Vintage Computing and Gaming

Jason Scott Needs Your Help

Benj Edwards — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:27:00 +0000

Jason Scott is a singular fellow. He’s the man behind the BBS Documentary, the upcoming Get Lamp documentary (on text adventure games), and creator of textfiles.com. He also spearheaded a recent attempt to archive all of Geocities before Yahoo took it down recently. This fellow historian, friend of VC&G, and archivist extraordinaire recently lost [...]

[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Wall Street Kid (NES)

Benj Edwards — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:35:25 +0000

Coming Soon: Ben Bernanke’s Bail-Out!! [ From Video Games and Computer Entertainment, November 1990 ] Discussion Topic of the Week: How has the current U.S. economic recession affected you?

Inside the Atari 800 (30th Anniversary)

Benj Edwards — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:59:24 +0000

Thirty years ago this fall, Atari shipped its first entries in the personal computer market, the Atari 800 and 400 computers. I’m particularly fond of the Atari 8-bit series because I grew up with an 800 as my first computer and video game machine — it was especially potent and impressive in the pre-NES [...]

Vintage vs. Modern PC Prices

Benj Edwards — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:48:41 +0000

Amongst all the heady VC&G anniversary festivities (I’ve been to five parties this week alone*), I almost forgot to tell you about a new VC&G-related article that popped up last week on Technologizer. It’s by a guy named Benj Edwards, which probably explains why I’m writing about it here. For my latest Technologizer article, Classic [...]

VC&G: Still Here After Four Years

Benj Edwards — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:32:45 +0000

Four years ago today, I posted my first (somewhat awkward) entry on this blog. I was new to blogging then. Heck, blogging was new to blogging then. Or at least it feels that way to me now. I was by no means an early adopter of blogging in general, but quite a bit [...]

[ Retro Scan of the Week ] 30 Years of VisiCalc

Benj Edwards — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:28:43 +0000

Reminds me of a Superman comic book cover. Thirty years ago this October, Personal Software unleashed VisiCalc, the world’s first spreadsheet software for personal computers, upon an unsuspecting computer populace. Invented and developed by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston of Software Arts, VisiCalc has become legendary for its influence on the personal computer industry. VisiCalc, with [...]

I Hate It When This Happens (Leaky Battery Blues)

Benj Edwards — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:53:00 +0000

VC&G Collecting Tip: Remove your old computer clock batteries. Right now. I’m serious: do it. Despite my regular battery purges (done to avoid just such a situation), I forgot to remove the Mac IIsi PRAM battery you see above because the computer was buried under a bunch of stuff. The battery electrolyte leaked out and [...]

[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Splatterhouse 3

Benj Edwards — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:23:33 +0000

“The kind of game rating systems were invented for.” Splatterhouse 3 is by far my favorite entry in the Splatterhouse series. The other two just don’t cut it for some reason. I prefer Splatterhouse 3’s room-based approach to the game, and its controls are pretty good. It incorporates an on-screen map too, which [...]

VC&G’s Halloween Video Game Costume Ideas (2009)

Benj Edwards — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:40:59 +0000

Yep, it’s that time of year again: time for VC&G’s famous Video Game Halloween Costume Ideas — 2009 edition. This article series is almost an institution now, as we enter our fourth year of providing last-minute costume suggestions to desperate video game nerds everywhere. Each of these costumes is guaranteed to get you candy, or [...]

[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Sharp 286 VGA Notebook

Benj Edwards — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:35:44 +0000

The Sharp PC-6220 Notebook Computer [ From BYTE Magazine, October 1990 ] Discussion Topic of the Week: In your opinion, what’s the difference between a “notebook” and a “laptop” computer?