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Vectorbeam
Vectorbeam was an arcade game manufacturer active in the late 1970s who specialized in vector graphics-based arcade games. It was formed after splitting off from its primary competitor, Cinematronics, and disappeared after re-merging with them soon after. Vectorbeam was founded by Larry Rosenthal based on his graduate work from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and which he patented for a custom arcade vector display. Vectorbeam was in direct competition with other arcade game manufacturers. The company ceased operations soon after poor sales of its '' Barrier'' arcade game, and sold its assets to Cinematronics. List of Vectorbeam * '' Barrier'' (1979) * ''Speed Freak'' (arcade game) (1979) * ''Tail Gunner A tail gunner or rear gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who functions as a gunner defending against enemy fighter or interceptor attacks from the rear, or "tail", of the plane. The tail gunner operates a flexible machine gun or au ...'' (1979) * ''W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cinematronics
Cinematronics Incorporated was an arcade game video game developer, developer that primarily released vector graphics games in the late 1970s and early 1980s. While other companies released games based on raster graphics, raster displays, early in their history, Cinematronics and Atari, Inc. released vector-display games, which offered a distinctive look and a greater graphic capability (at the time), at the cost of being only black and white (initially). Cinematronics also published ''Dragon's Lair (1983 video game), Dragon's Lair'' in 1983, the first major LaserDisc video game. History Cinematronics Inc. was founded on April 1, 1975, by two players of the San Diego Chargers football team, Dennis Partee and Gary Garrison, as well as Jimmie Dale “Jim” Pierce (1937–2011) in San Diego, California. Garrison initially served as president until Pierce assumed that role. The company first entered the market creating clones of ''Pong'', selling them in the local area. Their fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speed Freak
Speed Freak is a monochrome vector arcade game created by Vectorbeam in 1979. Along with Atari, Inc.'s '' Night Driver'' and Bally Midway's '' Datsun 280 ZZZAP''–both from 1976–it is one of the earliest first-person driving games and the first such game known to use vector graphics Vector graphics are 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 displ .... Gameplay The game is a behind-the-wheel driving simulation where the driver speeds down a winding computer-generated road past other cars, hitchhikers, trees, cows and cacti. Occasionally a plane will fly overhead towards the screen. One must avoid crashing into these objects and complete the race in the allotted time. The player can crash as many times as he wants before the time runs out and players were treated to two different crash animat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barrier (video Game)
''Barrier'' is an arcade video game developed by Rob Patton for Cinematronics and released in 1979 by Vectorbeam. It is an action game with a vector display. Gameplay Players move a small triangle around the grid, while attempting to avoid the diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...s that are also moving around the grid. Reaching the end of the grid teleports the player back to the front of the grid to gain points. The game is played on a 3x10 grid that is displayed at angle to make it appear to be in 3-D. References External links *''Barrier''aArcade History 1979 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Action games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer hotseat games Vector arcade video games Vectorbeam games Video ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warrior (arcade Game)
''Warrior'' is a 1979 arcade fighting game. It is considered one of the first fighting games,"The Making of... Warrior". (December 2006) '' Edge Magazine'' 169, pp. 101-103 excepting several boxing games such as '' Heavyweight Champ'', released in 1976, and Atari's unreleased ''Boxer'' (which was cloned as 1980's ''Boxing'' for the Atari 2600). Developed by Tim Skelly while working at Cinematronics, it was released under the Vectorbeam company name shortly before Cinematronics closed Vectorbeam, which they had purchased in 1978. The game featured two dueling knights rendered in monochrome vector graphics and based on crude motion capture techniques. Due to the limitations of the hardware, the processor could not render the characters and gaming environment at the same time, so backgrounds were printed and the characters projected on top of them. Controls Originally Skelly planned for a two-player system with each player using two joysticks, one to control the movement of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arcade Game
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and include arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games or merchandisers. Types Broadly, arcade games are nearly always considered Game of skill, games of skill, with only some elements of game of chance, games of chance. Games that are solely games of chance, like slot machines and pachinko, often are categorized legally as gambling devices and, due to restrictions, may not be made available to minors or without appropriate oversight in many jurisdictions. Arcade video games Arcade video games were first introduced in the early 1970s, with ''Pong'' as the first commercially successful game. Arcade video games use Electronics, electronic or computerized circuitry to take input from the player and translate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and science. In response to the increasing Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialization of the United States, William Barton Rogers organized a school in Boston to create "useful knowledge." Initially funded by a land-grant universities, federal land grant, the institute adopted a Polytechnic, polytechnic model that stressed laboratory instruction in applied science and engineering. MIT moved from Boston to Cambridge in 1916 and grew rapidly through collaboration with private industry, military branches, and new federal basic research agencies, the formation of which was influenced by MIT faculty like Vannevar Bush. In the late twentieth century, MIT became a leading center for research in compu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vector Display
A vector monitor, vector display, or calligraphic display is a display device used for computer graphics up through the 1970s. It is a type of CRT, similar to that of an early oscilloscope. In a vector display, the image is composed of drawn lines rather than a grid of glowing pixels as in raster graphics. The electron beam follows an arbitrary path, tracing the connected sloped lines rather than following the same horizontal raster path for all images. The beam skips over dark areas of the image without visiting their points. Some refresh vector displays use a normal phosphor that fades rapidly and needs constant refreshing 30-40 times per second to show a stable image. These displays, such as the Imlac PDS-1, require some local refresh memory to hold the vector endpoint data. Other storage tube displays, such as the popular Tektronix 4010, use a special phosphor that continues glowing for many minutes. Storage displays do not require any local memory. In the 1970s, both typ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tail Gunner
A tail gunner or rear gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who functions as a gunner defending against enemy fighter or interceptor attacks from the rear, or "tail", of the plane. The tail gunner operates a flexible machine gun or autocannon emplacement in the tail end of the aircraft with an unobstructed view toward the rear of the aircraft. While the term ''tail gunner'' is usually associated with a crewman inside a gun turret, the first tail guns were operated from open apertures within the aircraft's fuselage, such as the Scarff ring mechanism used in the British Handley Page V/1500, which was introduced during latter months of the First World War. Increasingly capable tail gunner positions were developed during the interwar period and the Second World War, resulting in the emergence of the powered turret and fire control systems incorporating radar guidance. In particularly advanced tail gunner arrangements, the tail armament may be operated by remote control fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
