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Starglider Start Screen
''Starglider'' is a 3D video game published in 1986 by Rainbird. It was developed by Jez San under his company name Argonaut Software. The game is a fast-moving, first-person combat flight simulator, rendered with colourful wireframe vector graphics inspired by San's love of the 1983 Atari coin-op ''Star Wars''. ''Starglider'' was originally developed for the 16-bit Amiga and Atari ST. Rainbird commissioned Realtime Games to produce 8-bit versions for the Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, and ZX Spectrum (128K, with a cut-down 48K version without sampled speech or special missions), and for the IBM PC compatible with CGA. Solid Images were commissioned to produce versions for the Commodore 64 and Apple IIGS. It was followed in 1988 by a sequel, '' Starglider 2'', which uses filled-polygon graphics. The series inspired Argonaut to partner with Nintendo in creating the Super FX chip for Super NES in order to power the ''Star Fox'' series of hit games. Story The game takes over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Argonaut Games
Argonaut Games PLC was a British video game developer founded in 1982, most notable for the development of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES video game ''Star Fox (1993 video game), Star Fox'' and its supporting Super FX hardware, as well as for developing ''Croc: Legend of the Gobbos'' and the ''Starglider'' series. The company was liquidated in late 2004, and ceased to exist in early 2007. History Founded as Argonaut Software by teenager Jez San in 1982, the company name is a play on his name (J. San) and the mythological story of ''Jason and the Argonauts (1963 film), Jason and the Argonauts''. Its head offices were in Colindale, London,Company Summary [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Vector Graphics
Vector graphics is a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector display and printing ''hardware'', vector ''data models'' and file formats, as well as the ''software'' based on these data models (especially graphic design software, computer-aided design, and geographic information systems). Vector graphics is an alternative to raster or bitmap graphics, with each having advantages and disadvantages in specific situations. While vector hardware has largely disappeared in favor of raster-based monitors and printers, vector data and software continues to be widely used, especially when a high degree of geometric precision is required, and when complex information can be decomposed into simple geometric primitives. Thus, it is the preferred model for domains such as engineering, architecture, surveying, 3D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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David Lowe (video Game Composer)
David Lowe also known as "Uncle Art" is a British composer known for his work on computer games from 1985 to 1998. Lowe got attention by making music with professional synthesizers ( CX5, DX7, RX11 drum machine) for an additional cassette tape distributed with the games Starglider 2 and Carrier Command. His Starglider soundtrack for 16-bit computers (ST & Amiga) was also notable of having 15-second long song (a single sound file) with vocals and synthesizers on both versions. Amiga version's title music used high quality instrument sounds (for then prevailing standards - before tracker music). Lowe composed and recorded the music for '' Frontier: Elite II''. Lowe was also co author and assembler programmer for 'Buggy Blast' and also programmer for the Spectrum Z80 version of 'Thrust': both published by Rainbird 1985 & 1986 respectively. In 2017, Lowe and his daughter finished their latest album; A Temporal Shift. It features remastered versions of some of Lowe's best-known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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James Follett
James Follett (27 July 1939 – 10 January 2021) was an English author and screenwriter. Follett became a full-time fiction writer in 1976, after resigning from contract work as a technical writer for the Ministry of Defence. He wrote over 20 novels, several television plays and many radio dramas. He died in January 2021 at the age of 81. Works Novels * ''The Doomsday Ultimatum'' (1976) * ''Crown Court'' (1977) * ''Ice'' (1978) * ''U-700'' (1979), based on his radio play ''The U-boat that lost its Nerve'', in turn based on a true story during World War II. * ''Churchill's Gold'' (1980) * ''The Tiptoe Boys'' (1981) (filmed as '' Who Dares Wins'') * ''Earthsearch'' (1981, a novelization of Follett's radio drama '' Earthsearch'') * ''Deathship'' (1982, a novelization of Follett's radio drama '' Earthsearch II'') * ''Dominator'' (1984) * ''Swift'' (1985). Set in 1996, it foresaw the proliferation of Mobile phones * '' A Cage of Eagles'' (1989) * ''Mirage'' (1988). A fictionalis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Sci-fi
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, extraterrestrial life, sentient artificial intelligence, cybernetics, certain forms of immortality (like mind uploading), and the singularity. Science fiction predicted several existing inventions, such as the atomic bomb, robots, and borazon, whose names entirely match their fictional predecessors. In addition, science fiction might serve as an outlet to facilitate future scientific and technological innovations. Science fiction can trace its roots to ancient mythology. It is also related to fantasy, horror, and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres. Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Science fiction, in literature, film, television, and other media, has b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Starglider Start Screen
''Starglider'' is a 3D video game published in 1986 by Rainbird. It was developed by Jez San under his company name Argonaut Software. The game is a fast-moving, first-person combat flight simulator, rendered with colourful wireframe vector graphics inspired by San's love of the 1983 Atari coin-op ''Star Wars''. ''Starglider'' was originally developed for the 16-bit Amiga and Atari ST. Rainbird commissioned Realtime Games to produce 8-bit versions for the Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, and ZX Spectrum (128K, with a cut-down 48K version without sampled speech or special missions), and for the IBM PC compatible with CGA. Solid Images were commissioned to produce versions for the Commodore 64 and Apple IIGS. It was followed in 1988 by a sequel, '' Starglider 2'', which uses filled-polygon graphics. The series inspired Argonaut to partner with Nintendo in creating the Super FX chip for Super NES in order to power the ''Star Fox'' series of hit games. Story The game takes over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Star Fox
