This was Gameline, the revolutionary video game service

Did you know that the same year in which Atari experienced the monumental commercial batacazo with ET his console already offered the players a netflix of video games? The proposal, in fact, was basically the modern equivalent to Game Pass, although it is necessary to say that it could not be hired online and a little pot to Atari 2600 had to be put a little pot. The name of that madness so advanced to its time: GameLine.

Atari put the foundations of the video game industry. That is so. However, the merit behind the initiative was The Video Corporation Control Company that responded to the acronym of CVC. And despite the fact that the company did not survive its own revolution, not long after it will end up becoming the online america telecommunication giant. So, was it an exclusive Atari service such as Game Pass in Xbox and Windows? In CVC they did not understand exclusivities.

To put ourselves in context, the origin of the initiative departed from the entrepreneur William von Meisterwhose plan original I did not revolve around offering video games but music. Why didn't you get ahead of Spotify or Apple Music? The reasons were from how complicated it was to convince cable operators to everything that has to do with record rights, so that technology had, but The content was missing. Thus, after turning the same idea several, he decided to bet strongly on video games, although to achieve it, he had to sell The Master Module.

GameLine, the Game Pass de Atari … and its rivals

From here the question is asked alone: ​​what did you offer GameLine Who already had a Atari at home and to what extent was it worth? Needless to say, this service only worked in the United States, but even in those the use of the Internet to play or download those first domestic video games was something too “futuristic” for the walking citizen. That was a look to tear down since, as is the case with Xbox Game Pass, the business model key was at the subscriber base and the hiring process was by phone. Basically the same as the of the old + channel In Europe.

Gameline service was described as a video game network (“Video Game Network”) at national scale. To hire it you had to call the number 1-800-CVC-2100 and request that the Master Module be taken home, whose price was $ 59.95 of the time and, to make us an image, it was approximately equivalent to what had two Atari 2600 games. Its design and the way to connect it to the Consoles was like the cartridges and, although the pot itself was from the client, another 15 dollars had to be paid as a bail. To this we must add The download of the games.

That said, the Master modulate was actually a modem of 8 kb from RAM to 1,200 BPS, and although it looked as a very large Atari cartridge, which fit into the console slot, it also worked in practically all the systems of the time with the appropriate adapter, such as the expansion module 1 of the Collect or the Intellivision System Changer; as well as machines not so remembered Sears Video Arcade or Columbia Home Arcade. Consoles that did not survive the Crash of 83.

The forms of the Master Module, as we already put a little before, was a kind of oversized Atari cartridge and silver color, with pins for the ATARI 2600 slot and an entrance to connect it to the phone line. Moreover, in the box, in addition to a magazine, a full -color poster and the filler, the cable to connect it to our telephone network were included. And yes, the cartridges at that time included manuals and the Master Module was a modem, but not the exception.

What was the filler for? With the subscription, the PIN code was included to connect to the CVC service, as well as the periodic shipping of the magazine GameLinerwhich would be free during the first year, in which there was talk of the novelties that reached the catalog and what could be downloaded. Something like the Revistilla of the Plus channel of the 90s. However, and in the case of Gameline, only two numbers of the magazine were sent. But we don't move forward to events.

An overwhelming games at a very, very strange price for the time

And what about the games? With regard to the catalog, and according to the promotional brochure published in the specialized press, the plans were to offer six new games each month at least, as well as advances of others that were still under development. In total, those who had the Master modulate at home were able to download and enjoy Up to 76 titlesand that has to see it in perspective: few could afford to have so many video games at home at the time, so it was a complete madness. The strange turn? You had to buy the games.

The process to download the games was also a marcian: you chose the game that you liked the catalog, using the joystick, and after introducing your pin and the administered key was downloaded by the chosen title showing color vertical bands that, little by little, They approached the center of the screen. Once the rate was downloaded, it was a dollar to be able to play ten games.

That rate may sound strange with what we have now, but it was in line with how the recreationals of the time worked, where you had to throw a coin to play. If you passed the video game in a few attempts it was much more interesting to download it in Gameline than the purchase or rental options. Moreover, that same game was only stored for more or less a week, so I played again.

There were known games, most developed by Imagic, but also many who were not really attractive and even titles licensed by specially popular series and movies. From the official video games of Alien, MAS*H or the movie Porky’s a Jawbreaker o Polaris. And be careful, on your birthday you could play for free what you choose. In fact, the menu had the capacity to offer almost a thousand games: 999 plus the menu itself.

There were plans to go more? It was said that from CVC they tried – without success – to convince Atari, Activision or Parker Brothers to add much more attractive names to their catalog, and there were even plans for the system to offer other additional services to video games, such as news, online forums, Banking services or emails. The other reality: the CVC company He did not survive the Crash of 83.

Game Over for Gameline, or the price of advancing decades

Gameline's announcement, in June 1983, had an enormous reception by the specialized media that considered him “the best thing that has happened to the world of video game since the Joystick.” However, CVC only managed to send two numbers of the magazine GameLiner And, in the process, many of the planned plans and contents remained in the air.

In fact, in addition to other alternative uses to the download of video games in Gameline promoted competitions in which those who took the highest score in the chosen games would receive official merchandising. But, of course, it is time to get into context again: Atari and the others were on the verge of disappearance and many took them in front of the first great crisis of the video game. If the consoles and cartridges were being liquidated, that service had no reason to be.

GameLine was not a cheap servicebut we must admit that the vision was decades ahead of loyalty and technology. However, at that time the video game industry was sinking and made no sense For a little more.

A great idea that went to fret? Although the Gameline service closed, from the CVC ashes, Quantum Computer Services would be born, which – after its own trajectory in video games – will end up being in 1991 AOL, better known as America online. Perhaps 1983 was a bad date to offer Game Pass, but in the process an Internet titan was born that took a decade of advantage to the rest.

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