

[@Lightblue2222]

Well that isn't fair!

[@davidjames579]

@@Lightblue2222 That isn't fair, child

[@RobertSeeJen]

Jesus! Fairchild was at the forefront of a ton of tech!

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

Woohoo! International Business Machines for the win! Shared to Facebook. Great vid, interesting stuff!

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

I'd like to hear instrumental versions of these videos Chris Huelsbeck!

[@jim7205]

Great video as always

[@Boojakascha]

Do the Bandai/Takara Video Challenger!

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

I have a list of 108 systems I plan on covering, this device is already on the to do list!

[@JeffIrok]

Good job (as usual)!

[@AgentM79]

I loved the Space War game on the Channel F. It was so much better than Space War on the Atari VCS. Primitive graphics, sure, but it was a fun two-player game.

[@Lennyg845]

Thank goodness! You had me worried yesterday!

[@F1JV]

I will watch this when I have more time...BUT...wouldn’t a picture of Morgan Fairchild be more appropriate than Farrah Fawcett?

[@F1JV]

...probably it was because of the time the console was released...didn’t watch video yet...still think Morgan Fairchild would have been a better choice.

[@F1JV]

Watched...good/informative video...I have played a few games(mainly its drag race game) on this system because older kids down the street had it.

[@PnC_GameZnThingZ]

I have one. Tic Tac Toe is mean.. "you lose turkey!"

[@adrianzanoli]

The channel F sold 300.000 units by 1980, maybe 325-350.000 until 1984.

[@jadedheartsz]

There's a really good book about Jerry Lawson that i'd highly recommend.

[@wtffy204]

All of them. From begging to now. Thank you. Great vid very interesting and informative. I'm glad I wasn't around in the early gaming years, life must of bein realy shit to wanna play any of them games. A football wud of done me. Straing times but people must of bein fascinated when it came out.

[@brandonb1681]

3:46 You would think Fairchild would have a better tomb marker. Oswald's tomb marker looks better. I know, I saw Oswald's in Fort Worth.

[@FarbodArdebili]

Greatly informative.

[@LarsZondervan]

Very nice video! For a next video I would like to hear the history of the GP32 and the turbulent history of the Korean GamePark company (and how it split in two, with GamePark Holdings releasing the GP2X...

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

I plan to cover this story in October as part of my Handhelds Around The World series. I have a list of 108 more systems I want to cover lol

[@LarsZondervan]

@@TopHatGamingManChannel haha a problem of luxury indeed! However, a question I often ask myself after one of your videos of a failed console is 'what happened to the company?' and for GP and GPH I always wondered what happened...(I know the GP2X had a second Life as a translator device). Also, I always wondered from the homebrew perspective: did someone ever make homebrew for the Fairchild Channel F (probably not). And second: if I am intrigued in the library of the Fairchild Channel F, how would I be able to play those games nowadays (are they part of Mame/mess?). Questions, questions...

[@chiroquacker2580]

@@TopHatGamingManChannel I hope you don't plan to buy all of them LOL. Ouch!

[@rocstarskinnyjeans]

Thank you 🙏🏾

[@LarsZondervan]

For a next video the Philips Videopac series of consoles might be interesting...

[@AdmiralBison]

It seems a lot of technologies "gave their life" to lay the foundation for future innovations and this Fairchild console seems to have done that with cartridges a game AI and others. In that sense it wasn't a failure, it contributed to gaming long past its brief history.

[@SusuperHands]

I hear a train going by for the 2nd half of this video

[@chinablue1699]

Race is important when the person is black and does something positive but when they do wrong race is never an issue unless it is made to showcase them in a sympathetic light.

[@kenwheeler3637]

I have one of these. It's an interesting system but the game library really doesn't have any titles that really grab you and keep you coming back often.

[@chiroquacker2580]

The closest 'must have' title I'm guessing is the Pac-Man homebrew.

[@kenwheeler3637]

@@chiroquacker2580 Yes, that one is the best. It was made 10 years ago so there's that. Out of the originals Dodge-It, Bowling and Alien Invaders are enjoyable.

[@billcook4768]

I can’t believe you missed the opportunity to feature my wife - er, Morgan Fairchild - in the thumbnail. Otherwise great video. Was this the system that had plastic overlays and kids could draw on their TV?

[@DarDarBinks1986]

You're thinking of the Odyssey, which came before (1972).

[@bootmii98]

This is the first one that didn't

[@nobuyukinyuu]

Crystal Hammer, good choice.

[@e5frog]

Nice, almost no fact errors. The initial Alpex information is rather more interesting than the founder's history.

[@ImpaledGryphon]

fascinating.

