Here you will find Bally Arcade / Astrocade articles and news from books, magazines, and trade papers.
| Astrocade's The Incredible Wizard for Astrocade | Astrocade's The Incredible Wizard for Astrocade By Danny Goodman Radio Electronics, April 1983 Video game review of The Incredible Wizard. The review score is 9/10 (excellent), which is great in itself and is only better when compared to the review of the Atari 2600 version in the July 1983, which scored 5/10 (fair). (2 pages) |
| A Broker's Bubbly Ballyhoo for Bally | A Broker's Bubbly Ballyhoo for Bally By Dan Dorfman Daily News, April 29, 1982 A Wall-Street-Journal-type look at Bally Manufacturing Co. (1 page) |
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Animating the Death Star Trench By Neesa Sweet The Very Best of Fantastic Films, February 1981 Larry Cuba describes how he animated forty seconds of animation for Star Wars: A New Hope. (6 pages) |
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Astrocade: One More Time
By Mark Borwnstein Video Games, June 1983 This is not a review of the Astrocade console; it's an overview of the system. It covers both the history and the current situation. In 1983 this would have been very helpful to Astrocade owners that were in the dark. It even mentions rare (released) hardware items like the Blue Ram expansion (which I've never seen mentioned in mainstream press elsewhere). This is a color article (1.35MB). A smaller (612K) B&W version (without the magazine cover) is also available for faster download here. (2 Pages, plus cover) |
| Astrocade [System Review] | Astrocade [System Review]
By Danny Goodman Radio-Electronics, July 1982 Another review of the re-released BPA from Astrocade. This is the second review of this console in this magazine in four months! (2 pages) |
| Astrocade Enters Video Space Wars | Astrocade Enters Video Space Wars
(No Author Mentioned) Leisure Time Electronics, February 1982 News item describing that Astrovision is about to spend ten million dollars on TV advertising. (1 page) |
| Astrocade Sues Commodore and Atari | Astrocade Sues Commodore and Atari By Barry Bayer Infoworld, June 1982 The suit claims that Atari and Commodore are using patents licensed exclusively to Astrocade that deal with bit-mapped graphics for video display. (1 page) |
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Astrocade's_Underground By Danny Goodman Joystik, Sept. 1983 This article is about how Astrocade users get along without support from Astrocade, Inc. In 1983, this was quite a lot of exposure for this console. The article begins: "You can't really call the group an "underground," because it operates openly, almost vocally. But, few of the millions of Atari, Mattel, Odyssey and Coleco players are aware that an entire cottage industry has grown around the highly rated, but rarely seen, Astrocade Professional Arcade system. To gain appreciation for the third-party support out there, consider that almost 400 individual programs are currently available for the Astrocade- more than for the Atari 2600 and Mattel Intellivision combined." (4 Pages) |
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Astrovision Arcade is Packaged and Expanded CES Trade News Daily, Jan. 10, 1981 Astrocade has repackaged the line, added Bally BASIC and plans ten new cartridges. (1 page) |
| Video Games, October 1982 | Atari Vs. Astrocade By R.H. Video Games, October 1982 A short news item that gives the reason why Munchie (the Astrocade Pac-Man clone) was never released. (1/4 Page) |
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Bally Professional Arcade from Astrovision, at CES booth 2501. Show Daily Arcade $299, ZGRASS-32 Keyboard $599, Complete System $898. "32K Computer. With the plug-in ZGRASS-32 keyboard, the Arcade becomes the easiest computer to use and the most powerful system available for creating graphics on the TV screen." |
| Computer Shakeout Article | Computer Shakeout Article (No Author Mentioned) Unknown Magazine, Match 1981 Too many new computers at CES could mean a shakeout is coming soon. (1 page) |
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Chip Set Marks Difference Between Arcade and Home Games By John C. Dvorak InfoWorld, May 12, 1982 Brief article talks about how using a chipset (in particular the DNA shipset) in conjunction with a CPU makes the graphics smoother. (1 page) A text version of this article is available here. |
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"Express Stop" User Letter Printed in Electronic Games Magazine, November 1982 Letter from Alfonzo Smith, Jr. (Cleveland, Ohio) asking what happened to the BASIC Express newsletter. The editor explains that the newsletter is no longer published and that an upcoming article concerning the Astrocade will be published in the January issue. (1 Pages, plus magazine cover) |
