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I'm doing an article for my site about the Xband and was wondering how many previous attempts to get consoles online there were. I know about the Telegenesis modem (released only in Japan) but what else was there? Did any pre-NES consoles have anything resembling online play in any sense?
There were console modems before the Genesis but they weren't for playing games online against others. They still might be of interest though.
Mattel/General Instrument had Playcable for the Intellivision which was a service that sent games over via cable like the Sega Channel.
Control Video Corporation had a modem service for the 2600 called Gameline where players could download games.
Nintendo/NTT had the Famicom Tsushin System which could be used for banking and other non-gaming stuff.
I found this one, doing a little search on the Atari 2600. It's called the Graduate and was a planned online computer adapter for the 2600. It was eventually cancelled, when the console market went flat.
www.atarihq.com/museum/2678/graduate.html
Someone else had planned on releasing a modem for the 2600 as well, but I can't recall what it was called.
Thanks guys. So it's safe then to say that the Xband was the first serious attempt at an online gaming service.
I've read about that Atari one. Thanks for reminding me. I'll have to mention that.
Really cool bit of trivia: After the Gameline modem for the Atari 2600 fizzled out, Control Video Corporation refocused its efforts towards bringing online services onto computers, transforming the company into Quantum Computer Services. The company grew, and later changed its name again to America Online.
Tidbit: The owner of the Dallas Mavericks (Mark Cuban), came up with a program, that allowed computers to talk to eachother. I'm not sure if it was AOL or Compuserve, but one the the two companies paid him $4 million to buy out his company named Microsolutions, which he founded in 1983.Quote:
Originally Posted by Agent X
That AOL tidbit is just awesome.
Well, the article's done. I'll have it up tomorrow. :)
Cool, can't wait to read it.
The article's up! Enjoy and let me know what you think. I may still revise a bit (I'm anal that way) but it's essentially done.
XBN covered all the consoles that had a modem in an issue two months back I believe. They mentioned the Xband, Sega Channel, and the Nintendo Satelliview.
Why dont you put this thread in your sources? For reals.
You're right. I'll add that in tonight (I'm kind of burned out right now).
Good idea.