ECTRONIC FUN. COMPUTERS &GAMES A CONTINUING SERIES QU REFANT L6 FUTURE FACT “The arene ook a cic Klingons. By Frank Lovece _ Py voce outer tauy is about to. come or the last menth or ‘console just once more Joys fre batons In tereom, gauges, central ‘monitors a tro of spect “eee Igitliveorisit.. 2: LASERDISC?[ELECTRONIC FUN- COMPUTERS & GAMES +d sort of record that plays back sound however, snd you open nd pecures tially movies or upa word of sored. tne Condtralon a TV stor wane other Seon ages Star Tre ind ofvidco monitor An ineraes Profs players Real tive videedive spell designed actors ina murder mys fotakestrentageatauch ideo. tery Depending on se ticksas feczeffameraiow motion, _chaicen youcan gue of framecby frame advance a Sfotag plot nto any fertops mod! important. andom number of branches: {Ecesretneabaity to famp almost” Take on fork in the road. immediatly rom any potion the ang you've acknowl acto anyother. Interactive sige two choses Take ‘hdcolwes were orginally designed smother and: you've Tor eaching asi the fight acknowledged” foe Miautatoresbut Arm tank gunners Another and W's ight ndother such playfl rope another, seen and 20 fiscoreea ther teching dices fonh. Soon soute no ‘mace reat game machines. undreds of branches ‘ideo games have shave een Mix this array” of tive snteractve of course you mera which responds | to'you based on what a game Such input aa Trou wee the dieeion you teractveero Score hat y samen mean the fer bar the ter Sei game ction has been 4 F ‘experience Rend fim ance con , ing declares ventional video ‘ , Bie Gromoman | forages. They : ‘ido pt th cans 'merely™ 2 ations otal {fenerate compu ‘ fag eee ‘Ada an interac BB FL Pin Video tive videodie, ‘busy piting fester tm sp rents Sen Diego Chars clon Angeles Tera ores whoo Raia gis for Carat twos elena ctiotractvs tard Advanced Video, whieh wl {ke a multe o these plays and (Galt an tneractve cao ein theft Iveacton sports aca Ineha wil echy stor ge Gizgemes par temic Due ou by te sat ofthe all ay Soodervosety vdeo foobar. the ge wil et gore ‘You coach atu ad ce Hives PrP _Playero~insiead of simple ananated ‘puter animatinon the fguresesewate your pays And. 25 Eirecvandyeuve gaa Crossman suggest the game need fonction cfygamesas tot be played so. Advanced Video Siren fom day's as eden! Riek Fisher says he foanyrearc fom pod. Gagne the game so that "you can “Mere could chow to psy cker aga the change mere than Jost computer raga aneher non. ur expecaions Weavery sal game Paria raion TRASK and SERSots Smuts Sta Tek— though ele te oma ed ‘Poodeton Footbal can be played oncononeagainat he machine In fae wie the rene cope of fies enhanced by mcractve ‘i maybe welauted ota Bly, the here sth of helene Sraror being egal odds wl rvdretlong a hee ae ate guree sn sce a Going Solo ‘The best example ofthat spr ay be Sean's upcoming Interactive die game, Aston et Peape the met srg ideo fame oe Serocd thee Player. cokptsvie Asin Belt Fiend vecton, tractive ieo- ‘ic image wis computer {generate graphic to pre @ fit prea ce game remnncent ‘ft chet bate scone in Ste Wars stron Bets premiere show Inga the 1962 ANA Show even (hed a Star Warsi Japanse SCieneeeton tn prowling the IReection ambience nd oaces) ‘hanks ote interactive sidcolse {tines Aston Bets eto see, Sancbange sont axa scr ing othe player's communes and the progres of he game. "Further (dow the ry Sx’ Dei lane “ney ewe aking about ‘having the photographed planes ing bck athe paver" That went appens osh wnwell ater ‘Astron Bet its he sree ts ‘Rimmer as panned, "Yet not omy Aston ets singleplayer enn the exception Father thar the no rede ames it the exception or such (gore in gervalcraly [eres games ned a Nome use are lt iyer “Fost nonic ance the ea n- termtve dnc cae oto 1980 fetcational vogue elle "comp {cramisted intmicion oF CA ‘hatte on nau. CI. sips or ies presented {stoma nada fo Gents then ane them qoestons ‘Sted oma auden?s reaponse, {he problem would tel hn hherto skp ahead to sucand-sach chapter. or go back, or ty the same WARES fone over gain, ‘CAL though st in use. never ‘ugh on in a big way. did