That's more or less my thinking, Bill. Instead of a "crash," I see it more as a temporary shift away from dedicated game consoles and a switch to low-end computers (C-64 being the leader). No doubt this was caused by people thinking how miserable the Atari 2600's graphics were compared to what was available on these computers. Once low-cost PC compatibles dominated that were great for productivity but miserable for games, again there was a hole, and Nintendo was able to satisfy that with low-cost consoles that were better for gaming (arguably) than the C-64's. I think that's the era where people began thinking that computers and videogames were an either/or, and PC gaming has steadily moved to the margins as more people relied on PC for work and internet and consoles for fun.
"Crash" is definitely something of a misnomer in the way it's commonly used. It was more of a depression. Still, it's something of a useful term. Technically there was a similar crash (again, actually depression) in the late 1970's.
I disagree that low-end computers had anything to do with the crash on the console side. Obviously the crash hit both sides hard, but was particularly impactful on the console side. I think contemporary thinking that low end computers were what consumers were replacing consoles with was something of a red herring, and I think history has proven as much (like today, they're mostly independent markets with minimal overlap). Really, it was the result of the fledgling videogame market of 1982 and the serious miscalculations by companies like Atari and every Tom, Dick and Harry company that had no business trying to cash in on videogames to make a quick buck (the barrier to entry was much lower than it is today). The result of the 1982 boom was product glut/garbage product glut/low cost product glut and shunning of high quality, but higher priced (in comparison to the crap) product by 1983/early 1984. The market simply wasn't big enough to support it all. Today it's clear that while surely the videogame business will have its ups and down, it's now mass market enough and ingrained in society enough where we'll never see the same type of collapse we saw by late 1984.
Matt Barton wrote:
I'm curious why the dedicated internet boxes never went anywhere. My cousin had one and really enjoyed it.
I think part of it was timing--broadband Internet was not yet pervasive and we didn't have the maturity of standards and Web-enabled applications like we have today. I think another part of it was cost - a lot of these devices weren't as cheap as initially hoped and by that time full-fledged computers had crossed below the $999 threshold and were rapidly approaching the $499 threshold for desktops and $999 threshold for laptops. Thus, there was no justification for a crippled device in comparison to a fully capable, no restrictions device.
With that said, with the relative success of full featured cell phones, Web pads, mini-notebooks like the Asus Eeepc and Internet-enabled videogame consoles and handhelds, the basic point of the "Internet box/Web box" has found its niche, a niche that will continue to grow as non-traditional computing devices continue to grow in power and ubiquity and the online experience continues to improve.
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
*************************** Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
That's more or less my thinking, Bill. Instead of a "crash," I see it more as a temporary shift away from dedicated game consoles and a switch to low-end computers (C-64 being the leader). No doubt this was caused by people thinking how miserable the Atari 2600's graphics were compared to what was available on these computers. Once low-cost PC compatibles dominated that were great for productivity but miserable for games, again there was a hole, and Nintendo was able to satisfy that with low-cost consoles that were better for gaming (arguably) than the C-64's. I think that's the era where people began thinking that computers and videogames were an either/or, and PC gaming has steadily moved to the margins as more people relied on PC for work and internet and consoles for fun.
"Crash" is definitely something of a misnomer in the way it's commonly used. It was more of a depression. Still, it's something of a useful term. Technically there was a similar crash (again, actually depression) in the late 1970's.
I disagree that low-end computers had anything to do with the crash on the console side. Obviously the crash hit both sides hard, but was particularly impactful on the console side. I think contemporary thinking that low end computers were what consumers were replacing consoles with was something of a red herring, and I think history has proven as much (like today, they're mostly independent markets with minimal overlap). Really, it was the result of the fledgling videogame market of 1982 and the serious miscalculations by companies like Atari and every Tom, Dick and Harry company that had no business trying to cash in on videogames to make a quick buck (the barrier to entry was much lower than it is today). The result of the 1982 boom was product glut/garbage product glut/low cost product glut and shunning of high quality, but higher priced (in comparison to the crap) product by 1983/early 1984. The market simply wasn't big enough to support it all. Today it's clear that while surely the videogame business will have its ups and down, it's now mass market enough and ingrained in society enough where we'll never see the same type of collapse we saw by late 1984.
I'm curious why the dedicated internet boxes never went anywhere. My cousin had one and really enjoyed it.
I think part of it was timing--broadband Internet was not yet pervasive and we didn't have the maturity of standards and Web-enabled applications like we have today. I think another part of it was cost - a lot of these devices weren't as cheap as initially hoped and by that time full-fledged computers had crossed below the $999 threshold and were rapidly approaching the $499 threshold for desktops and $999 threshold for laptops. Thus, there was no justification for a crippled device in comparison to a fully capable, no restrictions device.
With that said, with the relative success of full featured cell phones, Web pads, mini-notebooks like the Asus Eeepc and Internet-enabled videogame consoles and handhelds, the basic point of the "Internet box/Web box" has found its niche, a niche that will continue to grow as non-traditional computing devices continue to grow in power and ubiquity and the online experience continues to improve.
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.