Space Zap
''Space Zap'' is a space-themed fixed shooter arcade video game developed by Game-A-Tron and licensed to Midway Manufacturing in 1980.The Arcade Flyer Archive." - Video Game Flyers: 005, Sega-Gremlin. The Arcade Flyer Archive, 07 Mar. 2002. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. 3. ''Space Zap'' shipped in three form factors: standard upright, cocktail, and Bally's Mini-Myte reduced size cabinet. The player controls the defenses of an immobile base at screen center. The base is attacked from four sides, and the player must rapidly press one of four corresponding buttons to fire in the direction of an incoming attacker. An official port of ''Space Zap'' for the Bally Astrocade was released in 1981 as ''Space Fortress''. Gameplay The goal is to defend a base anchored in the center of the screen from alien attackers that shoot from the four cardinal directions There are four buttons, each corresponding to one of the attack directions. If a projectile ("mine") comes from the left, the player presses th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Midway Games
Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (series), Rampage'', ''Spy Hunter'', ''NBA Jam (series), NBA Jam'', ''Cruis'n (series), Cruis'n'', and ''NFL Blitz''. Midway also acquired the rights to video games that were originally developed by WMS Industries, Williams Electronics and Atari Games, such as ''Defender (video game), Defender'', ''Joust (video game), Joust'', ''Robotron 2084'', ''Gauntlet (series), Gauntlet'', and the ''Rush (video game series), Rush'' series. The company was founded as Midway Manufacturing in 1958, as an amusement game manufacturer. The company was then purchased by Bally Manufacturing in 1969, and used the Bally Midway name in the 1980s. In 1973, Midway moved into the interactive entertainment industry, Video game developer, developing and video game publisher, publishing ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Imagic
Imagic ( ) was an American video game developer and publisher that created games initially for the Atari 2600. Founded in 1981 by corporate alumni of Atari, Inc. and Mattel, its best-selling titles were ''Atlantis'', ''Cosmic Ark'', and ''Demon Attack''. Imagic also released games for Intellivision, ColecoVision, Atari 8-bit family, TI-99/4A, IBM PCjr, VIC-20, Commodore 64, TRS-80 Color Computer, and Magnavox Odyssey². Their Odyssey² ports of ''Demon Attack'' and ''Atlantis'' were the only third-party releases for that system in America. The company never recovered from the video game crash of 1983 and was liquidated in 1986. History Imagic was the second third-party publisher for the Atari 2600, formed after Activision. Founders included Bill Grubb, Bob Smith, Mark Bradlee, Rob Fulop, and Denis Koble from Atari, Inc., Jim Goldberger, Dave Durran and Brian Dougherty from Mattel. Grubb previously served as the vp of sales and marketing for Atari for 18 months. Before that, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fixed Shooters
{{disambiguation ...
Fixed may refer to: * ''Fixed'' (EP), EP by Nine Inch Nails * ''Fixed'', an upcoming 2D adult animated film directed by Genndy Tartakovsky * Fixed (typeface), a collection of monospace bitmap fonts that is distributed with the X Window System * Fixed, subjected to neutering * Fixed point (mathematics), a point that is mapped to itself by the function * Fixed line telephone, landline See also * * * Fix (other) * Fixer (other) * Fixing (other) * Fixture (other) A fixture can refer to: * Test fixture, used to control and automate testing * Light fixture * Plumbing fixture * Fixture (tool), a tool used in manufacturing * Fixture (property law) * A type of sporting event See also * * * Fixed (disambigua ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arcade Video Games
Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * Arcade (architecture), a series of adjoining arches * Shopping mall, one or more buildings forming a complex of shops, also sometimes called a shopping arcade Arcade or The Arcade may also refer to: Places Greece *Arcades (Crete), a town and city-state of ancient Crete, Greece Italy * Arcade, Italy, a town and commune in the region of Veneto United States * Arcade Building (Asheville, North Carolina) * Arden-Arcade, California * Arcade, Georgia, a city in Jackson County * Arcade (village), New York * Arcade (town), New York * The Arcade (Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts), a historic site in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts * The Arcade (Providence, Rhode Island), a historic shopping center * Arcade, Texas Arts and entertainment Books an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1980 Video Games
__NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 198 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire *January 28 **Publius Septimius Geta, son of Septimius Severus, receives the title of Caesar. **Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus, is given the title of Augustus. China *Winter – Battle of Xiapi: The allied armies led by Cao Cao and Liu Bei defeat Lü Bu; afterward Cao Cao has him executed. By topic Religion * Marcus I succeeds Olympianus as Patriarch of Constantinople (until 211). Births * Lu Kai (or Jingfeng), Chinese official and general (d. 269) * Quan Cong, Chinese general and advisor (d. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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TI-99/4A
The TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A are home computers released by Texas Instruments in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Based on the Texas Instruments TMS9900 microprocessor originally used in minicomputers, the TI-99/4 was the first 16-bit home computer. The associated video display controller provides color graphics and sprite support which were only comparable with those of the Atari 400 and 800 released a month after the TI-99/4. The calculator-style keyboard of the TI-99/4 was cited as a weak point, and TI's reliance on ROM cartridges and their practice of limiting developer information to select third parties resulted in a lack of software for the system. The TI-99/4A was released in June 1981 to address some of these issues with a simplified internal design, full-travel keyboard, improved graphics, and a unique expansion system. At half the price of the original model, sales picked up significantly and TI supported the 4A with peripherals, including a speech synthesizer and a "Per ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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VIC-20
