27 May, 2008 |

Intellivision Systems

Intellivision was a video game console released by Mattel in the late 70s. It‘s main competitor was the Atari 2600 whom it handily brushed aside. The Mattel concept was not only to release a video game player, but have it mimic a simple “intelligent” computer. At that time, the novelty of computer based games was just starting and they were not readily available.

The initial Intellivision console consisted of 4 games at a hefty price tag of $299.

In the 1980s, Mattel started to incorporate additional software into the devices enabling them to play more games and sales started to climb. Compared to the other products available at the time esp. Atari, Intellivision had superior images and sound production. But Mattel still did not have enough games on the market to reveal what its console could do.

Further modification on later models of Intellivision has even better sound effects, a key board and a built in basic programming language.

This was followed by addition of voice on units called Intellivoice. Since the development of Intellivision, the company had promised an attachment that would change the device into a home PC. Research and development was slow and the final product did not come out into the market until l981. At a steep price of $700, there were few buyers and the idea failed.

Later Mattel did come up with a new computer module called Intellivision 11, but this never took fruition. There were problems with both the software and hardware and many of the accessories for the computer were not available or the design was outdated. In 1983, Mattel did release its home PC called the Entertainment Computer System.

However, by this time there were some genuine competitors in the field of home PC and in the video game industry. By 1984, Intellivision had already seen its heyday and was finally closed.

Check out our selection of Intellivision games.