[@Commander64]

Where does he find all of these consoles? A lot of these consoles he reviews passed me by. I had no idea of them.

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

I am compiling a list of systems I am yet to cover and so far I have another 108 to go!

[@Flo_Resolution]

@@TopHatGamingManChannel who the woman in the thumbnail?

[@Stoppskylten]

Press F to..

[@filleraccount1262]

Press F for respects

[@billrazor6591]

Press ''F'' for Channel F!

[@DeaDGoD_XIV]

Have you done a video on the Intellivision yet? If so, can you be kind enough to reply with a link to it

[@jyesucevitz]

WHY DOES the Fairchild console show a picture of Farrah Fawcet?

[@ressljs]

I wonder what this could have done had there been more effort put into it. I never played one first hand, but reading about it and seeing screenshots, it looked pretty bad compared to the Atari VCS. But then again, the early VCS games looked pretty bad compared to the later, more famous VCS games once their developers had more experience and resources to work with. So had this sold better, maybe there would have been a second and third wave of games that would have looked more impressive.

[@awwrelic]

Well, the Channel F did come out a year prior to the Atari VCS and unlike Atari, was treading new roads. But I think the biggest concern was how it was sold. Atari cut a sweet deal with Sears (at the time, America's biggest retailer) that allowed them to sell their product under the Sears Tele-Games label. That assured a huge potential customer base, and the Atari launched during the Christmas 1977 shopping season to boot. I don't recall the Channel F being sold in major stores when it launched in 1976, though JC Penney's later carried it. I think Atari's better distribution avenues would ultimately lead to the Channel F's downfall. But at the time the Channel F was launched, nothing on the home market (largely the Magnavox Odyssey variants and the legion of Pong clones) could beat it.

[@DarksaberForce]

Am I the only one who thinks the Fairchild looks eerily similar to the original PS3?

[@tomelliott73]

What is the music used in this video ?

[@vlad1the1impaler]

Thank you Mr African American man. I don't know why i have to address you by race but i was told to.

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

How about because this took place in the 1970s, so therefore was far from the cultural norm. That makes it worth celebrating in my opinion. I don't know about you?

[@vlad1the1impaler]

@@TopHatGamingManChannelI don't know, it sounds condescending to me. It sounds like something you'd say to someone with special needs to console them.

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

I advise you to look a bit into the rapant institutional racism within Silicon Valley's past. Look up one of the founders - William Shockley.

[@vlad1the1impaler]

@@TopHatGamingManChannel and people used to sell each other as slaves, what's your point? Look, I know your reasoning behind your racialization but you should examine carefully what it all implicates.

[@nakedbeekeeper9610]

@@TopHatGamingManChannel This does sound kinda preachy tbh ...

[@FastTquick]

I remember seeing this system before in an AVGN review about Pong consoles. Pretty sad how this system had its thunder stolen from it by the Atari VCS.

[@bryede]

It was never going to be a huge hit. It was far less capable than the 2600 and used a ridiculous memory access scheme that killed its graphics performance.

[@jbgtly4930]

This console never had any thunder to be stolen. The Atari VCS was being developed at the same time and came out shortly after it. The VCS was superior in every way, and dominated the Fairchild console as a result. Most people at that time didn't have a clue that the Fairchild console even existed.

[@jamesbridges9589]

If you want.

[@obsoletepowercorrupts]

It F-Bombed.

[@chemtrailslondon2759]

I've come to the conclusion that you look like L.A Beast. 😁

[@nicktaylor8032]

I'm a drum n bass producer, but can create in any style or genre, and would happily give u music for free, or, indeed, create something brand new and bespoke, just for your channel. No strings, just an on screen credit, is all I would require in return.

[@thejawbreakersbandofficial4243]

Is that a pretend accent or is that your real voice. Just curious.

[@ΤζένγκιςΧάαν]

British slang & videogame history,noþing better in þe world

[@daxxhex8546]

hi

[@pachinko32]

Education education education。

[@donaldsalkovick396]

Why are you feeling the need to mention this guy is an "African American"? What does that have to do with anything about this story

[@BfDelano]

Donald Salkovick It’s a part of black history that goes unnoticed. Why does it bother you that it was brought up?

[@chrisb7528]

One black worked for the company and blacks now take credit for inventing game consoles, the system was already created before fairchild started producing the system.

[@NoNoseProduction]

@@BfDelano because we don't mention when people are white. It just feels racist bro.

[@NoNoseProduction]

@Joe Horn cuz it's racist and all racism should be called out

[@NoNoseProduction]

@Joe Horn in the racist way

[@DanielBMS]

2 people are in Atari's echo chamber

[@jonzaremba]

So basically yer blaming that black dude for the failure of Fairchild.....yeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh...