George Plimpton dies at 76

[mezrabad]

Sorry if this is only related to video games in a peripheral way.

For those of you under 20, in case you didn't know, George Plimpton was the spokesperson for the Intellivision back in the day. I didn't think this worthy enough to be a news item but it made me go, "hey, the Intellivision guy is dead."

Just the fact that a system had a spokesperson at all is interesting to me. I can only think of one other spokesperson for a system (William Shatner for the Commodore Vic-20). Anyway, in my vastly underinformed opinion, aside from the system and the games themselves (which don't always matter, ie GameCube, Dreamcast) one of the big reasons Intellivision made any headway at all in getting through to consumers despite Atari was because of it's marketing strategy. Getting the pro sports licenses and hiring Plimpton to do a few ads were brilliant moves. Yes, the hardware is important, yes the games are important but without good marketing, nobody hears about it. Of course, you all already knew that, no doubt.

"Atari vs. Intellivision? Nothing I could say would be more persuasive than what your own two eyes will tell you. So compare for yourself. Game for game, feature for feature, I think you'll find Intellivision is clearly superior."
-George Plimpton

[omnedon]

The man did a great many things in his life, acting, writing books, and sportswriting and newsreporting.

But in these parts, we shall remember him for giving us the fodder for the playground debates of which was better, the Atari, or the IntelliVision.

Thanks George!

[rolenta]

Just the fact that a system had a spokesperson at all is interesting to me. I can only think of one other spokesperson for a system (William Shatner for the Commodore Vic-20).

Alan Alda pitched the Atari computers

[Pantechnicon]

:(

I used to hate those ads he would do for Intellivision because, frankly, they scared me. I was a dyed-in-the-wool Atari fan (still am), and to my twelve-year-old mind this evil British man who was juxtaposing these systems was setting up arguments that I coulnd't beat. Admittedley, those Intellivision graphics did look better.

So I started thinking about why I liked Atari best and it came down to better gameplay, although I didn't know that precise term at the time. And I would tirelessly subject my friends to arguments that graphics didn't matter as much as whether or not games were fun to play. Thus, I have to give old George credit for stimulating me into being a discerning and more critical gamer than I might have been.

At CGE 99 that was the first time I was privelaged to hear the Blue Sky Rangers give a lecture, and that effectivley buried any lingering animosity I had leftover from the Atari/Intellivision war and I have come to appreciate the system very much (except for the controllers LOL ). So may God rest you, Mr. Plimpton. I'll be breaking out Space Armada and Boxing today in your honour.