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Discontinued Software
Abandonware is a term for software, typically video games, that are no longer for sale by conventional means and are distributed by warez websites for free. The use of the "abandonware" term is controversial, as distributing out-of-print software and games is still considered software piracy, and their copyright is not actually abandoned. Some publishers actively file DMCA takedowns of abandonware and defend its copyright, while others do not. However, some video game historians believe that this distribution is justified to preserve history given the lack of viable alternatives. Implications If a software product reaches end-of-life and becomes abandonware, users are confronted with several potential problems: missing purchase availability (besides used software) and missing technical support, e.g. compatibility fixes for newer hardware and operating systems. These problems are exacerbated if software is bound to physical media with a limited life-expectancy (floppy disks, o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Software
Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital computers in the mid-20th century. Early programs were written in the machine language specific to the hardware. The introduction of high-level programming languages in 1958 allowed for more human-readable instructions, making software development easier and more portable across different computer architectures. Software in a programming language is run through a compiler or Interpreter (computing), interpreter to execution (computing), execute on the architecture's hardware. Over time, software has become complex, owing to developments in Computer network, networking, operating systems, and databases. Software can generally be categorized into two main types: # operating systems, which manage hardware resources and provide services for applicat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragon's Lair
''Dragon's Lair'' is a video game franchise created by Rick Dyer. The series is notable for its film-quality animation by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth, and complex decades-long history of being ported to many platforms. It has also been adapted into television and comic books. The first game in the series, '' Dragon's Lair'', was originally released for arcades in 1983 by Cinematronics. It leveraged LaserDisc technology, offering greatly superior graphics compared to other contemporary video games. While many home ports were released in the following years, developers often had to make severe compromises to make the game work on the target platforms of the era, such as splitting it into two halves. A sequel, '' Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp,'' had started development as early as 1984, but would only see release in arcades in 1991. While its graphics were once again praised, its limited interactivity compared to the newer generation of arcade games was considered outdated, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Personal Computer
A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC game, gaming. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or technician. Unlike large, costly minicomputers and mainframes, time-sharing by many people at the same time is not used with personal computers. The term home computer has also been used, primarily in the late 1970s and 1980s. The advent of personal computers and the concurrent Digital Revolution have significantly affected the lives of people. Institutional or corporate computer owners in the 1960s had to write their own programs to do any useful work with computers. While personal computer users may develop their applications, usually these systems run commercial software, free-of-charge software ("freeware"), which i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Software Archaeology
Software archaeology or source code archeology is the study of poorly documented or undocumented legacy software implementations, as part of software maintenance. Software archaeology, named by analogy with archaeology, includes the reverse engineering of software modules, and the application of a variety of tools and processes for extracting and understanding program structure and recovering design information. Software archaeology may reveal dysfunctional team processes which have produced poorly designed or even unused software modules, and in some cases deliberately obfuscatory code may be found. The term has been in use for decades. Software archaeology has continued to be a topic of discussion at more recent software engineering conferences. Techniques A workshop on Software Archaeology at the 2001 OOPSLA (Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages & Applications) conference identified the following software archaeology techniques, some of which are specific to object- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centipede (video Game)
''Centipede'' is a 1981 fixed shooter video game developed and published by Atari, Inc., Atari for Arcade video game, arcades. Designed by Dona Bailey and Ed Logg, it was one of the most commercially successful games from the golden age of arcade video games and one of the first with a Women and video games, significant female player base. The primary objective is to shoot all the segments of a centipede that winds down the playing field. An arcade sequel, ''Millipede (video game), Millipede'', followed in 1982. ''Centipede'' was ported to Atari's own Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, and Atari 8-bit computers. Under the Atarisoft label, the game was sold for the Apple II, Commodore 64, ColecoVision, VIC-20, IBM PC (as a self-booting disk), Intellivision, and TI-99/4A. Superior Software published the port for the BBC Micro. Versions for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color were also produced, as well as a version for the short-lived Game.com developed by Handheld Games and published ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asteroids (video Game)
''Asteroids'' is a multidirectional shooter video game developed and published by Atari for arcades. It was designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg . The player controls a single spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy the asteroids and saucers, while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers' counter-fire. The game becomes more difficult as the number of asteroids increases. ''Asteroids'' was conceived during a meeting between Logg and Rains, who decided to use hardware developed by Wendi Allen (then known as Howard Delman) previously used for '' Lunar Lander''. Asteroids was based on an unfinished game titled ''Cosmos''; its physics model, control scheme, and gameplay elements were derived from '' Spacewar!'', '' Computer Space'', and ''Space Invaders'' and refined through trial and error. The game is rendered on a vector display in a two-dimensional view that wraps around ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real (California), El Camino Real and U.S. Route 101 in California, Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose, California, San Jose to the north, Moffett Federal Airfield and NASA Ames Research Center to the northwest, Mountain View, California, Mountain View to the northwest, Los Altos, California, Los Altos to the southwest, Cupertino, California, Cupertino to the south, and Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara to the east. Sunnyvale's population was 155,805 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second most populous city in the county (after San Jose, California, San Jose) and the List of cities and towns in the San Francisco Bay Area, seventh most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area. As one of the major cities that make up California's High tech, high-tech area known as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and blockchain". The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, California, United States in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. The company's products, such as '' Pong'' and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. In 1984, as a result of the video game crash of 1983, the assets of the home console and computer divisions of the original Atari Inc. were sold off to Jack Tramiel's Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation, while the remaining part of Atari, Inc. was renamed Atari Games Inc. In early 1985, Warner established a new corporation jointly with Namco subsequen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Destructoid
''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017 and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ''Destructoid'' was owned by Yanier "Niero" Gonzalez so that he could attend the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in 2006. After being rejected, Gonzalez began writing original editorials and drawing cartoons which were picked up by established gaming blogs like '' Joystiq'' and '' Kotaku''. In 2007, the site relaunched with user blogs, forums, and a team of contributors. Yanier's blog was moved off the home page in favor of a staff-edited, multi-author format. Similar to '' IGN'', ''Destructoid'' offers free registration and readers can submit off-homepage blogs. After E3, Gonzalez appeared at the press conference dressed as Mr. Destructoid (''Destructoid'' robot mascot, shown on logos and promotional material) to hand out prom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silent Hill (video Game)
is a 1999 survival horror video game developed by Team Silent, a group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, and published by Konami for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. It is the first installment in the ''Silent Hill'' video game series. ''Silent Hill'' uses a third-person view with Real-time computer graphics, real-time rendering of 3D computer graphics, 3D environments. To mitigate the limitations of the console hardware, developers used distance fog and darkness to obscure the graphics and hide pop-ins, which, in turn, helped establish the game's atmosphere and mystery. Unlike earlier survival horror games that focused on protagonists with combat training, the player character of ''Silent Hill'' is an "everyman". The game follows Characters of the Silent Hill series#Harry Mason, Harry Mason as he searches for his missing adopted daughter in the eponymous fictional American town of Silent Hill. Stumbling upon a cult conducting a rite to revive a deity it worshi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
