Videoway (lost Canadian cable-box games; 1990-2006): Difference between revisions
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| | | A version of the 1983 Windmill game, itself a port of the arcade game ''Qix''<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx_(Windmill_game)</ref> || No | ||
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| A coloring game for children. || | | A coloring game for children. || Yes | ||
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| A block breaker game with 15 levels.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20000621154415/http://www.videoway.com:80/jeux/mode_fou.htm Archived game instructions from the defunct Videoway website]</ref> || | | A block breaker game with 15 levels. Port of ''Arkanoid''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20000621154415/http://www.videoway.com:80/jeux/mode_fou.htm Archived game instructions from the defunct Videoway website]</ref> || No | ||
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! GlobeTrotter | ! GlobeTrotter |
Revision as of 16:31, 15 May 2020
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.
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 |
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 |
Patapom | Unknown | |
Formes magiques | Unknown | |
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
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
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/ArchivesRadioCanada/posts/10158135881866052?comment_id=10158184701436052&reply_comment_id=10158185161411052
- ↑ https://support.videotron.com/residential/television/illico-experience/faq-videoway
- ↑ http://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2172582?docsearchtext=jeux%20vid%C3%A9oway
- ↑ Archived game instructions from the defunct Videoway website
- ↑ Archived game instructions from the defunct Videoway website
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx_(Windmill_game)
- ↑ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/msx/918155-mr-chin
- ↑ Archived game instructions from the defunct Videoway website
- ↑ A newspaper advertisement about the system's educational games
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BurgerTime
- ↑ Archived game instructions from the defunct Videoway website
- ↑ Archived game instructions from the defunct Videoway website
- ↑ Screen capture of Onyx title card that reads Developed by Loto-Québec
- ↑ https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=99891&page=1