The Teleplay Modem is an unreleased

modem A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...

prototype for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) created by Keith Rupp and

Nolan Bushnell Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consu ...

, designed to eventually provide online play between NES, Sega Genesis, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The first prototype, called the Ayota Modem, has a maximum speed of only 300

bit/s In telecommunications and computing, bit rate (bitrate or as a variable ''R'') is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. The bit rate is expressed in the unit bit per second (symbol: bit/s), often in conjunction w ...

, too slow to render fullscreen NES quality graphics typical of an action game. It was unveiled at the 1992 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where it received a fairly good reception. Bushnell later dropped out of the project, and Keith Rupp founded the company Baton Technologies. He continued to develop the modem, changing its name to the Teleplay Modem, increasing the speed to 2400 bit/s. He conceived the idea of allowing cross-platform play between compatibly designed games for Nintendo and Sega systems. Three games were developed internally (''Battle Storm'', ''Terran Wars'', and ''Sea Battle'') but never released. Both Nintendo and Sega refused to license the Teleplay Modem or the games developed for it. Sega instead licensed

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

and

PF Magic PF Magic was a video game developer founded in 1991 and located in San Francisco, California, United States. Though it developed other types of video games, it was best known for its virtual pet games, such as '' Dogz'' and ''Catz''. The company wa ...

to develop a modem for the Sega Genesis called the Edge 16, but AT&T ultimately dropped plans to release the device so that they could devote their attentions to developing new

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

technologies. The venture capitalists behind Baton Technologies feared competing against AT&T and attempting to sell hardware and games without the all-important licensing, so Baton was unable to fulfill its first $300,000 order, and quickly folded thereafter in mid-1993. In an unrelated venture, Catapult Entertainment later developed the 2400 bit/s

XBand XBAND (stylized as XBⱯND) was one of the first competitive online console gaming networks and was available for the Genesis and Super NES. It was produced by Catapult Entertainment in Cupertino, California. It is the only modem released in ...

modem, similar to the Teleplay Modem in many respects. Although well funded by Viacom, Catapult failed to receive sufficient developer and gamer backing, folding in early 1997.

References

External links

Revrob article on the history of online gaming

Spotlight: Baton Teleplay Modem , Lost Levels
{{Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo Entertainment System accessories Online video game services

See also

References

External links