The following is part of our 25-day Holiday Countdown Calendar! Every day from December 1st through the 25th, we’re posting a cool game history treat, daily updates from the VGHF, giveaways, and more! To make sure you don’t miss a day, sign up for our email list:
This is all part of our annual Winter Fundraiser donation drive, where we ask those who are able to generously give what they can so that we can continue thriving. If you’re able to make an additional one-time charitable contribution, this really is the best time to do so, as your donations will be DOUBLED thanks to a generous group of sponsors! Head on over to gamehistory.org/donate to learn more and give today.
Back in the retail years of the video game industry, if you had a new product, you didn’t just have to advertise it to consumers. You also had to advertise it to stores! One of our favorite types of artifacts is the rare “trade” ad: an ad that was either handed out at trade shows or printed only in retail trade magazines. These are not only rarely seen by the public, it’s rare to find surviving examples!
This one comes from an unknown, tabloid-sized trade magazine. I say “unknown” because we actually sourced this on eBay, from a seller who clips ads and sells them individually. We asked the seller which magazine this came from but they, uh, wouldn’t tell us, fearing we’d steal business from them. But my best guess based on the tabloid size would be either TWICE – a consumer electronics newsletter – Toy & Hobby World, or perhaps an actual CES show daily.
Today’s Sponsor
Today’s sponsor is independent game publisher Nighthawk Interactive! Nighthawk has been supporting our fundraisers since year one, and we can’t thank them enough.
They’ve offered to DOUBLE every dollar put toward our goal this year, up to $1,000! As I write this we’re still pretty far from our goal, so if you’ve been waiting to give this year, this would be a really great time.
This is one of the coolest trade ads in our collection: an announcement of the Sega 3D Glasses, an add-on peripheral for the Sega Master System. This ad was placed ahead of the hardware’s debut at the Winter 1987 Consumer Electronics Show. Sega’s booth that year also included games like Space Harrier and Quartet.
Ads like this are great artifacts because they help us understand how game companies were selling their products. This isn’t the ad that ran in magazines. This was the ad that got the Sega 3D Glasses on shelves in the first place.
It’s also so aesthetic. The glasses in this ad are different from the final version too, which look a little less cyberpunk.
GOG Bundle Still Available!
GOG, along with a group of game developer friends, has put together a game history bundle for our benefit!
We’ve personally curated a selection of three historically important and interesting titles: The Last Express by Jordan Mechner and Smoking Car Productions, The Manhole by Cyan, and Wasteland by InXile (or originally, Interplay).
Not only have these three publishers agreed to donate all profits to us, so has GOG! If you’re interested, the bundle is available now through December 20th.
You can see tomorrow’s post right now!
Members of our Patreon who support us at $5 a month or higher get access to our daily Holiday Countdown Calendar posts one day early!
If you’re a patron, today you can check out rare photos of a 90s bobcat mascot in his natural environment.