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After 27 Years, a New High Score For Asteroids

Posted by kdawson on from the toothpicks-for-eyelids dept.

blair1q writes "In a marathon 3-1/2 day session, John McAllister, of Portland, Oregon, has broken the 27-year-old high score for Asteroids, set in 1982 by Scott Safran. The attempt was broadcast via webcam."

10 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. This reminds me of... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Once you master the basics, Asteroids is simply a game of endurance: Can you keep from falling asleep?

    Anyone remember those dance marathons from the 1950s where people would dance for days to beat the world record?

    Okay, neither do I. But I *did* see it in an episode of Happy Days. So that still makes me old.

  2. Re:Score by gzipped_tar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wonder what the theoretically possible highest score could be. LONG_MAX? ULONG_MAX? Or something entirely different?

    --
    Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
  3. I can beat that ... by Qbertino · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just had the idea: Wouldn't it be a sort of cool project to build a robot that plays Astroids? I mean the actual arcade version? Shouldn't be that difficult. Such a device could beat the world record, no? ... In fact, it could probably play endlessly.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
    1. Re:I can beat that ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      different game, but you might be interested in a computer playing Super Mario World

    2. Re:I can beat that ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Here's some more information about that contest, in case anyone's wondering how a human can get to a 41 million score while the best of algorithms can only achieve 140000-ish scores: The contest games were limited to 5 minutes!

      Some of the coders reverse-engineered the random number generation in the Asteroids game, so their algorithmic players could deduce the initial values from events happening on the screen and have full information about the internal game state after a few frames. Consequently they could even use the hyperspace function without risk. When you look at the recordings, you'll notice that they fire before the asteroids appear and still every shot is a hit.

  4. Re:2 Things have to be said by mccalli · · Score: 5, Interesting

    First, props to the quality of old time hardware. Do you think you could still play games on contemporary machines, almots 3 decades in the future?

    Another detail about Asteroids - it's a game you really can't emulate without specialist hardware. Yeah you can load up the ROM in MAME and it plays nicely enough, but the true Asteroids machine had vector monitor hardware. This really makes a difference to the feel of the thing and those beautifully glowing intense bullets look vastly better on the real thing than when played on standard raster hardware.

    I have a MAME cab and an ArcadeVGA adapter to power a Hanterax 20" screen - it makes even 320x128 look fantastic. But Asteroids is something it simply can't get right - without a vector monitor, you're stuffed.

    Cheers,
    Ian

  5. the life wraparound was the real problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The real killer on Asteroids is the 8 bit life counter, meaning every couple of hours you'd suddenly find yourself with no spare ships. The rules we played forbade suicide to keep the ship count down, otherwise we could just have kept the lives at around 200 and stopped worrying.

    On casual days, we'd rack up 240 lives or so, hand the game over to any passing stranger then take 50min off for lunch. The same game was always still going when we came back!

    It really is a trivially easy game, so easy we had to invent rules to make it more challenging!

  6. Re:Score by orkysoft · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why doesn't the game include a roll-over counter?

    --

    I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
  7. Re:2 Things have to be said by lowrydr310 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My uncle had an Asteroids cabinet complete with a vector monitor and all I remember is WOW those lines were bright! I couldn't imagine playing that thing for one hour straight, let alone for 58 hours.

  8. Re:Sudden persepective. by Pharmboy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Now, you say that, but us guys in our 40s have gained one thing: persistence. If needed, I can do whatever it takes, including super long hours, not because my body is better prepared for it than a 25 year old (it isn't) but because my mind is. Older guys tend to be more persistent and willing to get the job done, regardless of the body damage it causes.

    Call it "intestinal fortitude" or just hard headedness, but while I don't have the physical stamina I might have had 20 years ago, I can more than make up for it by having a more determined mindset.

    --
    Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!