I think they have it backwards.
Amid the recent media hullabaloo that modern video games are sexist and overly fixated on violence, I give you this ad for Deathtrap Dungeon from 1998. That is all.
Discussion Topic of the Week: Graphics quality aside, do you think today’s video games are more sexist and violent than games from earlier eras?
25 years ago this March (1987), Apple released the Macintosh II, the first open architecture Macintosh. Naturally, I’ve written a short feature about this pioneering machine over at Macworld.
While speaking with Michael Dhuey, the Apple engineer that conceived the Mac II, I learned that Apple patterned the Mac II after the 1977 Apple II, which sported the same sort of flexibility and expandability as the Mac II. That self-referential influence amazed me — especially coming from a company that recently institutionalized the practice of ignoring its own history.
But only two years after Steve Jobs resigned from Apple, the company had no problem making the un-Jobs move of both looking backward and opening up the Macintosh. The result changed the course of Macintosh history.
AOL Keyword: Rotating Nintendo Cubes
If you haven’t noticed, E3 2012 is taking place this week in Los Angeles, CA. Here’s a Nintendo Power teaser announcement for the Nintendo’s E3 event that launched the Nintendo 64 in 1996.
When I see this, I can’t help but reflect on what a different press environment we live in today. In 1996 there were no blogs and the public’s adoption of the web was limited. Today, we get our news by-the-second from dozens, if not hundreds, of media outlets online.
Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s your favorite E3 memory?
Believe it or not, it’s been almost two years since I did my last tech teardown slideshow for PC World. After 11 visual disassemblies with my haggard workbench as a backdrop, I figured I’d give the series a rest until an interesting new venue came along.
Fast forward to April 2012 — it was a beautiful spring day outside, and I had decided to take apart a 1972 Magnavox Odyssey (the first commercial video game console) in honor of its 40th anniversary. I walked out to my back yard, sat down on the moss, and the result is now up on PCWorld.com.
I hope you enjoy it.
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Here are my previous tech teardowns: Nintendo NES, Atari 1040STf, Atari 800, Commodore Amiga 1000, Commodore 64, Nintendo Game Boy, Nintendo Famicom, Apple IIc, IBM Model M Keyboard, TRS-80 Model 100, and Macintosh Portable.
“We’ve got a lot of space here, Fred, and I’m tired.” [stamps 7 times] “Fixed.”
Forty years ago, Magnavox lifted the veil on the world’s first commercial video game console, the Odyssey. Designed to work with a home TV set, the Odyssey blazed a trail that every game console follows today.
While the Odyssey had first been revealed to the press in April 1972, the Odyssey reached the market at $99.99 (about $548 in today’s dollars) in August of that year.
Magnavox’s console relied on technology originally developed by Ralph Baer, Bill Harrison, and Bill Rusch at Sanders Associates in the mid- to late 1960s. Baer’s invention, together with Atari’s work during the same period, founded an industry.
Even though I’ve been writing about the work of Ralph Baer for over five years now, I still am amazed that the commercial video game console is now 40 years old. But 40 years is a long time in technology, and it’s easy to see how we’ve come so far if you keep that time scale in mind.
By the way — in honor of this anniversary, I recently took apart an Odyssey console for PC World. You can read about that adventure in another post.
Discussion Topic of the Week: Have you ever played an original Magnavox Odyssey console? Describe how you felt about the experience.
Two days ago, I flew up to New Hampshire to visit Ralph H. Baer, the Father of Video Games, at his home in Manchester.
During my brief stay, Baer was a gracious host and a gentleman to the highest degree. We discussed life, philosophy, WWII, video games, and more. Best of all, he showed me an archive of his inventions that he keeps in his basement.
I made the trip because Baer, along with two associates, invented home video games in 1967. That work culminated in the Magnavox Odyssey, the world’s first commercial video game console, in 1972.
Baer, who turned 90 in March, has also been a freelance toy and game developer since the late 1970s. His biggest hit in that field is no doubt Simon, a toy which you might know by its iconic saucer shape and playful electronic melodies.
After examining some of his creations, I challenged him to a game of Ping Pong on a replica of the Brown Box (the 1968 video game prototype that inspired the Odyssey). We didn’t keep score, but his hands are surprisingly nimble. By the way, he’s a very good driver too. Even at 90, his mind seems twice as sharp as someone one third his age.
Yesterday morning, just before I left to fly home, I took the following panoramic shots around Ralph’s house with my Sony camera. He gave me permission to publish these images, so I thought you might enjoy them.
The geometry in each photo is warped because the camera flattens about 180 degrees of perspective into a rectangular image. Still, I love the effect. Here they are:
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Ralph’s office, where he writes and checks his email. He likes Macs.
Ralph’s basement lab, where he has worked on his inventions for over 50 years.
Ralph’s main basement. To the right sits his shelved display of toy inventions.
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Overall, it was an amazing trip. I am not the first journalist, nor will I be the last, to visit him. But I still feel lucky that I had a chance to explore the world of a renowned inventor up close.
Some time in the future, I will write about the visit in more detail. But for now, I thought you might enjoy checking out these photos.
In Memoriam: Jack Tramiel (1928-2012)
Founder of Commodore, ex-CEO of Atari Corp.
Twenty years ago this month, Microsoft released version 3.1 of its famous Windows operating system. At the time, however, Windows could not stand alone as a true OS by itself. Instead, it served as a sophisticated graphical shell that ran on top of command line MS-DOS.
Windows 3.1 introduced many innovations to the Windows product line, including TrueType fonts, baked-in multimedia support, and even the first appearance of the dreaded Windows Registry (really!).
In celebration of this anniversary, I produced a slideshow outlining some of Windows 3.1’s most important improvements and features for PC World. If nothing else, the custom screenshots should serve as a trip down memory lane for many folks. I hope you enjoy it.
Forty years ago this June, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded Atari, Inc. — what a name, what a company. Even 40 years on, Atari looms like a giant shadow over all corners of video game history, and for good reason: its two founders launched the industry in 1971.
I thought I’d celebrate this 40-year milestone a little early with some Atari Oddities over at Technologizer. You’ll see obscure Atari products like a 1976 arcade digital camera, a light synthesizer, a dog-themed Pong cabinet, and more. Anyone with even a casual interest in Atari should enjoy it.
I’m jumping the gun on the anniversary, month-wise, because this will likely be the last piece I write for Technologizer. Its founder, Harry McCracken, has joined TIME as an editor, and Technologizer will cease to be an independent blog at the end of the month (the archives will live on, however).
Yesterday I made a live appearance on Word of Mouth, a show on New Hampshire Public Radio, talking about my recent piece, “Why History Needs Software Piracy.” You can listen to the audio of the interview online. The interview appeared at the top of the show and lasted about 9 minutes.
It was my first live radio interview, so I’m not sure if I made any sense. Even if I didn’t, you can check out the dulcet tones of my telephone speaking voice.
