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Post by Discoalucard on Jun 3, 2012 21:13:02 GMT -5
www.hardcoregaming101.net/spacewar/spacewar.htmSpacewar! is one of the earliest known videos games in existence. Born of a PDP-1 mainframe, the consumer version was known as Computer Space, also known as the first arcade game. Derboo's massive seven page article covers not only the history of Spacewar! and Computer Space, but also its many clones and spin-offs, including a whole huge section devoted to Asteroids!, and its many clones and spinoffs. The influence of the series runs far and deep, and this article covers them almost all comprehensively.
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Post by chaoticgood on Jun 4, 2012 9:25:33 GMT -5
A couple of things to fix:
Steve Russell's name is misspelled several times on the first page with one l.
Clicking Next Page on Page 6 sends you to page 1 instead of 7.
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Post by derboo on Jun 4, 2012 14:38:56 GMT -5
Issues are corrected now. I also added the Japanese cover for the Activision Asteroids, looks pretty cool.
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Post by lanceboyle94 on Jun 4, 2012 15:00:48 GMT -5
The XBLA and Atari Classics Evolved versions of Asteroids weren't the last ones: the Atari's Greatest Hits series on the DS has both Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe, and, unlike Retro Atari Classics, they're emulated rather than (lousily) ported.
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Post by kal on Jun 5, 2012 7:55:20 GMT -5
A really great article, full of lots of neat little details about an often overlooked gaming era (vertex based).
Correction on page 3 "Oddly, for this version exists an alternate flyer to the once depicted above, with the exact same motive and angle, but different people around the table and the Sega logo bigger than the Gremlin one. "
You want to use motif not motive.
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Post by jorpho on Jun 5, 2012 11:13:39 GMT -5
I was just watching what was purportedly Tengen's PC-DOS version of Blasteroids on Youtube the other day, but the PC-DOS version is not listed. (Interestingly, there's a two-player co-op mode in which the two ships can combine into one.) P.S. Mukor, being binocular, doesn't really count as a "ugly cyclops" (though he may be counted as "cyclopean", oddly). Also, Star Trek (Arcade) had many console releases in the form of Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator. And to be sure, this article is most thoroughly impressive in its depth and length. |
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Post by derboo on Jun 5, 2012 11:27:33 GMT -5
Weird. You'd think I should have noticed those while digging up information on the unreleased version and non-ports.  |
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Post by Discoalucard on Jun 5, 2012 11:46:12 GMT -5
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Post by derboo on Jun 5, 2012 12:19:47 GMT -5
I was aware of Netrek, but it (and its spiritual predecessor, Empire) didn't seem to match the criteria I've set up for the article. Turns out the documentation only describes the indirect play style, but it has direct controls, too.
EDIT: Turns out it doesn't match after all. It controls pretty much like the Solar Winds games that I rejected, with fixed speed settings instead of the "natural"-feeling thrust which I consider a core element of the genre, so it's impossible to use inertia. Maybe I should make that distinction more explicit in the introduction criteria.
EDIT 2: The DOS version of Blasteroids and the small corrections are in now. For all those Star Trek ports I'm gonna need a day or two...
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Post by nickz on Jun 5, 2012 19:51:02 GMT -5
Reading this reminds me of when I played and asteroids rip off once. It was on a computer, probably Danish because the guy who owned it was from Denmark. It was an old computer, even for 1996 (I think that was the year) that functioned on a black screen where you punched in commands all BASIC style.The asteroids changed color as you shot them. They started white, then yellow, then blue, and I think red after that. I never got past blue, but the guy who owned it could get to red.
Anyone know anything about this? It's been bugging me for a while now.
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Post by derboo on Jun 6, 2012 4:34:32 GMT -5
Just uploaded with mentioning of the Star Trek ports and the Atari's Greatest Hits compilations for the games that are on them (Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Space War, Gravitar and Space Duel). I hope that concludes the search for missing ports for now...
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Post by Gendo Ikari on Jun 7, 2012 7:14:22 GMT -5
Small correction: the developer of Starscape was called "Moonpod", not "Moondog".
Very complete and interesting article on a piece of true videogaming history. I particularly dig the vector games made by Sega, and the ones on the Vectrex - I had the chance to play one machine at a videogame convention a couple of years ago, and I loved it; the sequence of the 3D ship entering the field is impressive for the time. Nice to see Spheres of Chaos mentioned, and the promise of a future article dedicated to Star Control (Starflight may deserve one too). For what I remember (from the times of HOTU), Thrust clones were huge in Northern Europe and not only on the Amiga, and they were called also "caveflyers" or "caveshooters".
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Post by kal on Jun 7, 2012 13:08:48 GMT -5
Reading this reminds me of when I played and asteroids rip off once. It was on a computer, probably Danish because the guy who owned it was from Denmark. It was an old computer, even for 1996 (I think that was the year) that functioned on a black screen where you punched in commands all BASIC style.The asteroids changed color as you shot them. They started white, then yellow, then blue, and I think red after that. I never got past blue, but the guy who owned it could get to red. Anyone know anything about this? It's been bugging me for a while now. I don't know the answer to your question but There's a lot of old regional PC's your search could be extremely difficult without finding someone Danish to ask. |
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Post by nickz on Jun 7, 2012 16:08:49 GMT -5
Reading this reminds me of when I played and asteroids rip off once. It was on a computer, probably Danish because the guy who owned it was from Denmark. It was an old computer, even for 1996 (I think that was the year) that functioned on a black screen where you punched in commands all BASIC style.The asteroids changed color as you shot them. They started white, then yellow, then blue, and I think red after that. I never got past blue, but the guy who owned it could get to red. Anyone know anything about this? It's been bugging me for a while now. I don't know the answer to your question but There's a lot of old regional PC's your search could be extremely difficult without finding someone Danish to ask. Thanks. There might be some sites (probably not in English) that have it documented somewhere. If there are, I'm going to be sure to report back. The link you gave me a few ideas of what system it could have been for, so I have a few good leads now. |
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Post by kal on Jun 7, 2012 23:51:14 GMT -5
No problem man, good luck - obscure ports/games are amazing forgotten pieces of history.
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