Player's Choice Video Game Superstore

Tag: Odyssey

  • Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan Teaser Trailer

    For centuries, the tree Yggdrasil has been a constant presence in the lives of the people of Tharsis. It looms on the horizon, visible from everywhere in the city. But its roots are in a far-off land where no one has ventured until the Outland Count of Tharsis sponsors an Explorers Guild to reach Yggdrasil and discover its secrets. You are the latest explorer arriving in Tharsis to seek your fame and fortune. Board your skyship and set out into the clouds in search of treasure, glory, and the answer to Tharsis’ oldest mystery.

    Celebrate the tradition of classic pen and paper roleplaying games by using the bottom touch screen to chart out your path and the dangers you have encountered. A good map might save your life. Deep character creation and party customization system encourages experimentation and rewards creativity and imagination. Every choice matters.

    Packed with improvements and content: an enhanced graphics engine boasting polygonal enemies and new 3D special effects; upgradeable, customizable skyships that let players travel and battle amid the clouds; an exceedingly atmospheric and fully orchestrated musical score from Yuzo Koshiro; expanded, more immersive 3D dungeons with analog camera control; and guild card + character trading functionality via StreetPass.

    Available February 26, 2013 for Nintendo 3DS.

  • Magnavox Odyssey

     

    Magnavox Odyssey

    After the rejection by the military of Raplh Baer’s idea, Baer would spend several years covertly trying to obtain the legal rights to commercially reproduce the game machine he helped design at Sanders Associates in 1966.Eventually the Pentagon became disinterested in the “TV Game” project, and Baer was allowed to pursue the prospect openly.  He approached Teleprompter, RCA, Zenith, General Electric, and Magnavox. A deal was struck with RCA, but later fell through because it involved the purchasing of Sanders Associates by RCA. 

    Then in 1970 Bill Enders, who had been a part of the RCA negotiating team, joined Magnavox and persuaded the Magnavox executives to give Baer’s system a chance. The result of this was the production of the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game system available to non-military personnel.

    The Odyssey had over three hundred seperate parts. It came with hand controls, dice, playing cards, and play money. Plastic overlays which were placed onto the screen by the consumer, provided color playing fields for the various games. The system came preprogrammed with twelve games that utilized all of the aforementioned equipment.

    While it could not compete with the Pong units that would be released soon after, the Odyssey did have a very impressive first year, selling over 100,000 units at $100 each.

    The real cause for the popularity of the Pong units over the Odyssey was not because of the marketing prowess of competing companies, but rather the creation of low cost LSI (Large Scale Integrated) circuits. These circuits were designed primarily for tennis, hockey, and other Pong-eqsue game mechanics. The low cost LSI’s would allow the market to be flooded by Pong knock-offs.