Sunday 19 December 2021

The unreleased Odyssey model, the YD7001!

 Hi folks,

As i am in touch with Nicholas Broetzman (long time collector friend) these days, he was telling me that Zack Horton (OdysseyNow) has a better picture of the unreleased "Ski Festival" and will eventually release it in a future pack, but also we were talking about the unreleased Odyssey model, the YD7001.

I don't know if some of you remembers that i did slightly talked about it here on this blog but kept this information for another time, well since i fell awful to suspend the OdySim, it is now finally time to reveal this historical information. I did tell that the picture of this model was already floating around the web for quite some years now (at least 15 years) but NOBODY suspected that this picture was indeed the unknown unreleased YD7001 model:

 Even Mr.Baer himself think he didn't knew about this unreleased model as it is also figured in his book: "Videogames: in the beginning"on page.76 (see fig.68). If he knew, why he haven't talked about it in his book ? Same as David Winter Pong-Story website (https://www.pong-story.com/odypics.htm#ody1), if you check out the link, it's the first picture showed. No mention that it's was the YD7001 model. 

You can also add these websites: 

* https://bamgameonline.com/the-magnavox-odyssey/

* https://thedoteaters.com/?attachement_id=9322

* https://thenvm.org/objects/magnavox-odyssey/

Heck...even the National Videogame Museum which is run by Joe Santulli, John Hardi & Sean Kelly has no mention that the picture is in fact the YD7001. 

Well, even myself didn't know about the YD7001 before 2012 and i have to thanks Nicholas Broetzman has he sent me these pictures:




Yes! You are seeing right! Magnavox was going to sell two models of the Odyssey! The one on the top is the YD7001 which was going to be sold at the price of $69.95 and the one on the bottom is the "Deluxe" version (aka the ITL200) and was going t be sold at the price of $99.95.

The YD7001 itself is the same thing as the ITL200 but instead of white, it was beige and the top of it was brown instead of black. Same as both controllers, they are beige and the cords are about half the length. Also, the YD7001 came with 4 game cards instead of six and came with overlays and accessories for 7 games: Table Tennis, Tennis, Hockey, Submarine, Cat and Mouse, Analogic and Simon Says.

Games available separately for the YD7001 were:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Football (YD7124)                - NO CART INCLUDED       cart 3-4
- Ski Festival (YD7172)            - HAS CART               cart 2 (and 2 diff. overlays)
- Haunted House (YD7173)           - NO CART INCLUDED       cart 4
- Roulette (YD7174)                - HAS CART               cart 6
- States (YD7301)                  - NO CART INCLUDED       cart 6
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Baseball (ITL700)                - NO CART INCLUDED       cart 3
- Wipeout! (ITL800)                - NO CART INCLUDED       cart 5
- Fun Zoo (ITL900)                 - NO CART INCLUDED       cart 2
- Interplanetary Voyage (YD7175)   - HAS CART               cart 12
- Brain Wave (YD7176)              - NO CART INCLUDED       cart 3
- W.I.N. (YD7302)                  - NO CART INCLUDED       cart 4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------


And games NOT available for the YD7001 were:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Handball (ITL701)                - HAS CART               cart 8     
- Volleyball (ITL702)              - HAS CART               cart 7
- Invasion (ITL801)                - NO CART INCLUDED       cart 4-5-6
- Basketball (YD7123)              - HAS CART               cart 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

So a HUGE thanks goes to Nicholas Broetzman for sending me the 3 pictures of the ad/flyer. It's people like him (as many others) that we are preserving the history of video games! ;)

Monday 13 December 2021

... game over ?!

 Hi folks,

It is with regrets that i have finally decided to stop any new updates for the OdySim until further notice. With what happened this summer (see previous post) and the damn pandemic that won't quit which affects us all in a way or another, finally has taken it's toll. Due to personal problems (health in the past and now economics), i have now 2 jobs so that i pay up the bills and all and a father of two kids, that doesn't leave me with a lot of spare time.

Also, with Zach Horton and his students (OdysseyNow), how can i compete with a bunch of people, a good budget and a top-notch laboratory with 3d printers and all ? Me vs. them, it's a total knock-out! I have NO budget, almost NO spare time, a simple printer and a 8 years rebuilt old computer. Simple to say, it's like a snack bar vs. McDonald just to make a comparison. So i'll be posting/uploading all my source codes of the OdySim by the end of this year on my Archive Library.

I'm not saying good-bye forever for the OdySim, it's that it's difficult to update/maintain a project when you have almost no time to spare. But for now, let's say the OdySim is on "pause" for many months. Maybe the OdysseyNow team could pick up where i left ? And i could help out from time to time. That would be so nice as i still have a lot of ideas and unreleased games. ;)

So thanks to everybody who supported the OdySim (comments, suggestions, bugs, etc) but it is time to leave it in other capable hands (and of course, imagination).

I will not close this blog as i wanted to post some upgrades, mods and hacks so starting next year, this blog will be hosting "Tweaking the Odyssey" and i can't promise that i will post often but will post whenever i can in between work and life.

So have a Happy Xmas everyone and a great 2022! =)

- Sly DC -