Computer games conquer consumer electronics
Arcade classics like "tron" are making a comeback in phones. Will we be able to play "space invaders" on our washing machines??
When we can play old arcade classics on our cell phones or palmtops, it’s just like goethe in paperback, says andreas lange, director of the computerspielemuseum berlin and author of the following article. But the retro avant-garde of games can also be of tangible economic importance in the very near future.
Panutat tejasen lives in chiang mai, a charming little town in northern thailand, and the world would probably never have known about him if he hadn’t been the programmer of the first 3-D shooter for minicomputers – the so-called "windows CE". Palmtops on windows CE base. If four years ago "doom" conquered the hard drives of pcs, today it is games like "warrior" (that’s what he called his game) that turn our smallest electronic companions into entertainment machines, be it pocket computers or cell phones. When asked why he started programming for these devices, which, according to him, are hard to buy in thailand, he replied that it is a good way for small companies to conquer market segments.
And in fact we can see a parallel to a time when about 15 years ago it was also possible, more or less single-handedly, to write programs that would conquer the world. We are talking about the computer games of the early 80s, quite a few of which sprang from the heads and commodores of freaks just out of their teens. This was possible at a time when today’s graphic and sound standards were pure utopia and production budgets were still far below today’s levels. And exactly such a situation we have in the field of minicomputers again today. But let us briefly take a look at the rough context.
Digitization has fully invented our everyday life. Computer technology has long since left its traditional home of the desktop and has spread to such an extent that hardly any everyday object seems safe from it. The vision of the household completely networked in itself and with the world has taken the form of the new home of microsoft boss bill gates one of the first materializations experienced. But what only a short time ago seemed like a utopian project is about to become reality. Common interfaces and standards are being tinkered with from various sides. Coalitions are forged and broken up again. Technically, the matter seems to have been feasible for a long time, but in terms of market policy, there are still a lot of things to be clarified.
An interesting and not unimportant aspect of this is computer games. As we have learned from the past, they were largely responsible for the spread of home computers, and in the future they will continue to play their part in supporting the triumph of microelectronics. It is computer games that give computer technology as a whole a human component. Their game patterns more or less symbolically thematize our desires, fears and fantasies. Only through the playful handling of computer technology did the average consumer have the chance to learn about it.
Of course, the companies struggling for market share know this, too, and so they attach great importance to the playful abilities of their products. This allows z.B. Nokia a small development department responsible for programming games for the company’s own operating system. Recently, the latest cell phones have made it possible to experience the resurrection of the old arcade classic "tron" in addition to a memory variant. This is called "snake" by nokia and can even be operated in two-player mode via infrared connection in the 6110 professional model. The importance of games can be seen in the fact that "snake" has been given its own homepage, which players can use to find out more about the game.A. Be able to enter a highscore list. This is a first taste of the development possibilities that the combination of cell phone, internet and computer games still holds in store for us….
But it is not only in telephones that the old hits of yesterday reappear. In addition to the increasingly popular minicomputers, they can in principle be integrated into any digitally functioning device. For some time now tries microsoft its operating system windows CE, which is designed specifically for minicomputers and other consumer products, as a unified standard. Again, there are clear signs that game compatibility is taken very seriously. So z.B. The newest CE version 2.1. Compatible with soundblaster cards – nightingale ick hor dir trapsen:
In an exclusive deal with the video game manufacturer sega it was agreed that windows CE – albeit in a special version – the operating system of the new dreamcast console, which is to be released in europe at the end of ’99. The goal, which microsoft pursued in the process seems clear: windows is supposed to establish itself as the standard operating system for entertainment software not only in the field of computers, but also in the field of video games, minicomputers and – if you like – washing machines and toasters.
Als treppenwitz der geschichte konnte man es nun bezeichnen, dab dieser prozeb des ubergreifens der computerspiele auf die alltaglichen gebrauchsgegenstande mit genau den selben spielen passiert, die damals die spielhallen erobert haben. Obviously they still haven’t lost any of their former charms. But of course there are also very tangible reasons for this: like today’s minicomputers, the computers of the time were extremely limited in their memory and graphics capacities. Nevertheless, the games are fun because they put the emphasis on good gameplay instead of opulent graphics and rich sound – a prioritization that still works well for many programs today.
The company that resisted for the longest time to implement graphics in their games at the expense of playability was the legendary american company infocom, one of the first ever. Until the second half of the 80’s they programmed exclusively text-based adventure games. These are still unmatched in their complexity, originality and literary level. Because no game world can be as detailed as the one created in our own imagination. Well, you guessed it: right, they are now also available for the vest pocket computer. And so I would like to conclude this article with a few tips: on the homepage of wincelair you can find various games for all minicomputers that run with CE, as well as an emulator (frotzce vers. 1.0 for CE 2.0 by ian dean and stefan jokisch), which can be used to run all old computers infocom games on his palmtop can run. Infocom in your pocket, just like goethe in a paperback edition.
