“Worst Console in gaming history” My 1977, 13 year old self detects no lies in this statement. Even as a gaming newbie that year, I knew something was horribly, horribly wrong.
@CDP1861
Жыл бұрын
Then your 13 year old self was taking things for granted that were either horribly complicated or quite expensive at the time. The Studio II was none of these. Graphics require memory. Quite a bit of it (no pun intended), and memory chips at that time had only tiny capacities and cost their weight in gold. The Studio II's low resolution monochrome graphics required only a video buffer of 256 bytes, no more. Higher resolutions or color would have increased that by several times and thus have pushed up the price by hundreds of Dollars. Lots of money back then. To avoid that problem, early game consoles (including the Atari VCS) had no video memory buffer at all. That's the horribly complicated part. The microprocessor puts out the graphics data on the fly, synchronized with the electron beam of the monitor. That was not only hard to program, but also tied up the processor with keeping a picture on the screen and left little free time for such luxurious things as gameplay. The simple graphics chip sortof automated 'racing the elecron beam', despite itself being relatively simple and affordable. At least the programmers had not to wrestle with extremely time critical and error prone code to get something on the screen. How do I know that? My 12 year old self built an Elf in 1978, using the same duo of the CDP1802 processor and the CDP1861 graphics chip.
@chrisbode2155
6 жыл бұрын
Thanks so much for the memories! My parents and I spent hours (I was 6) playing bowling, blackjack and "baseball". Simply amazing, how far gaming technology has progressed over the years.
@michaelferrari7168
5 жыл бұрын
Yep it took me back, my family had one of these, and in the day it was COOL
@goldenphonautogram6141
3 жыл бұрын
That’s awesome, guys! I’ve heard that back in the day many families who actually bought it enjoyed it. It just didn’t sell well though.
@nerdcouncil
5 жыл бұрын
I just like the aesthetics of the console, and the history behind it. Although I'd never play it for long, be cool just to see it in action.
@zazelby
2 жыл бұрын
I remember really enjoying the Bowling game when I was a tiny child, but that's also the only game I can remember. I didn't own this console, I played it at the house of one of my mother's friends. (They went off in the other room to talk about whatever Moms And Their Friends talk about, while I kept myself entertained with the Studio II)
@craigusselman546
4 жыл бұрын
Its super cool to see a video game played on a 1950s tv.
@TheLimeyDragon
6 жыл бұрын
The Studio II get's a lot of hate but it has a far more interesting history behind it. RCA were working on a Studio III (which became the clone systems released abroad). 2 of the released Studio II games were in fact Studio III games. RCA was also working on a Studio IV and planning a Studio V.
@RetroGameLivingRoom
6 жыл бұрын
So, the Studio III was just gonna be a Studio II in color?
@TheLimeyDragon
6 жыл бұрын
It also had "improved" sound rather than having a one tone bleep. All Studio III games would be backwards compatible with Studio II. Also all Studio II games would be forwards compatible with Studio III. There's a gold mine of history/discoveries on the thing on a topic on the Atari Age Forums.
@RetroGameLivingRoom
6 жыл бұрын
I was aware that the color version was planned, just not that it would've been called "III." Console manufacturers in this era liked to release "sequel" consoles that had just minor upgrades, and not what we'd consider to be sequel consoles, generally. Channel F and System II, Intellivision and Intellivision II.
@brettknoss486
4 жыл бұрын
If they had bought Zylog, and looked at ways to reduce cost, possibly also bought the electronics division of COLECO, while at the same time worked with Bally and Sega to develop the Astrocade, Colecovision and Sega Master System into a series of backwards compatable consoles, that were designed to be industry standard.
@ultrairrelevantnobody1862
3 жыл бұрын
It feels weird that a highly respected and innovative company like RCA not only made what is objectively the worst video game console even at the time, but they then followed it up a few years later with the CED system which was one of the most heavily flawed ways of watching movies at home. Talk about a downward spiral.
@senorverde09
2 жыл бұрын
Actually the technology inside the Studio II was developed entirely by RCA a good three to four years before the console was released. They prototyped some experimental arcade cabinets using their custom ICs to the public but they were met with just as much enthusiasm as the Studio II itself. Wanting to make something commercial out of the project RCA had a prototype Studio II ready to hit the market by 1976 (where it could've done well against the Odyssey) but FCC regulations pushed it later to 77 where it was indeed too late. As you mentioned RCA's main problem throughout the 70s was throwing cash at various projects with no dedicated focus. RCA developed an entire line of computer chips that could've been used to make a complete 8 bit computer but corporate set no goals and let their divisions burn through cash.
