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Gorgon (video Game)
''Gorgon'' is a clone of the arcade game '' Defender'', a horizontally-scrolling shooter, for the Apple II. It was programmed by Nasir Gebelli and published by Sirius Software in June 1981. Gameplay In ''Gorgon'', the player flies a spaceship across a side-scrolling landscape while protecting civilians on the ground from aliens that drop down from the top of the screen to try to carry them off. The game uses keyboard controls, with the A, Z, and left/right arrow keys for movement and the space bar for firing. Development The graphics were drawn with Sirius's own E-Z Draw software (1980). Reception By June 1982, ''Gorgon'' had sold 23,000 copies, making it one of the best-selling computer games at the time. Bill Kunkel of ''Electronic Games'' called the game "another winner from ace designer Nasir" and "fine home version" of ''Defender'', only criticizing the Apple II's lack of joystick support at the time. ''BYTE The byte is a unit of digital information that most c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sirius Software
Sirius Software was a video game publisher of Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, and VIC-20 games in the early 1980s. Sirius also developed games for the Atari 2600 which were published by 20th Century Fox Video Games. History The company was founded in the early 1980s by Jerry Jewell and Terry Bradley. It gained attention for its dramatically quick rise to prominence and its equally quick collapse in 1984 after 20th Century Fox (Fox Video Games) failed to pay over USD$18 Million in owed royalties.S. Levy, ''Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution'', Doubleday, Garden City, 1984 Sirius Software designed and marketed more than 160 computer video games, software products and hardware devices worldwide. Jewell was profiled by author Steven Levy in his book '' Hackers''. Sirius' quick rise was due in part to a chain of hits by programmer Nasir Gebelli. Gebelli's breakthrough game was ''Gorgon'', which brought the gameplay of the arcade's '' Defender'' to the Apple II ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Kunkel (journalist)
Bill Kunkel (July 21, 1950 – September 4, 2011) was a graphic novelist as well as pioneering professional wrestling and video game journalist and critic from the 1970s until his death in the early 2010s. During his time working with the video game industry, Kunkel authored numerous strategy guides, co-designed several video games, served as an expert witness in three court cases, and taught courses in Game Design for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Kunkel served as the executive editor of ''Electronic Games Magazine'' and the editor-in-chief of ''Tips & Tricks'' magazine, writing columns and comics for several magazines and game sites. He often wrote under nicknames, the most common of which were "The Game Doctor" (for video game topics), and "Potshot" (for professional wrestling topics). Graphic novels and zines Coming from a professional music background in the 1960s, Kunkel met and became friends with fan newsletter/fanzine writers Arnie Katz and Joyce Worley i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Video Game Clones
A video game clone is either a video game or a video game console very similar to, or heavily inspired by, a previous popular game or console. Clones are typically made to take financial advantage of the popularity of the cloned game or system, but clones may also result from earnest attempts to create homage (arts), homages or expand on game mechanics from the original game. An additional motivation unique to the medium of games as software with limited hardware compatibility, compatibility, is the desire to porting, port a simulacrum of a game to computing platform, platforms that the original is unavailable for or unsatisfactorily implemented on. The legality of video game clones is governed by copyright and patent law. In the 1970s, Magnavox controlled several patents to the hardware for ''Pong'', and pursued Complaint, action against License, unlicensed ''Pong'' clones that led to court rulings in their favor, as well as Settlement (litigation), legal settlements for compensat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sirius Software Games
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated Alpha CMa or α CMa. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, Sirius is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. Sirius is a binary star consisting of a main-sequence star of spectral type A0 or A1, termed Sirius A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA2, termed Sirius B. The distance between the two varies between 8.2 and 31.5 astronomical units as they orbit every 50 years. Sirius appears bright because of its intrinsic luminosity and its proximity to the Solar System. At a distance of , the Sirius system is one of Earth's nearest neighbours. Sirius is gradually moving closer to the Solar System, so it is expected to increase in brightness slightly over the next 60,000 years, reaching a peak magnitude o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horizontally Scrolling Shooters
Horizontal may refer to: *Horizontal plane, in astronomy, geography, geometry and other sciences and contexts *Horizontal coordinate system, in astronomy * Horizontalism, in monetary circuit theory * Horizontalism, in sociology *Horizontal market, in microeconomics * ''Horizontal'' (album), a 1968 album by the Bee Gees ** "Horizontal" (song)" is a 1968 song by the Bee Gees See also *Horizontal and vertical *Horizontal fissure (other) Horizontal fissure may refer to: * Horizontal fissure of cerebellum * Horizontal fissure of right lung See also * Fissure (anatomy) * Sulcus (morphology) In biological morphology and anatomy, a sulcus (pl. ''sulci'') is a furrow or fissure ..., anatomical features * Horizontal bar, an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics * Vertical (other) * {{disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple II-only Games
