Jason Kingsley's first encounter with computers was at school in Leicestershire in the Seventies. "It was a huge industrial-looking computer, programmed using punched tape and it sat in a corner classroom," says Jason. "You could take programs on rolled-up tape in your blazer pocket, and the little punched holes were much sought after as kids could scatter them around the school!" The Kingsley family's first home computer was built by Jason's younger brother Chris. "Chris built an Edukit, which had something like 256 bytes of memory. He soldered it all together and got it working, but we didn't really do much with it."
Their first ready-made home computer was a Commodore PET, followed later by an Atari 800, which was their first dedicated gaming machine. Jason played a number of early classics on the Atari, including Star Raiders and a number of Activision titles based on the early arcade games. "Even back then, both Chris and I always felt that we could make games," he says. "Weirdly, it never crossed our minds that we couldn't. The naivety and enthusiasm of youth I guess had us thinking it's not rocket science, which of course in some ways it is!"
Jason's interest in games, and roleplaying games in particular was already well established by the time home computers came along. "The game I first discovered was Tunnels & Trolls, which I think entered the UK before Dungeons & Dragons," says Jason. "I also played a lot of board games like Diplomacy, and I made my own variants including Nuclear Monopoly, where you could buy a nuclear missile and launch it around the board. Wherever it landed would wipe out that part of the board and reset it to ground zero.”
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Bu hikaye Retro Gamer dergisinin Issue 247 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
EVERCADE EXPANDS
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Rock Band Unplugged
WHO NEEDS PLASTIC PERIPHERALS?
Super Woden GP II
In a world where additional extras are often hidden behind microtransactions and downloadable content it’s rather refreshing to find a game that comes loaded with an obscene amount of extras.
THE MAKING OF MICKEY MANIA
THERE WERE SEVERAL GAMES ON THE MEGA DRIVE FEATURING THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS MOUSE, SOME VERY GOOD (CASTLE OF ILLUSION), SOME VERY BAD (FANTASIA). AND THEN THERE WAS MICKEY MANIA, AN IMPRESSIVE TECHNICAL SHOWCASE FROM TRAVELLER'S TALES
PARKER BROS
BY USING ITS CONTACTS IN THE ENTERTAINMENT SECTOR AND FORMIDABLE MARKETING CLOUT, PARKER BROTHERS BROUGHT TITLES LIKE STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, SPIDER-MAN AND FROGGER TO THE ATARI 2600 AND ITS RIVALS. RETRO GAMER HIGHLIGHTS THE FIRM’S BEST RELEASES
SNATCHER
AS HIDEO KOJIMA HAS BECOME A RARE CELEBRITY IN THE GAMING WORLD, SO HIS OLDER WORKS ARE INCREASINGLY REVISITED. BUT HIS 1988 CYBERPUNK ADVENTURE SNATCHER IS ALMOST UNPLAYABLE TODAY, LEGALLY, AND ONLY RECEIVED ONE ENGLISH PORT – WHICH HAS ONLY INCREASED ITS CULT APPEAL, AND COST
ULTIMATE GUIDE TARGET:RENEGADE
THE CITY STREETS ARE NEVER SAFE FOR LONG, ESPECIALLY IN THE DELIGHTFUL-SOUNDING SCUMVILLE, WHERE IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED. JOIN US AS WE REVEAL HOW WITH TARGET: RENEGADE, OCEAN SOFTWARE RETOLD THE STORY OF A VENGEFUL VIGILANTE AND CREATED ONE OF THE BEST EVER 8-BIT BRAWLERS
THE MAKING OF Trivial Pursuit
IN 1986, A SMALL SOFTWARE HOUSE ON THE VERGE OF BANKRUPTCY LICENSED THE WORLD’S BIGGEST BOARD GAME FOR HOME COMPUTERS. IT CHANGED DOMARK – AND THE UK GAMES INDUSTRY – FOREVER
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ABRIDGED TOO FAR?
THE SPECTRUM
IT’S ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC HOME COMPUTERS EVER MADE, AND IT’S BACK IN PLUG-AND-PLAY FORM. WE SPEAK TO THE PEOPLE BEHIND IT TO FIND OUT WHY IT’S TAKEN SO LONG, AND GET A CHANCE TO GIVE OUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS AHEAD OF LAUNCH