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G0TEZ > GAME 09.08.04 23:41l 56 Lines 2037 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 6A0015G0TEZ
Read: DJ9AO GUEST DH5TA
Subj: Oldest computer game..?
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<OK0PPL<DB0RES<ON0AR<GB7FCR<GB7BOB<GB7HVU
Sent: 040809/2212Z @:GB7HVU.#16.GBR.EU #:48532 [Great Harwood] FBB7.00i
From: G0TEZ@GB7HVU.#16.GBR.EU
To : GAME@WW
Apparently; according to a TV prog. A lot of people are well into playing
old, 8 bit games and even spending a lot of money on games (arcade)
machines.
I thought back to the first games I ever played. There was a game on the
Texas TI994A, which I played for hours until I got bored then went into
hacking. Infinite lives, etc. I still have several pages where I wrote
down
the Z80 assembler code for the game programmers called TWOTEF, the basis
of most games machine efforts since then. Speed and graphics have improved
but
it's still old TWOTEF.
The oldest I remember was very hard. It was on the ICL 1903. It was called
Lunar Landing. No monitor, just a print out. Your computer had failed and
you were forced to land on the Moon by selecting the timing and durations
of 'burns'.
I crashed every time. I only knew one man at the college who landed it.
It was rumoured that the astronauts at NASA used this game as part of
their training. I don't know how true that is, though.
If you watch re runs of the Apollo II landing, you will see the part where
the onboard computer failed and Neil Armstrong had to land manually, just
like the game.
Any pilot will tell you that doing something hands on isn't quite the same
as using a computer. Imagine trying to drive a car with left, right,
accelerator and brake buttons.
I suppose only Armstrong knows if the real thing was any easier.
I do know they had a version at Houston. James Burke, the BBC space
commentator had a go but abandoned it when he realised that he was going
to crash,Hi!
Does anyone remember this? I think it predates the Tennis and squash TV
games of the '70s.
I'm not sure about a game called 'Slalom' which also had a version on
paper printout and I don't count Noughts & Crosses as that was identical
to the board game.
P.S. I wonder if Armstrong would have crashed if he had been using
Windows?
73 - Ian, G0TEZ @ GB7HVU
Message timed: 19:54 GMT on 09 Aug 2004
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