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Aztarac
''Aztarac'' is a scrolling multidirectional shooter with color vector graphics. It was developed by Tim Stryker (1954–1996) and released in arcades by Centuri in 1983. The player commands an intergalactic race of mutant humans whose mode of transport is a tank. Its turret is independently controlled, allowing the player to move in one direction while shooting in another. The mission is to guard space outposts from hordes of incoming enemy ships. ''Aztarac'' color vector graphics were impressive at the time of release, and a circular plastic lens over the screen accentuates the visuals. Few machines were produced, though the exact number is unclear. Centuri only developed two vector games; ''Aztarac'' was the second. Gameplay Four outposts are located in the center of a scrolling playfield, and the player must protect them from waves of enemy attackers. A flight-style joystick moves the player's tank; a trigger on the joystick shoots; a separate knob rotates the tank's tur ...
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Tim Stryker
Timothy J. Stryker, better known as Tim Stryker or Stryker (9 December 1954 – 6 August 1996) was a computer programmer who created MajorBBS, a computer bulletin board software package. With Ken Wasserman he wrote the 1980 game ''Flash Attack'' for the Commodore PET, then he created the color vector arcade video game '' Aztarac'' (1983) for Centuri. Education Stryker graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School in 1972, and received his bachelor's degree in physics from Brown University in 1977. Game development Stryker and Ken Wasserman wrote the real-time strategy game ''Flash Attack'' (1980) for the Commodore PET personal computer. It is written in a custom Forth-derived programming language called RPL. Stryker developed a cable so that two PET computers can be linked to play against each other. The game was later rewritten for MS-DOS, allowing up to four players in real time, interconnected by modems dialed into MajorBBS. Stryker authored arcade vector game '' Az ...
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Centuri
Centuri, formerly known as Allied Leisure, was an American arcade game manufacturer. They were based in Hialeah, Florida, and were one of the top six suppliers of coin-operated arcade video game machinery in the United States during the early 1980s. Centuri in its modern inception was formed when former Taito America president Ed Miller and his partner Bill Olliges took over Allied Leisure, Inc. They renamed it "Centuri" in 1980. The company's vice president was Joel Hochberg from about 1976 to 1982, before he went on to work for Rare. Many of the video game machines distributed in the US under the Centuri name were licensed from overseas manufacturers, particularly Japanese developers such as Konami. Allied Leisure previously also manufactured pinball and electro-mechanical games, which were developed in-house. Centuri had a close relationship with Konami, which licensed the North American rights of their games to Centuri during the early 1980s. This led to Konami acquiring ...
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Centuri Games
Centuri, formerly known as Allied Leisure, was an American arcade game manufacturer. They were based in Hialeah, Florida, and were one of the top six suppliers of coin-operated arcade video game machinery in the United States during the early 1980s. Centuri in its modern inception was formed when former Taito America president Ed Miller and his partner Bill Olliges took over Allied Leisure, Inc. They renamed it "Centuri" in 1980. The company's vice president was Joel Hochberg from about 1976 to 1982, before he went on to work for Rare. Many of the video game machines distributed in the US under the Centuri name were licensed from overseas manufacturers, particularly Japanese developers such as Konami. Allied Leisure previously also manufactured pinball and electro-mechanical games, which were developed in-house. Centuri had a close relationship with Konami, which licensed the North American rights of their games to Centuri during the early 1980s. This led to Konami acquiring 5 ...
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Single-player Video Games
A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the gameplay. Video games in general can feature several game modes, including single-player modes designed to be played by a single player in addition to multi-player modes. Most modern console games, PC games and arcade games are designed so that they can be played by a single player; although many of these games have modes that allow two or more players to play (not necessarily simultaneously), very few actually require more than one player for the game to be played. The '' Unreal Tournament'' series is one example of such. History The earliest video games, such as '' Tennis for Two'' (1958), '' Spacewar!'' (1962), and '' Pong'' (1972), were symmetrical games designed to be played by two players. Single-player games gained popularity only after this, with early titles such as '' Speed Race'' (1974) and '' Space Invaders'' (1978). The reason for this, according to Raph Ko ...
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Arcade Video Games
An arcade video game is an arcade game that takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. All arcade video games are coin-operated or accept other means of payment, housed in an arcade cabinet, and located in amusement arcades alongside other kinds of arcade games. Until the early 2000s, arcade video games were the largest and most technologically advanced segment of the video game industry. Early prototypical entries '' Galaxy Game'' and '' Computer Space'' in 1971 established the principle operations for arcade games, and Atari's ''Pong'' in 1972 is recognized as the first successful commercial arcade video game. Improvements in computer technology and gameplay design led to a golden age of arcade video games, the exact dates of which are debated but range from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. This golden age includes ''Space Invaders'', '' Pac-Man'', and '' ...
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1983 Video Games
1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the true Internet). * January 6 – Pope John Paul II appoints a bishop over the Czechoslovak exile community, which the ''Rudé právo'' newspaper calls a "provocation." This begins a year-long disagreement between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Vatican City, Vatican, leading to the eventual restoration of diplomatic relations between the two states. * January 14 – The head of Bangladesh's military dictatorship, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, announces his intentions to "turn Bangladesh into an Islamic state." * January 18 – United States Secretary of the Interior, U.S. Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt makes controversial remarks blaming poor living conditions on Indian reservation, Native American re ...
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World Record
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizations collates and publishes notable records of many. Terminology In the United States, the form World's Record was formerly more common. The term The World's Best was also briefly in use. The latter term is still used in athletics (sport), athletics events, including track and field and road running to describe good and bad performances that are not recognized as an official world record: either because it is not an event where World Athletics tracks the record (e.g. the 150 m run or individual events in a decathlon), or because it does not fulfill other rigorous criteria of an otherwise qualifying event (e.g. the Great North Run half-marathon, which has an excessive downhill gradient). The term is also used in video game speedrunning for ...
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Iowa
Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the east and southeast, Missouri to the south, Nebraska to the west, South Dakota to the northwest, and Minnesota to the north. Iowa is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 26th largest in total area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 31st most populous of the List of states and territories of the United States, 50 U.S. states, with a population of 3.19 million. The state's List of capitals in the United States, capital, List of cities in Iowa, most populous city, and largest List of metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan area fully located within the state is Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines. A portion of the larger Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area, Omaha, Nebraska, metropolitan area ...
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Spacecraft
A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather satellite, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, Planetary science, planetary exploration, and Space transport, transportation of Human spaceflight, humans and cargo spacecraft, cargo. All spacecraft except single-stage-to-orbit vehicles cannot get into space on their own, and require a launch vehicle (carrier rocket). On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a space vehicle enters space and then returns to the surface without having gained sufficient energy or velocity to make a full Geocentric orbit, Earth orbit. For orbital spaceflights, spacecraft enter closed orbits around the Earth or around other Astronomical object, celestial bodies. Spacecraft used for human spaceflight carry people on board as crew or passengers from start or on orbit ...
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