is an arcade style rail shooter and third person action-adventure video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, produced and published by Nintendo. The games follow the Star Fox combat team of anthropomorphic animals, led by chief protagonist Fox McCloud. Gameplay involves many adventures around the Lylat planetary system in the futuristic Arwing fighter aircraft, in other vehicles, and on foot. The original ''Star Fox'' (1993) is a forward-scrolling 3D rail shooter, but later games add more directional freedom. The first game in the series, developed by Nintendo EAD and programmed by Argonaut Software, uses the Super FX Chip to create the first hardware-accelerated 3D gaming experience on a home console. The Super FX Chip is a math co-processor built into the cartridge to help the Super NES render graphics. Super FX has been used in other Super NES games, some with increased processing speed. Its reboot, '' Star Fox 64'', is the first Nintendo 64 game with Ru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Super FX
The Super FX is a coprocessor on the Graphics Support Unit (GSU) added to select Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) video game cartridges, primarily to facilitate advanced 2D and 3D graphics. The Super FX chip was designed by Argonaut Games, who also co-developed the 3D space rail shooter video game ''Star Fox'' with Nintendo to demonstrate the additional polygon rendering capabilities that the chip had introduced to the SNES. History The Super FX chip design team included engineers Ben Cheese, Rob Macaulay, and James Hakewill. While in development, the Super FX chip was codenamed "Super Mario FX" and "MARIO". "MARIO", a backronym for "Mathematical, Argonaut, Rotation, & Input/Output", is printed on the face of the final production chip. Because of high manufacturing costs and increased development time, few Super FX based games were made compared to the rest of the SNES library. Due to these increased costs, Super FX games often retailed at a higher MSRP compared t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Nintendo
is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards. After venturing into various lines of business during the 1960s and acquiring a legal status as a public company, Nintendo distributed its first console, the Color TV-Game, in 1977. It gained international recognition with the release of ''Donkey Kong'' in 1981 and the Nintendo Entertainment System and ''Super Mario Bros.'' in 1985. Since then, Nintendo has produced some of the most successful consoles in the video game industry, such as the Game Boy, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Nintendo DS, the Wii, and the Switch. It has created numerous major franchises, including ''Mario'', ''Donkey Kong'', ''The Legend of Zelda'', ''Pokémon'', ''Kirby'', ''Metroid'', ''Fire Emblem'', ''Animal Crossing'', ''Splatoon'', ''Star Fox'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Starglider 2
''Starglider 2'' is a 3D space combat simulator published in 1988 by Rainbird as the sequel to 1986's ''Starglider''. It was released for the Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Macintosh, and ZX Spectrum. Instead of the wireframe graphics of the original, ''Starglider 2'' uses flat shaded polygons. Plot and gameplay The game features open, continuous gameplay without levels or loading screens after the game had started, despite taking place across an entire planetary system. The player can fly through space, enter a planet's atmosphere, explore the surface, and penetrate tunnels in one seamless movement. The goal of ''Starglider 2'' is to destroy an enemy space station with a neutron bomb, and the majority of the gameplay consists of collecting parts for the bomb, or fulfilling other prerequisites (e.g. finding the nuclear professor capable of constructing the bomb, or trade goods for the bombs necessary to destroy the shield generators protecting the space station), while fighting of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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.jpg "Click for more on -> Apple IIGS") |
Apple IIGS
The Apple IIGS (styled as II), the fifth and most powerful of the Apple II family, is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Computer. While featuring the Macintosh look and feel, and resolution and color similar to the Amiga and Atari ST, it remains compatible with earlier Apple II models. The "GS" in the name stands for "Graphics and Sound," referring to its enhanced multimedia hardware, especially its state-of-the-art audio. The microcomputer is a radical departure from any previous Apple II, with a 16-bit 65C816 microprocessor, direct access to megabytes of random-access memory (RAM), and bundled mouse. It is the first computer from Apple with a color graphical user interface (color was introduced on the Macintosh II six months later) and Apple Desktop Bus interface for keyboards, mice, and other input devices. It is the first personal computer with a wavetable synthesis chip, using technology from Ensoniq. The IIGS set forth a promising future and evolutionary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Color Graphics Adapter
The Color Graphics Adapter (CGA), originally also called the ''Color/Graphics Adapter'' or ''IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter'', introduced in 1981, was IBM's first color graphics card for the IBM PC and established a de facto computer display standard. Hardware design The original IBM CGA graphics card was built around the Motorola 6845 display controller, came with 16 kilobytes of video memory built in, and featured several graphics and text modes. The highest display resolution of any mode was 640×200, and the highest color depth supported was 4-bit (16 colors). The CGA card could be connected either to a direct-drive CRT monitor using a 4-bit digital ( TTL) RGBI interface, such as the IBM 5153 color display, or to an NTSC-compatible television or composite video monitor via an RCA connector. The RCA connector provided only baseband video, so to connect the CGA card to a television set without a composite video input required a separate RF modulator. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |