thewises wrote:
There seems to be a retro gamming device for all the popular 8-bit systems. Atari 2600/7800, Sega Genesis, Intellivision, Coleco, Commodore 64, etc. You'd think Apple would make some retro toy for their 30th anniversary.Not to nitpick, but the Genesis was 16-bit, not 8-bit. Maybe you meant the Sega Master System?The reason that there's no such retro devices for the Apple II is because of this:Firstly, the systems you mentioned above all used cartridges. Video game collectors usually only collect cartridges, never magnetic media. The Apple II only used magnetic media. Secondly, the Atari 8-bit and the Commodore 64, although they were computers, had many console-like features(cartridges, digital joysticks, sprite hardware).The Apple II was purely a computer, not a game system with a keyboard like the Atari computers were(even though the Apple II did games very well)
Well put. Although Woz added a few design goodies for game writers (built-in speaker, paddles), and used game hosting as one of his design "benchmarks", there was *very* little game-oriented hardware in the Apple II, from beginning to end. And interestingly, any third-party attempt to add on game-oriented hardware (sound, sprites) was a relative commercial/market failure. Apple II game designers knew that to be successful, they had to run on the base systems. -michael Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's! Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/ "The wastebasket is our most important design tool--and it is seriously underused."