BIG news! By Donald A. Thomas, Jr. The election is coming up. That seems to be important. It's big news each night on radio and television lately. When I think hard about it, I am not sure why. Many people feel, as do I, that politicians say what they have to in order to be elected. Who knows what they'll really do in office. Even if I gloss over that admittedly defeatist viewpoint, there remains another popular viewpoint that the election is already decided... at least this year anyway. I suppose it's tradition. We all have to talk about it and hear about it just because it's America's ultimate soap opera. After all, obvious slam dunk elections have turned up as big misses at the polls in the past. It could happen again. As for me, I'd just love to see an innovative game company develop a program that pitched famous politicians against each other. Since the early days, when Activision released their blocky "Boxing" game in 1980, one-against-one bouts have been a popular video game subject. I'd love to see Clinton and Dole go at it in a video game. Perot makes a great on-deck challenger too! I suppose they'd have to V-Chip the game and gray out any blood scenes. I should run for President. I'd love to be in that game to throw some punches. Hey, everyone, write me in! "Turning Point", a popular television news magazine, featured an in-depth life-after-death segment the other night. Do you suppose there's a coincidence that Halloween is around the corner? Nah, they wouldn't be that corny, would they? The only explanation is that it must be big news. Personally, the entire concept seems to me to be more philosophical than newsworthy. If it wasn't for my family tying up the television, I would have preferred to play "Crypts of Chaos" (20th Century Fox, 1982), "Demon Attack" (Imagic, 1982), "Entombed" (USgames, 1982), "Frankenstein's Monster" (Data Age, 1983), "Ghostbusters" (Activision, 1984), "Ghost Manor" (Xonox, 1983) or "Haunted House" (Atari, 1981). Although none of those equal the notoriety earned by the likes of "Asteroids" (Atari, 1981) or "Missile Command" (Atari, 1980), they were all fun, share a spooky theme and helped wear the metal contacts thin on my Atari 2600 cartridge port. So the world is changing. No one cares if our President ever inhaled and schools turn in six year olds for kissing classmates to show affection. (Just imagine the outcry if "Custer's Revenge" (Mystique, 1982) was released in today's climate.) Sports games are hot news to gamers, but the mainstream press never mentions them. There's not enough room in the newspaper after you cover the more important non-sports news, you know what I mean, don't you?, the strikes, the spitting, the car crashes while boozed up. I think there's more real game action at Little League. For me, a good game of "Real Sports Baseball" (Atari, 1982) or "Bowling" (Atari, 1978) gives me all the virtual sports action I ever needed and the players never wind up being arrested. Yes, the world is changing. "PacMan" peaked when he made the cover of "Time Magazine" in the October 25, 1982 issue. They don't still sell Ralston's "Donkey Kong" cereal (1982) any more, right? I don't know. I stopped helping to pick cereal when I stopped seeing those cool video game promotions on the backs of packages each month. Yea, I see them sometimes now for a complete PlayStation system or a Big Screen TV, but it's not the same. They used to give away trips to Atari Headquarters and full size arcade games. I still have a couple dozen of the scratch off cards handed out at McDonald's restaurants in 1982 based on popular video games. Why don't they do things like that anymore? It was April 1976, when Atari first released the coin-op version of "Breakout". I remember sharing time with a friend at a convenience store well past midnight on one of those machines. Through the cigarette-stained glass and our own smoke filled eyes, we would stare at colored "bricks" and bouncing pixels for hours on end, driving the four-cornered ball past the front rows of bricks and into a wild frenzy against the back rows through a corridor at one side of the screen or another. Back then, things were different. No one heard of Aids and teenagers were afraid of being caught at something rather than catching something. I wish I kept the old newspaper clippings I saved back then. I one day threw them away because it was clear to me then that video games and home computers were front-page topics forever. I never had enough room to store all that paper. There were great video game magazines then just as there are now too. Back then, though, even "Playboy" and "Popular Science" talked about the new form of adult toys that integrated sizzling visuals, tantalizing sounds and responsive joysticks into one heck of a good time. Do they still cover those topics anymore? So who is buying these great new video games in stores today? Do none of these people watch television or read newspapers? Why is it that the video game industry is so huge, but new product releases and great top-notch programmers hardly ever rate in the entertainment sections? Where is Warren Robinett lately? Who's he dating? Is he married? Children? Why isn't he ever in the celebrity round-up section of USA Today? (Please don't tell me you don't know who he is. You'll really make me sob.) By the way, one of the institutional founders of the gaming industry proverbially died a few weeks ago. JTS, a disk drive company, absorbed all of Atari Corporation's assets and pretty much soaked it all up with few traces of the monolith that once stood. Ever see the witch melt in Wizard of Oz? Kind of the same thing, except muted. No big deal though. After all, Atari's final fall is not nearly as big news as predetermined elections, kissing babies, spitting athletes and Halloween stories of an afterlife. Is it? --Don Thomas 75300.1267@compuserve.com 209/239-3898 (The best people to ask these questions are those who have exposure to the public. If you believe Atari left us without saying goodbye, contact "Dateline" at dateline@nbc.com. If you REALLY believe, then send this article to 10 of your friends in e-mail. AND if YOU REALLY, REALLY believe, mail a few to newspapers or other news programs. A letter in your own words would be great!) Permission is granted to freely reprint this article provided the author is duly credited. (10/26/96)