"Peanut Butter and Jelly Guide to Computers"
By Jerry Willis with Deborrah Smithy and Brian Hyndman
Copyright 1978
ISBN: 0-918398-13-4


Bally/Astrocade-Related excerpt from page 155 of the chapter, "Can Sol Come Out 
and Play?"


     [...] With some of the games being advertised nationally as home computers, 
many people wonder just what differentiates the sophisticated game from the 
simple computer.  Two things - it is a computer if it has an input system for 
letters and numbers (e.g. a keyboard) and if it can be programmed by the user.  
None of the 1977 games had these features, but several companies are now 
conspiring to screw up our distinction.  Microelectronic Systems Corporation is 
marketing a "video game" called INTERACT in 1978 that uses removable cartridges 
to store programs, and it has a numerical keyboard and joystick for input.  The 
company calls it a personal computer and plans to offer a program library that 
includes a variety of games as well as home and business applications in areas 
such as maintaining sales records, inventory control, income tax, and computer 
assisted tutoring.  The user does not have to learn BASIC but must take the 
programs as they are, without being able to modify them to suit individual 
needs.

     INTERACT is a fourth generation game that is as much of a computer as it 
can be and still be a game.  It uses an 8080 chip and, at about $250, is a 
choice to consider if you want to be a consumer and have no interest in creating 
your own programs.  Two other systems which are similar to INTERACT are the Home 
Library Computer by Bally, an established manufacturer of slot and pinball 
machines, and the Apple II.  The Home Library Computer has a Z-80 microprocessor 
and provides the user with a wide variety of games and educational programs.  
The thing even has sound built into the games.  When you shoot your opponent in 
a gunfight it plays taps.  Bally also promises a raft of peripherals in the 
future - items such as a standard typewriter keyboard, more memory, and a 
cassette tape system.  Its price is about $300 through JS&A National Sales 
Group, a well known mail order firm.

     As it stands, the Home Library Computer is a promising video game.  The 
Apple II is just the opposite; it is a microcomputer which also has very good 
game capabilities.  Apple II has an excellent keyboard, comes with a powerful 
BASIC built in, and has the ability to read from and record onto cassette tapes.  
That is the stuff computers are made of!  Apple II also comes with two paddles 
to make it easier to play games [...]