@The_Real_DCT
Жыл бұрын
They also made the worst home video format of all time as well, the CED which was a vinyl video disc played with a diamond stylist.
@Hologhoul
2 жыл бұрын
Wow, it's not that it was bad so much as it looks 10 years obsolete already! Respect for the young lady who helped program it though.
@beauxguss6321
Жыл бұрын
My joke about our Studio II was that I thought it was the serial number and some other poor family had the Studio I. It was down right awful, even for the day. But our family of 5 kids still had hours of fun. I don't remember too many of the game cartridges anymore, but there was a Tank Command type game, and maybe HiIQ (although that might have been a program on the TI-99/4A my dad bought for our first Home Computer... the day after Texas Instruments announced they were discontinuing them. Hey $50 for a whole basic setup). We just accepted that we weren't going to get an Atari.
@doublewidelounge
5 жыл бұрын
That "glitch" where the ball changes direction mid-screen is a feature of the game. If you hit the ball while the paddle is moving it puts "english" on the ball and it changes direction. It's more noticeable to you on fast speed because you have more time to get your paddle in place at slow speeds. We got so good at that game that we could detect when someone put english on a ball more often than we got fooled by it.
@RetroGameLivingRoom
5 жыл бұрын
So I have been told. I thought I mentioned that in the video. I forget. I am glad to hear someone had fun with a Studio II!
@doublewidelounge
5 жыл бұрын
Sure we had fun! I lived in a small town and you had to drive an hour to the closest town that eventually had the Atari 2600 for sale, so for about 7-8 months I was the only guy that could play video games at his house. I really wish I had it back....
@RetroGameLivingRoom
5 жыл бұрын
@@doublewidelounge that is a heart warming story. I hope you find another Studio II!
@metatechnologist
3 жыл бұрын
@@doublewidelounge This is it. I think this review is kind of wrong for calling it the "worst console" or s-hit even because doing so is being completely insensitive to the enviroment that it existed in. As bad as it appears now, many parts of the world had not seen pong yet and this system would be completely novel to them. I truly think that it's not a question of being bad but a question of existing in the giant shadow of Atari and kind of being a me-too product. Now, what's amazing is this could have been engineered to be the first vic 20. The chips in this system are amazingly advanced and it was one of the first systems that had a cartridge system. Instead of copying Atari, they should have been trying to copy Apple which RCA could have done easily. The Vic 20 which was a breakthrough was released in 1980. The inventor of the chip inside this unit (cosmac 1802) was light years ahead of his time.
@_Thrackerzod
Жыл бұрын
Love the TV. Imagine how incredible this would have been in the 50s. I bet Wally and the Beaver would have stayed up all night playing it.
@DeadThumbGamer
5 жыл бұрын
👍🏿 for having a 1956 RCA 📺 Frigg’N Amazing!
@dexterkoula3407
5 жыл бұрын
dude your obscure console videos stomp literally all others on youtube right now. It's super obvious you do this out of love *plz no stoppie*
@RetroGameLivingRoom
5 жыл бұрын
Deal. No stoppie. :)
@DustinBarlow8P
Жыл бұрын
I like RCA, have a lot of respect for an electronics company to stay in business for as long as they have. Quickest way to go out of business is getting into the console business, unless you ave an elite staff of Devs.
@Gummybeer
6 жыл бұрын
That’s some nice 1 bit art!
@RetroGameLivingRoom
6 жыл бұрын
I gave it all the bits I could!
@The_Wandering_Nerd
6 жыл бұрын
How hard do you have to suck as a programmer to mess up Pong?
@garypranzo9334
Жыл бұрын
I own this and never knew about bowling, LOL
@Cre8Lounge
3 жыл бұрын
Our first video game
@OrdoNekro
3 ай бұрын
Duuuuuuuuuude playing the console on that vintage 50s TV is so rad!!!! :D
@JohnnyB82
6 жыл бұрын
You're awesome. Your content is cool. But the guitar riff between takes.... ugh
@charlesantill5838
2 жыл бұрын
My first console. Hard to hear people put it down. I had fun with it.
@DiabolikalRA
3 жыл бұрын
I'm curious. How heavy is this system? Because those old school tech things were made way before we started producing lighter materials. I remember how heavy the VHS players were, and most of this console looks steel too.
@RetroGameLivingRoom
3 жыл бұрын
Not very, despite the shielding.
@DiabolikalRA
3 жыл бұрын
@@RetroGameLivingRoom that surprises me. Out of all the retro consoles you've layed your hands on, which one was the heaviest or surprisingly heavy when it didn't look it?
