Control-Vision based on ColecoVision
History
Originally codenamed “NEMO”, initial development began in 1985 and was supported by Nolan Bushnell's company Axlon. The team, which included Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak, created a prototype using a modified ColecoVision console to combine interactive images with a video stream transmitted through a cable. As a storage medium, NEMO employs VHS tapes that contain computer data alongside a grid of multiple tracks of video and audio that can be toggled.To take the project beyond prototype status, they searched for a partner who would fund further development. The Hasbro toy company agreed to invest $7 million in exchange for the video game rights to the technology.
Three short trial games were finished by the middle of 1986: Scene of the Crime, a four-minute interactive mystery; Bottom of the Ninth Inning, a baseball game; and an interactive music video for the song "You Might Think" by The Cars. The next step was the interactive movie Night Trap, inspired by Scene of the Crime, and filmed in December 1986 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the hometown of Hasbro. In 1987, Zito created the second full-size game named Sewer Shark, in one month's filming time and at a cost of $3 million.After filming for Sewer Shark was completed, and two months prior to the 1989 release, Hasbro abandoned the project because the projected US$299 (equivalent to $710 in 2022) price was deemed uncompetitive against the well established and much cheaper Nintendo Entertainment System. Zito purchased the rights to the games and stored everything in a Rhode Island warehouse.