Inowever pen te doors of percep tion that would lead fo inteactive hhome videodisc games ‘Statng at such hallowed alls, the Massahusets Institute cf ‘Technology and the Usverity of ‘Nebrasa, high tech research evo ‘toa point where a viewer wat ‘ingen tleacive diac of he ‘recs of Aspen. Colorado cul by just touching the sereen, steer ‘eve any street he chose. wander Inside bling even read restaurant ments. A game Just had {Seomne out o allt, And it although on a fa es ambiuous ae "The rt interactive dise game for tne ome was relly usta par of the et ineraetivecte tein program forthe home How 10 Wath Pro Footbal (181) con {aiped step bystep lessons foot ‘al fuvdamentai, and dl Jost, ‘what the CAI programs used Tomask viewers questions then. tase on ther responses. dec them to ather pars ofthe doe The game here was the vial esau" portion called Freeze When that ELECTRONIC FUN- COMPUTERS & GAMES Presented & series of plays. then asked the hwerplayerto pred! run ofa pass would be fomina up next. Howto Wah Pro Foot ball sold well and won eile attention. aid ‘vas planned that would ‘ot only expand cn the Maen of interactive die saming, bat cepresert the Sateokiteat in interac tive dis for more than 8 year, twas called The First ‘National Kise (1981.15 ‘gaa were mostly a fienal—ridcen nd. mat ‘hing shapes to namo of objects, for example However. the dite also ha vere jan ting all over the place, lieing rezedrame. rane ftvance and slot motion as.no ase her had betore ‘Wilh the success ese st forts. bevy of producers scureto haninel heieereatty sn as brand new for of communion ‘The posits oF iteractveELECTRONIC FUN OMPUTERS & GAMES ing reexescre ond random aces teceiqes player ote ‘atv vido dae games seul cont the otcome othe game. Aion were staging Buthow wo make fae? Combine de felon with game. perhape I tak almost a Sdetoreaieesuch a Jrandiose plan tthe Focent elec of Murder, ‘Anyone? the st ees calod "Mystery Dns prove cu be Marder Arn a For rd ae tei saes a ox of ‘days inthe ie of 108 pve eye Stew (Cova as he ties 0 ‘rack the person a per se uniown we ‘led ratios Trina Dec Reardon ‘Mssuming Rendon dl tumsll At fr pou Oe cc ‘You mus! cheosé ene of wo dre ible Cavanagh mse he is avestaion. Using fez ‘hana sounds thie brant ing ads he game wane of 16 Prat slations Characterized by Hibk predation values tation ‘shooting good seinganda ery Sense umoe the st Misery: Dh scaly worth te 8205 price facmixnn, Vem the proces ‘already sto tlease therext ‘fescries in re and plan 0 hea total of ve iateractivedeton ames oat by the endothe year ‘Where wil interactive Been 0 ext? Mike Harvey, president of Sn. Francisco Leva ha Sts, ths come even more statract and dren knot tome tion more complex inter taoching Hl companys it in teractive die prot. The Cine basin wurde. son ce and may fot come ot fer wile te se end dct come out Ape ven more snbtousthan the MysteryDses The very apt te sh Visor and Dreams, "The ay the raat scm structed, explains Harvey "W's at Sout fallen sto tse me of rete de ely bat beg fing anid noe ftom ttever yu constr Ip C0 $00 0 ake the story forward or ex Hore the storyspeat ave ‘nony, many branchea~s0 many. Harv hopes tha Jn Vision aru rears wh “provie aiken present, siandalone le and Somnputercanobed dies "Tha a the arede-game makers sare aan fens the dag ‘Seep A heme computer traced ‘with a videodisc payer cold ede Tine the mite randorn acre, “rasa Predicts rae Gre itllhappen soon computers eve eae players and interact ‘wil begeestrcall nereced. ‘Already dragon is beng ured Hah Maghavon’s made \VEBOI0GY and Soars P7200 ipod players core wi acon Poster interface ack he remaining, brand tts type: Ponce. dest ave thse he remo, score tone ue may be tat Peer ‘es eonsdering interfacing tre less The jack accepts sandard S282 trices use OP Uimized only wth few specie bind expenatve=periphera, ‘whlch Inchade a 280 microproces orc asthe $395 Dace Tb0 fom Cambridge, MA be ‘New Media Grapes: ut the simple fact thatthe Magnavox and Svania parent company Pps sae Bo Fide the ack at al promising. Dig Ducks payers fie Canty so fret Titi pep S000 