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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."

2 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. 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
  2. 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