Re: Apple II vs Atari 800

["N.N. Thayer" <nnthayer@hotmail.com>]

On Apr 15, 1:17 pm, Don <coac...@pacbell.net> wrote:
> As far as the number of games available on the Atari vs the Apple II,
> I doubt any of us can ever get an exact count.  The Apple II did have
> a head start and technically the 8 bit Apple II's were manufactured
> much longer than their Atari counterparts.  However, in the early to
> mid 80's, I'm pretty sure that any major game that appeared on the
> Apple II was also on the Atari.  

The best way to get a picture of the computer gaming market is by
examining very early issues of Computer Gaming World, which are here:

http://cgw.vintagegaming.org/galleries/index.php?year=0&pub=0&id=500

They contain a wealth of data, including game rankings and other
statistics that specifically show what computers their subscribers are
using.  For example:

http://shackpics.com/files/13_5gxxj2bdh6e20mwtzs1q.png

They show that the Apple II utterly dominated computer gaming from
1981 to 1982, ceding some exclusivity in the next couple of years but
still staying the preferred platform.  Later issues show that
Commodore ramped up too quickly to let Atari have a shot at
frontrunner status.  There was some Apple/Atari overlap, but much of
it was not simultaneous - Apple would be the first release, with Atari
arriving later.  Of course, this changed before too long.

As Chris Crawford wrote in the April 1984 issue:  "Three years ago,
life was simple: you designed for the Apple, period."