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History of video games/Platforms/Sportronic Electronic TV Sport

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History

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Background

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Downtown Auckland in 1975.

Bob Kerridge, son of the Christchurch New Zealand theater tycoon Sir. Robert James Carridge, would found two two media companies involved in the production of the Sportstronic.[1][2] The first was the parent Spectrum Group of Companies, which was founded in 1966.[2] The second was a division of the former in Sportronic Television Ltd, founded in either 1977,[2] or the 30th of August, 1976.[3]

Development

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The Spectrum Group of Companies was located at 82 Symonds Street in Auckland New Zealand at the time of manufacturing.[1]

Actual manufacturing of the console was done in New Zealand by Osborne Professional Electronics Ltd.[1]

Marketing

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Sportronic
The games people play.
—Common slogan for the Sportronic, Sportronic Poster[4][5]
Introducing the Third TV Channel.
—Marketing for the Sportronic console, Sportronic Poster[4]

Marketing materials for the Sportronic featured a nuclear family, with a mother and father watching their daughter and son playing the console.[4] This marketing material is fairly egalitarian, which was common in 1970's game marketing materials.[6]

Shoot your TV!
—Marketing for the Sportronic console and light gun, Sportronic Poster[5]

Interestingly, advertising for the light gun shows gameplay for a pong like game.[5]

Launch

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The console is said to have been released in 1977.[7] The Sportronic 6 console with light gun included retailed for $135.20 New Zealand Dollars.[8]

Legacy

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Sportronic TV Ltd was removed from government listings in September of 2002.[9]

Technology

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The Sportronic was a dedicated console with all of it's games built in to the system.[10]

The Sportronic was able to keep an on screen score.[4]

The "Sportronic Phaser Gun"[8] light gun for the Sportronic was fairly aggressively styled for the time, featuring a look similar to a submachine gun.[5]

Similar to other consoles of the era, the Sportronic was battery powered.[8]

There were at least two models of the Sportronic with different trims, the Sportronic 4 without rifle games, and the Sportronic 6 with rifle games.[9]

Games

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Games were built in and could be selected with a dial on top of the console. Games were all themed around sports, as the name implies.

The built in games were as follows:

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References

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  1. ↑ a b c "Games console". 11 October 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  2. ↑ a b c "Kerridge, Bob, 1938-". Kerridge, Bob, 1938- | Items | National Library of New Zealand | National Library of New Zealand. 1 January 1938. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  3. ↑ "SPORTRONIC TELEVISION LTD - New Zealand Company". newzealand-company.com. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  4. ↑ a b c d "Obscure Pixels". web.archive.org. 4 June 2003. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  5. ↑ a b c d "Wayback Machine". web.archive.org. 12 June 2003. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  6. ↑ Hess, Amanda (4 December 2013). "A History of Sexist Video Game Marketing" (in en). Slate Magazine. https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/12/female-gamers-and-masculine-marketers-polygon-s-history-of-the-sexist-selling-of-video-games.html. 
  7. ↑ "TV Sport for Dedicated console (1977)". MobyGames. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  8. ↑ a b c "Obscure Pixels". web.archive.org. 21 February 2004. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  9. ↑ a b Brown, Russell (September 22nd, 2003). "Sportronic in Beige • Hard News • Public Address" (in en). publicaddress.net. https://publicaddress.net/hardnews/sportronic-in-beige/. 
  10. ↑ "Forward To The Past – Engaging With New Zealand’s Early Computer Games – Gauge". https://ngataonga.org.nz/blog/nz-history/nz-early-computer-games/. 
  11. ↑ a b c d e f "Games console". 11 October 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
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