ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 5, 1996 TAG: 9612050005
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
AT VIDEOTOPIA, THERE'S AN original, operating Pong - the first commercially successful arcade video game. There's a working Space Invaders - the first blockbuster video game to appear outside of arcades and bars and reach a mainstream audience. There's a Centipede - the first video game from a female designer, the first to attract more female fans than male; it was introduced in 1981, the same year that Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman on the United States Supreme Court.
Videotopia's Breakout game was designed by the two men who later built the first Apple prototype and founded Apple Computer Inc. Battlezone was the first game with truly interactive three-dimensional graphics so realistic that the U.S. Armed Forces commissioned its manufacturer, Atari, to build an upgraded version for use in tank training.
Heck, Videotopia even has a Computer Space - a green, glitter-speckled, robot-looking thing typifying a '70s interpretation of the future. It was the first commercial arcade video game.
Then there's Videotopia itself, a first-of-its-kind traveling retrospective dedicated to the history of video games. Open daily during regular mall hours in the former Brendle's space at Tanglewood Mall, the exhibit is sponsored by the Science Museum of Western Virginia.
The display, with its many firsts, may be your last chance to see, much less play, most of these games, predicts Videotopia curator Keith Feinstein. He was 5 years old in 1972, when Computer Space made its debut.
It's impossible to know exactly how many video games were made during their historically brief but technologically rapid evolution, Feinstein said. Some, like Asteroids, were hugely popular, yet of the approximately 80,000 games originally produced, probably only 5,000 to 10,000 remain. Of the roughly 1,500 original Computer Space games, probably only 50 still exist.
For eight years, Feinstein has culled from among whatever games remain about 250 beeping, blinking, token-gobbling, in-your-face talking machines for display. He is president of the Electronics Conservancy, an organization dedicated to the history, preservation and restoration of classic arcade video games and commercial and home computer devices,
Videotopia tracks video games' histories from precursors that required placing plastic overlays on TV screens to simulate graphics and keeping your own score because the machine couldn't do it, to current simulators like the Alpine Racer ski game that, at $19,500 per unit, costs more to build than the average family car does to buy.
Feinstein, 29, a psychology graduate from Murray Hill, N.J., was three-quarters of the way through studying to becoming a chiropractor when he switched to this uncharted exhibit path, mostly because he became fascinated with the disappearance of the games and thought their history deserved preservation. He has been an avid video game fan since he received his first Atari VCS home system when he was 10.
``I have a tremendous respect for things,'' Feinstein explained. ``They're important because they're symbols of our history and our culture.''
Although he wouldn't give specifics, Feinstein said that putting together the educational and entertaining tribute, which he estimates is worth about $500,000, was costly. He credits his financial partner, Electronics Conservancy CEO Michael Agathis, with helping him produce the project and with having ``the guts and belief to see someone else's dream come true.''
Snippets of history and culture, including what movies and music were popular during a time period, are included in free-standing information panels accompanying each game. For example, Space Invaders, introduced in 1978, is aligned with the election of Pope John Paul II, the premiere of the movie ``Grease'' and the Bee Gees' release of the song ``Stayin' Alive.''
What's not written down, Feinstein very likely has in his head, ready to share at the slightest opportunity. He first tuned in to collecting video games during his college years at Drew University in Madison, N.J.
One part of Videotopia focuses on the creative elements in the origin and evolution of the games and introduces the pioneers. A second part looks at the technology behind the games and touches on career prospects, including as producer, designer, programmer, artist and hardware engineer.
Exhibit visitors who've paid attention to all they've read and observed while walking through the roughly 40 to 50 games and peripherals on display can take tests at little booths called interactive Power-Up Stations to win free game tokens. But undoubtedly the exhibit's most popular aspect is the opportunity to play. Many remember the games from days gone by, while other players grew up with game technology, Feinstein said.
The $2 Videotopia admission charge includes four game tokens. Additional tokens cost four for $1. That breaks down to one quarter per play for most of the games, which is the same amount they cost in their heyday.
``This is pretty amazing when you consider that we're working with 25-year-old machines that were intended to run about two years before the manufacturer wanted them dead,'' Feinstein mused.
To please manufacturers, commercial owners often would destroy or mutilate their games to make way for the new. For example, a PacMan is almost impossible to find now because most were converted to Ms. PacMans, Feinstein said.
In his quest for games, Feinstein often found that the artwork and graphics both inside and outside the cabinets had been removed, painted over or altered, which meant that he could only use the game for backup parts. But those parts were valuable, too, because they are no longer being made. Feinstein pointed out that when they're gone, they're gone, which further makes him believe that this exhibit is the games' last go-round.
On a recent afternoon, Feinstein filling in for his technical person, who was out with an injury, gingerly tinkered with the guts of a DigDug whose monitor had gone bad.
``You either learn about these things or pay a lot of money,'' he said, eyeing the parts piled on the floor before him. ``The bottom line is plumbing - the flow of electrons - they're either on or off. Once you get past the fear, you can do a lot.''
He plans to run Videotopia about three years, visiting such sites as the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, where it was before its Roanoke engagement, and the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, where it will be next summer. After that, he'll probably put the games into storage to protect and preserve them, or they may become the core of a permanent museum.
Videotopia, at Tanglewood Mall, is open daily during regular mall hours and will run through Dec.31. Admission is $2 and includes four game tokens. Call 342-5710 or 776-9968 for information.
LENGTH: Long : 122 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. Jay Sublett, 27, is immersed in theby CNBgame Joust at the Videotopia exhibit. Sublett was revisiting various
games from his youth. 2. Keith Feinstein is the curator of
Videotopia, a traveling exhibit in which about 250 vintage video
games are on display. 3. Atari introduced Pong - the first
commercially successful video game - in 1972. By contrast with later
models, the 2-knobbed console appears simplistic. color.