Talk:RCA Studio II
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RCA Studio II RCA had been evaluating the video game market for several years; it had been offered a chance to bid on Ralph Baer's original Odyssey technology back in the early 1970s but had passed on the opportunity. Now, seeing Atari's success, RCA decided to enter the video game market on its own with what it hoped would be the first programmable system.
Unfortunately, RCA was a step too slow. RCA's Studio II followed Fairchild to market in January 1977 at a price of $149. Even though the Studio II used the same 8-bit COSMAC 1802 microprocessor that was used in NASA's Voyager and Galileo spacecraft, its chunky black-and-white graphics were notably inferior to those of the Channel F. Interestingly, the Studio II used keypad controllers (built into the main unit) instead of paddles or joysticks, which enabled the playing of some numbers-based games. Too little too late, the Studio II failed in the marketplace and was discontinued in 1979.
