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Berzerk (arcade Game)
''Berzerk'' is a 1980 maze shooter arcade video game designed by Alan McNeil and released by Stern Electronics. The game involves a Humanoid Intruder who has to escape maze-like rooms that are littered with robots that slowly move towards and shoot at the Humanoid. The player can shoot at the robots to try and escape the room. Along with the robots, a smiley face known as Evil Otto appears to hunt down the player within each room. Following a task to fix some technical problems on boards, Stern allowed McNeil to develop his own game. He slowly developed a game initially with robots, later adding the walls and the Evil Otto character to expand on the gameplay. After the company was visited by a salesperson promoting a "speech chip", McNeil took the offer and incorporated digitized voices in the game that taunt the player during game play and attract mode. Along with games like '' Stratovox'' (1980), it was one of the earliest games to feature speech synthesis in arcade games. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stern (game Company)
Stern is the name of two different but related arcade gaming companies. Stern Electronics, Inc. manufactured arcade video games and pinball machines from 1977 until 1985, and was best known for '' Berzerk''. Stern Pinball, Inc., founded in 1986 as Data East Pinball, is a manufacturer of pinball machines in North America. Stern Electronics, Inc. Stern Electronics was formed when Sam and Gary Stern bought the financially troubled Chicago Coin in 1977. Sam had previously owned the amusements manufacturer Williams, purchasing half of the company in 1947 and selling it to the Seeburg Corporation in 1964. Gary had trained under his father at Williams, and from 1973-1977 the two ran the company. Stern Electronics, Inc. acquired their core inventory by purchasing Chicago Coin's assets at bankruptcy sales; as a separate company, they did not assume any of the debt Chicago Coin had amassed. The first two games made by Stern were ''Stampede'' and ''Rawhide'', both originally made by Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ARC Berzerk
Arc may refer to: Mathematics * Arc (geometry), a segment of a differentiable curve ** Circular arc, a segment of a circle * Arc (topology), a segment of a path * Arc length, the distance between two points along a section of a curve * Arc (projective geometry), a particular type of set of points of a projective plane * arc (function prefix) (arcus), a prefix for inverse trigonometric functions * Directed arc, a directed edge in graph theory * Minute and second of arc, a unit of angular measurement equal to 1/60 of one degree. *Wild arc, a concept from geometric topology Science and technology Geology * Arc, in geology a mountain chain configured as an arc due to a common orogeny along a plate margin or the effect of back-arc extension ** Hellenic arc, the arc of islands positioned over the Hellenic Trench in the Aegean Sea off Greece * Back-arc basin, a subsided region caused by back-arc extension * Back-arc region, the region created by back-arc extension, containing all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BASIC Computer Games
''BASIC Computer Games'' is a compilation of type-in computer games in the BASIC programming language collected by David H. Ahl. Some of the games were written or modified by Ahl as well. Among its better-known games are '' Hamurabi'' and '' Super Star Trek''. Originally published by DEC in 1973 as ''101 BASIC Computer Games'', the book was so popular that it had two more printing runs, the last in March 1975. The programs in these books were mostly written in the BASIC dialect found on Digital's minicomputers, although some could not be converted and appeared in different dialects like Dartmouth BASIC. In 1974, Ahl left DEC. He purchased the rights to the book and republished it under the new name. With the release of the first microcomputers, and Microsoft BASIC soon after, the collection added several new games, removed some, and those that remained from the original were ported to this dialect. By the early 1980s, with tens of millions of home computers in the market, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Ahl
David H. Ahl (born May 17, 1939) is an American author who is the founder of ''Creative Computing'' magazine. He is also the author of many how-to books, including '' BASIC Computer Games'', the first computer book to sell more than a million copies. Career After earning degrees in electrical engineering and business administration, while completing his Ph.D. in educational psychology, Ahl was hired by Digital Equipment Corporation as a marketing consultant in 1969 to develop its educational products line. He edited ''EDU'', DEC's newsletter on educational uses of computers, that regularly published instructions for playing computer games on minicomputers. Ahl also talked DEC into publishing a book he had put together, ''101 BASIC Computer Games''. During the 1973 recession, DEC cut back on educational product development and Ahl was dismissed. Before he even received his last cheque, he was rehired into a DEC division dedicated to developing new hardware. This group became c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kilobaud Microcomputing
''Kilobaud Microcomputing'' was a magazine dedicated to the computer homebrew hobbyists from 1977 to 1983. It was one of the three influential computer magazines of the 1970s, along with ''BYTE'' and ''Creative Computing''. It focused mostly on the kit-build market, rather than the pre-assembled home computers that emerged, and as the kit market declined in the early 1980s, ''Kilobaud'' lost relevance and closed in 1983. After this, company continued publishing other magazines dedicated to particular platforms rather than the kit market. Beginnings Wayne Green was the founder and publisher of ''BYTE'' magazine, one of the influential microcomputer magazines of the 1970s. After putting out four issues, in November 1975 Green came to work and found that his ex-wife and the rest of the ''Byte'' magazine staff had moved out of his office and had taken the January issue with them. Consequently, the January 1976 issue had Virginia Green listed as publisher instead of Wayne Green. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Creative Computing
