Steven Johnson on “Spacewar” [video]

blog.longnow.org

26 points·mpweiher··11 comments

I made a HTML5 version based on the DOS spacewar.exe as an exercise at https://spacewar.pro

The original game in emulation (including a simulation of the Type 30 CRT, without which it doesn't make much sense) may be played here: https://www.masswerk.at/spacewar/

I did also an analysis of the source code, see here for a walkthrough: https://www.masswerk.at/spacewar/inside/

Links to an YT vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8xkCYvwiPA

BTW I find the use of 5 digits for years (02018) very clever!

> BTW I find the use of 5 digits for years (02018) very clever!

Why?

OT.

Because I am a pessimist and have a view that humanity will not survive that long. At least in the form where all of this shit will matter.

Planet Earth will be fine, but people 8,000 years from now?...

I still don't get what makes the 5 digits year count "clever" then. You think humanity will not be there in 8k years, ok, but how does that make the 5 digits clever?

I hear they do live demos of Spacewar on a PDP at the Computer History Museum and I keep meaning to check that out.

According to the website they do it every first and third Friday: http://www.computerhistory.org/hours/

At ~2:20min he says that the realistic nightsky didn't add anything to the game. I was instantly reminded of Elite2:frontier and why it didn't really amaze as much as the predecessor did.

I'd argue, it did add to the claim of the program being an accurate simulation of space flight.

Compare this brochure by DEC, which may well be the first corporate PR material on a video game: https://www.masswerk.at/spacewar/pdp-1-computer-and-spacewar...

Well, I was hoping this would be the Steven Johnson of fftw fame. The curse of common names...

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