Is there life after Pong?
Well, for his sake there had better be. Let's see if we can discover some more gems of 1970s arcade advertising.
I want to find the guy in charge of Atari's graphic design from the period and shake his hand. You can just feel the arcade operators reaching for the phone and frantically placing orders the moment they catch a glimpse of those fine women and colored stripes. Because, in the brave new world of TV games, these weren't just entertaining diversions...they were your gateway to
swinging!
You know what the problem with our beloved hobby is? It's no longer the purview of the glamorous set, erotically charged games to be played over cocktails. No, now you just buy the damn things at Wal-Mart, and there's nothing sexy whatsoever about that. The end of the Playboy Clubs signalled the end of the romance of gaming. But, for a bit longer we can remind ourselves of those glory days when a quarter spent could mean an evening of passion.
See that man? He's about to know the thrill of victory in every way possible. You just don't get that with the kids playing Tekken down at the mall. Or take this ad for instance:
That man, my friends, is a winner to the goddamned hilt. When Midway tells you it's the "television skill game that fits the mood of any scene", you know exactly what kind of mood they're talking about.
As the Seventies waned and video games became increasingly popular, this sort of advertising mostly fell by the wayside. But, is that truly the end? Can there be hope for the future?
Damn straight.
FnordChan