As was the case with numerous companies that planned big things
for the 2600 in 1983, Amiga eventually scrapped not one, but two
major projects that they had high hopes for.
Amiga first unveiled the Power Module in February of 1983 with
plans to release the Starpath Supercharger-type 2600 expansion
device sometime in the Summer. The Power Module had 6Kbytes of
RAM and games were to be in cartridge format.
To distinguish itself from the Supercharger which was already
on the market, Amiga was pinning its hopes on two unique features.
First, the Power Module was to offer a unique machine-interactive
game playing capability. When two Power Modules are linked up
via seperate modems, they can "talk" to each other over any
dial-up phone line. One player can be the submarine commander,
another the destroyer captain -- each with their own screen
display and set of commands. The modem was to handle the transfer
of all information between player's machines. Secondly, Amiga
touted a unique programming procedure that allowed games to be
played in 3-D, with the same red/blue glasses (included with the
Power Module) used to watch 3-D movies. This option was claimed
by Amiga to bring a startling new dimension to video game play.
The Power Module was to retail for $45 and come with two
Power-Play game cassettes: 3-D Ghost Attack, the first 3-D
home video game, and Depth Charge, the first machine-interactive
(linkable) video game. Additional game cassettes were to
sell for $9.95 and they were to include S.A.C. Alert, Strafe,
3-D Havoc and Scavenger Hunt, with more titles slated for
introduction soon thereafter.
Later that year in 1983, however, Amiga abruptly killed the
Power Module before releasing it and instead chose the 1983 Summer
CES in Chicago to take the wraps off a unique three-game
cartridge for the 2600. The new Multiplay Video Game Cartridges,
dubbed the Power-Play Arcade series, was to contain three different
games in one cartridge, bettering the two-game efforts done by
both Xonox and Playaround.
The first release, Power Play Arcade #1, was to feature an all
3-D video game format, including 3-D Ghost Attack, 3-D Havoc and
3-D Genesis. The Multiplay cartridges were to retail for $30 to
$40 and be on store shelved in time for the holiday season.
Christmas came and went, however, with no sign of the Power Play
Arcade games. It came as a surprise, therefore, when Amiga
announced in January, 1984 that a second and third series of
Power Play cartridges were planned for release. The second
cart was to have five games, aimed at the younger game player.
The first, Scavenger Hunt, was an all new game designed by Amiga.
The remaining four; Eggomania, Gopher, Word Zapper, and Galleon's
Gold (Name This Game) were titles that were previously marketed
by U.S. Games. For the third cartridge, they had agreed to terms with
Imagic that would grant Amiga the rights to market a number of
Imagic's VCS titles through the Power-Play Arcade series. The
Imagic games covered by the initial agreement included Demon Attack,
Atlantis, Cosmic Ark, Dragonfire and Star Voyager.
Although Mid to late March deliveries were expected for the
Power Play Arcade cartridges, none of them ever saw the light
of day.
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