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Skool Daze
''Skool Daze'' is a computer game released by Microsphere in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 home computers. It was written by David Reidy, with graphics designed by Keith Warrington. The game was commercially and critically successful, and praised for its original concept. It has since been regarded as one of the pioneers of the sandbox game genre. Gameplay The game features the player as a schoolboy named Eric, with the objective of stealing his report card out of the staff room safe by accomplishing various tasks around the school. The computer controls all the other characters in the game, including the headmaster, other teachers and other pupils. The four teachers are Mr Wacker (the headmaster), Mr Rockitt (the science teacher), Mr Withit (the geography teacher) and Mr Creak (the history master). Other than Eric, three of the pupils are named: Boy Wander (the tearaway), Angelface (the bully) and Einstein (the swot). The player has the option of renaming the char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsphere (software Company)
Microsphere was a British software company formed in Muswell Hill, north London in 1982 by husband and wife team David and Helen Reidy, best known for several popular computer games in the mid 1980s. Company history The company was formed in November 1982 as a consulting firm, before transforming into development the following year. The Reidys targeted the then recently released ZX Spectrum, and initially attempted to write business software, producing the Visicalc clone ''Omnicalc'', but quickly realised that the future for the machine lay with games after their first effort, a cassette containing ''Crevasse'' and ''Hotfoot'', received a good review in Sinclair User. After recruiting local artist and family friend Keith Warrington, they released one of their best known and critically acclaimed games, ''Skool Daze'' in 1984, which sold 50,000 copies and Crash described as "excellent value, plenty to do, addictive, unusual" and followed it up with ''Back to Skool'' in 1985, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Screen Resolution
The display resolution or display modes of a digital television, computer monitor or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by different factors in cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, flat-panel displays (including liquid-crystal displays) and projection displays using fixed picture-element (pixel) arrays. It is usually quoted as ', with the units in pixels: for example, ' means the width is 1024 pixels and the height is 768 pixels. This example would normally be spoken as "ten twenty-four by seven sixty-eight" or "ten twenty-four by seven six eight". One use of the term ''display resolution'' applies to fixed-pixel-array displays such as plasma display panels (PDP), liquid-crystal displays (LCD), Digital Light Processing (DLP) projectors, OLED displays, and similar technologies, and is simply the physical number of columns and rows of pixels creating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe. The series spawned a total of six distinct models: The ''CPC464'', ''CPC664'', and ''CPC6128'' were highly successful competitors in the European home computer market. The later ''464plus'' and ''6128plus'', intended to prolong the system's lifecycle with hardware updates, were considerably less successful, as was the attempt to repackage the ''plus'' hardware into a game console as the ''GX4000''. The CPC models' hardware is based on the Zilog Z80A CPU, complemented with either 64 or 128 KB of RAM. Their computer-in-a-keyboard design prominently features an integrated storage device, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oric
Oric was the name used by UK-based Tangerine Computer Systems for a series of 6502-based home computers sold in the 1980s, primarily in Europe. With the success of the ZX Spectrum from Sinclair Research, Tangerine's backers suggested a home computer and Tangerine formed Oric Products International Ltd to develop the Oric-1. The computer was introduced in 1982. During 1983, approximately 160,000 Oric-1 computers were sold in the UK, plus another 50,000 in France (where it was the year's top-selling machine). This resulted in Oric being acquired and given funding for a successor model, the 1984 Oric Atmos. Oric was bought by Eureka, which produced the less successful Oric Telestrat (1986). Oric was dissolved the year the Telestrat was released. Eastern European clones of Oric machines were produced into the 1990s. Models Oric-1 Based on a 1 MHz MOS Technology 6502 CPU, the Oric-1 came in 16 KB or 48 KB RAM variants for £129 and £169 respectively, matc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
IBM PC Clone
IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. The term "IBM PC compatible" is now a historical description only, since IBM no longer sells personal computers after it sold its personal computer division in 2005 to Chinese technology company Lenovo. The designation "PC", as used in much of personal computer history, has not meant "personal computer" generally, but rather an x86 computer capable of running the same software that a contemporary IBM PC could. The term was initially in contrast to the variety of home computer systems available in the early 1980s, such as the Apple II, TRS-80, and Commodore 64. Later, the term was primarily used in contrast to Apple's Macintosh computers. These "clones" duplicated almost all the significant features of the original IBM PC architectures. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Back To Skool
