Videoway (lost Canadian cable-box games; 1990-2006): Difference between revisions

From The Lost Media Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search
mNo edit summary
mNo edit summary
Line 78: Line 78:
! Le fou du roi  
! Le fou du roi  
| A sort of ''Zelda''/''Pac-Man'' hybrid. || Yes
| A sort of ''Zelda''/''Pac-Man'' hybrid. || Yes
|-
! Ernie
| An educational game for children 3-8. || Unknown
|-
! Bibi et Geneviève
| An educational game for children 3-8 based on a popular TV show of the era. || Yes
|-
|-
! Les dictées du professeur Martin<ref>[http://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2926615?docsearchtext=jeux%20vid%C3%A9oway A newspaper advertisement about the system's educational games]</ref>
! Les dictées du professeur Martin<ref>[http://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2926615?docsearchtext=jeux%20vid%C3%A9oway A newspaper advertisement about the system's educational games]</ref>
Line 139: Line 145:
| Various card games. || Yes
| Various card games. || Yes
|-
|-
! Patapom
! Patapomme
|  || Unknown
|  || Yes
|-
|-
! Formes magiques  
! Les formes magiques  
| || Unknown
| Educational game for children 3-8 || Yes
|-
|-
! Poussin coquin  
! Poussin coquin  

Revision as of 19:25, 26 May 2020

Vidéoway logo.jpg

The logo for Videoway, a Canadian TV service that offered several exclusive games.

Status: Lost

Videoway was an analog interactive cable-TV system offered by Quebec, Canada telecommunications provider Videotron between 1990[1] and 2006.

Describing itself as the first "interactive addressable television entertainment system" in North America,[2] it offered teletext services such as weather, lottery results, horoscopes, road conditions, and games, in addition to interactive TV programming and on-demand entertainment.

Availability of Videoway

Videoway never achieved the level of adoption its inventors initially hoped for, losing a massive share of its audience every year once the internet began to gain traction among consumers.

At its peak, Videoway had boxes in approximately 300,000 Canadian residences, mainly in the French-speaking province of Quebec, where Videoway and its parent company Videotron were based. Around 70,000 households in the London, Great Britain area were also equipped with Videoway systems in the early 1990s via the Quebec company's British branch, which folded in 1997.

Games

Around 50 games were available on the Videoway system.[3]

Some of them were custom ports of existing games--most notably, Q*Bert and BurgerTime--but the majority were developed exclusively for the system by the Cablo-jeux team, a division of Loto-Québec (the provincial lottery board) which partnered with Videotron to create the games. Those developed for Videotron by Loto-Québec have been lost to time.

A 1989 newspaper ad seeking games for the Videoway system (Source: La Presse, BanQ).
A screen capture from the Videoway-exclusive game Temporel Inc.
A screen capture from the Videoway game Taupe.
A screen capture of the Videoway original game Fou du Roi.
A screen capture of the Videoway port of BurgerTime
A screen capture of the Videoway-exclusive bowling game
Name Known information Exclusive to Videoway
Bizbille Unknown
Mordicus Unknown
Puzzle A puzzle game for preschoolers.[4] Yes
Temporel Inc. A puzzle game set in a pyramid. A recreation of this game, created from memory, is available online thanks to a fan effort. Yes
Gaston Labrosse Called Steve Broom in English. A game in which the player character must sweep as many floors as possible in a multi-storey building.[5] Yes
Taupe A version of the 1985 MSX game Boulder Dash where you play as a mole. Unknown
Styx A version of the 1983 Windmill game, itself a port of the arcade game Qix[6] No
Fléchette Darts Unknown
Bowling Bowling Unknown
Boycott Unknown
Plunk Unknown
Colorimage A coloring game for children. Yes
Mr. Chin Arcade-style game by HAL Labs. Originally released in 1984 for MSX.[7] Gameplay footage here. No
Parchési Parcheesi Yes
Mot mystère Find-a-word puzzle that offered a new puzzle every day.[8] Yes
Super Pendu Hangman Unknown
Le fou du roi A sort of Zelda/Pac-Man hybrid. Yes
Ernie An educational game for children 3-8. Unknown
Bibi et Geneviève An educational game for children 3-8 based on a popular TV show of the era. Yes
Les dictées du professeur Martin[9] An educational spelling game for elementary school students. Yes
Hamburger Official BurgerTime port. Only known non-Japanese version to have kept the original Hamburger title.[10] No
Polux Unknown
Pirouette Unknown
Fou Brique A block breaker game with 15 levels. Port of Arkanoid.[11] No
GlobeTrotter Unknown
Tikkaro Unknown
Échecs Chess Unknown
Dames Checkers Unknown
Black Jack Blackjack Unknown
Poker Poker Unknown
Hockey Unknown
Golf Unknown
Crocomaths An educational math game. Yes
Le questionneur A quiz game. Yes
Bizzmut Unknown
Bon bain Unknown
Onyx A pinball game.[12] Yes[13]
Fortuna Unknown
Les Patiences Various card games. Yes
Patapomme Yes
Les formes magiques Educational game for children 3-8 Yes
Poussin coquin Unknown
Tacotac Unknown
Q*Bert An official port of Q*Bert. No
NucléR Unknown
Zipper Unknown
Évasion Unknown
Déplus A Yahtzee game. Unknown
Logix Unknown

Emulation Attempts

A Videoway cable box.

Videoway boxes were rented to clients by Videotron; as such, they are rare in the present day. People have attempted to emulate the 100% proprietary system, without success.[14] Source code for the Videoway-exclusive games is said to be held in the "Videotron vault", and efforts to retrace it have been in vain.

External Links

References

  1. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/ArchivesRadioCanada/posts/10158135881866052?comment_id=10158184701436052&reply_comment_id=10158185161411052
  2. ↑ https://support.videotron.com/residential/television/illico-experience/faq-videoway
  3. ↑ http://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2172582?docsearchtext=jeux%20vid%C3%A9oway
  4. ↑ Archived game instructions from the defunct Videoway website
  5. ↑ Archived game instructions from the defunct Videoway website
  6. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx_(Windmill_game)
  7. ↑ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/msx/918155-mr-chin
  8. ↑ Archived game instructions from the defunct Videoway website
  9. ↑ A newspaper advertisement about the system's educational games
  10. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BurgerTime
  11. ↑ Archived game instructions from the defunct Videoway website
  12. ↑ Archived game instructions from the defunct Videoway website
  13. ↑ Screen capture of Onyx title card that reads Developed by Loto-Québec
  14. ↑ https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=99891&page=1
Retrieved from "https://lostmediawiki.com/w/index.php?title=Videoway_(lost_Canadian_cable-box_games;_1990-2006)&oldid=121852"