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[Link Posting] Computer Space and the Dawn of the Arcade Video Game

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  [Link Posting] Computer Space and the Dawn of the Arcade Video Game Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2018-06-03 05:32 +0000
    Re: [Link Posting] Computer Space and the Dawn of the Arcade Video Game not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2018-06-09 00:51 +0000
    Re: [Link Posting] Computer Space and the Dawn of the Arcade Video Game Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> - 2018-06-09 02:01 +0000
      Re: [Link Posting] Computer Space and the Dawn of the Arcade Video Game RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2018-06-11 17:03 -0400
        Re: [Link Posting] Computer Space and the Dawn of the Arcade Video Game Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> - 2018-06-12 15:12 +0000

#16045 — [Link Posting] Computer Space and the Dawn of the Arcade Video Game

      ####################################################################
      # ATTENTION: This post is a reference to a website.  The poster of #
      # this Usenet article is not the author of the referenced website. #
      ####################################################################

<URL:https://www.technologizer.com/2011/12/11/computer-space-and-the-daw
n-of-the-arcade-video-game/>

The text below is a quotation from the URL above:
>
>  Forty years ago, Nutting Associates released the world's first
>  mass-produced and commercially sold video game, Computer Space. It was
>  the brainchild of Nolan Bushnell, a charismatic engineer with a creative
>  vision matched only by his skill at self-promotion. With the help of his
>  business partner Ted Dabney and the staff of Nutting Associates,
>  Bushnell pushed the game from nothing into reality only two short years
>  after conceiving the idea.
>
>  Computer Space pitted a player-controlled rocket ship against two
>  machine-controlled flying saucers in a space simulation set before a
>  two-dimensional star field. The player controlled the rocket with four
>  buttons: one for fire, which shoots a missile from the front of the
>  rocket ship; two directional rotation buttons (to rotate the ship
>  orientation clockwise or counterclockwise); and one for thrust, which
>  propelled the ship in whichever direction it happened to be pointing.
>  Think of Asteroids without the asteroids, and you should get the
>  picture.
>
>  During play, two saucers would appear on the screen and shoot at the
>  player while flying in a zig-zag formation. The player's goal was to
>  dodge the saucer fire and shoot the saucers.
>
>  Considering a game of this complexity playing out on a TV set, you might
>  think that it was created as a sophisticated piece of software running
>  on a computer. You'd think it, but you'd be wrong?and Bushnell wouldn't
>  blame you for the mistake. How he and Dabney managed to pull it off is a
>  story of audacity, tenacity, and sheer force-of-will worthy of tech
>  legend. This is how it happened.
>
>  ...

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#16070

Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
>      ####################################################################
>      # ATTENTION: This post is a reference to a website.  The poster of #
>      # this Usenet article is not the author of the referenced website. #
>      ####################################################################
> 
> <URL:https://www.technologizer.com/2011/12/11/computer-space-and-the-daw
> n-of-the-arcade-video-game/>
> 
> The text below is a quotation from the URL above:
>>
>>  Forty years ago, Nutting Associates released the world's first
>>  mass-produced and commercially sold video game, Computer Space. It was
>>  the brainchild of Nolan Bushnell, a charismatic engineer with a creative
>>  vision matched only by his skill at self-promotion. With the help of his
>>  business partner Ted Dabney and the staff of Nutting Associates,
>>  Bushnell pushed the game from nothing into reality only two short years
>>  after conceiving the idea.

Interesting article.

Even more forgotten are the engineers who later designed DIY
versions of arcade machines in the 70s and 80s that could be
built to work with home TV sets, while restrained by the
practical component cost to readers of the hobby electronics
magazines that they published in.

Also, a bit of movie trivia: Computer Space made an appearance
in the Sci-Fi film Soylent Green (even showed a bit of gameplay
if I remember correctly) in what Wikipedia now tells me "is
considered to be the first video game appearance in a movie".

-- 
__          __
#_ < |\| |< _#

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#16071

https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=9780985597405

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#16081

On Sat, 09 Jun 2018 02:01:54 -0000
Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> wrote:

> https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=9780985597405
> 

Looks like an interesting subject, but that book gets some scathingly
bad reviews.  Looks like a pretty amateur production.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17177947-atari-inc#

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#16086

RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 09 Jun 2018 02:01:54 -0000
> Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> wrote:
>
>> https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=9780985597405
>>
>
> Looks like an interesting subject, but that book gets some scathingly
> bad reviews.  Looks like a pretty amateur production.
> https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17177947-atari-inc#

It's not great literature, it's great history. Its photos and stories
(regardless of how poorly written) awaken my memories of working in the
electronics industry, as it once existed, in a Midwest city during the
1970s. https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=1566640237 affects me in the same
way.

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