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Breakout arcade game by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

Atari Announces New Breakout Game

Back in 1976, Steve Jobs was working for Atari; in fact, he was employee #40 when he joined the company in 1974. One day, Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell approached Jobs with a proposition: develop a video arcade game that turned the two-player game PONG, on which Atari had built its fortunes, into a solo affair that would attract more quarters. In order to meet a tight self-imposed deadline for completion of the game, Jobs utilized the circuit engineering skills of his friend Steve Wozniak to help out.

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs at Apple, 1977
Wozniak and Jobs on the line at the company the founded, Apple Computers, in 1977 image

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs on the line at the company they founded, Apple Computers, in 1977 image

The game was Breakout, and was pretty much an arcade version of the “handball” mode you’d find in most home PONG consoles of the time, made by either Atari or the many companies making copies of PONG. In the case of Breakout, players would knock a ball upwards against bricks that disappear, allowing new paths for the ball to travel through and break even more bricks.

Image of gameplay from Breakout, created by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, for Atari 1976
Original Breakout gameplay

Original Breakout gameplay

Here at TDE, you can read a fuller version of the development of the original Breakout and the chicanery that Jobs got up to when paying Wozniak his share of money received for designing the game. But as for the here and now, Atari has just announced that Breakout is getting a makeover, into a single OR multiplayer version called Breakout Beyond that flips the brick-breaking formula onto its side, having players drive their balls towards goalposts that let them move on to even harder puzzles as the game scrolls left to right. Taking a cue from the Breakout-inspired Taito arcade game Arkanoid, Breakout Beyond also offers powerups, doing things like enlarging players’ paddles, putting a barrier behind players to keep the balls in play, turning paddles into laser ships to manually blast blocks, and more. The highlight of playing the original Breakout would be the moments where you’d break through into the space above the bricks and be treated by a flurry of brick breaking as the ball bounced between the top of the screen and the top layers of bricks. Atari’s new version accentuates this feeling with fireworks and explosions as you break through layers.

Here is Atari’s trailer for the new Breakout Beyond, which is listed as “coming soon” for computers and consoles. Let’s hope Atari has another blockbuster on their paddles.

Logo for Magnavox, makers of the Odyssey 2 video game console

PONG at the Press of a Button: The Magnavox 4305 TV Set

Mr. Peabody, set the Wayback Machine to 1951, when Ralph Baer was working for Loral Electronics Corporation. Tasked to develop “the world’s best television receiver”, Baer figured that while it’s great to improve the picture and sound of TV, what the medium really needed was viewer participation with the device, instead of just passively sitting there staring at the boob tube. One of his ideas is to include some kind of game to be played, but Loral ultimately ash-cans the whole endeavor, deciding that the market couldn’t bear the price tag of a super TV set. Bear, of course, would move on to Sanders Associates, where he would develop a standalone home video game system, that would become the first such marketed device, licensed by Magnavox and released in 1972 as the Odyssey.

Photo of Baer plays the Odyssey 100, circa 1977
Ralph Baer plays the Odyssey 200, circa 1977

Ultimately, Baer’s dream of an interactive TV would be realized by Magnavox when they release the 4305 TV model in 1976. Forget separate boxes, wires and RF modulators you had to screw onto antenna leads… this baby has an electronic ping-pong game at the touch of a button! While a modern marvel, dedicated TV games would go the way of the dodo after the release of programmable game systems like the Fairchild Channel F, or more dramatically with Atari’s powerhouse Video Computer System (VCS)…. later know as the 2600. Still, even those system required gamers to slog a big square console from its hidey-hole, flip the switch on the box connected to your TV, fumble around for the cartridge. The Magnavox 4305 TV? Just push a button to serve your friends or family some humble pie on the electronic tennis court.

Magnavox 4305, a TV/home video game hybrid
The Magnavox 4305 finally integrates the TV and video game, as Baer had originally envisioned, 1977

For more info on Ralph Baer and his amazing Odyssey video game console, check out our in-depth article on the first home video game system here.

Leader Board golf computer game by Access

The Incredibly Convenient Little Islands of Leader Board Golf

Leader Board golf, created by Bruce and Roger Carver of Access Software, is one of the premiere computer golf games of all time. Sure, golf on the computer would advance vastly in the years since Leader Board‘s release in 1986… the Carver brothers themselves would continue to revolutionize computer links with, well, Links in 1990.

But Leader Board continues to fascinate. It had an amazing feel on the Commodore 64… the ball flew through the air and bounced onto the fairways (or bunkers, drat them!) with a kind of uncanny realism for the time, and the swing of the golfer seems as smooth and human as the titular prince in Broderbund’s Prince of Persia. But of all the endearing qualities of Leader Board, my favourite has to be the weird glitch that happens when you stroke a ball that lands at the edge of the many water hazards in the game. Instead of plunking you in the water and adding a stroke to your score, when the graphics are redrawn to your new position on the fairway, suddenly you find that your ball has miraculously landed on one tiny little island in the water! When I played with friends, when this happened we would invariably let out with a “Whew! Good thing the ball just happened to land on that tiny island!”

The incredibly convenient little islands of Leader Board golf. Totally ridiculous… but also immensely charming. This video is my ode to one of the goofiest, and greatest, game glitches of all time. Of course, since I’m playing golf, I let off a few choice words at the end, so you’ll have to click on the “link” in the embed to watch it.

title screen for movie trailer for WarGames, a computer game themed movie starring Matthew Broderick

Classic Computer Thriller WarGames Hits VHS in 1984

I’m embarrassed to say that I only read George Orwell’s classic near-future book 1984 only a few years ago at the time of writing this blog post. The most amazing thing about this excellent novel is how incredibly prescient it is.

Watching the 1983 computer game-themed WarGames gives me the same feeling. Back before the Internet was a popular thing and Dani Bunten was just starting to popularize online gaming over at a little start-up gaming company called Electronic Arts with programs like Modem WarsWarGames told the gripping story of young David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) trying to hack into a gaming software company and unknowingly causing a NORAD computer bring the world to the brink of nuclear armageddon. Even since, there a have been very few, if any, movies that gave a realistic view of actual computer hacking… and certainly not while surrounded by such an exciting package.

So, we bring you the trailer for the movie’s release onto VHS tape in the year that Orwell warned about, a movie with its own advice about the nuclear arms race: The only winning move is not to play.

You can click here for our in-depth look at the development of WarGames and its lasting impact.

Image of the Atari Lynx handheld game unit, 1989

Reason for Failure of Atari Lynx Handheld #469

“You steal my guitar? I shoot you in the crotch! Wait, forgot my gun.”

Outside of the obligatory (and quite good) official Atari arcade ports to the Lynx, one struggles to think of a reason for gamers of the 90’s to have picked one up. It’s certainly not for the mostly bizarre third-party games that remain. Take, for example, this one from Telegames. I can’t imagine people being enticed by such a confusing and inscrutable box cover, saddled with the title Fat Bobby. I have a hard time just picking out the protagonist. Guitar guy is more prominently placed, but then again the other guy seems more relevant to the title…. which I always read as ‘Fat Boobie’ for some reason. Maybe it’s the font.

Fat Bobbie, a video game for the Atari Lynx handheld console

Guitaratica!

To read more about the Atari Lynx and the great computer game developer Epyx that created it, consult my article on the whole works, here.

 

Sierra Explains Online Jargon and Emoticons on The Sierra Network

In 1991, Sierra was on the vanguard of online graphical virtual worlds, as The Sierra Network, initially devised by co-founder Ken Williams as a service for house-bound seniors called The Constant Companion, moved from test marketing to nationwide service.

Moving from simple parlour games like chess and backgammon to action games like Red Baron and The Shadow of YserbiusTSN also promised virtual “theme-parks” like SierraLand and LarryLand.

In addition, users could communicate with each other across live conference areas. To help new users parse the strange text they might be seeing online, in the Summer of 1992 Sierra-published magazine InterAction helpfully provided a guide to this arcane language:

A guide to jargon on The Sierra Network, an online virtual community

It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it

It’s interesting to see how online shorthand has evolved from the early days of virtual communities. For instance, <ROF,L>  The comma seems a bit superfluous if you’re trying to acronym something. And <G,D&R> for grinning, ducking and running. That’s waaaay too much work.

As for the emoticons, I have to say that (a smiling person wearing a striped necktie) and (Uncle Sam) are two amazing feats of engineering, but regular use for them in the vernacular is dubious. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Or so says a smiling Batman B-)

<ROF,L>

Grand Openings: Parasite Eve (Squaresoft 1998)

Squaresoft’s Parasite Eve was based on a popular Japanese book written by pharmacologist Hideaki Sena in his free time. Doing testing on mitochondria cells, producers of electrical energy in organisms, he started to wonder about the results if mitochondria decided it had had enough and took over the bodies it was residing in. 

Sena was happy with the video game adaptation of his work, an adaptation that went on to big success in its own right, and spawned two sequels. 

All NYPD cop Ms. Brea wanted was an evening at the opera without the actors and audience spontaneously bursting into flame. Unfortunately, as we see in this horrifying PlayStation game intro, she didn’t get her wish.

Grand Openings: PowerMonger

You’d be hard-pressed not to feel your blood quicken in anticipation of the coming battles as the intro to 1990’s PowerMonger unfurls like a kingdom banner. The game intro featured in this installment of Grand Openings was a revelation on the Amiga computer, telling a whole narrative of conquest through stirring music and effective animations.

PowerMonger itself was a fun RTS, offering a huge landmass to take over and varying strategies with which to do it. While it eventually became a tad repetitive as you steamrollered opposing armies over and over again, the nearly endless permutations of lands to fight on and fascinating little touches in gameplay never let it get boring. 

You knew Peter Molyneux and his game company Bullfrog Productions had something grand up their sleeves as this mini-movie played at the beginning of their exceedingly fun war RTS game. To arms!

You can follow my commentary as I play through the first few levels of PowerMonger here in this TDE WePlay video.

Grand Openings: Chrono Cross

With the start of a new video series, we look at some great intros to classic games that set an atmospheric tone for the rest of the proceedings. 

We start with Chrono Cross for the PlayStation, yet another staggering RPG by the masters of the genre, Squaresoft. A sequel to Chrono Trigger on the SNES, Chrono Cross was a big hit, both critically and at the cash register, moving over 1.5 million units.

The intro to the game is suitably epic, giving quick glimpses of young protagonist Serge’s coming adventures, and ends with him making a startling discover…. he has apparently died. It also features truly amazing music from composer Yasunori Mitsuda, that perfectly captures the emotional sweep of the game.

Resetting The Dot Eaters

Welcome to the new Dot Eaters. To commemorate our 15th year in existence, we have totally revamped the site from top to bottom, in order to provide a better experience while examining our antiquities. The retro systems, games and companies we cover now all fall under the “Bitstory” section, with each article given its own page. Navigation throughout the site is streamlined and optimized to make getting to content easier. And, of course, there’s the new visual presentation you see all around you.

To celebrate, we are having a launch party, complete with classic game consoles set up that people can play. You can check out the details on our Facebook event page. I hope you enjoy the new look and feel of the Dot Eaters, and please share your opinions with us.