Source: TV Gamer – Winter 1983
TV gamer was a relatively short lived gaming magazine published in the U.K. from 1983 to 1985. It eventually merged into another magazine called Big K. The Winter 1983 issue includes:
News Pages
- Hardware – New hardware covered includes the Turbo steering wheel controller for use with Turbo on the Colecovision, a keyboard for the Atari VCS (though the release was cancelled in the U.K.), Spectravideo’s Compumate which was another device meant to turn the VCS/2600 into a computer, and much more.
- Software – New Vectrex games announced including Pole Position, Star Castle and Dark Tower; lots of new Colecovision games including Gorf, Wizard of Wor, Space Fury, Looping, Pepper II, Space Panic, Donkey Kong Jr., Popeye, Frogger, Tutankham, Super Cobra, Spectron, Super Cross force, Armored Assault, nova Blast, Wing War, Moonsweeper and Fathom; new Intellivision games include Beamrider, Q*Bert, Super Cobra, Popeye, and Tutankham; and for the Atari VCS/2600 are many titles including Joust, Moon Patrol, Enduro, Robot Tank, Decathalon, Space Shuttle, Subterraner, Laser Gates, Death Star Battle, Ewok Adventure, Q*Bert, Popeye, Lord of the Rings, Super Cobra, Stargunner, Ram It, Demolition Herby, Master Builder, and more.
System Factfiles
- Atari – Everything you could want to know about the Atari VCS/2600. Some interesting info: it was launched in 1977 in the U.S. and 1978 in the U.K, as of 1983 a total of about 12 million had been sold with 750,000 of those being in Britain, one of the more interesting accessories was the Starpath Supercharger which was a device for playing cassette based games on the 2600, and as of 1983 there were 150 games to choose from in the U.K.
- Coleco – The Colecovision was more expensive than the 2600 but also newer and more technically capable. It was meant to be expanded with three different modules including the Atari 2600 adapter (an adapter to allow you to play 2600 games), Turbo Drive (a driving controller for Turbo and perhaps other driving games, and a computer expansion (basically turning it into a Coleco Adam). These were not particularly successful, especially the computer expansion.
- Intellivision – The Intellivision followed the release of the Atari VCS by only about a year. In price and capability it fell in between the 2600 and Colecovision. The Intellivision also had a computer expansion planned. Turning video game systems into computers seemed to be the next big thing but people just bought more capable computers instead.
- Vectrex – The Vectrex was unique in a number of ways. First of all, unlike the other systems it had its own display and was portable (though not exactly a handheld). It also featured a vector display which made it very good for conversions of vector based arcade games. 21 games were available for it as of 1983 but sadly it never progressed much beyond that.
- Atari – This is really an entire games guide with many games listed. Those that are new include Alpha Beam with Ernie, Astro Attack, Battlezone, Black Hole, Dig Dug, Demolition Herby, Dream Flight, Enduro, Fathom, Forest, Galactic, Ground Zero, Jumping Jack, Jawbreaker, Kangaroo, Keystone Kapers, King Kong, Labrinth, Mafia, Magic Puzzle, Missile War, Ms. Pac-Man, Nuts, Overkill, Pac Kong, Pharoah’s Curse, Pole Position, Quick Step, Ram It, Save Our Ship, Sea Master, Skin Diver, Solar Storm, Space Eagle, Space Robot, Stargunner, Squirrel & Snail, Time Race, Tom Boy, Tutankham, and Zaxxon (preview).
- Coleco – A games guide for the Colecovision. New games include Donkey Kong Jr., Looping, Pepper II, Q*Bert, Space Fury, Space Panic, and Wizard of Wor (preview).
- Intellivision – A games guide for the Intellivision. New games include Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasures of Tarmin and Pinball.
- Vectrex – A games guide for the Vectrex. New games include Animation, Artmaster, Bedlam, Flipper Pinball, Fortress of Narzod, Melody Master, Spike, Soccer, and Webwarp.
Competitions
- Win five Activision cartridges! – A total of 50 cartridges are being given away, 5 for each winner. all you have to do is to complete a word search than includes the names of 24 Activision games.
- Win a Coleco Computer! – Make as many words as you can out of the word ‘Colecovision’ for your chance to win one of three Coleco Adam computers.
- Win a Vectrex, complete with Light-pen – An interesting contest in which you are given a white page with three black dots. You may add up to 20 additional dots and connect them with straight lines to create your own design. This is supposed to mimic drawing on the Vectrex with the light-pen.
- Win an Intellivoice and B17 Bomber cartridge – The Intellivoice added voice capabilities to games that supported it (including B17). To win, you must come up with a voice script for Burger Time.
Club Section
- Letters – Letters from readers discussing X-rated games, Colecovision joysticks, games from America, and more.
- The Programmers strike back! – Easter eggs that programmers have hidden in games including Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., The Empire Strikes Back and more.
- Games Clubs – are they worth it? – Most are free so the answer is yet. Often these clubs include some sort of free magazine or newsletter and discounts. Examples include Fun Club News (Activision), VCS Owners Club Bulletin (Atari) and Parker Video Games Club Newsletter.
- Your Ideal Games Machine – Features desired in a future games machine as provided by readers. Examples include stereo sound, inter-changeable controllers, the ability to work from tape or cartridge, the ability to use headphones, keyboard, wireless controllers, portable systems and more.
- Puzzle Page – Find 16 video game characters in the given image.
…and more!
