and white graphics, which by many is considered to be its fatal flaw. The Studio II just could not compete with Atari Electronics release of the Atari 2600 in October 1977. The Atari 2600, also known as the Atari Video Computer System (VCS) featured an 8-bit Motorola 6507 microprocessor with a clock speed of 1.19 MHz. It had 16 colour graphics, 2 channel audio (noise and sound) and only 128 bytes of RAM memory. It had no video memory which meant that the CPU had to control the video chip with screen refresh. The games were supplied in ROM cartridge form and often cost less than five pounds. This put the Atari 2600 in the top spot for being one of the quickest selling console systems of all time. However the console industry was unprepared for the challenge that lay ahead.
             Just as video game console technology was evolving at an exponential pace, it was growing just as dramatically in many other areas. After the birth of the microprocessor, the home computer industry formed a rapidly growing audience. The Commodore-64 and the VIC-20, two forms of early home computers, sold outrageous quantities within the first months of their release. They made an excellent purchase because they had identical potential for games when compared to the console systems, though they could also be used as a word-processor. Coleco's (COnnecticut LEather COmpany) Colecovision and Atari's 5200 SuperSystem stood a brave attempt at trying to knock down these home computers even though they were in close competition with each other.
             The Colecovision and the Atari 5200 both use 8-bit processors, rated at 3.58 and 1.79 MHz respectively. On the face of this you might assume that the Colecovision processor is twice as fast as the 5200, but it's not. The Colecovision uses a Zilog Z80 microprocessor and the 5200 uses a 6502, and their instruction sets and architecture are very different. Even though the Z80 runs faster than the 6502, the latter can do mor...