Did I Game on a What…???

Vectrex.

Sounds like yet another FDA approved drug bio-engineered to supplement or “enhance” your romantic evening with that special someone. Fortunately, this kind of man-made invention will never potentially cause you to “seek medical attention” (although it might not exactly “enhance” that so called romantic evening either).

To be honest, I’d never heard of a Vectrex until lately. I guess there are always hidden technological treasures out there yet to be discovered by geeks-alike. If by chance you are on the same blank page (question mark included) as me: Vectrex was a failed video game system of the early 80’s (1982 to be exact). So what made a Vectrex so special? And why did it fall into the vortex of obscurity?

As a crude moniker, the Vectrex was a rebel amongst video game systems of its era. As the name somewhat implies, Vectrex used programmable vector graphics displayed on a self-contained monochrome CRT (think Asteroids). Its theme of customization and modularity was the intention of its creators, who were really seeking to design a cost-effective mini-arcade machine. Heck, it even had a light pen option you could purchase.

Despite its corporate backing by Milton Bradley shortly after its debut, the Vectrex was indeed a doomed system. Despite its uniqueness as a portable quasi-arcade machine, it fell under the swift axe of the 1984 video game crash. Later, its creators even dabbled with the idea of resurrecting the system in the form of a hand-held portable gaming device. Unfortunately, about that time the Nintendo Game Boy had come along, thus providing much discouragement if not signaling the death knell to vector graphic games. Pixel killed the vector video star, so to speak.

Obscure as it might be, if you are interested in finding out more details surrounding the history of the Vectrex, Gamasutra has recently done an excellent article on the Vectrex as part of its “A History of Gaming Platforms” series. It’s a neat read, even if the popularity and demand of the Vectrex amongst technology nostagists is a bit silly. Then again, why am I still hanging on to my Apple IIc and video game boxes? I think my baseball cards are starting to get jealous.

Via Gamasutra