''Creative Computing'' was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format than the rather technically oriented ''Byte (magazine), Byte''. The magazine was created to cover educational-related topics. Early issues include articles on the use of computers in the classroom, various simple programs like madlibs and various programming challenges, mostly in BASIC. By the late 1970s, it had moved towards more general coverage as the microcomputer market emerged. Hardware coverage became more common, but type-in programs remained common into the early 1980s. The company published several books, the most successful being ''BASIC Computer Games'', the first million-selling computer book. Their ''Best of Creative Computing'' collections were also popular. ''Creative Computing'' also published software on Compact Cassette ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dartmouth Time-Sharing System
The Dartmouth Time-Sharing System (DTSS) is a discontinued operating system first developed at Dartmouth College between 1963 and 1964. It was the first successful large-scale time-sharing system to be implemented, and was also the system for which the BASIC language was developed. DTSS was developed continually over the next decade, reimplemented on several generations of computers, and finally shut down in 1999. General Electric developed a similar system based on an interim version of DTSS, which they referred to as Mark II. Mark II and the further developed Mark III were widely used on their GE-600 series mainframe computers and formed the basis for their online services. These were the largest such services in the world for a time, eventually emerging as the consumer-oriented GEnie online service. Early history Professors John George Kemeny, John Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz, Thomas Kurtz at Dartmouth College purchased a Royal McBee LGP-30 computer around 1959, which was pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sol-20
The Sol-20 was the first fully assembled microcomputer with a built-in keyboard and television output, what would later be known as a home computer. The design was the integration of an Intel 8080-based motherboard, a VDM-1 graphics card, the 3P+S I/O card to drive a keyboard, and circuitry to connect to a cassette deck for program storage. Additional expansion was available via five S-100 bus slots inside the machine. It also included swappable ROM cartridge, ROMs that the manufacturer called 'personality modules', containing a rudimentary operating system. The design was originally suggested by Les Solomon, the editor of ''Popular Electronics''. He asked Bob Marsh of Processor Technology if he could design a Computer terminal, smart terminal for use with the Altair 8800. Lee Felsenstein, who shared a garage working space with Marsh, had previously designed such a terminal but never built it. Reconsidering the design using modern electronics, they agreed the best solution was t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PLATO (computer System)
PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations), also known as Project Plato and Project PLATO, was the first generalized computer-assisted instruction system. Starting in 1960, it ran on the University of Illinois's ILLIAC I computer. By the late 1970s, it supported several thousand graphics terminals distributed worldwide, running on nearly a dozen different networked mainframe computers. Many modern concepts in multi-user computing were first developed on PLATO, including forums, message boards, online testing, email, chat rooms, picture languages, instant messaging, remote screen sharing, and multiplayer video games. PLATO was designed and built by the University of Illinois and functioned for four decades, offering coursework (elementary through university) to UIUC students, local schools, prison inmates, and other universities. Courses were taught in a range of subjects, including Latin, chemistry, education, music, Esperanto, and primary mathematics. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mille Bornes
Mille Bornes (; French for ''a thousand milestones,'' referring to the distance markers on many French roads, is a French designer game, designer card game. Mille Bornes is listed in the GAMES 100#Hall of Fame, GAMES Magazine Hall of Fame. History The game was created in 1954 by as ''1000 Bornes.'' It is almost identical to the earlier American automotive card game ''Touring (card game), Touring'', designed by William Janson Roche in 1906. One additional feature is the ' ("counter-thrust"), whereby bonus points are earned by holding back a safety card (such as the puncture-proof tire) until an opponent plays the corresponding hazard card (in this case, the flat tire). The game's name is derived from the approximate length of the Route nationale 7, ''RN'' 7 (a national route) connecting Paris with the Italian border. Dujardin moved to Arcachon southwest of Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast of France in 1947, where he and his family began producing the game in the basement of his hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stratego
''Stratego'' ( ) is a Strategy game, strategy board game for two players on a board of 10×10 squares. Each player controls 40 pieces representing individual Army officer ranks, officer and soldier ranks in an army. The pieces have Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic wikt:insignia, insignia. The objective of the game is to either find and capture the opponent's ''Flag'' or to capture all movable enemy pieces that the opponent cannot make any further moves. ''Stratego'' has simple enough rules for young children to play but a depth of strategy that is also appealing to adults. The game is a slightly modified copy of an early 20th century France, French game named ''L'Attaque'' ("''The Attack''"), and has been in production in Europe since World War II and the United States since 1961. There are now two- and four-player versions, versions with 10, 30 or 40 pieces per player, and boards with smaller sizes (number of spaces). There are also variant pieces and different . The Internationa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stern Electronics
Stern is the name of two different but related arcade gaming companies. Stern Electronics, Inc. manufactured arcade video games and pinball machines from 1977 until 1985, and was best known for '' Berzerk''. Stern Pinball, Inc., founded in 1986 as Data East Pinball, is a manufacturer of pinball machines in North America. Stern Electronics, Inc. Stern Electronics was formed when Sam and Gary Stern bought the financially troubled Chicago Coin in 1977. Sam had previously owned the amusements manufacturer Williams, purchasing half of the company in 1947 and selling it to the Seeburg Corporation in 1964. Gary had trained under his father at Williams, and from 1973-1977 the two ran the company. Stern Electronics, Inc. acquired their core inventory by purchasing Chicago Coin's assets at bankruptcy sales; as a separate company, they did not assume any of the debt Chicago Coin had amassed. The first two games made by Stern were ''Stampede'' and ''Rawhide'', both originally made by Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
