For those of you who remember the
Atari 2600, few will remember the Gameline system.
Described as "the greatest thing to happen to
computer games since the
joystick", the Gameline allowed users to connect to a
central computer and download games straight into the
Atari.
They could choose from a
database of over 900
games, and browse
Atari information over the
phone line. The year was
1983.
It ran off a
1200 baud built in
modem, and had the unique feature of
learning the fastest way to the game
server and retaining that
setting for
reconnection.
The
system was simple enough. You received your unit, plugged the small end into the
game slot on the console, plugged the
phone line into the unit, call with your
credit card to create an
account, and your were ready to go.
You could
browse the
database and select your game. The game would
download and for $1 you would get approximately seven or eight "
credits" on the selected game. After this, the Gameline would
automatically disconnect.
However, the
pricing system was unpopular with users. Why pay $1 for a few goes on a game, when you could purchase it down in the local
toy shop for a few dollars more?
Technically, it was fantastic, but the games didn't have the
depth or
longevity to justify the cost of system, and the popularity of the
2600 at the time was
waning.
Gameline fought back with these services:
MailLine -
messages entered via
joystick and
fire button.
OpinionLine - open
forums of
messages which would be
relayed to interested parties.
NewsLine -
news headlines and
weather both local and worldwide.
BankLine - a
highly secure home banking system featuring
electronic fund transfer.
InfoLine -
Airline schedules,
travel tips,
educational material,
classified ads,
horoscopes, etc.
The
Atari's fade into obscurity began here, but Gameline stayed alive with its new
electronic publishing services.
Gameline evolved to form one of the worlds most famous content delivery companies:
America Online.
With great thanx to Dan Skelton.