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Big Five Software
Big Five Software ( Big 5 Software) was an American video game developer in the first half of the 1980s founded by Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu. The company released games for the Tandy TRS-80 and later the Atari 8-bit family. Most of its TRS-80 games were clones of arcade games of the time, such as '' Galaxy Invasion'' (''Galaxian''), ''Super Nova'' (''Asteroids''), ''Defense Command'' (''Missile Command''), and ''Meteor Mission'' (''Lunar Rescue''). Big Five also sold an Atari joystick interface called TRISSTICK which was popular with TRS-80 owners. The company's most successful release was original: the 10-stage platform game ''Miner 2049er'', released for the Atari 8-bit family in 1982 and widely ported to other systems. Hogue stopped developing games after Big Five's final release, '' Bounty Bob Strikes Back'' (1984-85). In 2007, he released a free, custom emulation of the Atari 8-bit versions of ''Miner 2049'er'' and ''Bounty Bob Strikes Back'' for Microsoft Windows. Games ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Van Nuys, Los Angeles
Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, the Suburban Homes Company – a syndicate led by Hobart Johnstone Whitley, general manager of the board of control, along with Harry Chandler, H. G. Otis, M. H. Sherman and O. F. Brandt – purchased 48,000 acres of the Farming and Milling Company for $2.5 million. Henry E. Huntington extended his Pacific Electric Railway (Red Cars) through the Valley to Owensmouth (now Canoga Park). The Suburban Home Company laid out plans for roads and the towns of Van Nuys, Reseda (Marian) and Canoga Park (Owensmouth). The rural areas were annexed into the city of Los Angeles in 1915. The town was founded in 1911 and named for Isaac Newton Van Nuys, a rancher, entrepreneur and one of its developers. It was annexed by Los Angeles on May 22, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asteroids (video Game)
''Asteroids'' is a space-themed multidirectional shooter arcade game designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg released in November 1979 by Atari, Inc. The player controls a single spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy the asteroids and saucers, while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers' counter-fire. The game becomes harder as the number of asteroids increases. ''Asteroids'' was conceived during a meeting between Logg and Rains, who decided to use hardware developed by Howard Delman previously used for '' Lunar Lander''. Asteroids was based on an unfinished game titled ''Cosmos''; its physics model, control scheme, and gameplay elements were derived from '' Spacewar!'', '' Computer Space'', and ''Space Invaders'' and refined through trial and error. The game is rendered on a vector display in a two-dimensional view that wraps around both screen axes. ''Asteroids'' was one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meteor Mission II
''Meteor Mission II'' (written as ''Meteor Mission 2'' on the title screen) is a clone of the Taito arcade game ''Lunar Rescue'' released by Big Five Software for the TRS-80 home computer in 1982. It was written by Big Five co-founders Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu. Gameplay The game is similar in concept to '' Lunar Lander'' but adds a rescue element. The initial goal is to navigate a ship through a moving meteor belt and land on one of several landing pads. A small figure runs out from the side of the screen, enters the ship, and then the player must navigate and fire back through the meteor field and dock with the mothership. Development The game was the fifth of seven arcade clones programmed for the TRS-80 by Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu, who left the TRS-80 platform in 1982. Hogue previously wrote and published an unrelated game called ''Meteor Mission'' that was withdrawn from the market. He would later that year create the platform game ''Miner 2049er'' for the Atari 8-bit f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Attack Force (video Game)
''Attack Force'' is a 1980 video game developed by Big Five Software for the TRS-80 16K. It was written by Big Five co-founders Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu. Hogue later wrote '' Miner 2049'er''. ''Attack Force'' is based on Exidy's 1980 Targ arcade game. Gameplay ''Attack Force'' is a game in which the player's ship must avoid the twisting and turning ram-ships of the enemy. Reception J. Mishcon reviewed ''Attack Force'' in ''The Space Gamer'' No. 39. Mishcon commented that "This is another strong entry in the Big Five line and I strongly recommend it for any arcade buff." Reviews *'' Moves'' #57, p14https://strategyandtacticspress.com/library-files/Moves%20Issue57.pdf References {{reflist External linksReviewin ByteReviewin Creative Computing ''Creative Computing'' was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for servers, and Windows IoT for embedded systems. Defunct Windows families include Windows 9x, Windows Mobile, and Windows Phone. The first version of Windows was released on November 20, 1985, as a graphical operating system shell for MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Windows is the most popular desktop operating system in the world, with 75% market share , according to StatCounter. However, Windows is not the most used operating system when including both mobile and desktop OSes, due to Android's massive growth. , the most recent version of Windows is Windows 11 for consumer PCs and tablets, Windows 11 Enterprise for corporations, and Windows Server 2022 for servers. Genealogy By marketing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bounty Bob Strikes Back
''Bounty Bob Strikes Back!'' is the sequel to ''Miner 2049er'' published in 1985 for the Atari 8-bit family. The game adds a pseudo-3D look to the platforms and increases the level count from 10 to 25. As with the original, the Atari 8-bit version was released on ROM cartridge. A port for the Atari 5200 was released the same year, followed by versions for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum also in 1985. In 2001, Bill Hogue, the game's developer, released the game and its prequel, ''Miner 2049er'', for free online with an embedded Atari 8-bit computer emulator. Gameplay Gameplay is similar to ''Miner 2049er'' in that the player must inspect every section of 25 mines while avoiding mutants within a set time. One difference from the original game is that after losing a life, sections on platforms remain covered and destroyed enemies do not reappear, thus making it easier to complete a level. Development On Atari systems, it is a bank-switched cartridge of 40KB total ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari Joystick Port
