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Airstrike II
''Airstrike II'' (shown on the box cover, but not the title screen, as ''Airstrike 2'') is a horizontally scrolling shooter written by Steven A. Riding and published by English Software for the Atari 8-bit family in 1983. ''Airstrike II'' is a successor to the 1982 ''Airstrike'' which was also programmed by Riding. Both games have gameplay similar to the ''Scramble'' arcade game. Gameplay The goal of ''Airstrike II'' is to clear all five zones using a fighter ship armed with a laser gun and bombs. The ship's ammo and fuel are limited, but can be replenished by shooting a respective dump (F for fuel and A for ammo). The player's ship must navigate tight caverns and watch for enemy fighters and heat-sensitive missiles. The game is split in five zones, which have identical layout but increasing level of difficulty. Some improvements over the predecessor include addition of a scrolling map and a title screen music. Reception ''Airstrike II'' was met with a mixed response. ''Big K' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Software
The English Software Company, later shortened to English Software, was a Manchester, UK-based video game developer and publisher that operated from 1982 until 1987. Starting with its first release, the horizontally scrolling shooter ''Airstrike'', English Software focused on the Atari 8-bit family of home computers, then later expanded onto other platforms. The company used the slogan "The power of excitement". History The company was set up in 1982 by Philip Morris, owner of the Gemini Electronics computer store in Manchester, to release video games for the Atari 8-bit family. By the end of 1983, English Software was the largest producer of Atari 8-bit software in the UK and Morris closed Gemini Electronics to concentrate on English Software."News and Views" |
Atari 8-bit Family
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, and Atari XEGS, the last discontinued in 1992. They differ primarily in packaging, each based on the MOS Technology 6502 central processing unit, CPU at and the same custom coprocessor chips. As the first home computer architecture with coprocessors, it has graphics and sound more advanced than most contemporary machines. Video games were a major draw, and first-person space combat simulator ''Star Raiders'' is considered the platform's killer app. The plug-and-play peripherals use the Atari SIO serial bus, with one developer eventually also co-patenting USB. While using the same internal technology, the Atari 800 was sold as a high-end model, while the 400 was more affordable. The 400 has a pressure-sensitive, spillproof membrane keyboar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scrolling Shooter
In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text or pictures but moves ( pans or tilts) the user's view across what is apparently a larger image that is not wholly seen. A common television and movie special effect is to scroll credits, while leaving the background stationary. Scrolling may take place completely without user intervention (as in film credits) or, on an interactive device, be triggered by touchscreen or a keypress and continue without further intervention until a further user action, or be entirely controlled by input devices. Scrolling may take place in discrete increments (perhaps one or a few lines of text at a time), or continuously (smooth scrolling). Frame rate is the speed at which an entire image is redisplayed. It is related to scrolling in that changes to text a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scrolling Shooter
In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text or pictures but moves ( pans or tilts) the user's view across what is apparently a larger image that is not wholly seen. A common television and movie special effect is to scroll credits, while leaving the background stationary. Scrolling may take place completely without user intervention (as in film credits) or, on an interactive device, be triggered by touchscreen or a keypress and continue without further intervention until a further user action, or be entirely controlled by input devices. Scrolling may take place in discrete increments (perhaps one or a few lines of text at a time), or continuously (smooth scrolling). Frame rate is the speed at which an entire image is redisplayed. It is related to scrolling in that changes to text a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airstrike (video Game)
''Airstrike'' is a horizontally scrolling shooter written by Steven A. Riding for the Atari 8-bit family. Having strong similarities to Konami's 1981 ''Scramble'' arcade game, it was published in 1982 as the first release from UK-based English Software. The company described the game as "Very, very, difficult!" in magazine advertisements, and reviewers agreed with that assessment. ''Airstrike'' was followed by ''Airstrike II'', also programmed by Riding, in 1983. Gameplay The player controls a ship that flies horizontally to the right through caverns. Pressing the joystick button fires a laser, and the space bar drops a bomb. As in ''Scramble'', fuel is limited, but can be replenished by shooting targets marked with an "F". ''Airstrike'' also restricts ammunition: the ship starts with 40 shots and 10 bombs and more are gained by destroying ammo dumps (marked with an "A"). Surface to air missiles on the terrain launch up toward the ship and can be destroyed when either on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scramble (video Game)
