Utopia (video game)

Utopia, released on Intellivision in 1982, was the first sim game. It was designed and programmed by Don Daglow.

In college, Daglow had been a fan of mainframe computer simulation games, so it was only natural that he would try a simulation game for the Intellivision. His result, Utopia, was hailed by reviewers for its originality: it wasn't another arcade rip-off, and it wasn't just a video version of an existing game or sport. It was even educational without being boring.

Although Mattel Marketing didn't put much of a push behind the game (they preferred graphically splashier, no-brainer games like Star Strike), strong reviews and word of mouth pushed sales to a respectable 250,000 units in sales.

Today, Utopia is one of the best-remembered Intellivision games, with some people referring to it as Civilization Version 0.5, a reference to Sid Meier's later breakthrough computer simulation game. Playboy Magazine and GameSpy have each selected the game for their "Video Game Hall of Fame".

Sears Telegames and Mattel Aquarius home computer versions of Utopia were also released.

Utopia also remains available today for various computer and video game systems as part of a variety of Intellivision "greatest hits" packages, and the game has also been licensed for play on cellular phones.

External Links

• GameSpy Hall of Fame Article on Utopia
• Intellivision Lives Article on Utopia