Angelo State University - Rambouillet Yearbook (San Angelo, TX)

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X OO O00 ooo GOO O Pac-Man gobbling up millions What was yellow, looked like a pie with a piece missing and went wacka-wacka-wacka when it gobbled up dots? Any student in 1982-83 could tell you-it was Pac-Man. Pac4Man was a video game critter who not only ate dots, but fruit and ghost monsters as it moved through a maze, Of course it was not as easy as it sounds, When Pac-Man did not eat a large dot to get energized-he was in danger of being eaten by one of the four ghost monsters named Blinky, Pinky, lnky and Clyde. The game was originally developed in Japan and was based on a folk character whose appetite could never be fulfilled. The name came from Paku the Japanese word to eat. ln 15 months Pac-Man swallowed up an estimated S1 billion in quarters and became the hottest item on the video-game market, Bally Manufacturing Corp's Midway sub- sidiary sold some 96,000 Pac-Man arcade machines in 18 months under a licensing ar- rangement with Namco Ltd. of Japan, and also held royalty rights to Pac-Man spin-offs, There were several hundred of these spin-offs. Ms. Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man machines as well as Pac-Man dolls, blue jeans, non-electronic games, puzzles, toys, pajamas, lunch boxes, bumper stickers, Hallmark cards and gift wrapping, Dan River sheets and pillow cases and J.C. Pen- ney children's clothing were just a few. Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia released Pac-Man Fever on Columbia Records which was number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March of 1982, A Saturday morning Pac- Man cartoon show and several howfto books were also popular,-PENA O 0 I ,Ap s....,.-v---l- ' Q O PAC-MAN Pac-Man is a critter who runs through a maze gobbling up dots and running from space monsters. Every once in a while fruit appears on the screen and if he eats it-it could be worth mega points. The big dots on the screen are energy dots. After a few seconds of eating of those the table turns and Pac-Man can gobble up the ghost monsters. v-f'?' ' ,L 9,f'A 'N jvffl' wx I f ..,. vi' f 4 W by .55 . -. gameroom Photosl S Myer Nina trys his luck at Ms Pac-Man in the U C Ms Pac-Man was the most popular game at ASU Stephanie Long enjoys the luxury of staying home and playing Pac-Man with her Atari 400 llrlambright pac-man

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Video Games: craze that stirs-up nation Flashing bright colored lights, funny sounds and deep concentrationeit could have been in the University Center, at Dawgs or Showbiz Pizza or even your dorm room or apartment-lt was video-games, a craze that took the nation on a quarter spen- ding habit. Basically, the video universe was divided into three groups of games with the most popular being the coin-operated consoles, Ninety percent of the arcadians were male with 80 percent being teen-agers according to industry estimates. As soon as the games became popular, as was to be expected, critics began judging their merit. Many said the games took up much study time as well as money, and they glorified violence and gambling, and led to tendinitis. Those in favor of the games said they were not only fun, but helpful when it came to eye-hand coordination, sharpening driving and math skills and preparing people for shock. Sherry Turkle, assistant professor of sociology at the Massachusettes Institute of Technology studied the impact of video games and said they indeed built confidence. students received. She said video games provided instant gratification and were pro- ven useful in breaking through to retarded or emotionally disturbed children. ASU student Michelle Miller said playing Ms. Pac-Man helped her to relax. She said she played the game in the U.C. gameroom or at Dawgs at least once a day. Ms, Pac-Man was definetly the most popular game played at ASU according to Wes Davis, university center director. Davis said the arcade machines were provided by Dreyer Music Co. of San Angelo and profits were split 50-50 between the company and the university. In 1982-1983 58,500 worth of quarters were spent in the university center gameroom. But gamerooms were not the only places video-games could be found. In May of 1972 the first machine to be played on home sets wasintroduced-ltwasOdysseybyMagnavox Three years later Atari entered the market place and quickly took over. Atari's Pac-Man alone surpassed 20th Century- Fox's profits from Star Wars, the best selling film ever made. An estimated 70 other companies were producing home video games, but Atari, owned by Warner Communications, remain- She said total concentration was im- ed on top. perative and was part of the high that According to an article in Fortune DONKEY KONG The only game with a story line. A lit- tle man in a hard hat climbs up a skyscraper to rescue his beauty who has been kidnapped by an ape. As he climbs he must dodge barrels that are being thrown his way by the ape. The way to dodge the barrels is to climb a ladder or jump over them. The jump button was a novelty unique to Donkey Kong. CEN TIPEDE The object of this game is to shoot the centipede before it gets to the bottom of the screen and gets you. As the bright colored centipede slithers down the screen and is hit the parts hit t become mushrooms. Look out for a - spider that jumps in and out of the screen and also for falling objects as the game advances. SPACE INVADERS Space Invaders is pure shoot-and- run-destroy the alien hordes or they will destroy you. After you have suc- ceeded to wipe out the first wave of at- tackers another takes its place star- ting slightly closer to home. 'ideo games Magazine one out of every seven homes in America had a video-game player in 1983. Coleco's CoIecoVision, Mattel's Intellivision, Activision and Warren Communications Atari were the top four game systems. Nobody scored higher on video-games than their manufacturers. The coin operated video-games alone gobbled up nearly 8 billion quarters annually according to a Feb. 1983 article in TV Guide. Video-games were an obsession that was bigger financially than movies or records. Cartridges for the home video system that cost only about S6 to make were sold for a retail price of S25-350. But it was not all fun and games-a game's lifespan usually lasted about a year causing manufacturers to constantly come up with new ones. In December 1982, the stock market showed that video-games were losing ground. Atari lost 31,3 billion in fourth quarter earnings and in the same week Mat- teI's Intellivision lost 51.92 million-40f7o of their earlier value. As the Rambouillet went to press video games were still popular among college students who prefered relax- ing their minds rather than having clean clothes-as they spent their laundry quarters on Pac-Man, Centipede, Space ln- vaders, Frogger, Donkey Kong, Defender, Tron, etc., etc.-PENA if l I

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10 ET., Gandhi, Tootsie are tops A small creature from another world, a short man from lndia and a man dressed up like a woman were the critic's and the public's favorites during the most part of 1982 and the early part of 1983. Those creations and the movies they ap- peared in were E T. from ET, The Extra Terrestrial, Mahatma Gandhi of Gandhi, and Michael Dorsey,fDorthy Michaels from Tootsie, During the summer of 1982 ET, was as hot as the weather in West Texas as the story of an alien left behind on earth who was befriended by an 11-year-old boy cap- tured the hearts of the nation earning over 5300 million at the box office. Soon after ET,'s release and success everything from a little ET, doll to the ET. toothbrush filled the stores becoming the big- gest money maker during the Christmas season. ET was still running during the early part of 1983 season and during that time picked up 10 academy award nominations i movies and winning four of those for best score, best special effects, best visual effects and best sound, Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of an out-of work actor who turns into a big success play- ing a woman in a soap opera in Tootsie proved to be the top grossing film during the Christmas season filling the theatres from San Diego, to San Angelo to San Augustine, Florida. Tootsie continued through the early part of 1983 picking up 10 Oscar nomina- tions, including best movie, best actor, best director and best supporting actress. Of those 10 nominations, 'lTootsie picked up one for Jessica Lange's supporting role as l-loffman's lady. The story of one man's move to bring peace to an entire country and the world became the talk of the early part of 1983 as Ghandi proved to be the big winner of the year picking up eight Oscars including best movie, best actor and best director. Ben Kingsley's portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi brought to life the story of lndia's fight for independence and peace within Y - ' X in itself. Gandhi became the top grossing film for the first months of 1983 and picked up 11 academy award nominations, of which it won eight. Other top grossing films of 1982 included Porky's, 4-8 Hours, 'LPoltergeist, An Officer and a Gentleman and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Also winning at the 1982 Academy Awards were Meryl Streep for her portrayal in L'Sophie's Choice and Louis Gossett Jr. for his supporting role in An Officer and a Gentleman. Both The Verdict and Missing pick- ed up several Oscar nominations including ones for best picture, but of the two, only t'Missing picked up one for best screenplay adaptation. Other films earning Oscars included UVic- torfVictoria for best adapted song, Quest for Fire for best makeup, Volver a Empezarf' a Spanish film for best foreign film and An Officer and a Gentleman Up Where We Belong for best song.-FLORES Dustin Hoffman stars as Michael DorseyfDorothy Michaels in the movie Tootsie, ln this scene he is left babysitting while the baby's mother lJessica Langel is out on a date. lColumbia Pictures Photol