cota the pus fhe beer pager ‘aed pay acre nerve dace Ine neat to produce moe {teractie dsr he ame nay Se tempeed by harsh eens Servs Simro Dave Jenne he Vege ane poops kane marie crac aes ne [agrenivy tne expenne Sf sores Arcade sms arte expetane ‘Gough to produc, dba and Se walt eae ei Oy reed bran eran Sodan wn nome eo Us are ey cheapal 825 0 Sap laser pe eae ‘ayers amr a 900 1 700.teractive videodise games are emerg- LASERDISCS ing as the new darling of chic Continued from page 39 dreamers and designers and the eye Producers ike Leviathan, Vidmax of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell is. and MT! (which is planning to put one which is actively surveying the an interactive, African treasure-hunt terrain, According to an interview in fon disc under its ZiMag brand by the The Wall Street Journal, Bushnell fendof the year). will continue to is alming to get back into the game stoke the interactive fire. Itscems business with ultrarealistic games Iicely that arcades will be the big merged with flight-slmulators "to Broadway stages for the best and create a feeling of movement and ac- brightest interactive games, cceleration.” He will. he claims. ‘Simutron’s Star Trek, for example, devote himself to the “spectacle” would be extremely difficult toex: aspect of video games. cute tn the home. (Though some “Spectacle” may be the best word have tried. In 1981, Bell Labora- to describe what we're about to see tories veteran Robert Lucky sketch- in video games. It's not inconceiv: ed out an international video game able that we'll soon be able to © network called GameNet that would perience four-wall,interactive-dise Interface thousands of players all video games, with video projectors lover the world via phone and com- creating a wraparound environ puter. The only thing that stopped ment. In costume, you and your Lucky from spreading his GameNet team could enter football-sized ‘across the globe was that building rooms and prepare to engage in each custom-made system would adventure. And maybe there would hhave cost about $10,000 at the ‘be moving partitions on tracks. put- ume) ung $- films all around you, and Economies usually stands aside in perhaps man-made fog or drizzle. the face of creativity, or al least wails With interactive videodises, all awhile before lowering the boom. In- this has begun.c) Lasers In The Living Room Most of us think of devices that resemble Luke Skywalker’s ightsabre whenever the wor "laser" comes up Or else we think of precision microsurgery oreven killer satelite. What we're not realizing s that lasers have gone show-biz. ‘Since 1960, laser type videodise players have been availble for the home. and with them have come a multitude of movies, concerts and sports fms pressed ‘nto laser (or "LV" videodses. The interactive videoiscs that are launching video {ames intoa neo realistic future are part of that multitude as wel. Right now. Magnavox. Poneer and Sylvania have LV videodise players on the ‘market, at prices ranging from about 85008700. Most of the major studios and lots ofindependent programmers put out compatible diss for about 825 apiece. How sit they ean keep the laser from burning a hole through your roof? For one “reads” information recorded on “micropts beneath the shiny surface ofan LY. | ‘Because the stylus “glides” over the disc and never actually touches it there's ‘no wear on either component. An LV disc's lfespan is virtually etemal. And since ‘ust and dirt on the surface don't affect the laser bear you don't even have to be ‘meticulous about how you clean them. (They are breakable, though no matter ‘what the makers say. Extreme heat and cold won't do them much good, either) ‘The gliding stylus can move fforn the stat of the dsc to the end in seconds, that would take minutes wlth videotape. And with each frame locked in its track. the disc payer can hold a frame frozen indefinitely and offer frame ad ‘vance and slow motion without staticy visual “noise showing up on the TV screen. Laserdisc players also have two-channel sound for stereo, B-ingual and, ‘ual soundeacke. ELECTRONIC