Intellivoice Games

Intellivoice was introduced with great fanfare in 1982, hitting the market with three titles: Space SpartansBomb Squad and B-17 Bomber. But while the Intellivoice and the games were well reviewed, they were not big sellers. By June 1983, only 300,000 each of the voice unit and first games had been shipped (compared to over 3 million Intellivisions); most of these were still on store shelves. The fourth game, TRON Solar Sailer, received only 90,000 orders. The release of a planned International Intellivoice module was cancelled.

In August 1983, the plug was pulled on Intellivoice altogether. Work continued on two titles, Space Shuttle and World Series Major League Baseball, where the voice would become an enhancement only; the rest were canceled. Space Shuttle was canceled later, leaving World Series Major League Baseball to become the fifth and final voice game released. The fact that it works with Intellivoice is mentioned only briefly on the back of the box.

For more information on the history of Intellivoice, check out the Intellivoice Hardware Page.

FUN FACT: The Major League Baseball cartridge uses the Intellivision's sound chip to generate a crude voice saying "Yer out!" Marketing ordered a stop to further use of the sound chip to synthesize voices, fearing it would hurt demand for the Intellivoice.

CREDITS: All Intellivoice games had scripts by the Creative Media Department (Joey SilvianBrad GeagleyGlenn Stello) to develop distinct personalities for the voices. Voices were recorded at Fred Jones Recording Services in Hollywood, directed by Joey Silvian. International voices were recorded at studios in France and Italy and smuggled back into the U.S. on tapes marked "blank" to avoid paying duty (really). Voice files were digitized, edited and optimized by the Voice Department (Ron Carlson, Patrick Jost, Deidre Cimarusti, Sandy Disner, Lynn [Liliedahl] Fordham, Irene Pfannkuch). All Intellivoice programs included voice routines written by Ron Surratt and Steve Roney.