Spacey Snippets – 2/7/12

All those little dots are news stories...

The News Never Stops...

Hey y’all, been busy here in my world, but it’s also been busy in the realm of spacey news as well. Let’s jump right into it, shall we? :)

And that’s it. Have a great day everyone!
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Starting in Space Games: Where to Begin?

Space game newbie? Let me help!

Climb aboard, newbie! :)

Someone who goes by the name of “kerzain” on my favorite forum, Quarter to Three, hit me up with this idea, so I’ve gotta give credit and all that. :)

What if you were new to space games, and had no idea where to begin? What if you saw all of the available space games that have come before and had no idea which ones were good, bad, accessible, fun or anything else? Well, I’m here to help. I’ve tried to think and do research on which games I would give to someone just starting out in space gaming, depending on what kind of game they were looking for, and I’ve come up with six different categories and games to go with them.

So if you’re new to space gaming, and would like to know which games are great starting points for their respective types of gameplay, read on my friend. Hopefully you’ll be enlightened by what you find.

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Spacewar! – The Oldest of Old School Space Games

Spacewar! being played on an original PDP-1 computer.

Spacewar! being played on an original PDP-1 computer.

About fifty years ago, three guys — Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Witaenem — of the fictitious “Hingham Institute Space Warfare Study Group” conceived of a computer program that would be a better demonstration of the PDP-1 than the typical kaleidoscope program that was currently being used. Russell had recently finished the Lensmen series by E.E. Smith, and wanted to capture that feeling of being chased around the galaxy by one’s enemy. At that point, the concept for Spacewar! was born, and several months later, in February 1962, the game was finally completed and released.

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