Magnavox Odyssey (Squared)
Developer: Magnavox
Year Released: 1978
Generation: 2nd
After a few years of producing dedicated Pong consoles, Magnavox- now a subsidiary of North American company Philips- released the Odyssey Squared to compete with brand new cartridge based video game systems like the Atari VCS. One of the biggest selling points of the console was the option to purchase a speech synthesiser add on unit called The Voice. The unit attached to the top of the system and added speech and improved sound effects in games. The Voice was only released in North America. The absence of third party game developers until near the end of the console’s life meant that the Magnavox Odyssey Squared did not have mainstream success in North America, selling about one million systems in five years. It was, however very popular in Europe and Brazil.