The American crash diet

it was 1983 and the country was gorging on videogames. Sales were exploding. Games begat books, begat cartoons, begat top 40 singles. Everything short of a breakfast cereal. (Wait. Never mind. That happened too.)

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The industry had grown nearly fourfold from the year before. It was so lucrative that everyone wanted in. Quaker Oats - the oatmeal people - launched a videogame division called US Games. One of its releases was literally called Name This Game, as if it couldn't be bothered to name it. Purina, a dog food company, produced Chase The Chuck Wagon, based on its TV commercials. For every porn company dipping a toe- and other parts - into the games business, there was a Christian real-estate developer with a similar kind of blind faith. You were hard-pressed to find a company not making videogames. That's when America proved once again that no one ruins a good thing faster or with more enthusiasm.

The market became oversaturated - an overflowing pipeline of uninspired gaming cartridges. Speed to shelf replaced quality. Later we'd call it