Beautiful, beautiful, just beautiful
April 25, 2009 2:10 PM Subscribe
For starters, the display didn’t use scan lines like a normal telly, instead, the cathode ray moves around to make shapes...
Whoa, really? That explains why the lines on LL, and Asteroids, were always so sharp and clear. I used to wonder about that. I also used to wonder WhoTF could possibly land that damn lander safely.
posted by DU at 2:30 PM on April 25, 2009
Whoa, really? That explains why the lines on LL, and Asteroids, were always so sharp and clear. I used to wonder about that. I also used to wonder WhoTF could possibly land that damn lander safely.
posted by DU at 2:30 PM on April 25, 2009
I just had a geekgasm.
posted by Joe Beese at 2:30 PM on April 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by Joe Beese at 2:30 PM on April 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
This is just another game that fails at exploring responsibility, introspection, intimacy, and intellectual discovery.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 2:32 PM on April 25, 2009 [6 favorites]
posted by Foci for Analysis at 2:32 PM on April 25, 2009 [6 favorites]
I thought you were referring to Eagle Lander 3D, which is the greatest thing ever.
posted by popechunk at 2:37 PM on April 25, 2009
posted by popechunk at 2:37 PM on April 25, 2009
I think it's wasteful. Here we are, in the middle of a global economic crisis, and this Seb Lee-Delisle thinks nothing of launching one Megabuck lander after another.
posted by Smart Dalek at 2:40 PM on April 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by Smart Dalek at 2:40 PM on April 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
I loved that game in Alladin's Castle back in the day. It is indeed hard as hell. This online game--where am I supposed to land? Should I RTFA?
posted by zardoz at 2:45 PM on April 25, 2009
posted by zardoz at 2:45 PM on April 25, 2009
This one (2d) is no where near as hard as the original. Or else I am getting better coordination in my declining years.
posted by pointilist at 2:59 PM on April 25, 2009
posted by pointilist at 2:59 PM on April 25, 2009
It's easy, get your horizontal movement to zero and then pour on the thrust sot hat you land moving at about 6 or lower.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:12 PM on April 25, 2009
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:12 PM on April 25, 2009
DU: Atari used Vectorscan monitors for Lunar Lander and Asteroids, and many other classic arcade games. They were nearly the only company to make good use of them (although Sega used a similar type for games like TacScan and Star Trek Tactical Simulator).
They aren't made any more, are tricky to repair, and reserve stocks are low, if not depleted.
posted by JHarris at 3:18 PM on April 25, 2009
They aren't made any more, are tricky to repair, and reserve stocks are low, if not depleted.
posted by JHarris at 3:18 PM on April 25, 2009
Atari used Vectorscan monitors for Lunar Lander and Asteroids, and many other classic arcade games. They were nearly the only company to make good use of them
I suppose it depends on what one means by "good use," but don't forget the Vectrex. That thing was totally a hit at sleepovers in my neighborhood. :)
posted by weston at 3:30 PM on April 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
I suppose it depends on what one means by "good use," but don't forget the Vectrex. That thing was totally a hit at sleepovers in my neighborhood. :)
posted by weston at 3:30 PM on April 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
non interactive and not flash, but also packing a lot into a tiny filesize:
elevated, procedural landscape generation in 4k [youtube].
posted by juv3nal at 3:34 PM on April 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
elevated, procedural landscape generation in 4k [youtube].
posted by juv3nal at 3:34 PM on April 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
Awesome! I loved the original! It's one of the games I was actually pretty good at - instead of lightning reflexes and amazing button mashing stamina (Asteroids), it took a light touch and lots of patience.
How cool to see it survive and evolve, and so elegantly.
posted by Xoebe at 3:35 PM on April 25, 2009
How cool to see it survive and evolve, and so elegantly.
posted by Xoebe at 3:35 PM on April 25, 2009
If we'd had digital TV back then, vectorscan TVs would probably have been awesome. Or wait...is there a way to make a vector camera? There still has to be some AD conversion, which is inherently rasterized...?
posted by DU at 4:06 PM on April 25, 2009
posted by DU at 4:06 PM on April 25, 2009
The original Star Wars arcade game was a vector graphics, SIT-DOWN cockpit.
