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kottke.org posts about George Plimpton

Asteroids vs Space Invaders! Scans of Early 80s Gaming Magazines.

The Video Game History Foundation has launched a digital library of documents, magazines, and transcripts related to video games that’s free for everyone to access. Some of you might be interested in the collection of materials related to the development and promotion of games created by Cyan (Myst, Riven, etc.) but I went straight for the library of video game magazines. The earliest issue I could find was this issue of Electronic Games from 1981.

the cover of an 80s gaming magazine with the headline 'Can Asteroids Conquer Space Invaders?'

an ad for Intellivision featuring George Plimpton

a scan of a holiday gift guide in an 80s gaming magazine

scan of an article about NYC arcades from an 80s gaming magazine

Ha, I bet you had forgotten that George Plimpton was a spokesman for Intellivision. (Quick sidebar here because I can’t resist this odd fact: Plimpton was one of a group of people, which also included former NFL star Rosey Grier & Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson, who apprehended and disarmed Sirhan Sirhan after Sirhan shot Robert F. Kennedy.)

That same issue of Electronic Games from 1981 contains this interesting nugget of news about how long McDonald’s has been thinking about replacing their cashiers with computers:

Will McDonalds be the first fast-food chain to hop on the electronic gaming bandwagon in a big way? The hamburger king has approached Atari about the possibility of designing a computerized video monitor. The device would take the meal order and then help the customer pass the wait pleasantly by playing a videogame. One potential hitch: What happens if a player is on a hot streak when the Big Mac, fries and soft drink show up?

Anyway, I definitely lost more than a few hours to this. You can check out the full digital library and watch this video for more information about what’s in it. (via the verge)

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George Plimpton in orbit

From an article in The Boston Globe by Samuel Arbesman, about his quest to name an asteroid after author George Plimpton:

There is a whole group of asteroids named after rock stars. Each member of Rush has a minor planet. Fantasia, Hammurabi, and Jerrylewis are all out there. While Goldfinger is not named after the Bond film (it’s named after an astronomer), Vespa is named after the motor scooter. Here is where we find the asteroid named Qwerty, and even an asteroid named ASCII.

While the author was on his mission to get Mr. Plimpton’s name on a piece of space real estate, he discovered some of the intricacies of naming objects up there. For example, the moons of Uranus have all been named after characters from works by Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. Also, those “name a star” advertisements on the radio are bunk. Although you get a certificate claiming your star has been named, the monikers aren’t recognized by the International Astronomical Union, the one organization that has authority in the matter.

You can look up tributes to George Plimpton on the Plimpton Project. To locate 7932 Plimpton, look up.