
Steven Johnson on “Spacewar” [video] - mpweiher
http://blog.longnow.org/02018/02/14/steven-johnson-on-spacewar/
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fritzy
I made a HTML5 version based on the DOS spacewar.exe as an exercise at
[https://spacewar.pro](https://spacewar.pro)

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masswerk
The original game in emulation (including a simulation of the Type 30 CRT,
without which it doesn't make much sense) may be played here:
[https://www.masswerk.at/spacewar/](https://www.masswerk.at/spacewar/)

I did also an analysis of the source code, see here for a walkthrough:
[https://www.masswerk.at/spacewar/inside/](https://www.masswerk.at/spacewar/inside/)

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nasredin
Links to an YT vid:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8xkCYvwiPA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8xkCYvwiPA)

BTW I find the use of 5 digits for years (02018) very clever!

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Torwald
> BTW I find the use of 5 digits for years (02018) very clever!

Why?

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nasredin
OT.

Because I am a pessimist and have a view that humanity will not survive that
long. At least in the form where all of this shit will matter.

Planet Earth will be fine, but people 8,000 years from now?...

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Torwald
I still don't get what makes the 5 digits year count "clever" then. You think
humanity will not be there in 8k years, ok, but how does that make the 5
digits clever?

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nategri
I hear they do live demos of Spacewar on a PDP at the Computer History Museum
and I keep meaning to check that out.

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masswerk
According to the website they do it every first and third Friday:
[http://www.computerhistory.org/hours/](http://www.computerhistory.org/hours/)

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Torwald
At ~2:20min he says that the realistic nightsky didn't add anything to the
game. I was instantly reminded of Elite2:frontier and why it didn't really
amaze as much as the predecessor did.

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masswerk
I'd argue, it did add to the claim of the program being an accurate simulation
of space flight.

Compare this brochure by DEC, which may well be the first corporate PR
material on a video game: [https://www.masswerk.at/spacewar/pdp-1-computer-
and-spacewar...](https://www.masswerk.at/spacewar/pdp-1-computer-and-
spacewar.html)

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cozzyd
Well, I was hoping this would be the Steven Johnson of fftw fame. The curse of
common names...