And sucked my entire allowance in a way that only Gauntlet and Dragon's Lair ever matched.
posted by rokusan at 4:14 PM on April 25, 2009
And sucked my entire allowance in a way that only Gauntlet and Dragon's Lair ever matched.
posted by rokusan at 4:14 PM on April 25, 2009
5K plus the multi-megabyte Flash plugin needed to interpret it. Which makes it all the more humbling to realize that the original ROMs clock in at about 12K for all the code needed to run the arcade machine.
(I'm liking the post's title.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:19 PM on April 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
(I'm liking the post's title.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:19 PM on April 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
Or wait...is there a way to make a vector camera?
Dude, they're lines drawn procedurally. Have you ever used Logo?
You're asking for a camera that draws things, a camera that can make, like, Adobe Illustrator drawings with structure. That's not photography, that's... I dunno, analysis plus AI plus drawing skills. Really, really fast.
(I'm trying to imagine: "Turtle, draw Harrison Ford.")
posted by rokusan at 4:19 PM on April 25, 2009
Dude, they're lines drawn procedurally. Have you ever used Logo?
You're asking for a camera that draws things, a camera that can make, like, Adobe Illustrator drawings with structure. That's not photography, that's... I dunno, analysis plus AI plus drawing skills. Really, really fast.
(I'm trying to imagine: "Turtle, draw Harrison Ford.")
posted by rokusan at 4:19 PM on April 25, 2009
Oh yeah, the Star Wars game.
Somebody in my university hall of residence was an expert at picking the lock on the back of the cabinet and setting it to free play.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:22 PM on April 25, 2009
Somebody in my university hall of residence was an expert at picking the lock on the back of the cabinet and setting it to free play.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:22 PM on April 25, 2009
(I'm trying to imagine: "Turtle, draw Harrison Ford.")
You're in an arcade, walking along between the games, when all of a sudden you look on one of the screens and see a LOGO turtle...
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:59 PM on April 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
You're in an arcade, walking along between the games, when all of a sudden you look on one of the screens and see a LOGO turtle...
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:59 PM on April 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
That's not photography, that's... I dunno, analysis plus AI plus drawing skills.
It's not quite as magic as that.
posted by DU at 5:35 PM on April 25, 2009
It's not quite as magic as that.
posted by DU at 5:35 PM on April 25, 2009
raster -> vector tools have existed forever, of varying quality. But I'm not sure if I would call a regular camera with a vector generator a "vector camera" it would be more a raster camera with some extra software.
Also, this doesn't even work for me. I just get a little space ship that rocks back and forth, no controls, not terrain, no stats. Clicking doesn't do anything and neither does hitting the space bar. Kind of disappointing.
posted by delmoi at 6:13 PM on April 25, 2009
Also, this doesn't even work for me. I just get a little space ship that rocks back and forth, no controls, not terrain, no stats. Clicking doesn't do anything and neither does hitting the space bar. Kind of disappointing.
posted by delmoi at 6:13 PM on April 25, 2009
I guess a vector camera would actually have to be a fractal camera or similar to get all the tiny information.
posted by DU at 6:23 PM on April 25, 2009
posted by DU at 6:23 PM on April 25, 2009
The page says that Lunar Lander was released in 1979, but I lived in Sunnyvale and didn't leave until 1977, and I have a memory of playing it in a pizza parlor. Maybe they had an early version. Later, in 1996 I visited the old neighborhood when I was living in Portland and played a machine for free at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Good times.
posted by mecran01 at 8:14 PM on April 25, 2009
posted by mecran01 at 8:14 PM on April 25, 2009
A vector camera would have to be a really fast etch-a-sketch.
Which would be pretty cool.
posted by rokusan at 8:18 PM on April 25, 2009
Which would be pretty cool.
posted by rokusan at 8:18 PM on April 25, 2009
delmoi are you on a mac? I think I noticed someone in the comments on one of the FPP pages mentioning that mac controls are borked.
posted by xorry at 8:21 PM on April 25, 2009
posted by xorry at 8:21 PM on April 25, 2009
3d seems to be a no-go on osx, which is good, because I just wasted a heck of a lot of time on the 2d version.
