Inspired by the fanboy rant from 1989, I went and poked around Google Groups myself, reading through the archive of net.games.video from 1982 to 1986. Alas, things are generally pretty level headed, with most of the discussion involving game reviews, high score discussions, and a ton of posts about the Vectrex after it hit fire sale prices. I did find a couple of tidbits to share, however.
First off, from a reply to a review of the Atari 5200 (March 1983):
Ah, the new system owner desperately defending their new purchase. The best part of this little rant is the bit about the controllers. My first game system was the 5200 and I'm here to tell you that those controllers sucked uncontrollably. The non-centering design worked okay for a few games, but if you wanted to play Pac-Man, forget it. Don't get me started about the fire buttons either.
The other bit I liked was a short review of I, Robot (Aug 1984):
It's like proto-graphics whoredom in action. Fast forward a decade, change the name of the game, and you practically have a review from the PlayStation launch. I love it.
FnordChan
First off, from a reply to a review of the Atari 5200 (March 1983):
decvax!harpo!druxy!rbd said:Us 5200 owners will just have to suffer until Atari gets into full production and until the 5200 "proves" itself. Intellivision and Colecovision may have beaten Atari to the punch with voice synthesis, 2600 adapters and software, but in the long run the 5200 will be more popular. The Intellivision and Colecovision controllers are awful (flames to /dev/null), and only because of expense. The game units are not as solid as the 5200, either.
Ah, the new system owner desperately defending their new purchase. The best part of this little rant is the bit about the controllers. My first game system was the 5200 and I'm here to tell you that those controllers sucked uncontrollably. The non-centering design worked okay for a few games, but if you wanted to play Pac-Man, forget it. Don't get me started about the fire buttons either.
The other bit I liked was a short review of I, Robot (Aug 1984):
!utcsrgv!spoo said:A new game called "I,ROBOT", just hit the Toronto area. If you can find it, go take a look at it--it's a taste of the future. A zillion colours, high resolution graphics, and REAL TIME 3-D GRAPHICS WITH SURFACE FILLING AND HIDDEN SURFACE REMOVAL. It's basically a simple game, and there isn't that much movement (the processors are probably wheezing), but it's so natural it's extremely impressive when you realize what's going on.
It's like proto-graphics whoredom in action. Fast forward a decade, change the name of the game, and you practically have a review from the PlayStation launch. I love it.
FnordChan