The 1991 "X-Box"

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Posted by michael on Saturday January 25, 2003 @02:26PM from the old-skool dept.

Jim Hall writes "Back in college (1991), I wondered why no one had bothered to make a DOS-based game console. One day, in the back of a notebook, I made some notes about how you might go about creating a DOS-based game console. (I even called it an "X-Box", but really the "X" was there because I didn't know what else to call it. Microsoft's current "XBox" console is completely different, and I don't claim any rights to the "X-Box" name.) I've posted some scans of my notes, and a discussion about how you would create a DOS-based game console."

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Re:SHENANIGANS! by Raiford · 2003-01-25 14:45 · Score: 4, Insightful

yea, I always write down just the year on my big idea notes. Not the day or month, but I make sure the year figures prominently on the front page of my notes.

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"player 4 hit player 1 with 0 stroms"
Sorry to post again but... by fordboy0 · 2003-01-25 15:12 · Score: 5, Insightful

If it really was 1991 and this guy was smart enough to put together a "DOS"-based game box, don't you think he would have known not to use spaces in his filenames? - Strike Three - Yer Out!
Worst episode -er- article ever!

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Ligaguinggligagiggagoogoogwillgo
Re:It's been thought I'm sure. by Anonymous+Hack · 2003-01-25 16:03 · Score: 3, Insightful

Bingo. Not only was EGA about as cool as it got back then (i remember VGA becoming more popular on high-end home computers in 92-93ish, around when Wolf3D took off) but Commander Keen? Come on. In 1991 i'm talking Battletech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception on a monochrome screen... An early, very crappy, Test Drive under CGA. Lode Runner. Mines of Moria (like Nethack). Space Quest 1. PCs were worse than Amigas and even the 8-bit systems back then. The people who could afford VGA systems (with CD-ROM drives!) were like the people today who have Radeon 9700s with 1 gig of RAM and God knows what other overclocked monstrosities in their system. Contrary to what we read on Slashdot, that is by far not the majority of PC users :-)

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I got a sig so you would remember me.
Date Your Notes! by skSlashDot · 2003-01-25 16:37 · Score: 4, Insightful

I frequently date my notes for home-only projects; just force of habit.
At work, I always date my notes with month, day, year, and also include which project the notes are for.
Not for IP, lawsuit, or policy reasons, just to remove the "WTF" that will come up when I look at the notes after four or five years. Or in case I get hit by a minivan again; I may not be so lucky next time!
I'm not saying that this guy did or didn't do that... I'm just saying that it's not that unusual.
I do NOT generally write any kind of copyright info on any of my notes, though. Whether this is good, bad, or indifferent is an exercise for the reader.
Re:Hardware prices in 1991... by Deflatamouse! · 2003-01-25 17:46 · Score: 4, Insightful

In 1994, I bought a 486 system for around $2000 (it was a Packard Hell :( ). Anyway, the CDROM drive that came with it was a 2X. It wasn't until later that a 3X, then a 4X drive came out. (And then the speeds started to exponentially increase.) Although I've never paid any attention to the market back in 1991, I like to take a risk, and say that CDROM drives at that year weren't very popular and not many CDROM aps, games, etc were out there. To see this guy suggest using a CDROM in a console back in 1991 brings me a lot of doubt.

Perhaps this guy had a innovative mind, perhaps not. I hate to do it, but IMO, this story has 'hoax' written all over it.