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Retrogamer
''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became a monthly. In 2005, a general decline in gaming and computer magazine readership led to the closure of its publishers, Live Publishing, and the rights to the magazine were later purchased by Imagine Publishing. It was taken over by Future plc on 21 October 2016, following Future's acquisition of Imagine Publishing. History The first 18 issues of the magazine came with a coverdisk. It usually contained freeware remakes of retro video games and emulators, but also videos and free commercial PC software such as ''The Games Factory'' and '' The Elder Scrolls: Arena''. Some issues had themed CDs containing the entire back catalogue of a publisher such as Durell, Llamasoft and Gremlin Graphics. On 27 September 2005, the magazine's original ...
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Video Game Journalism
Video game journalism is a branch of journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of video games, typically based on a core "reveal–preview–review" cycle. With the prevalence and rise of independent media online, online publications and blogs have grown. History Print-based The first magazine to cover the arcade game industry was the subscription-only trade periodical, ''Play Meter'' magazine, which began publication in 1974 and covered the entire coin-operated entertainment industry (including the video game industry). Consumer-oriented video game journalism began during the golden age of arcade video games, soon after the success of 1978 hit ''Space Invaders'', leading to hundreds of favourable articles and stories about the emerging video game medium being aired on television and printed in newspapers and magazines. In North America, the first regular consumer-oriented column about video games, " Arcade Alley" in ''Video'' magazine, began in 1979 and was pe ...
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Retro Games
Retrogaming, also known as classic gaming and old school gaming, is the current playing and collection of obsolete personal computers, consoles, and video games. Usually, retrogaming is based upon systems that are outmoded or discontinued, although ported retrogaming allows games to be played on modern hardware via ports or compilations. It is typically for nostalgia, preservation, or authenticity. A new game could be retro styled, such as an RPG with turn-based combat and pixel art in isometric camera perspective. Retrogaming has existed since the early years of the video game industry, and was popularized with the Internet and emulation technology. It is argued that the main reasons players are drawn to retrogames are nostalgia for different eras, the idea that classic games are more innovative and original, and the simplicity of the games. Retrogaming and retrocomputing have been described as preservation activity and as aspects of the remix culture. Etymology The first ...
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Starfox (1987 Video Game)
''Starfox'' is a video game published by Ariolasoft on their Reaktor label in 1987 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC. The player assumes the role of Hawkins, a space fighter pilot charged with protecting the Hyturian star system from invading alien forces. The game uses wireframe and shaded vector graphics to depict combat, in a similar fashion to games such as ''Elite'' and ''Starstrike 2'', which were also created by Realtime Games. Ariolasoft had previously published the Electronic Arts titles Skyfox and Arcticfox and the name was chosen to build on the success of those titles. The US Commodore 64 release was titled ''The Rubicon Alliance''. Gameplay There are eight missions in all. The route taken can be mapped out by means of the "holocube", a 3D representation of the system, that can be zoomed and viewed from any angle. The holocube will also record the positions of planets and enemy convoys. Once the route is plotted the player may fast-forward to thei ...
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Eugene Jarvis
Eugene Peyton Jarvis is an American game designer and video game programmer, known for producing pinball machines for Atari and video games for Williams Electronics. Most notable among his works are the seminal arcade video games '' Defender'' and '' Robotron: 2084'' in the early 1980s, and the ''Cruis'n'' series of driving games for Midway Games in the 1990s. He co-founded Vid Kidz in the early 1980s and currently leads his own development studio, Raw Thrills Inc. In 2008, Eugene Jarvis was named the first Game Designer in Residence by DePaul University's Game Development program. His family owns the Jarvis Wines company in Napa, California. Early life and education Jarvis was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Menlo Park. He has an older sister, Diane, and a younger sister, Helen. His first game was chess, which he played as a young child; he was one of the best players at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. Jarvis's first encounter with computers came whi ...
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Smash TV
''Smash TV'' is a 1990 arcade video game created by Eugene Jarvis and Mark Turmell for Williams Electronics Games. It is a dual-stick shooter (one for moving and the other for firing) in the same vein as 1982's '' Robotron: 2084'' (co-created by Jarvis). The Super NES, Genesis, Master System, and Game Gear versions are titled ''Super Smash TV''. The plot centers on a dystopian television show during the then-future year of 1999, where one or two contestants must shoot their way to fame and fortune; the show is taped in front of a live studio audience with broadcast via satellite worldwide. The goal of the game show is to kill or be killed, and once all of the challengers in each arena have been massacred, the contestant(s) will proceed to survive the next gauntlet. Gameplay 250px, left, Arcade screenshot The play mechanic is similar to that of Eugene Jarvis' earlier '' Robotron: 2084'', with dual-joystick controls and series of single-screen arenas. While most of the enemies i ...
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Doug Bell (game Designer)
Douglas Andrew Bell (born February 24, 1961) is a computer game developer, best known for his role as the lead designer and programmer for the '' Dungeon Master'' series of computer games, which met with critical success, from San Diego studio FTL Games. Work Doug Bell worked as director, lead designer and developer for ''Dungeon Master''. But before he joined in 1983 FTL Games, the game was titled ''Crystal Dragon'', and developed together with Andy Jaros (Artwork) in their development studio PVC Dragon for the 8-bit Apple II computer. Then after the merger, the game was rescheduled to be launched after the release, and for the target platform of the 16-bit Atari ST computer, which offered more possibilities. Bell was the lead developer and technical director of FTL from 1986 until 1995, the company ceased operations in 1996. Game credits *Lead programmer for the Atari ST version of '' SunDog: Frozen Legacy'' (1985) *Lead developer for '' Dungeon Master'' (1987) (also did the X68 ...
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Dungeon Master (video Game)
''Dungeon Master'' is a role-playing video game featuring a 2.5D, pseudo-3D First-person (video games), first-person perspective. It was developed and published by FTL Games for the Atari ST in 1987, almost identical Amiga and MS-DOS, PC (DOS) ports following in 1988 and 1992. ''Dungeon Master'' sold 40,000 copies in its year of release alone, and went on to become the ST's best-selling game of all time. The game became the prototype for the genre of the 3D dungeon crawlers with notable Video game clone, clones like ''Eye of the Beholder (video game), Eye of the Beholder''. Gameplay In contrast to the traditional turn-based game, turn-based approach that was, in 1987, most common, ''Dungeon Master'' added real-time combat elements (akin to Active Time Battle). Other factors in immersion were the use of sound effects to indicate when a creature was nearby, and (primitive) dynamic lighting. Abstract ''Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons and Dragons'' style experience points and levels ...
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Steve Wozniak
Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname "Woz", is an American electronics engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, inventor, and technology entrepreneur. In 1976, with business partner Steve Jobs, he co-founded Apple Computer, which later became the world's largest technology company by revenue and the largest company in the world by market capitalization. Through his work at Apple in the 1970s and 1980s, he is widely recognized as one of the most prominent pioneers of the personal computer revolution. In 1975, Wozniak started developing the Apple I into the computer that launched Apple when he and Jobs first began marketing it the following year. He primarily designed the Apple II, introduced in 1977, known as one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputers, while Jobs oversaw the development of its foam-molded plastic case and early Apple employee Rod Holt developed its switching power supply. With human–c ...
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Breakout (video Game)
''Breakout'' is an arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and released on May 13, 1976. It was designed by Steve Wozniak, based on conceptualization from Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow who were influenced by the seminal 1972 in video games, 1972 Atari arcade game ''Pong''. In ''Breakout'', a layer of bricks lines the top third of the screen and the goal is to destroy them all by repeatedly bouncing a ball off a paddle into them. The arcade game was released in Japan by Namco. ''Breakout'' was a worldwide commercial success, among the top five highest-grossing 1976 in video games, arcade video games of 1976 in both the United States and Japan and then among the top three highest-grossing 1977 in video games, arcade video games of 1977 in the US and Japan. The 1978 Atari 2600, Atari VCS port uses color graphics instead of a monochrome screen with colored overlay. While the concept was predated by Ramtek (company), Ramtek's ''Clean Sweep'' (1974), ''Breakout'' sp ...
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Archer Maclean
Archer Maclean (28 January 1962 – 17 December 2022) was a British video game programmer. He was the author of ''Dropzone'' which he developed for the Atari 8-bit family and was ported to other systems. Maclean also developed the Commodore 64 version of ''International Karate''The Making of: International Karate, IK+
" In: '''', Issue 26, pp. 42-47.
and the sequel, '' IK+'' which was developed for the Commodore 64 and to othe ...
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Matthew Smith (games Programmer)
Matthew Smith (born 1966) is a British computer game programmer. He created the games ''Manic Miner'' and ''Jet Set Willy'' for the ZX Spectrum, released in 1983 and 1984 respectively. Smith left the games industry in 1988 and later moved to the Netherlands. He has since returned to the UK and has worked on some games as well as appearing at conventions and in documentaries. Early life Smith was born in Penge. His family moved to Wallasey when he was seven years old. Programming career 1980s He started out programming when he received a TRS-80 for Christmas in 1979. His first commercial game was a ''Galaxian'' clone for the TRS-80 called ''Delta Tau One''. He then went on to produce ''Monster Muncher'' on the VIC-20. Smith has said that he wrote Monster Muncher in 3 hours. He obtained a ZX Spectrum on loan from Bug-Byte Software Ltd. in return for a freelance contract for three games. The first of these was '' Styx'' in 1983 for which Matthew received £3,000. He wrote ' ...
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David Crane (programmer)
David Patrick Crane (born 1953 in Nappanee, Indiana, United States) is an American video game designer and programmer. Crane originally worked in the field of hardware design for National Semiconductor. He went to college at DeVry Institute of Technology in Phoenix, Arizona and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology degree in 1975. Crane started his programming career at Atari, making games for the Atari 2600. He also worked on the operating system for the Atari 800 computer. After meeting co-worker Alan Miller in a tennis game, Miller told Crane about a plan he had to leave Atari and found a company that would give game designers more recognition. From this meeting, Crane left Atari in 1979 and co-founded Activision, along with Miller, Jim Levy, Bob Whitehead, and Larry Kaplan. His games won many awards while he was at Activision. At Activision, he was best known as the designer of ''Pitfall!''. ''Pitfall!'' was a huge hit; it maintained the ...
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