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Game Workout - Astrocade By Michael Blanchet Electronic Fun with Computers & Games, January 1983 A review of the Astrocade console. Includes some screenshots of unreleased games. Color article plus the cover of the magazine (3.9MB). A smaller (847K) B&W version (without the magazine cover) is also available for faster download here. (4 pages, plus cover) |
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Fantastic Combinations of John Conway's New Solitaire Game "Life," The By Martin Gardner Scientific American, October 1970 and February 1971 These are the two articles that got the computer program "Life" so popular in the early to mid-seventies. The first article, by Martin Gardner, from the October 1970 "Mathematical Games" section is called, "The Fantastic Combinations of John Conway's New Solitaire Game 'Life'." The next article is a follow-up to the first article. |
| "For Bally Arcade Users" | "For Bally Arcade Users" By Hank Scott Science & Electronics, May/June 1981 A letter, with answer, from the Input/Output Dept. ("Letters to the Editor" column). (1 page) |
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Hard Sell: The $300 Question: Astrocade or Intellivision? By Roger Dionne Video Games, October, 1982 Which System is better, the Astrocade or the Intellivison? (4 Pages) |
| Hardware: Astrocade and Z-Grass 32 | Hardware: Astrocade and Z-Grass 32 By Marc Stern Radio-Electronics, April 1982 Review of the re-released BPA from Astrocade. (2 Pages) |
| Latest Micros Offer Power and Graphics | Latest Micros Offer Power and Graphics Carl Warren Popular Electronics, May 1982 From article: "The AstroArcade [sic] is a Z-80 based add on system starting at $299 for the basic game unit with a $599 keyboard unit that houses a disc controller. It also has serial ports, cassette tape controller and voice synthesizer, and is totally oriented toward color." (2 Pages) |
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Mass Impact of Videogame Technology, The By Tom Defanti Advances in Computers, Vol. 23, 1984 This is a fifty-page "book" from 1984 about how videogames have affected technology. It's written by Thomas A. Defanti, the man behind the ZGrass language and the UV-R computer. Abbreviated "Table of Contents:" 1. Introduction 2. History of Videogames and Related Developments 3. Coin-Op Game Manufacturers 4. Types of Games 5. Market Considerations 6. Videogame Hardware 7. Videogame Hardware 8. Legal Issues 9. Future Developments 10. Conclusions 11. ReferencesAn alternate version is available here. This alternate version has two pages scanned per page. If you plan to print the "book" out, then this is probably the best version to download. |
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Professional Arcade Gives You More!, The [Advertisment] Electronic Games, August 1982 Full page color advertisement for the BPA. |
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Professional Arcade Upgrades To A Computer (No Author Mentioned) Electronic Games, Winter 1981 Astrovision plans revival. Includes the front cover (in color) of this magazine. (1 page, plus cover) |
| Rolling Your Own | Rolling Your Own By Danny Goodman Radio Electronics, September 1983 Details how "the open access to the Astrocade has caused a closely knit and loyal following of Astrocade enthusiasts to band together in users groups and in open exchange of information." (2 pages) |
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Space Fortress Review (No Author Mentioned) Video Games, October 1982 Includes the back and front covers (in color) of this magazine. Notice that the back cover lists the arcade versions of Gorf and The Adventures of Robbie Roto! |
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Test Lab: Astro Professional Arcade By Henry B. Cohen Electronic Games, June 1982 An Astrocade console review that contains a screenshot of an unreleased game (Coloring Book). This is a color article (3.2MB). A smaller (244K) B&W version (without the magazine cover) is also available for faster download here. (2 pages, plus cover) |
| Video Games [System Comparison] | Video Games [System Comparison] (No Author Mentioned) Consumer's Reports, November 1982 An article that chooses the Astrocade as the best game machine choice of 1982 (versus the Atari 2600, Intellivision and Odyssey 2). (7 pages). |
| Video Game Death Could Put Supplier on Ice | Video Game Death Could Put Supplier on Ice By Dan Dorfman Chicago Tribune, October 14, 1982 Is Astrocade About to go Out of Business? (One page) |
| Where are They Now? Bally, Interact and VideoBrain | Where are They Now? Bally, Interact and VideoBrain By David H. Ahl Creative Computing, September and October (1981?) Two articles here. The first poses the question to readers asking what happened to three computer companies. The follow-up has the answers. Good historical information here. (3 Pages) |
| Z-Grass 32 Keyboard | Z-Grass 32 Keyboard (No Author Mentioned) Interface Age, April 1981 Short news item that has information on the Z-Grass 32 keyboard expansion unit. (1 page) |
