George Plimpton Digs Intellivision

George Plimpton says Intellivision is far superior to Atari. Just look at those super-sophisticated graphics. Why, you can practically see the beads of sweat on that baseball pitcher's forehead.

To take full advantage of Flickr, you should use a JavaScript-enabled browser and
install the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player.

Comments

wardomatic says:

They couldn't have gotten a duller spokesman if they tried.
Posted 49 months ago. ( permalink )

Derbecker says:

Those of a certain age (36) and a gaming bend still remember when the blocky pixels of Intellivision was light years ahead of the blockier pixels of Atari. Sigh...
Posted 49 months ago. ( permalink )

dss902 says:

Man Baseball ruled it.

And I loved Plimpton in the ads.
Posted 49 months ago. ( permalink )

whatisee says:

oh my gosh, this brings back memories
Posted 49 months ago. ( permalink )

I remember the first time I saw a friend's Intellivision. I was so blown away. It was much better than my Atari. I can't believe that's what baseball looked like. In my memory it was much better than that.
Posted 49 months ago. ( permalink )

swatki says:

Intellivision baseball had the synthesized umpire voice yelling "Yer out!" Good times, good times.
Posted 49 months ago. ( permalink )

bjheinley says:

intellivision was for rich kids..

Odyssey II .. REPRESENT!
Posted 49 months ago. ( permalink )

Fortyseven says:

Intellivision...FOREVER!

Loved Tron Deadly Discs, and those D&D games... still do!
Posted 49 months ago. ( permalink )

dirjy says:

This is one of the all-time classic ads of the period. Intellivision did a major campaign with this straight-up "better graphics" comparison.
Posted 49 months ago. ( permalink )

toy bells says:

I still play my Intellivision all the time... same goes for my Odyssey 2.
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

cowicide says:

Intellivision scared me... I was used to Atari, it was familiar and safe. Intellivision looked freaky to me and I was scared.
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

kerfuffle & zeitgeist says:

I still have my 2600. Cartridges and lousy graphics intact. They started getting better in the mid to late eighties. 5200 was somehow more elitist system to have, but the 7800 I bought right off.
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

freezejeans says:

Still have my working 2600 as well, but as a kid I was jealous of the dudes with Intellivision and Colecovision--especially after seeing how Zaxxon supposedly would look in a Sears Christmas catalog. Man those ads were awesome back in the day!
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

cmolanphy says:

The point of going with Plimpton was to position Intellivision as the "high-class" alternative to Atari's crap graphics. It kinda-sorta worked -- Mattel never sold half as many IVs as Atari sold 2600s (then called the "Video Comupter System"), but those who did own an IV swore by it and felt like they'd made the elite choice -- kinda like the small but vocal minority of people who use Apple or TiVo.

Anyway, thx for the trip down memory lane! (I just turned 35.)
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

be OH be says:

I always thought those controllers were whack.
I was sure that joysticks would be the prevailing input device for game systems. Now everyone uses thumb-accuated controllers
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

Horasio Pennypacker says:

Man I LO(VED my Intellivivsion. I remember my friends coming over and going WOW! look at the graphics!!! As for that controller, well it took some getting use to but when you got the hang of it, they were the best controllers out there at the time. The gameplay in baseball and football were waayyyy ahead of their time when they came out. Played A LOT of B-17 bomber with the voice module.
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

daveinsac says:

I always wanted to beat up Plimpton, damn fancy lad snob!
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

LotusMonger says:

John Hodgman, the "PC" from the Mac/PC ad's with the two guys did a great parody of this for his new book. He has a flickr account
www.flickr.com/photos/areasofmyexpertise/
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

Jason_Combs says:

Intellivison was the first console I owned. Light years better than the 2600, but kids would always try and tell me otherwise. : /
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

bjheinley says:

Jason Combs is rich snob! */sneer!
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

scrubbles says:

This photo has just surpassed 20,000 views. Wow.
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

Jason_Combs says:

"bjheinley Pro User says:

Jason Combs is rich snob! */sneer!"

Hardly, my Dad bought the system, and we were average middle class. I just remember being at school and talking about games at lunch, and people telling me the 2600 was betterlooking. Hardware wise Itellivision was by far better. If I remember right it was the first 16bit system.

It's hard to tell by your comment if you are joking or not.
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

wancalo says:

excellent
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

Would you like to comment?

[?]

	scrubbles' photostream
		1,157 uploads

This photo also belongs to:

	The Interesting 50 (Set)
		50 items

	Videogame Ads 1982 (Set)
		16 items
	Part of: Vintage Print

21 people call this photo a favorite

Additional Information

Taken on November 10, 2005
Viewed 24,297 times

Add to your map

Yay location removed

...

(Some formats are OK.)

Or, remove it from the map.

Go to the map

You	Sign in \| Create Your Free Account
Explore	Places \| Last 7 Days \| This Month \| Popular Tags \| The Commons \| Creative Commons \| Search
Help	Community Guidelines \| The Help Forum \| FAQ \| Sitemap \| Get Help

George Plimpton Digs Intellivision

Comments

wardomatic says:

Derbecker says:

dss902 says:

whatisee says:

ahurley says:

swatki says:

bjheinley says:

Fortyseven says:

dirjy says:

toy bells says:

cowicide says:

kerfuffle & zeitgeist says:

freezejeans says:

cmolanphy says:

be OH be says:

Horasio Pennypacker says:

daveinsac says:

LotusMonger says:

Jason_Combs says:

bjheinley says:

scrubbles says:

Jason_Combs says:

wancalo says:

Would you like to comment?

scrubbles' photostream

The Interesting 50 (Set)

Videogame Ads 1982 (Set)

Tags

Additional Information