@RetroGameLivingRoom
3 жыл бұрын
@@DiabolikalRA That's a good question! The Channel F is pretty heavy. It's heavier than it looks due to a ton of shielding.
@quasimodo1427
3 жыл бұрын
My family had this one I was a kid. We had every cartridge available unbelievable. There was this thing that was what do your biorhythm. I have no idea why
@beauxguss6321
Жыл бұрын
One time I programmed the biorhythm program to give me the "current" BR of Jesus (i.e. Born 12/25/0001 I think). Yeah, I know that's not when he was born. Thing beeped for something like 4 hours trying to calculate it. I think we did let it go all the way to the result. And, no, I don't recall if his BR was good or bad that day.
@quasimodo1427
Жыл бұрын
@@beauxguss6321 omg the weird stuff we did when we were kids back in the 80s. That was entertainment back then
@beauxguss6321
Жыл бұрын
@@quasimodo1427 admittedly, the bio program beeping every two seconds or so for 4 hours was about as entertaining as the Studio II ever got. :)
@AgentM79
3 жыл бұрын
I thought I was a hard-core retro gamer until you broke out the retro B&W television. I hang my head in shame as I laugh at your observation that it is actually dangerous to play Studio II. It is interesting to observe how the concept of game controllers has changed from the earliest home consoles until present-day. Great vid on a console many of us will never have a chance to play.
@thejawbreakersbandofficial4243
3 жыл бұрын
12:55 wow you got a strike. Do you know how hard it is to get one? That is awesome. I guess you kinda gotta get in that sweet spot kinda like when I played video Olympics tennis for atari 2600 and I found an area where I win without having to use the controller
@martinevensen406
Жыл бұрын
I prefer playstation 5 to this machine
@FoundOasis
Ай бұрын
Gen 1 was something else i would have stook with arcades lol
@Dennan
2 жыл бұрын
awesome video mate
@730indoorsman
2 жыл бұрын
Bowling game looks kinda fun
@sheilaanderson321
3 жыл бұрын
I was a nerd and loved the math game.
@whydoiexist5134
2 жыл бұрын
Why was there never a rca studio 1 ?
@RetroGameLivingRoom
2 жыл бұрын
The original RCA Studio was a traditional music recording studio.
@whydoiexist5134
2 жыл бұрын
@@RetroGameLivingRoom oh
@theallknowingsause8940
4 жыл бұрын
This is what would happen if someone from 1942 was able to design a video game console
@onicx4603
4 жыл бұрын
You might want to get the capacitors in that old TV replaced; should fix the noticeable warping, and extend its operating life.
@andrewbelmont665
11 ай бұрын
I admit I've never played this one, but I would still think the Odyssey 2 is worse
@RetroGameLivingRoom
11 ай бұрын
Nah
@Spider_Rico
6 жыл бұрын
I'm not going to be able to sleep after looking into those creepy eyes.
@craigusselman546
4 жыл бұрын
Hres the console folks....silence.
@LaskyLabs
Жыл бұрын
I can think of something worse... Pipin. Also the Atari 5200 is abhorrent.
@_Thrackerzod
Жыл бұрын
Atari 5200 games were incredibly good at the time, it was basically an Atari 800 computer in a console shell. The unreliable and non-centering controllers were what ruined it.
@LaskyLabs
Жыл бұрын
@@_Thrackerzod "Hey Billy! How're those 5200 games!" "Well they look great!" "How do they play?" "Play?"
@The_Real_DCT
Жыл бұрын
Eh, honestly the studio 2 was still way worse. Now if we're talking Game Com or R zone and hyper scan. Maybe
@theearnmoreyouagainmoreres8250
2 жыл бұрын
Refresh often
@Kanjilearner
5 жыл бұрын
Off-topic, but the tricolor of your logo kinda looks like the flags of Armenia and of the largely unrecognized Republic of Artsakh.
@flamsey
6 жыл бұрын
The Magnavox Odyssey was the first game console to use game cartridges
@RetroGameLivingRoom
6 жыл бұрын
Odyssey doesn't use ROM cartridges, which I was specific to specify. Odyssey just uses a PCB board that has nothing on it but jumpers called a "Game Card." You can see my Odyssey closer look here: kzitem.info/news/bejne/tp2Zv61-rIqLaGU
@flamsey
5 жыл бұрын
Oh ok
@Broddstein-r7i
4 жыл бұрын
You look like the modern version of Abraham Lincoln
Пікірлер: 74