Gameline

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The CVC GameLine (Control Video Corporation) was a cartridge for the Atari 2600 which could download games from a phone line.

In the early 80’s a cable pioneer named William von Meister was looking for a way to use his innovative modem transmission technology, which he had recently acquired in ill-fated attempts of sending music to cable companies. Because of legal issues the cable providers stepped away from using the service. This left Von Meister with a delivery tool and no content. Von Meister converted his variable speed adaptive modem technology to download games from central servers to individual households. This allowed users to call up a system and for a fee download games to their GameLine modules. The game would work for typically 5-10 plays, after which the user would have to connect to GameLine again and pay for another download. Physically, the GameLine looked like an oversized silver Atari cartridge, it had a phone jack on the side that was used to link the GameLine with the CVC computers. The GameLine module was able to transmit with pulse or tone dialing, this allowed the little unit to be very versatile in the field. When a user registered with the service they were given a PIN. This PIN was used to log into the central CVC computer and download the requested games. One of the benefits of registering was that you were given free games on your birthday. GameLine was one of many smaller companies that went bust in the video game crash of 1983.

GameLine provided competitive players an opportunity to compete in contests with selected games, where they could upload a high score. Prizes would be awarded to regional (and supposedly national) champions. One such regional prize was a GameLine windbreaker.

1 Membership benefits
2 Potential spinoffs and demise
3 Industry impact
4 Game selection
5 External links

[edit] Membership benefits

The games on Gameline were all from 3rd party gamemakers, the largest of which was Imagic. Gameline tried, but failed to obtain licensing agreements from the largest game makers. Among the missing were Atari, Activision, Coleco, Mattel, and Parker Brothers. Each subscriber to GameLine also received a professionally printed magazine called Gameliner. GameLiner consisted of information about new games added to the service, questions and answers, advice on better gameplay, and a list of all currently available games on GameLine.

[edit] Potential spinoffs and demise

Gameline was originally envisioned to not provide just games, but also news (NewsLine), stock quotes (StockLine), sports reporting and scores (SportLine), electronic mail (MailLine), online banking (BankLine), online forums (OpinionLine), and a wide variety of information including airline schedules, horoscopes, and classified ads (InfoLine). Gameline ceased operations before any of these expanded services were offered, though StockLine and SportsLine were reportedly near full implementation.

[edit] Industry impact

Even though the GameLine died the investors and founding members of CVC went on to start a new company that would continue to use the technological infostructure they had built. The company, called Quantum Computer Services was created by Steve Case, among others. This company created a service called Quantum Link which linked together Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 users offering many of the expanded services originally envisioned for GameLine. Quantum Computer Services eventually changed its name to America Online in October of 1991. Though the company still (technically) exists, support for the Gameline does not.

The GameLine is remembered for its pioneering vision and its unique selection of games like Save The Whales.