Amazing BBC archive documentary from 1981 on the rise of Computer Graphics. Fascinating to see where & how our hobby started.
- Thread starter Dr.D00p
- Start date
NastyPasty
Neo Member
Space Wars: "at $120,000 for the computer alone". Puts the Switch 2 into perspective.
Great watch so far. I'm old enough that in '81 I was typing in listings from magazines to play games, lol. We've come a long way. Great to see Defender, it was my favourite arcade game at the time.
Great watch so far. I'm old enough that in '81 I was typing in listings from magazines to play games, lol. We've come a long way. Great to see Defender, it was my favourite arcade game at the time.
anyasok
Member
No it does not bud. Stop dreaming
calistan
Member
Proper pioneering stuff! Some of the founders of Pixar are there, and they saved the jaw-dropping (at the time) clip for the end - the Carla's Island animation, with raytraced water reflections on a Cray-1 at one frame every eight seconds.
It also gave me a nostalgic hit for the days when the BBC employed people who could speak properly. Incidentally, that's the same narrator as in the movie Threads.
It also gave me a nostalgic hit for the days when the BBC employed people who could speak properly. Incidentally, that's the same narrator as in the movie Threads.
Thebonehead
Gold Member
I have an Original 1981 Defender Cabinet in my garden cabin. One of my favourite games
Duchess
Member
I have some memories of 11 year old me, standing in the library of my school, with one of those Usborne computer books. In it, it said that one day computers would be powerful enough that you could play games on the go, with ultra realistic graphics. It featured an illustration of a gaming device, much like a Nintendo Switch, showing a motorbike making its way through a woodland assault course.
I scoffed, put the book back on the shelf, and called it stupid for thinking that would ever be possible.
EDIT: Link to such books - https://usborne.com/gb/books/computer-and-coding-books
I scoffed, put the book back on the shelf, and called it stupid for thinking that would ever be possible.
EDIT: Link to such books - https://usborne.com/gb/books/computer-and-coding-books
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ReyBrujo
Member
Amazing video, thanks!
You can't be more early 80s than this.
"I think when computer memories and speeds pick up the day will come when it would be possible to literally do that, to purchase a cassette for some great experience you've always wanted to have and the computer will have modeled that small world for you so that you can interact with that".
You can't be more early 80s than this.
"I think when computer memories and speeds pick up the day will come when it would be possible to literally do that, to purchase a cassette for some great experience you've always wanted to have and the computer will have modeled that small world for you so that you can interact with that".
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