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, '' Malus sieversii'', is still found today. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe and were brought to North America by European colonists. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek, and European Christian tradition. Apples grown from seed tend to be very different from those of their parents, and the resultant fruit frequently lacks desired characteristics. Generally, apple cultivars are propagated by clonal grafting onto rootstocks. Apple trees grown without rootstocks tend to be larger and much slower to fruit after planting. Rootstocks are used to control the speed of growth and the size of the resulting tree, allowing for easier harvesting. There are mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple II Games
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, '' Malus sieversii'', is still found today. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe and were brought to North America by European colonists. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek, and European Christian tradition. Apples grown from seed tend to be very different from those of their parents, and the resultant fruit frequently lacks desired characteristics. Generally, apple cultivars are propagated by clonal grafting onto rootstocks. Apple trees grown without rootstocks tend to be larger and much slower to fruit after planting. Rootstocks are used to control the speed of growth and the size of the resulting tree, allowing for easier harvesting. There are mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1981 Video Games
Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments. * January 15 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican. * January 20 – Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis. * January 21 – The first DeLorean automobile, a stainless steel sports car with gull-wing doors, rolls off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. * January 24 – An earthquake of magnitude in Sichuan, China, kills 150 people. Japan suffers a less serious earthquake on the same day. * January 25 – In South Africa the largest part of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byte (magazine)
''Byte'' (stylized as ''BYTE'') was a microcomputer magazine, influential in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s because of its wide-ranging editorial coverage. "''Byte'' magazine, the leading publication serving the homebrew market ..." ''Byte'' started in 1975, shortly after the first personal computers appeared as kits advertised in the back of electronics magazines. ''Byte'' was published monthly, with an initial yearly subscription price of $10. Whereas many magazines were dedicated to specific systems or the home or business users' perspective, ''Byte'' covered developments in the entire field of "small computers and software", and sometimes other computing fields such as supercomputers and high-reliability computing. Coverage was in-depth with much technical detail, rather than user-oriented. The company was purchased by McGraw-Hill in 1979, a watershed event that led to the rapid purchase of many of the early computer magazines by larger publishers. By this time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electronic Games
An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common forms of electronic game including handheld electronic games, standalone systems (e.g. pinball, slot machines, or electro-mechanical arcade games), and exclusively non-visual products (e.g. audio games). Teletype games The earliest form of computer game to achieve any degree of mainstream use was the text-based Teletype game. Teletype games lack video display screens and instead present the game to the player by printing a series of characters on paper which the player reads as it emerges from the platen. Practically this means that each action taken will require a line of paper and thus a hard-copy record of the game remains after it has been played. This naturally tends to reduce the size of the gaming universe or alternatively to req ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through the 1990s and became one of the largest dedicated video game magazines, reaching around 500 pages by 1997. In the early 2000s its circulation was about 300,000, only slightly behind the market leader ''PC Gamer''. But, like most magazines of the era, the rapid move of its advertising revenue to internet properties led to a decline in revenue. In 2006, Ziff announced it would be refocused as ''Games for Windows'', before moving it to solely online format, and then shutting down completely later the same year. History In 1979, Russell Sipe left the Southern Baptist Convention ministry. A fan of computer games, he realized in spring 1981 that no magazine was dedicated to computer games. Although Sipe had no publishing experience, he formed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nasir Gebelli
Nasir Gebelli ( fa, ناصر جبلی, also Nasser Gebelli, born 1957) is an Iranian-American programmer and video game designer usually credited in his games as simply Nasir. Gebelli wrote Apple II games for Sirius Software, created his own company Gebelli Software, and worked for Squaresoft (now Square Enix). John Romero, He became known in the early 1980s for producing fast action games for the Apple II, including 3D shooters. From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, he developed home console games for Squaresoft. He was part of Square, programming the first three ''Final Fantasy'' games, the Famicom 3D System titles '' 3-D WorldRunner'' and ''Rad Racer'', and ''Secret of Mana''. Early life and career (1957–1985) Gebelli was born in Iran in 1957. Because of his family relationship with the Iranian royal family of the Pahlavi dynasty, he migrated to the United States to avoid the 1979 Iranian Revolution and study computer science. He was inspired by Golden age arcade gam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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