(I remember the original, vividly. I loved that realistic throttle bar control it had on the tall cabinet version And thanks for reminding me of the vector Star Trek sim. That thing ate a LOT of my quarters back in the day.)
posted by bashos_frog at 8:47 PM on April 25, 2009
(I remember the original, vividly. I loved that realistic throttle bar control it had on the tall cabinet version And thanks for reminding me of the vector Star Trek sim. That thing ate a LOT of my quarters back in the day.)
posted by bashos_frog at 8:47 PM on April 25, 2009
Nope, I'm using firefox. I'm using a slightly out of date version of flash, though.
posted by delmoi at 9:10 PM on April 25, 2009
posted by delmoi at 9:10 PM on April 25, 2009
i've seen seb speak, and he is really engaging, regardless of the topic. It's pretty awesome he did something like this in 5k, and I'm wierdly confused as to why I found out about this through mefi rather than my regular flash news forums. good stuff, anyway. the drawing capabilities of flash 10 are pretty well on display here!
posted by localhuman at 9:44 PM on April 25, 2009
posted by localhuman at 9:44 PM on April 25, 2009
mecran01: I bet you're confusing it with Space War[s] -- with one spacecraft remarkably similar to the lunar lander -- or Computer Space. The 1979 date for Atari's Lunar Lander is pretty well attested.
posted by dhartung at 10:15 PM on April 25, 2009
posted by dhartung at 10:15 PM on April 25, 2009
Wow...I almost forgot about this game that I fed so many quarters to!
posted by rmmcclay at 11:47 PM on April 25, 2009
posted by rmmcclay at 11:47 PM on April 25, 2009
Which makes it all the more humbling to realize that the original ROMs clock in at about 12K for all the code needed to run the arcade machine.
It's pretty hard to compare, since they did a lot more in dedicated hardware back then too.
posted by smackfu at 11:58 PM on April 25, 2009
It's pretty hard to compare, since they did a lot more in dedicated hardware back then too.
posted by smackfu at 11:58 PM on April 25, 2009
I just like flying. I was zooming along, and I was alll like, "I can make it over this mountain. I can make it I can make it I can BETTER THRUST LEFT!" and I made it, just barely. w0t a rush. I want an unlimited fuel cheat code!
I note that he had to get rid of the velocity display to make the 5k limit. Too bad, really.
posted by Eideteker at 6:10 AM on April 26, 2009
I note that he had to get rid of the velocity display to make the 5k limit. Too bad, really.
posted by Eideteker at 6:10 AM on April 26, 2009
I think I noticed someone in the comments on one of the FPP pages mentioning that mac controls are borked
The controls work fine on this old mac.
Also, check out the computer system for the real lunar lander
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:16 AM on April 26, 2009 [2 favorites]
The controls work fine on this old mac.
Also, check out the computer system for the real lunar lander
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:16 AM on April 26, 2009 [2 favorites]
It also has a lunar lander simulator, based on the real thing.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:19 AM on April 26, 2009
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:19 AM on April 26, 2009
Playable Joy Division Album Cover!
posted by Artw at 9:15 AM on April 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 9:15 AM on April 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
The page says that Lunar Lander was released in 1979
FWIW I can remember playing a lunar landing simulator in a children's science museum in California sometime earlier than 1976. However it definitely wasn't the videogame version--something more like a chair that you sat in and it had controls, maybe something more or less duplicating the apollo lander controls (linked above) and it definitely played something like the simulator linked above.
I'd probably have clearer memories of it if some damn kid hadn't hogged the thing the whole time we were there--two hours at least. And yes the incident has warped me and my entire worldview for the past 30+ years, thankyouverymuch . . .
posted by flug at 11:08 AM on April 26, 2009
FWIW I can remember playing a lunar landing simulator in a children's science museum in California sometime earlier than 1976. However it definitely wasn't the videogame version--something more like a chair that you sat in and it had controls, maybe something more or less duplicating the apollo lander controls (linked above) and it definitely played something like the simulator linked above.
I'd probably have clearer memories of it if some damn kid hadn't hogged the thing the whole time we were there--two hours at least. And yes the incident has warped me and my entire worldview for the past 30+ years, thankyouverymuch . . .
posted by flug at 11:08 AM on April 26, 2009
I was just going to plug the Elevated 4k, but juv3nal beat me to it.
posted by zsazsa at 1:23 PM on April 26, 2009
posted by zsazsa at 1:23 PM on April 26, 2009
Ah... the lunar lander. I once knew someone in highschool that made a "combat game" version of it during our programming class in WATCOM Pascal. Thought it was cool at that time, trying to land on the little landing pad with AA and fighters attaching you. Played it last week again and it was impossibly hard. Games these days must have got easier, when was it last that you played a game that you can truly lose?
posted by Snowstorm at 7:50 PM on April 27, 2009
posted by Snowstorm at 7:50 PM on April 27, 2009
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posted by xbonesgt at 2:25 PM on April 25, 2009