Editing Bally Astrocade (section)

== History ==

=== Nutting and Midway ===
In the late 1970s, Midway contracted [[Dave Nutting Associates]] to design a video display chip that could be used in all of their videogame systems, from standup [[arcade game]]s, to a [[home computer]] system. The system Nutting delivered was used in most of Midway's classic arcade games of the era, including ''[[Gorf]]'' and ''[[Wizard of Wor]]''. The [[chipset]] supported what was at that time relatively high resolution of 320×204 in four colours per [[scan line|line]], although to access this mode required memory that could be accessed at a faster rate than the common 2&nbsp;MHz [[dynamic random-access memory|dynamic RAM]] of the era.

=== Console use ===
Originally referred to as the '''Bally Home Library Computer''', it was released in 1977 but available only through [[mail order]]. Delays in the production meant none of the units actually shipped until 1978, and by this time the machine had been renamed the '''Bally Professional Arcade'''. In this form it sold mostly at computer stores and had little retail exposure (unlike the [[Atari 2600|Atari VCS]]). In [[1979 in video gaming|1979]], Bally grew less interested in the arcade market and decided to sell off their Consumer Products Division, including development and production of the game console.

At about the same time, a third-party group had been unsuccessfully attempting to bring their own console design to market as the '''Astrovision'''.<ref>[http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/vidgame/vid1982.htm Chronology of Video Game Systems] by Ken Polsson</ref> A corporate buyer from [[Montgomery Ward]] who was in charge of the Bally system put the two groups in contact, and a deal was eventually arranged. In [[1981 in video gaming|1981]] they re-released the unit with the BASIC cartridge included for free, this time known as the '''Bally Computer System''', with the name changing again, in 1982, to '''Astrocade'''. It sold under this name until the [[video game crash of 1983]], and then disappeared around 1985.

Midway had long been planning to release an expansion system for the unit, known as the '''ZGRASS-100'''. The system was being developed by a group of computer artists at the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] known as the [[Electronic Visualization Laboratory|'Circle Graphics Habitat']], along with programmers at Nutting. Midway felt that such a system, in an external box, would make the Astrocade more interesting to the market. However it was still not ready for release when Bally sold off the division. A small handful may have been produced as the '''ZGRASS-32''' after the machine was re-released by Astrovision.

The system, combined into a single box, would eventually be released as the  [[Datamax UV-1]]. Aimed at the home computer market while being designed, the machine was then re-targeted as a system for outputting high-quality graphics to [[videotape]]. These were offered for sale some time between 1980 and [[1982 in video gaming|1982]], but it is unknown how many were built.