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Forty Years of Lunar Lander
Harry writes "2009 marks not only the fortieth anniversary of Apollo 11, but also four decades of the iconic, omnipresent Lunar Lander, one of the first simulation games ever written. The first version was written by an Apollo-crazy high school student; among its countless descendants are the classic Atari arcade machine and versions for practically every other platform, from the Apple II to the iPhone. We're celebrating with a look at the game's origins, history, and significance — including an interview with creator Jim Storer, who hadn't given the game a moment's thought since he left high school, and wasn't aware of the phenomenon he spawned."
It was in the early eighties, and I had a TRS-80. Bought a Moon lander game for it at a Radio Shack and it sucked donkey balls, so I wrote my own. The difference between my moon lander and radio Shack's was the same as the difference between a violin and a fiddle.
What's the difference between a violin and a fiddle?
People LIKE fiddle music!
Free Martian Whores!
As a child I kept searching for the version that let you land on the planet of those evil space invaders for an epic fight to the death - spacewar and asteroids were a poor facsimile.
bomb the us up set someone
Remember that when there's a Starbucks and a strip mall in the Sea of Tranquility.
America... FUCK YEAH!!!!
McDonalds, FUCK YEAH!
Wal-Mart, FUCK YEAH!
The Gap, FUCK YEAH!
Baseball, FUCK YEAH!
NFL, FUCK, YEAH!
Rock and roll, FUCK YEAH!
The Internet, FUCK YEAH!
Slavery, FUCK YEAH!
Starbucks, FUCK YEAH!
Disney world, FUCK YEAH!
Porno, FUCK YEAH!
Valium, FUCK YEAH!
Reeboks, FUCK YEAH!
Fake Tits, FUCK YEAH!
Sushi, FUCK YEAH!
Taco Bell, FUCK YEAH!
Rodeos, FUCK YEAH!
Bed bath and beyond FUCK YEAH!
...creator Jim Storer, who hadn't given the game a moment's thought since he left high school, and wasn't aware of the phenomenon he spawned.
Yeah. It's always strange when a geek escapes the darkness of the computer cave to explore the big blue room and doesn't come back. Worse, if he does come back, he'll discover that he's become stupider than before.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
The main reason why you took manual control of the vehicle.... XEROX built the on board computer! And it broke... (tisk)
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
I'd strip Starbuck in a sea of tranquili...
wait, what are we talking about?
The biggest difference I can see between now and 40 years ago is the number of kids who won't stay off my damn lawn. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
My first memory of this game was seeing the Atari version at the Exploratorium. I never knew that the original was text!
HERE ARE THE RULES THAT GOVERN YOUR SPACE VEHICLE:
(1) AFTER EACH SECOND, THE HEIGHT, VELOCITY, AND REMAINING
FUEL WILL BE REPORTED.
(2) AFTER THE REPORT, A '?' WILL BE TYPED. ENTER THE
NUMBER OF UNITS OF FUEL YOU WISH TO BURN DURING THE
NEXT SECOND. EACH UNIT OF FUEL WILL SLOW YOUR DESCENT
BY 1 FT/SEC.
Reading that, I was expecting (3) to be "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue." :-)
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
I would hate to think how much I'd be charged for Starbucks coffee on the moon...
Well, the problem is that, as coffehouses go, Starbucks is nice, but it has absolutely no atmosphere.
Bow-ties are cool.
I'd strip Starbuck in a sea of tranquili...
wait, what are we talking about?
You know, as much as I enjoyed Dirk Benedict's work I don't think I'd want to see that.
Bow-ties are cool.