Starlog's Mark Hamill Interviews (1982/83)

I've gone a bit off topic a few times the past year, and this is another time as this post is not about games or toys. However, it is related to Star Wars, which always gets an exception. Of course, I always try to post something about Star Wars on May 4th because it's Star Wars Day. As I mentioned in February, I now own a variety of Starlog issues, most from the early 1980s, when Return of the Jedi was in production and subsequently released. Within the copies I have, there are a lot of Star Wars articles, and with this post I opted to focus on the Mark Hamill interviews since Starlog interviewed him three times in less than a year, including in back-to-back issues.

Starlog #65 - December 1982

Starlog #72 - July 1983

Starlog #73 - August 1983

May the 4th be with you!

Space Age Games (Starlog - February 1983)

Last year I acquired an assortment of Starlog issues from the early 1980s, and they often include video game articles, among other interesting features. This four-page story from 1983 was written to help Starlog readers choose the video game console that is right for them. It compares the price, microprocessor, controllers, and game library of the Atari VCS (2600), Odyssey 2, Intellivision, Emerson Arcadia 2001, Colecovision, and Atari 5200. Near the end of the article, there is a mention of possibly renting Atari 5200 games by downloading them through a phone line to a module made by a third-party. I don't believe this ever materialized, though I wonder if there are any prototypes of the module out there. It's not far-fetched, as Intellivision did have game streaming through its PlayCable service in 1981, but I've never heard of renting 5200 games before.