The Atari joystick port is a computer port used to connect various gaming controllers to game console and home computer systems in the 1970s to the 1990s. It was originally introduced on the Atari 2600 in 1977 and then used on the Atari 400 and 800 in 1979. It went cross-platform with the VIC-20 in 1981, and was then used on many following machines from both companies, as well as a growing list of 3rd party machines like the MSX platform and various Sega consoles. The port, based on the inexpensive 9-pin D-connector, became a ''de facto'' standard through the 1980s and into the 1990s, supported by a wide variety of joysticks and other devices, most commonly paddle controllers, light pens and computer mice. The standard was so engrained that it led to devices like the Kempston Interface that allowed Atari joysticks to be used on the ZX Spectrum. The port was also used for all sorts of non-gaming roles, including the AtariLab interface, modems, numeric keypads, and even a video ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lunar Rescue
''Lunar Rescue'' (ルーナー・ レスキユー Runā Resukyū) is an arcade game released by Taito in November 1979. The gameplay has some resemblance to both Taito's own 1978 hit ''Space Invaders'' and Atari, Inc.'s ''Lunar Lander'' (released several months earlier). Gameplay The player's ship (red) above a 150 point landing site. The game starts with the player's spacecraft docked inside the mothership at the top of the screen. Below the mothership is an asteroid field and below that, the surface of the moon. There are three platforms which can be landed on and six stranded astronauts that need rescuing. The player must press the button to release their spacecraft from the mothership and manoeuvre through the asteroid field. The craft can only move left or right or use up a finite amount of fuel by engaging the thrust (the same button again) to slow its descent. If the craft is landed successfully on one of the available platforms, one of the astronauts will run towards and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Missile Command
''Missile Command'' is a 1980 shoot 'em up arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and licensed to Sega for Japanese and European releases. It was designed by Dave Theurer, who also designed Atari's vector graphics game ''Tempest'' from the same year. Released during the Cold War, the player uses a trackball to defend six cities from intercontinental ballistic missiles by launching anti-ballistic missiles from three bases. Atari brought the game to its home systems beginning with the 1981 Atari VCS port by Rob Fulop which sold over 2.5 million copies. Numerous contemporaneous clones and modern remakes followed. ''Missile Command'' is built into the Atari XEGS released in 1987, an Atari 8-bit family computer repackaged as a game console. Plot The player's six cities are being attacked by an endless hail of ballistic missiles, some of which split like multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles. New weapons are introduced in later levels: smart bombs that ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super Nova (video Game)
''Super Nova'' is clone of Atari, Inc.'s ''Asteroids'' arcade game published by Big Five Software for the TRS-80 in 1980. Co-author Bill Hogue called ''Super Nova'' "the game that started the company." Gameplay ''Super Nova'' is a game in which the player uses missiles to blow asteroids into smaller chunks, and then split them into smaller hunks which can then be completely destroyed. Reception Jon Mishcon reviewed ''Super Nova'' in ''The Space Gamer'' No. 36. Mishcon commented that "I found this game to be a real challenge. Recommended for any arcade buff." In the video game magazine '' Moves'' (#57), Ian Chadwick described ''Super Nova'' as "exciting", though criticized the lack of sound effects.Chadwick, Ian. (June 1981). Reviews of SSI's''. Moves, 57,'' p.14-15. https://strategyandtacticspress.com/library-files/Moves%20Issue57.pdf References {{reflist External linksReviewin 80-U.SReviewin 80 MicroReviewin ByteReviewin Creative Computing ''Creative Computing'' was one o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Video Game Industry
The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. , video games generated annually in global sales. In the US, it earned about in 2007, in 2008, and 2010, according to the ESA annual report. Research from Ampere Analysis indicated three points: the sector has consistently grown since at least 2015 and expanded 26% from 2019 to 2021, to a record ; the global games and services market is forecast to shrink 1.2% annually to in 2022; the industry is not recession-proof. The industry has influenced the advance of personal computers with sound cards, graphics cards and 3D graphic accelerators, CPUs, and co-processors like PhysX. Sound cards, for example, were originally developed for games and then improved for the music industry. Industry overview Size In 2017 in the United Stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galaxian
is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of aliens, who dive down towards the player in an attempt to hit them. Designed by company engineer Kazunori Sawano, ''Galaxian'' was Namco's answer to ''Space Invaders'', a similar space shooter released the previous year by rival developer Taito. ''Space Invaders'' was a sensation in Japan, and Namco wanted a game that could compete against it. Sawano strove to make the game simplistic and easy to understand. He was inspired by the cinematic space combat scenes in ''Star Wars'', with enemies originally being in the shape of the film's TIE Fighters. ''Galaxian'' is one of the first video games to feature RGB color graphics and the first ever to use a tile-based hardware system, which was capable of animated multi-color sprites as well as scrolling, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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