Videogaming Illustrated, February 1983

Videogaming Illustrated is one of the more obscure video game magazines, primarily because of its short life. It lasted two years before folding. It was published from 1982 to 1984 so the video game crash probably had a lot to do with its demise. Changing their name twice probably didn’t help either.

The February 1983 issue includes:

The Keyboard – Ironic optimism about how well the magazine is doing and will continue to do.

Eye On – Trouble for Astrocade; Milton Bradley releases games and a new console, the Vectrex; Data Age enters the Atari 2600 market with SSSnake, Encounter at L-5, Bugs, Warplock, and Airlock; The Great Game Company formed to release game show titles; Wizard Video develops adult oriented games such as Flesh Gordon and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre; Radio Shack releases Color Cubes Program Pak for the TRS-80; Sega releases Subroc-3D arcade game; LaserTour forshadows Pelaton; new games from Apollo; new TandyVision (Intellivision compatible) console; and much more.

Fiction – A story from Ben Bova called “The next logical step” and part one of another story called “User Deadly” from Richard Meyers.

Close Up: Sword Quest – It was supposed to be a series of four games: EarthWorld, FireWorld, WaterWorld and AirWorld – and competitions. It didn’t quite work out that way but that’s another story.

VIP: Don Imus – Profile and interview of on-air personality, Don Imus.

Supergaming – A look in the latest improvements in joystick technology including the Supr-Stick, the Videogame Controller Holder (clever name there), the PointMaster, KY’s FingerTip Controller, the Grand Stand, Wico’s joystck and trackball, and more.

Conquering: Cosmic Creeps – How to win (or at least do well) at Cosmic Creeps for the Atari 2600.

Cinema: Star Wars Saga – A look at the soon to be released Revenge/Return of the Jedi along with some new and not so new Star Wars related games (Star Wars: Jedi Arena, The Empire Strikes Back…). It’s interesting to note that this article talks about the fourth film coming out in 1986, the fifth film in 1989 and the sixth film for 1992 (all prequels) and then a sequel trilogy in 1995, 1999, and 2002.

Video Victor – A video game related comic strip.

Conquering: Atlantis – A guide to scoring high in Atlantis for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision.

Arcadia – The story behind how Bally popularized the pinball machine and turned pinball into a “respectable” game.

Conquering: Kangaroo – A guide to scoring high in Kangaroo for the Atari 2600.

Conquering: Dig-Dug – Doing well in Dig-Dug. At this point it was only available in arcades.

Meet the Original Dig-Dug – A look at previous underground heroes…

Computereyes: Time Zone – A detailed look at Time Zone, a lengthy (and expensive at $100) Roberta Williams computer adventure game. Plus briefer looks at other games such as The Movie Monster Game, Crush Crumble and Chomp, and Monster Mash.

Star Words – Hear various actors’ take on video games. This month, Marc McClure, Jeff East and Fred Williamson.

Championship Videogaming – Some hints from readers for Ulysses and the Golden Fleece, Kick Man, and Pitfall.

Input – Letters from readers about Activision, Cliff Robertson and the movie Charly, and Tron.

Preview – A look at recently released games including Centipede for the Atari 5200, Towering Inferno for the Atari 2600, Venture for the ColecoVision, Fast Food for the Atari 2600, Threshold for the Atari 2600 and Gorf for the Atari 2600.