h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A few years ago, there was a historical exhibition (I can't remember what the theme was) in the science museum in London, and one of the exhibits was the Atari console. It made me feel really old to think of something I used to own turnng up as a museum piece.

I'd like to apologise for taking up your valuable time with the above posting. What started out as a nice interesting little story somehow turned into that tedious little thing about my having been to a museum once.
I've got a theory about how this happens. It's at http://www.h2g2.com/P180136

"It's a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age, he'd been dead for decades." Mort Sahl, I think.

I started college in the US in 1967. We used slide rules for numerical calculations, but calculators were just getting affordable. I recall reading when the Keuffel and Esser Co.(K&E) donated its slide rule engraving machine to the Smithsonian Museum. I aged about two years just reading that.

- Steve K.

On the subject of historical pieces, I just want to let you know I'm putting a link to this Entry up at the h2g2 Historical Society, which can be found here:

http://www.h2g2.com/A240058

Cheers

Mustapha

Well, thanks. I feel flattered. Still feel old, but now flattered.

You're not the only one who feels old. The first video game I played was over 20 years ago, and was a Depth Charge style game with ships and subs.

There seems to be a forgotten era of computer games ie those for the "home computer", the Commodores, Spectrums, Ataris etc. All seem to have been ignored in favour of the consoles.

Remember the heady days of Jet Set Willy? The infinity of Elite? The unrivalled action and pants-dropping of International Karate +?

My first home computer was an IBM brand PC (not even XT). 4.77 MhZ, two floppy drives, 640k memory. So I missed the generation of games you're describing. My first games were MS Adventure (text only), Flight Simulator (at the time by SubLogic, I think, not MS) running on a monochrome monitor with a Hercules mono graphics card. Unbelievably efficient programming. A second game by the same guy was "Night Mission Pinball", same story, and he got the physics pretty close.

I remember International Karate, IK+ and Way of the Exploding Fist on the C64...
We would spend literally days on end, getting sore thumbs on those joysticks. Infinitely more entertaining than
Tekken 1, 2 or 3 could ever be!

Anybody remember 'Bruce Lee' on the C64?

I remember many, many 'old' games although I'm not thirty yet, I started out at a young age. Pong and its many spin-offs (tanx on the Atari for one) held a dear place in my heart.

My first home computer was a Spectrum 48k and I wasted many a sunny aftertoon trying to complete Commando, Ye Ar Kung Fu or Bobby Bearing. Never did manage to finish The Wild Bunch Great games though...

Or so I thought. I recently discovered emulators and spent far too much time at work downloading all my old favorites and taking a trip down memory lane. I really wish I hadn't bothered to tell you the truth, it really took the shine off my enjoyment somewhat when I finally realized that many of these so-called classics were actually a bit dull. I'd taken off the rose-coloured specs, and putting them straight back on just doesn't have the same effect.

in a similar vien, a rather splendind songwriter, MJ Hibbet, penned this little ditty which i believe is available for download somewhere. If i find the download link, I'll post it. Apologies for totally hijacking this thread ....anyway.... Its called

"Hey Hey 16k"
________________________

We bought it to help with your homework
We bought it to help with your homework
And the household accounts
If your dad ever works it all out
lunchtimes in the library
writing down the pokes and peeks
copying an access code, get a taste for home taping
Fetishists of map-making
Rubber keys and rotten leads,
rand and run and loading screens
Then five minutes fingers crossed
hoping not to witness the terror
of R: Tape Loading Error
zx spectrum 81, dragon vic and oric1
commodore 64, amstrad and an acorn electorn
cheaper BBC micro
jet set willy, sabre wulf, lords of midnight, underwurlde
dark star, transam, ant attak
and of course, manic miner
the hobbit and knight lore and elite
It made a generation who can code
A bubble before proper consoles, who all know
That the games you get today, may be very flash
But there'll never beat the thrill
Of getting through Jetpac
Hey Hey, 16K, What does that get you these days?
You need more than that for a letter
Old Skool Ram Paks are much better.
Personal Computer Games, Your Sinclair, 16K
Kempston Competition Pro, Crash and Cursor Keys and GO TO
Dixons and bother Saturday staff with loops that never end
For n=0 to 2
Those were the days
Next N