''Back to Skool'' is a video game, sequel to the ''Skool Daze'', created by David Reidy (whose wife Helen was a school teacher at the time) with graphics by Keith Warrington for the ZX Spectrum and released by Microsphere in 1985. The gameplay is very similar to - if more advanced than - ''Skool Daze'', incorporating most of the same characters, gameplay elements and graphics. The game is ranked 19th in the "Your Sinclair official top 100" Spectrum games of all time. Gameplay The game differs from its predecessor by an increase in the size of the play area (including a neighbouring girls' school) and a number of gameplay changes. The girls' school incorporates its own new characters including undistinguished girls with hockey sticks, Hayley (girlfriend of the main character Eric) and Miss Take (the headmistress). Only at break time and lunch times are the girls allowed to mingle with the boys, in the central grassy playground, separated at other times by a high gate. The ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sims
''The Sims'' is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling video game series of all time. The games in the ''Sims'' series are largely sandbox games, in that they lack any defined goals (except for some later expansion packs and console versions which introduced this gameplay style). The player creates virtual people called "Sims", places them in houses, and helps direct their moods and satisfy their desires. Players can either place their Sims in pre-constructed homes or build them themselves. Each successive expansion pack and game in the series augmented what the player could do with their Sims. ''The Sims'' series is part of the larger ''Sim'' series, started by ''SimCity'' in 1989. Development Game designer Will Wright was inspired to create a "virtual doll house" after losing his home during the Oakland firestorm of 1991 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Computer People
''Little Computer People'', also called ''House-on-a-Disk'', is a social simulation game released in 1985 by Activision for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ..., Atari ST and Apple II. An Amiga version was released in 1987. Two Japanese versions were also released in 1987, a Family Computer Disk System version, published in Japan by DOG (a subsidiary of Square (video game company), Square), and a PC-8801 version. Gameplay The game has no winning conditions, and one setting: a sideways view of the inside of a three-story house. After a short time, an animated character will move in and occupy the house. He goes about a daily routine, doing everyday things like cooking, watching television or reading the newspaper. Players are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Your Sinclair
''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History The magazine was launched in January 1984 as ''Your Spectrum'' by Sportscene Specialist Press. (Sportscene would later be renamed to Dennis Publishing in April 1987.) Initially, it was published bimonthly, changing to monthly in June 1984. With the January 1986 issue, the title was relaunched as ''Your Sinclair'', with the intention of expanding coverage of the QL into the main magazine (previously, ''QL User'' had been a pull-out section within the magazine), and any future computers produced by Sinclair. However, the magazine remained focused almost entirely on the ZX Spectrum games scene. In 1990, the magazine was sold to Bath-based Future plc, and the April 1990 issue was the first to be published by the new company. That issue's news ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Software Piracy
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to make derivative works. The copyright holder is typically the work's creator, or a publisher or other business to whom copyright has been assigned. Copyright holders routinely invoke legal and technological measures to prevent and penalize copyright infringement. Copyright infringement disputes are usually resolved through direct negotiation, a notice and take down process, or litigation in civil court. Egregious or large-scale commercial infringement, especially when it involves counterfeiting, is sometimes prosecuted via the criminal justice system. Shifting public expectations, advances in digital technology and the increasing reach of the Internet hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ZX Computing , home computers produced by Sinclair
{{disambiguation ...
ZX may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Kamen Rider ZX (pronounced "Zed-Cross"), the tenth fictional superhero in the "Kamen Rider" franchise * ''Mega Man ZX'', a video game for the Nintendo DS * ''ZX Tunes'', remastered soundtracks of the "Mega Man ZX" game * '' Z/X'', Japanese collectible card game Businesses and brands * ZX Auto, also known as Zitsubishi, a Chinese SUV and truck manufacturer * Air Georgian (IATA airline code ZX) * Chinasat, a family of communications satellites (from the transliteration, Zhongxing) * Citroën ZX, a car model * Kawasaki Ninja series motorcycles (model designation codes ZX and ZX-R) * ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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