The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PET. The VIC-20 was the first computer of any description to sell one million units. It was described as "one of the first anti-spectatorial, non-esoteric computers by design...no longer relegated to hobbyist/enthusiasts or those with money, the computer Commodore developed was the computer of the future." The VIC-20 was called ''VC-20'' in Germany because the pronunciation of ''VIC'' with a German accent sounds like the German expletives "fick" or "wichsen". The term ''VC'' was marketed as though it were an abbreviation of ''VolksComputer'' ("people's computer," similar to Volkswagen and Volksempfänger). History Origin and marketing The VIC-20 was intended to be more economical than the PET computer. It was equipped with 5 KB of st ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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TRS-80 Color Computer
The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, later marketed as the Tandy Color Computer and sometimes nicknamed the CoCo, is a line of home computers developed and sold by Tandy Corporation. Despite sharing a name with the earlier TRS-80, the Color Computer is a completely different, incompatible system and a radical departure in design and compatibility with its Motorola 6809E processor rather than the Zilog Z80 earlier models were built around. The Tandy Color Computer line started in 1980 with what is now called the Color Computer 1. It was followed by the Color Computer 2 in 1983, then the Color Computer 3 in 1986. All three models maintain a high level of software and hardware compatibility, with few programs written for an older model being unable to run on the newer ones. The Color Computer 3 was discontinued in 1991. All Color Computer models shipped with Color BASIC, an implementation of Microsoft BASIC, in ROM. Variants of the OS-9 multitasking operating system were availab ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-molded plastic case, Rod Holt developed the switching power supply, while Steve Jobs's role in the design of the computer was limited to overseeing Jerry Manock's work on the plastic case. It was introduced by Jobs and Wozniak at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire, and marks Apple's first launch of a personal computer aimed at a consumer market—branded toward American households rather than businessmen or computer hobbyists. ''Byte'' magazine referred to the Apple II, Commodore PET 2001, and TRS-80 as the "1977 Trinity". As the Apple II had the defining feature of being able to display color graphics, the Apple logo was redesigned to have a spectrum of colors. The Apple II is the first model in the Apple II series, followed by Apple ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Outpost (1981 Video Game)
''Outpost'' is a fixed shooter for the Apple II programmed by Tom McWilliams and published by Sirius Software in 1981. It is a variant of the arcade game '' Space Zap''. In March 1982, NBC News reported that ''Outpost'' earned McWilliams, then still a teenager, at least US$60,000. Legacy According to Tim Skelly, the Cinematronics Cinematronics Incorporated was an arcade game developer that primarily released vector graphics games in the late 1970s and early 1980s. While other companies released games based on raster displays, early in their history, Cinematronics and A ... port of ''Outpost'' which was being worked on by Scott Boden was reworked after their departure from Cinematronics as the more cutesy title ''Boxing Bugs'' by Jack Ritter, which both Skelly and Boden considered a "travesty". References External links * ''Outpost''at Giant Bomb 1981 video games Apple II games Apple II-only games Fixed shooters Sirius Software games Video game clones Video gam ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Atari CX40 Joystick
The Atari CX40 joystick was the first widely used cross-platform game controller. The original CX10 was released with the Atari Video Computer System (later renamed the Atari 2600) in 1977 and became the primary input device for most games on the platform. The CX10 was replaced after a year by the simpler and less expensive CX40. The addition of the Atari joystick port to other platforms cemented its popularity. It was the standard for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers and was compatible with the VIC-20, Commodore 64 and 128, MSX, and later the Atari ST and Amiga. Third-party adapters allowed it to be used on other systems, such as the Apple II, TI-99 and the ZX Spectrum. The CX40 was so popular during its run that it became as iconic to Atari as the company's "Fuji" logo; it remains a common staple in video game iconography to this day, and is commonly referred to as ''the'' symbol of 1980s video game system design. The CX40 has been called "the pinnacle of home entertain ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridges, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976. The VCS was bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridgeinitially '' Combat'' and later '' Pac-Man''. Atari was successful at creating arcade video games, but their development cost and limited lifespan drove CEO Nolan Bushnell to seek a programmable home system. The first inexpensive microprocessors from MOS Technology in late 1975 made this feasible. The console was prototyped as codename Stella by Atari subsidiary Cyan Engineering. Lacking funding to complete the project, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976. The Atari VCS launched in 1977 with n ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |