Compute! was a popular computer magazine for home computer users in the 1980s. In 1983 it was subtitled "The Leading Magazine Of Home, Educational, And Recreational Computing". It covered various popular home computer systems and even had spinoffs dedicated to particular systems such as the Commodore 64 and Apple II. The February 1983 issue of Compute! includes:
Compute! (February 1983):
I believe that most of the photos in this set were taken in Michigan but they are undated.
I think the first three photos were all taken near Cross Village in Michigan along the shore of Lake Michigan. The church seen in the second photo would be Saint Ignatius Catholic Church. These are undated but my guess is that they are from the 1970s or possibly the early 1980s.
I believe that most of the photos in this set were taken in the early 1980s, probably in the Lansing, Michigan area.
The first photo is undated but look early 80s-ish. It looks like it features a young woman with her baby and maybe mother and grandparents. Maybe this is family of the photographer.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (221-224)
Compute! was a popular computer magazine for home computer users in the 1980s. It covered various popular home computer systems and had spinoffs dedicated to particular systems. The most popular of those was probably Compute!'s Gazette which covered Commodore's 8-bit computers. The March 1989 issue of Compute! includes:
Compute! (March 1989)
A summary for those that haven't been keeping up with this series:
I found a number of 5.25" disks at a thrift store several years ago. I finally got around to acquiring a 5.25" disk drive and extracting the contents a while back. Since then I have been posting the contents here.
Based on the contents, at least some of these disks were apparently once owned by someone named Connie who used to run the “Close Encounters” Special Interest Group (SIG) on Delphi in the mid 1980s.
A specific definition of this SIG was found in a document on one of the disks: "This SIG, known as 'Close Encounters', is a forum for the discussion of relationships that develop via computer services like the Source, CompuServe, and Delphi. Our primary emphasis is on the sexual aspects of those relationships."
This service was text based and was accessed via whatever terminal program you used on your computer to dial in to Delphi’s servers. Many of these disks have forum messages, e-mails and chat session logs. All of this is pre-internet stuff and I don’t know if there are any archives in existence today of what was on Delphi in the 1980s. In any case, much of this stuff would have been private at the time and probably wouldn't exist in such archives even if they existed.
This post includes the contents of OCTDA.DOC and OCTPOL.DOC. These are announcements about various polls that can be voted on from October and November 1985. There is significant overlap but unique stuff in both.
See the previous post here.
===
OCTDA.DOC
===
30-OCT BRIEF POLLS & DATABASE New in the Fantasies Database: Party Time by Crosscuts The Woman's Day polls have been submitted to the Database in the General Information area. New polls have been added by Rodm. Please vote! 26-OCT BRIEF TRANSCRIPTS The transcripts of the Conference on Sex Magazines is now in the Open Forum database. The Conference on "Why Marry?" is now in the Open Forum database. 3-NOV BRIEF TWO POLLS MOVED The polls on the number of Sig Members and Teenagers Within The Sig have been moved to the General Information Database.=== OCTPOL.DOC ===
30-OCT BRIEF POLLS & DATABASE New in the Fantasies Database: Party Time by Crosscuts The Woman's Day polls have been submitted to the Database in the General Information area. New polls have been added by Rodm. Please vote! 23-OCT BRIEF SIG MEMBERS POLL Be sure to cast your vote in the new poll titled "SIG MEMBERS." 19-OCT BRIEF CO TIME POLL Check out the new poll on conference time. Let me know what time is best for you to be able to attend (without being late). Thank you. 5-OCT BRIEF WD POLLS Please vote on the Woman's Day Polls #1 thru #7! 3-NOV BRIEF TWO POLLS MOVED The polls on the number of Sig Members and Teenagers Within The Sig have been moved to the General Information Database.
Metroid was one of the killer apps for the NES. This game is frequently ranked high on top 10 and top 100 lists. In terms of game play, it isn’t fundamentally different than 2D platformers like Super Mario Brothers. You run, jump and battle enemies in a 2D environment. The difference is that Metroid is more of an adventure game. The world is larger and more open ended and there is more of a process of discovery in that there are things to find, some of which must be found to complete the game. In other words, exploration is an important part of the game.
In Metroid, you play the role of Samus who is sent to destroy Mother Brain, the biomechanical creature that commands the Space Pirates. It seems that the Space Pirates have attacked a research vessel that was carrying parasitic life-forms discovered on another planet called Metroids (hence the name of the game). The Space Pirates intend to use these creatures as biological weapons.
There have been many sequels over the years. The original Metroid has been re-released a few times as well. The original Metroid is available as a bonus upon completing the 2004 game Metroid: Zero Mission for the Game Boy Advance. Metroid: Zero Mission itself was an enhanced remake of the original. There was also a standalone Game Boy Advance version released in 2004 as part of the Classic NES Series. In addition, the original Metroid was released for the Wii Virtual Console in 2007 and for the 3DS Virtual Console in 2012. This is definitely a must play game for all fans of video games and there are plenty of ways to give it a try.
Most of the photos in this set were taken in the early 1970s.
The first photo was processed in June 1971 and is labeled 'Red Rocks Theatre Denver'.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (217-220)
PC World was one of the most popular PC specific magazines for decades. The magazine began life in March 1983 and the last issue was published a little over 30 years later in 2013. It was still going strong in 2001 and the October 2001 issue includes:
PC World (October 2001)
Dig Dug (1982)
Dig Dug is an arcade game that was released by Namco in 1982. It was one of the immensely popular games during the golden age of arcade gaming. It was originally described as a "strategic digging game" and was pretty unique for the time and remains so today.
As the title character, you spend your time digging through the earth in order to defeat various enemies. This can be done in one of two ways. First, you can inflate them with a bike pump. It works as a sort of spear gun so this attack has a short range. Once impaled, You can inflate them until they explode or if left partially inflated (perhaps because you had to flee from another enemy) they will float harmlessly for a brief time. You can't move around during the inflation process so sometimes you have to cut and run. The other way you can kill enemies is by digging under a rock which would cause it to fall on any enemy following you. The longer a round lasts, the faster the enemies will move. Enemy speed also increases (as do the number of enemies) as the levels increase.
Dig Dug was hugely popular and has seen literally dozens of ports over the years. Initial ports included early video game systems like the Atari 2600 Intellivision as well as 8-bit computers like the Commodore 64 and Apple II. However, every generation of video games systems has seen a re-release of some kind of this game.
More recent releases of Dig Dug, which are mostly emulations or near arcade perfect ports with added features, include Namco Museum Vol 3 (1996 for the PlayStation), Namco Museum / Namco Museum 64 (1999 for the Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance), Namco Museum 50th Anniversary (2005 for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox), Namco Museum Remix (2007 for the Nintendo Wii), Namco Museum Essentials (2009 for the PlayStation 3) and Namco Museum Switch (2017 for the Nintendo Switch), and as a bonus in Pac-Man Party. It was also released as part of the Xbox Live Arcade series for the Xbox 360 and on Steam for Windows. There's probably a few I've missed.
There were also a few sequels that came along (including Dig Dug II) but these were not nearly as popular or as good. If you want to give Dig Dug a try than any of the releases above from 1996 or later are fine. The early home ports are good as well but they aren't going to give you an arcade perfect experience. The 8-bit computer versions or the later NES version are generally going to be better than the other 1980s console versions.
In the early days of a new hardware platform, 1st part software support is often critical. The Commodore 64 was no different. Of course, the true mark of a successful platform can often me measured in terms of 3rd party support. For a time, it seemed that the Commodore 64 had more third party developers than there are stars in the sky. However, in the early days this wasn't necessarily the case and for the first few years of the Commodore 64's life, Commodore published a number of titles, including games and productivity software. One of these was International Soccer.
International Soccer, as you might imagine, is a soccer game. In fact, for its time, it was an excellent soccer game. Game play was pretty straightforward. Each player (or AI) has a team of seven players. You control whichever player currently has control of or is closest to the ball. When you have the ball, you can run in any direction or pass the ball by pressing the fire button. Corner kicks and throw-ins exist but no penalties because there's no way to commit them. If you are playing against the AI, there are 9 different difficulty levels. A game consists of two halves at a few minutes each.
Sports games often don't hold up the best over time but simple sports games that were good are an exception. International Soccer is sort of the Tecmo Bowl of Soccer. It's definitely worth checking out if you are a Commodore 64 fan, a soccer fan, or a fan of 8-bit sports games.
A summary for those that haven't been keeping up with this series:
I found a number of 5.25" disks at a thrift store several years ago. I finally got around to acquiring a 5.25" disk drive and extracting the contents a while back. Since then I have been posting the contents here.
Based on the contents, at least some of these disks were apparently once owned by someone named Connie who used to run the “Close Encounters” Special Interest Group (SIG) on Delphi in the mid 1980s.
A specific definition of this SIG was found in a document on one of the disks: "This SIG, known as 'Close Encounters', is a forum for the discussion of relationships that develop via computer services like the Source, CompuServe, and Delphi. Our primary emphasis is on the sexual aspects of those relationships."
This service was text based and was accessed via whatever terminal program you used on your computer to dial in to Delphi’s servers. Many of these disks have forum messages, e-mails and chat session logs. All of this is pre-internet stuff and I don’t know if there are any archives in existence today of what was on Delphi in the 1980s. In any case, much of this stuff would have been private at the time and probably wouldn't exist in such archives even if they existed.
This post includes the contents of MEMTWO.DOC. This appears to be the member list of the Close Encounters SIG as of November 11th, 1985. This is similar to the file in the last post except from a month later and there appears to be a bit mask type entry associated with each name this time. I assume this represents some kind of permissions for each user.
See the previous post here.===
MEMTWO.DOC
===
Original List of Members as of ll/l0/85 Username: 12TARA Name: *BAD BOY* Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: 1BOB Name: Bob Eller Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: 2010 Name: Mike Smith Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: ACE Name: Rick Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: AH Name: David Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: AHH Name: alan heyman Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: ALESSAN Name: John Ac. Topics: 0 Username: AMTRAKMAN Name: Al Voci Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: ANDERSON Name: Diana Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: ANDRE Name: Andre Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: ARNE Name: Arne Strand Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: ATARIONE Name: CARL WILHOIT Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: BAODAI Name: Nelson LeMay Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: BENDAILY Name: ben Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: BGS Name: Bruce Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: BILLEAST Name: Bill Eastburn Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: BINARY Name: Paul Lustenberger Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: BITSLINGER Name: Mike Bispeck Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: BOBB Name: Bob Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: BOBW Name: Bob Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: BREN Name: Brenda Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: BRUCE1 Name: Bruce James Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: BSK309 Name: STEVE LEWIS Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: BUSSIGMGR Name: Paul Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: CABUYS Name: Connie - Sig Manager Ac. Topics: 1111111111111111 Username: CALW Name: cal wasson Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CATHEE Name: Cathee A Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CDVARN Name: CHRIS Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CENTERFIRE Name: Jim Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: CHAMELEON Name: KHANH MAI Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CHARLESD Name: charles dite Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CHESSIE Name: Bob Kitchen Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CHEVALIER Name: Ken Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: CHM Name: chuck Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CHRISALLEN Name: Chris Allen Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CHRISLOCK Name: Chris Wehner Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CIA325283 Name: Hasan Ciawi Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CL3030 Name: Rog Carpenter Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CLEARSTAR Name: Dan Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CLYDETURBO Name: Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CNS Name: Jeff Greek Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: COL Name: TOM Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CONSORT Name: Sig Managers - SLG Associates Ac. Topics: 1111111111111111 Username: CROSSCUTS Name: TURNON Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: CSG01 Name: Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: CYBERLEADER Name: Jim Reiss Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DAGO Name: TONY Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DALEK Name: Y Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DAN Name: D. Bruns Ac. Topics: 1111111111111111 Username: DANNYDOS Name: Danny Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: DASERVICEINCName: Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: DAVEIRV Name: David Irvine Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: DAVIDBERKLANName: daveb Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DAVIDFULFORDName: David Fulford Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DAVROS Name: Jon Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: DBRYANT Name: David Bryant Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DEARMAX Name: Max Strips Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DEDHED Name: MIKE SAUVE Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DEEPAK Name: Deepak Midha Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DEOGBURN Name: Chris deOgburn Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DIAPHANOUS Name: Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DICKDERY Name: DICK DERY Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DIMPLES Name: Dimples Jones Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DIRIGO Name: Bert Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: DJR Name: Dan Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: DOCTORC Name: NORMAN Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DONUTS Name: Marie Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DORA Name: Lin Koeppel Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: DOUGLEVY Name: Doug Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: DRAGONLORD Name: Tim Aman Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: DRBOB408 Name: Bob Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: DRGOLD Name: Duane Goldsworthy Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: ELECTRO Name: Electro Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: ELH Name: Ed Haswell Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: ELLENK Name: Ellen Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: ELLISCO Name: Dick Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: EMK Name: EMIL Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: ERK Name: ERICK EDWARDS Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: ESG Name: Gene Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: EVPHRD Name: Mike Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: EXCELSIOR Name: Maximilian (Max For Friends) Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: FINGERTIPS Name: Jay Pondy Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: FORPLAY Name: bill Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: FRIDAY Name: Rich Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: FRIED Name: Bob Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: FROGBOY Name: Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: FSF Name: Dan Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: GASMAN2 Name: John Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: GEORGEK Name: George Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: GERRYGOLD Name: Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: GLYNN25 Name: GREG LYNN Ac. Topics: 0 Username: GRED Name: John Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: GREYWOLF Name: JOE GERSTEMEIER Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: GUACAMOLE Name: John Williamson Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: GUSTAVE Name: Gustave Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: GWMCQ Name: geotge Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: HANSOLO Name: John Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: HAPAZARD Name: LOUIS HAZARD Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: HATCHERY Name: Rick Curl Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: HORNET Name: Roger McMillian Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: HOTLACE Name: karen winnett Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: IDEL Name: Greg Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: ILLUMINATUS Name: William Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: ILLUSION Name: Marti Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: INTECO Name: Uwe Goetzke Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: JACKMARVIN Name: shawna Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: JARED Name: Jared Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: JCG Name: Joel Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: JEANLUC Name: John M Christensen Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: JFOLEY Name: Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: JIMH Name: James Hopper Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: JJM Name: Jay Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: JOEY Name: Joe - SysOp Ac. Topics: 1111111111111111 Username: JOHNMYSELF Name: John - Asst. Manager Ac. Topics: 1111111111111111 Username: JOHNNAPLES Name: John Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: JOHNP Name: John Peterson Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: JOHNWG Name: J. W. Gibney Ac. Topics: 1111111111111111 Username: JOSEPH Name: Joseph Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: JWSTEMPER Name: JOHN STEMPER Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: K9 Name: MIKE SMITH Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: KAPLAN Name: Elizabeth F. Kaplan Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: KASSIMALEX00Name: alex kassim Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: KB6LE Name: George Lanning Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: KEEBEE Name: KEITH BELDEN Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: KELLY Name: K. Thebodo Ac. Topics: 1111111111111111 Username: KENNIT Name: K. S. Criscione Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: KEVINB Name: Kevin Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: KIRBY Name: Belinda Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: KISKA Name: Joe Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: KRANKY Name: Bill Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: KZIN Name: Mike Banks Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: LADYLAW Name: Mary Helm Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: LADYLOVE Name: Connie Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: LASRDISC Name: Kevin L. Norwood Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: LFJ Name: FRANK Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: LG1 Name: Bernard Turek Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: LODDP Name: Daniel Phillips Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: LOOP Name: jane Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: LOUSCHNEIDERName: Lou Schneider Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: LVEAL Name: Lee Veal Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MACALLEN Name: Mac Mathis Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MACULA Name: Frank Curl Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MADHACKER Name: Jim Nangano Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MADONNA Name: Libby Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: MAEWEST Name: Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MARS Name: pegasus Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MAW Name: MIKE Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MENU Name: SoapSuds Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MHW Name: Michael H. Wahler Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MIKEADAMS Name: Mac Ada ms Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MIRANDA Name: not yet Ac. Topics: 1111111111111111 Username: MISSISSIP Name: david barnett Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MLJEX Name: Mike Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MLR Name: Lee Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: MMB Name: Michael M. Bosen Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MOJO Name: Morris Jones Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MPA Name: Mike Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: MTEWAL Name: MELVIN EDDLESTON Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: NAVYDAVY Name: DAVID TYCE Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: NHOJ Name: John LaStar Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: NICKOLS Name: Kevin Nickols Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: NICKX Name: Nick Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: NJOHNSON Name: Nancy Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: NUKE Name: Douglas Alexander Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: NYLADY Name: Karen Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: OSPAT Name: PATRICK MCINTYRE Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: P1 Name: Bill Pytlovany Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: PAKWAX Name: HAL Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: PATSULLIVAN Name: Patrick Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: PAULHOPK Name: Paul Hopkins Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: PAULLEWIS Name: Paul Lewis Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: PCMMAG Name: PCM Magazine Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: PEEWEE Name: LEE HANDY Ac. Topics: 0 Username: PETERKAR Name: PETER KARWOWSKI Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: PETEVO Name: Pete Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: PGS Name: PGS Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: PHANTASY Name: Keith Vogt Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: PHREAK Name: Smith Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: PHROBIE Name: Pete Roberts Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: PIANOMAN Name: Tom Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: PIPEMAN Name: Brian Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: PMSINC Name: Jeff Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: POPE Name: John Paul Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: PRAIRIESUN Name: jackson clubb Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: PRINCESS Name: Peggy Ac. Topics: 1111111111111111 Username: PRINCETONFINName: Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: PRK Name: Paul Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: PTS Name: phil Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: QSOFTDEMARG Name: Javier Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: QUICKRODNEY Name: John Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: QUINCY Name: JEFF BECK Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: RADCOM Name: Lee Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: RANGERS Name: Peter Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: RAR3 Name: Robert Rogers Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: RAYGEDDES Name: Ray Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: RBS Name: Bob Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: RH Name: Rich Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: RHODGE Name: Rusty Hodge Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: RICKER Name: Eric Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: RIDPATH Name: Richard Parker Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: RJM513 Name: RJ Miles Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: ROARK Name: KEVIN SMITH Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: RODM Name: Rod Ac. Topics: 1111111111111111 Username: ROGO Name: JOHN ROGOWSKI Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: RONDEAN Name: Ron Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: RONMAZUR Name: Ron Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: SARISKY Name: mark sarisky Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: SCHONBERGER Name: Steve Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: SCOT Name: greg Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: SEEKAY Name: Charlie Kestner Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: SHARC Name: Shawn Tigrett Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: SHERM Name: Tom Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: SHRINK Name: Jay Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: SIGH Name: Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: SKM Name: Steve Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: SKMOYER Name: Steve Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: SMENCIK Name: Steve Mencik Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: SMILE Name: Smile Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: SODAPOP Name: Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: SOFTAFFAIR Name: Bryan Eggers Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: SPACENET Name: spacey Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: SPARKY Name: Mark Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: SPIDER Name: John Mezzanotte Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: SPIKEYS Name: ROBERT BRAUNSTEIN Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: SR Name: Steve Ramirez Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: SRJ Name: scott jacobson Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: STANKRUTE Name: Stan Krute Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: STARLORD Name: Lee Handy Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: STEVENAGREM Name: steve nagrem Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: STUART Name: Stuart Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: SUMMER Name: Steve Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: SUZIE Name: Bill Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: SYSTOLE Name: Greg Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: TCT Name: Tom Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: TELELEARNINGName: S&H Electronics Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: TEM84PA15330Name: Tom Moore Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: TEVA Name: B. Robbins Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: THEPHANTOM Name: Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: TIGLON Name: Gayle Sims Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: TJH Name: Tim Hall Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: TJLAND Name: David Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: TMI Name: Tom Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: TOMMY Name: TOM IOTT Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: TREP Name: Tom Obringer Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: TRICON Name: Bob Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: TRIPLE Name: Ronald Duquette Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: TROPICAL Name: Mark Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: TSBJR Name: Tom Bergantino Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: TSTANTON Name: Tom Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: TULLIS Name: David R. Tullis Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: TURK Name: turgut kalfaoglu Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: VERCINGETORXName: Rex Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: VETTED Name: Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Username: VIDEOTAPE Name: Mike Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: VT Name: Vicki Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: WARLORD1 Name: Jesse Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: WELSHMAN Name: Geoff Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: WIL1 Name: Willie Boger Ac. Topics: 0 Username: WILLARD Name: Elizabeth Ac. Topics: 11111111011 Username: WT3 Name: BILL SMOOT Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: WZ Name: Warren Zunino Ac. Topics: 1011111101111100 Username: YOSHI Name: Ac. Topics: 10111111011 Total number of members : 263
Disney's Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Quest was released in 1993 by Sunsoft for the Sega Genesis. This was one of a relative few games of the time that was targeted toward the young girl demographic. Unfortunately, as is common with many licensed games, this one is not so great.
Disney licesnes are often the exception to the rule when it comes to judging such games. However, Belle's Quest is more in line with expectations. Still, even though it isn't a great game, it is probably better than about 90% of other games based on licensed properties and reviewers had mixed opinions.
Belle's Quest is a fairly typical side-scrolling platform game. The graphics are quite good and some of the in between level mini-games are mildly entertaining but beyond that, there isn't much to say. The music is not great and the objectives tend to be not very interesting. I would think young kids would get frustrated pretty quickly by having to constantly dodge passing animals or die. There are some great Disney games from the 16-bit era (like Mickey's Castle of Illusion) but this isn't one of them.
Unless you are trying to complete your Genesis collection or are a hard core Disney collector, I would steer clear of this one. If you do want to play it, you will have to track down an original or give it a try via emulation (the better choice in this case). You can get it pretty cheap on eBay though.
The ad above is from the January 1994 issue of GameFan.
The Sega Master System was a competitor to the Nintendo Entertainment System and a predecessor to the Sega Genesis. Although technically superior, it never did as well as Nintendo in most of the world (Brazil excepted). I was surprised to learn that in sold less than the Atari 7800 in North America. This was for a number of reasons including but not limited to: a slightly later entry into market, poorer marketing, and Nintendo's draconian and anti-competitive licensing scheme.
Above is a poster from 1987 that was included in many of the games. It features classic Sega artwork depicting characters and other various Sega gaming scenes.
The first two photos are labeled 'Senior Cit State Get Together - May 16, 62 Civic Center'.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (209-212)
None of the photos in this set are dated but they are likely from the 1960s or early 1970s and were all likely taken in Michigan.
This photo is labeled 'Mackinaw Island.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (205-208)
The Dell Latitude D531 is an AMD based laptop. The Latitude was Dell's business line of computers. Recently, they've changed their naming schemes to be much more generic as if to obfuscate things. The vast majority, even at this time, were Intel based. However, the D531 was released as a budget model.
Digital Archaeology: Dell Latitude D531
All of the photos in this set were processed in August 1979 and it looks like they were all taken the same day. These show some people out on a lake waterskiing probably somewhere in Michigan.
Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (201-204)
Micro Adventurer is a 1980s era computer gaming magazine that emphasized adventure games, simulations, and war games. The March 1985 issue includes:
Micro Adventurer (March 1985)
Etrian Odyssey was the first in a fairly long running series of role playing games for Nintendo's handhelds. Etrian Odyssey was released in early 2007 by Atlus for the Nintendo DS. The game is completely turn based and can be compared to classic, primarily computer based RPGs like Wizardry and Bard's Tale (though with better graphics).
Etrian Odyssey even requires you to do your own mapping but does allows you to do so with the stylus and lower screen of the DS. It even provides a variety of ready made symbols for your use so it isn't quite like the graph paper days of old. Etrian Odyssey provides a lot of dungeon crawling for you to enjoy if you like that sort of thing. It allows a party of five characters of various classes and you can swap out with other characters when you are taking a break from dungeon exploration back in the town at the guild hall. As is typical with RPGs your characters will advance levels when enough experience is gained. When this happens you can allocate skill points to specific skills.
The pace can be slow, the difficulty relatively high and the story is somewhat lacking but fans of old school RPGs should love this one nonetheless. It received mostly positive reviews and sold reasonably well for a game of its type. Unfortunately, prices tend to be pretty high for this one on eBay today, particularly for a complete copy.
There have been a number of sequels and remakes as part of this series. Sequels include Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard, Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City, Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan, Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth and the upcoming Etrian Odyssey X. In addition, the first couple of games have been remade. The original game was mostly remade as Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl and released in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS. There have also been a couple of spin-offs: Etrian Mystery Dungeon and Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2.
If you try the first game in the series and are a fan then you have plenty to look forward to though the game system does tend to change-up some between iterations.
All of the photos in this set were processed in August 1974 and were probably taken in the Lansing, Michigan area around that time.
Source: Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (198-200)
Computer Gaming World was the best computer gaming magazine for the years it was around (which was quite a few). It covered games on a variety of computers over the years, not just IBM PC Compatibles. It eventually became Games for Windows and though the content was much the same, it didn't survive for long in that form. The March 1991 issue of Computer Gaming World includes:
All of the photos in this set were taken between 1967 and 1974.The first photo was processed in August 1970 and is labeled Girls Golf. It shows a girl practicing her swing. This was probably somewhere in the Lansing, Michigan area.
Source: Vintage Photos - Lot 6 (194-197)
Byte was really meant more for computer hobbyists than just your average user. As such, it tended to have more technical content though it had plenty of typical reviews and other coverage as well. The July 1986 issue includes:
Source: Byte (July 1986)
This expedition is a search through the boneyard of my very first PC. And by PC, I really mean DOS/Windows/X86 compatible computer since my first computer was a Commodore 64. This was the first computer I ever bought myself and I spent most of my summer earnings on this thing the summer before I went to college. It was a whopping $3000 (really more like $2995 plus somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 for shipping). But for this massive sum you got what was a massively powerful computer for the day (we are talking Summer 1993 here).
As you can see, the highlights include a 66MHz 486DX2 processor, a whopping 16MB of RAM plus 256k of cache, a CD-ROM drive (single speed) and a VESA Local Bus video card. It looked just like this except the CD-ROM drive in mine (a Philips model) had a manually operated tray:
By comparison, in my dorm area my first year of college, three out of five people came with a computer including myself. One person came with a 386DX-40 with 2 or 4 MB of RAM and my roomate came with a 486DX-33 with 4 MB of RAM (later upgraded to 8 MB I think). I had bragging rights for a couple of years until someone I knew bought a 133 MHz Pentium.
This computer was used to call a lot of BBSes, play a lot of DOOM, DOOM 2 and the first couple of X-Wing games. It was also used to play Hexen, NASCAR, Rebel Assault (one of the first CD-ROM based games for PCs) and no doubt many others that I am forgetting. This was the first computer I used to access the Internet (via a local freenet and a university shell account with a SLIP emulator). At first it was largely usenet and text based web browsing but later graphical web browsing. This computer was also responsible for me meeting my first serious girlfriend (a blessing and a curse) via Talk on my university account. I even did a little school work with it.
Paradoxically, at the time BBSes were probably near their peak but also on their way out as the Internet was just becoming popular. It's a shame because they were a lot of fun and while the Internet certainly has more of everything it has never managed to recreate that type of environment. I played tons of Legend of the Red Dragon, downloaded tons of stuff much of which I never used, and participated in FIDONET and local message discussions galore. One BBS even hosted a DOOM or DOOM 2 ladder tournament (basically you would challenge anybody you wanted and if you beat them you took over their position on the ladder).
This machine did not come with either a modem or a sound card but by Christmas I had both a Sound Blaster 16 ASP and a second hand 2400 bps modem. The modem was upgraded on a regular basis from 2400 to 14400 to 28800 to 33600 and finally to 56K (USR X2 and then the final standard). Sometimes an upgrade meant a new modem, sometimes a ROM chip swap and sometimes a ROM flash. For a time when USR and Hayes had competing standards dial-up could be frustratingly buggy or incompatible depending on what you were connecting to but that's another story. Other than those things, I never really upgraded anything on this machine. I contemplated upgrading to 32 MB RAM but that meant I had to disable the motherboard cache (which was important for speed at that time) or getting one of those fancy Pentium Overdrive chips but it was never really cost effective. This was my primary machine from August 1993 until December 1997 when I got a brand new Pentium II-300 (also from gateway) and this one was given to my parents (sans the original monitor which had recently died). I got it back several years later but it was stored in the garage for a while and eventually tossed except for a few parts I held on to:
This, of course, is the brain of the machine. Not sure why I kept it but here it is. Maybe I'll put together another 486 machine for nostalgia's sake one day. It only ran at 66 MHz and that was a clock doubling of the system bus which ran at 33 MHz. But it was the fastest thing available at the time.
While the package size of desktop CPUs has not changed too much over the years, the size of the core, the number of transistors packed into it, and the number of pins have all changed drastically.
The one other piece I kept was the Sound Blaster 16 ASP card. The Sound Blaster 16 was THE sound card of the day. The Pro Audio Spectrum 16 was arguably better but not as well supported. The ASP version of the card added hardware compression among other things. I don't think ASP features were ever really used in games but it did allow you to do nifty things like record and playback lossless compressed .wav files. One other thing to note was that the CD-ROM interface was often on the sound card in the early days so I had to have the particular Sound Blaster card that had the appropriate interface for my Philips CD-ROM drive. Later CD-ROM drives were SCSI or IDE based like hard drives.
