Intellivision

MASTER COMPONENT #2609


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DEVELOPMENT HISTORY



In 1976, Richard Chang, head of the Mattel Toys Design and Development department, 
began investigating the idea of producing a videogame system. He hired Glenn 
Hightower's APh Technology Consultants to help define the project. They found close 
to what they were looking for in the General Instruments integrated circuit catalog. 
The catalog described a video game system called the Gimini 6900 which could be built 
from off-the-shelf GI chips.



GI was enthusiastic about working with Mattel and helped make design changes. 
(The most important of these was adding a way for programmers to define new graphics 
for each game; the original design only allowed for a ROM library of graphics that would 
be used for every game. APh artist Dave James insisted this would be a debilitating limitation.)



The Mattel executives, however, were reluctant to compete with Atari in the videogame 
market; they put the videogame project on hold. Instead, Richard Chang's group started 
producing handheld electronic games, many programmed by APh.



These games, marketed under the name Mattel Electronics, were very successful. 
In the Mattel boardroom, executive Jeff Rochlis started pushing the idea again of a 
videogame system. He finally sold upper management on it; in 1978, the Intellivision project 
started moving forward again.



The actual engineering of the hardware (including design of the infamous hand controllers) 
was done by a team at Mattel headed by Dave Chandler, earning him the nickname "Papa 
Intellivision." The internal software (the "Executive") was programmed at APh.



(Midway through development, Texas Instruments approached Mattel and pushed hard to 
get TI chips used in the Intellivision instead of GI chips. Although they offered a great 
deal price-wise that was seriously considered, Mattel stuck with GI since it would have 
caused a six to nine month delay. A good thing, says Glenn Hightower, who fought against 
the TI chip set as being "inferior.")



The Intellivision was test marketed in 1979 in Fresno, California, along with four 
cartridges: Poker & Blackjack, Math Fun, Armor Battle, and Backgammon. The test was a 
success, and in 1980 the Intellivision went into wide release. 175,000 were sold in 1980, 
500,000 in 1981 and another 500,000 in 1982. Counting the Intellivision II and the Sears, 
Radio Shack and INTV clones, approximately 3 million master components were ultimately sold.



FUN FACT: Magnavox actually patented the concept of the home videogame when they 
created the Odyssey Game System. When Atari released the 2600, they obtained a license 
from Magnavox, reportedly at a very low price. By the time the Intellivision was released, 
Magnavox realized their mistake. They demanded a hefty fee from Mattel for each Master 
Component sold.



Mattel decided not to pay; after careful analysis, the legal department concluded 
that the patent would never stand up in court. Wellllll.....it did. Magnavox sued, won, 
and Mattel coughed up a few million dollars.