History of video games/Platforms/Fairchild Channel F

Jerry Lawson
Fairchild Semiconductor Engineer Jerry Lawson made an early arcade cabinet called Demolition Derby, which prompted Fairchild Semiconductor to quietly expand into the game industry.

While working on the Fairchild Channel F, Lawson made the first real game cartridges, which contained software and could expand the RAM of the System. Because of this Jerry Lawson is recognized as one of the most important figures in early gaming technology history for his invention of the cartridge, as well as one of the first African American engineers in the video game industry.

Laswson's philosophy on games favored games that were skillful and grew the player. He is remembered as an important early video game and computer industry figure in general, and became a symbol of African Americans in the gaming industry.

Launch


The Fairchild Channel F was released in November of 1976 at a cost of $169.95.

The system was acquired by Zircon and relaunched around 1981 as a budget system.

In 1981 Channel F cartridges cost as little as $18.95 and as much as $29.95.

Legacy


The Fairchild Channel F was discontinued in 1984, coinciding with the video game market crash in the United States, but having been on the market for an exceptional amount of time. Around 250,000 Channel F consoles were sold.

Following the Fairchild Channel F, Jerry Lawson would pursue other ventures, including an early attempt at console based network play.

Technology
The Fairchild Channel F used Fairchild Semiconductor's own 8-bit F8 processor clocked at 1.7897725 megahertz. It could process about 0.14 million instructions per second (MIPS). Importantly, the F8 processor eliminated the need for many support chips required by competing processors, and allowed for horizontal integration, making it a very economical choice for use in the Channel F.

The Fairchild Channel F had 64 bytes of RAM and 2 kilobytes of video RAM.

The original Fairchild Channel F used an internal speaker, while the model II used television speakers.

Games
A novelty at the time, some Fairchild Channel F games supported computer players, as well as pause functionality, which was known as "Hold" on games for the system.

Video Whizball
One of the first games to include an "Easter egg".