is a side-scrolling shooter game released for arcades in 1981. It was developed by Konami, and manufactured and distributed by Leijac in Japan and Stern in North America. It was the first side-scrolling shooter with forced scrolling and multiple distinct levels,Game Genres: Shmups Professor Jim Whitehead, January 29, 2007, Accessed June 17, 2008 serving as a foundation for later side-scrolling shooters. It was Konami's first major worldwide hit. In the United States, it sold 15,136 arcade cabinets within five months and became Stern's second best-selling game. ''Scramble'' was not ported to any major contemporary consoles or computers, but there were releases for the |
Airstrike II Atari 8-bit PAL Screenshot
An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The official definition includes all sorts of targets, including enemy air targets, but in popular usage the term is usually narrowed to a tactical (small-scale) attack on a ground or naval objective as opposed to a larger, more general attack such as carpet bombing. Weapons used in an airstrike can range from direct-fire aircraft-mounted cannons and machine guns, rockets and air-to-surface missiles, to various types of aerial bombs, glide bombs, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and even directed-energy weapons such as laser weapons. In close air support, air strikes are usually controlled by trained observers on the ground for coordination with ground troops and intelligence in a manner derived from artillery tactics. History Beginnin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big K (magazine)
''Big K'' was a short-lived multi format magazine published by IPC Magazines Ltd during the 1980s. The design of the magazine was very similar in style to their comic strip publications at the time, ''2000 AD (comics), 2000ad'' and ''Roy of the Rovers'' and seemed to be aimed squarely at the younger computer user. The March 1985 issue featured the first episode of the digitally created comic strip Shatter (digital comic), Shatter, although as this was the last Big K printed, it was also Shatter's only appearance until a run in ''Jon Sable: Freelance'' from issues #25-30 in June 1985. See also *''Computer and Video Games (magazine)'' *''ACE (games magazine), ACE'' *''The Games Machine'' *''Edge (magazine), Edge'' *''GamesMaster (magazine)'' References External links iarchive:big-k-magazine, Archived Big K Magazines on the Internet Archive Defunct computer magazines published in the United Kingdom Video game magazines published in the United Kingdom Home computer magazines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Personal Computer News
''Personal Computer News'' (''PCN'') was a magazine publication which reviewed software and hardware for computers. It was published initially fortnightly, and during the boom period of home computing within the United Kingdom. It was published by VNU Publications and had a female editor, Cyndy Miles, unusual for computer magazines of the time.Lesley Wells, "My blind date with a home computer", ''The Times'', 9 April 1983. Its first issue was published on 12 March 1983. Its last issue, number 110, was published on 11 May 1985. It had a circulation of 150,000 in 1983. ''PCN'' had a lot of competition which peaked around mid-1984 with about 96 rival titles. It closed with an estimated £1 million in debts. ''PCN'' was unusual in being a weekly publication (most of its rivals were monthly with only two weeklies) and was a higher quality print with a glossy cover. Many of the monthlies were also glossies but ''PCN'' had the high cover price of 50p compared to the other weeklies. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1983 Video Games
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the true Internet). * January 24 – Twenty-five members of the Red Brigades are sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1978 murder of Italian politician Aldo Moro. * January 25 ** High-ranking Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia. ** IRAS is launched from Vandenberg AFB, to conduct the world's first all-sky infrared survey from space. February * February 2 – Giovanni Vigliotto goes on trial on charges of polygamy involving 105 women. * February 3 – Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Fraser is granted a double dissolution of both houses of parliament, for elections on March 5, 1983. As Fraser is being granted the dissolution, Bill Hayden resigns as leader of the Australian Labor Party, and in the subsequent lea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari 8-bit Family Games
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, California, in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles and home computers. The company's products, such as ''Pong'' and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. In 1984, as a result of the video game crash of 1983, the home console and computer divisions of the original Atari Inc. were sold off, and the company was renamed Atari Games Inc. Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games, as well as the derivative coin-operated arcade rights to the original 1972–1984 arcade hardware properties. The Atari Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari 8-bit Family-only Games
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, California, in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles and home computers. The company's products, such as ''Pong'' and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. In 1984, as a result of the video game crash of 1983, the home console and computer divisions of the original Atari Inc. were sold off, and the company was renamed Atari Games Inc. Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games, as well as the derivative coin-operated arcade rights to the original 1972–1984 arcade hardware properties. The Atari Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
