They came out of the blue of the black sky.

Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s your favorite 2D space shooter of all time?

If Dvorak loved it (see quote), then there must be something terribly wrong.

The Snappy is one of the greatest gadgets I’ve ever owned. It captured full color still images from a composite video input in a variety of resolutions and interfaced to a PC via a parallel port connection. The greatest part was its price — the MSRP in 1995 started at $199.95, which was staggeringly low for a device of that capability. In effect, the Snappy turned your family camcorder into a digital still camera at a time when digital cameras were rare and extremely expensive.

I used my Snappy to capture my first digital photos and some of the earliest directly digitized screenshots of video games ever made, which I distributed on my BBS. This was at a time before widespread emulation, so it was miraculous to have a JPEG file of, say, The Legend of Zelda’s title screen on your computer.

To see the 1979 equivalent of the Snappy, check out this Retro Scan from last December.

Discussion Topic of the Week: When did you take your first digital picture?

In Memoriam: Gerald A. Lawson (1940-2011), black video game pioneer.

I am very saddened to announce the passing of a truly important figure in the history of video games. Jerry Lawson died Saturday morning, April 9th, 2011, at the age of 70.

Lawson was notable not only for being a rare African American electronic engineer in Silicon Valley, but also for leading the team that created the world’s first ROM cartridge-based video game console. I speak, of course, of the Fairchild Channel F, which hit the market in August 1976.

Lawson did an interview for this site in 2009, and I am proud to say that the feature brought this amazing man some long overdue recognition. The IGDA honored Lawson’s contributions to the industry during an informal session at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference on March 4th, 2011.

I heard the news of Lawson’s death only this afternoon from David Erhart, a personal friend of Lawson. Erhart tells me that he and Lawson were planning to go to a ham radio swap meet Saturday morning, but he received a call from Jerry’s wife on Friday night telling him that Lawson was in the ICU. The next morning, his wife phoned Erhart again to say that Lawson had died.

The cause of death is unknown to me at the moment, but I do know that Lawson struggled with severe diabetes for years. An obituary for Jerry is in the works, and I will post an update whenever I receive it (or a link to it).

Rest in peace, Jerry. Thank you for all you’ve done for us. History will not forget your name.

[Update (04/14/2011) – David Erhart was told by Lawson’s family that Lawson died of a heart attack. “He was feeling bad Wednesday afternoon/night as was taken to the hospital,” Erhart wrote in an email. “He then died at 6:15am Saturday morning.” This New York Times obituary quotes Lawson’s wife as saying that Lawson died from “complications of diabetes.”]

“Now you too can play Pool 1.5”

I have fond memories of Pool 1.5 for the Atari 8-bit computer line. I remember finding a neglected copy of it in the back of our Atari disk box as a kid and playing it for hours. Despite it’s age, I still enjoy playing Pool 1.5 more than any other billiards simulation.

The “1.5” designation in the name is interesting and somewhat unusual for a game. I assume it’s a version number, but I’ve never heard of, say, “Pool 1.0.” Maybe it’s a title that metaphorically suggests improvement on the real game of Pool, similar to how we say “Revolution 2.0” today. Or maybe not.

If you get a chance, you should try it out. The game holds up surprisingly well.

Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s your favorite pool/billiards video or computer game?

Rexall Fine Quality Typewriter Paper

I found this pad of 8.5″ x 11″ Rexall typewriter paper in a pile of my parents’ old documents. It immediately struck me as interesting because typewriter paper is not something you’d typically find on sale in a drug store these days.

Why? Well, computers, my boy. They obliterated the typewriter market decisively in the early 1990s. People found the ease of word processing on an electronic screen (especially in the post-Macintosh GUI era) much more flexible, powerful, and convenient than the comparatively cumbersome practice of using a typewriter.

Some years ago I recall reading that certain old-school writers still swear by typewriters for clarity of thought and purity of purpose. There’s something to that philosophy, as the modern multi-tasking operating systems we have today are extremely distracting for serious work. Maybe computer single-tasking should come back in vogue.

Discussion Topic of the Week: When’s the last time you used a typewriter? Tell us about the occasion.

“Unleash the fury of the full force blast!”

Ah yes, Spawn: the game that launched a thousand thugs…directly off the roof of a building.

I’ll pause while you watch the video.

Aside from that slight programming snafu, Spawn is a passable, if graphically rich, platform beat-em-up for the Super NES. Does anybody out there own this game? How do you feel about it?

Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s your favorite comic book-based video game?

“…standard 1/4″ tape on a self-threading 2.2″ spool.”

Discussion Topic of the Week: Have you ever installed a backup tape drive on your PC? Tell us about it.

Have you played all 45 games seen here?

Scott Adams adventure games are nigh-but-legendary in the history of computer gaming. Mr. Adams’ company, Adventure International, published dozens of interactive fiction titles (some with graphics) between 1978 and 1985. They were available on just about every computer platform of the 1980s, so it’s likely you’ve encountered at least one of them if you owned a computer at that time.

Early Adventure International games sported a relatively simple input parser (usually two words, a verb and a keyword) compared to Infocom fare, but that didn’t stop Adams’ captivating games from spreading far and wide — both legally and via piracy — across the personal computing universe.

Regarding the two men pictured in the ad above: I’m guessing they’re Scott and Alexis Adams, the two men behind Adventure International. Turns out Alexis is a woman (see comments), so it’s unlikely one of them is her unless she was fond of wearing drag.

…Oh, and I know Jason Scott will say something if I don’t mention Get Lamp, his new documentary on text adventure games. I haven’t seen it yet, but I hear it’s great.

Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s your favorite interactive fiction (aka “text adventure”) game of all time?

“Introducing the Percom Alternative to Atari Disk Storage.”

I have a set of these Percom drives for the Atari 800, and I have to say they work very well. The only drawback? Don’t drop them on your toe, as the sharp metal case edges tend to have a guillotine effect at high speeds…

Discussion Topic of the Week: Have you ever been physically injured by a computer or video game system? Tell us about it.

Click above for double page scan.

The Legend of Zelda turns 25 today, having been released on the Famicom Disk System in Japan way back on February 21st, 1986.

Here’s a page (two if you click above) from the lengthy “Tips & Tactics” instruction manual that shipped with every copy of Nintendo’s famous adventure game (at least in the early days). This booklet contained maps and hints to help players navigate through a wholly new gaming experience in the video game console realm at the time.

It is hard to relate today — to those who did not experience it first hand — the feeling when we first encountered The Legend of Zelda upon its release in 1987 (over here in the ‘States). It was epic. Magical. Awe-inspiring. Zelda continued a trend of groundbreaking NES gameplay that started for many with Super Mario Bros. a year or two before.

Those first gaming experiences on the NES — rounded out by titles like Metroid and Kid Icarus — are what won Nintendo’s first console a place in the hearts of an entire generation of kids around the world.

For more on the anniversary, check out my The Legend of Zelda Oddities slideshow over at Technologizer.

Discussion Topic of the Week: Tell us about the first time you played The Legend of Zelda. What was the experience like? How old were you at the time?