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The History of the Apple II as a Gaming Platform

Matt Barton writes "Gamasutra is running a feature on the venerable Apple II platform, which practically defined the early home computer industry and was home to many of the greatest games and developers of all time. The authors discuss the platform's lifespan and many iterations, struggles with illegal distribution, and legendary Apple II games such as Prince of Persia, John Madden Football, and Ultima. 'How big of a problem was piracy? Although several software authors claim that they stopped developing games because of rampant piracy and the subsequent loss of revenue, piracy did expose more computer owners to more games than they otherwise would have been -- this was at a time before ubiquitous demos made it easier to "try before you buy." Another benefit of this piracy is that much of the software archived today at online repositories are the cracked versions.'"

5 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. Can't we get the name right? by Overzeetop · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's an Apple ][ - those brackets are absolutely necessary. Trust me.

    Now get off my lawn, and don't come back until you can code in 6502 machine language hex codes - I don't want any of you assembly language sissies hanging around here.

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  2. Re:Apple II? Gaming platform? by saboola · · Score: 4, Funny

    My first computer was two rocks and a stick. It had only one game, called two rocks and a stick. The expansion module, three rocks and a stick, was too expensive.

  3. My reply by ToastyKen · · Score: 2, Funny

    A946 9900 00A9 6999 0001 A972 9900 02A9 7399 0003 A974 9900 04A9 2199 0005

    (I think that should print "First!", but my 6502 machine code is rusty. :\)

  4. Re:Best Games by rho · · Score: 5, Funny

    I like how I can't play the Virtual Apple games on Safari.

    --
    Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
  5. Re:Apple II? Gaming platform? by bpsbr_ernie · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now mommy told you, not to play with two rocks and a stick. She said you'd go blind...