Another Day, Another Book...

While trawling the interwebs the other week I stumbled across this:

It's a lovely wee book written by co-founder of Nufekop Scott Elder that tells the story of the company from it's inception in the brothers' bedroom until their unfortunate demise in '84.

In case you don't know Nufekop were there at the very beginning of the VIC's life and produced some great games for it.  These include Anti-Matter Splatter, The Catch, Dodgecars, Alien Panic and loads of other titles.  Most of these were released here in the UK and mainland Europe under the Bubble Bus or Rabbit label.

The book is quite short at 90 pages but it's full of anecdotes and heretofore (love that word!) unseen photos and pictures.  It's a great read and really shows just how innocent the beginning of the home computer gaming industry was.

Here's the link to Scott's site:  Nufekop

Follow Up On Home Computer Wars

After posting the other day about Michael Tomczyk's book I decided to make contact with him and ask about any future plans regarding his book publishing.  He kindly replied and informed me that he's finishing up his new book "Nanoinnovation: What Every Manager Needs to Know" and should be available this summer. Here's a link to his site:

http://www.michaeltomczyk.com/

What's this got to do with The Home Computer Wars?  Well, he also mentioned that he was hoping to have an ebook version ready by the Autumn!  Good news, eh?  I do hope this comes to fruition. :)

The Home Computer Wars (Book)

Michael Tomczyk was instrumental in creating the public image of the Vic and helped to create the initial batch of first party software and literature...  He even came up with the Vic 20 name.

Another particularly interesting fact is that he was close with Commodore boss Jack Tramiel.  He even wrote a book about it.  This book (sadly, long out of print) is certainly an interesting read.  It's not your run of the mill biography.  It's written in a playful and sometimes whimsical maner.  It's a personal account of the early days of what Tomczyk calls the Home Computer Wars.  And war it was!

The 1980s

The book describes the way Commodore and Jack worked and captures the atmosphere of the times well giong into some detail about the birth of the Vic 20 (and other machines) and the though processes of those involved.  It spans the US, Europe and Japan - truly for the masses not just the classes!

  I have read the book twice and I'm now reading it a third time and I'm enjoying it now as much as I did the first time through.  It certainly makes a change to reading all the revisionist Apple fanboy guff out there!

Though out of print for years there are a couple of PDF version floating around the interwebs.  As for an official (read: legal) version Michael Tomczyk mentioned in passing in a recent in Scene World interview that he's at least thought about doing an ebook version.  Here's hoping... :)

Scene World Interview

Oh, here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/PedroLambrini/videos?view=1

Not the most prestigious start!

Second Attempt at an Online Presence...

I think that today is going to be a new start with regards to my blog here.  I'm not sure how often I'll add anything but I do intend to post a little more often than I have so far!

Anyway, I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to having a nice slick online profile but I think I've managed to create a YouTube channel that will show (hopefully publicly!) Vic related videos.

So far, there's only one playlist made up of other peoples' uploads of Vic 20 demos.  I hope to add more soon. :)

Berzerk Now Speaks!!

It's incredible to think but Robert Hurst has squeezed voice samples into the VIC version of Berzerk (see below!).  The RAM requirement has gone from an 8k expansion to 16k but I'm pretty sure that's not really an issue in this day and age.  The link below has been updated :)

The Vic's gone Berzerk!

It's only the second day of my lowly blog and already there's something great to say and it's not about me!.

The ridiculously talented Robert Hurst (he of Omega Fury and Quikman fame) has released a port of Berzerk called, cleverly enough, Berzerk MMX!

It's fantastic port really capturing the feel of the arcade classic even though sadly it is without any speech.  It's fast and pacey and you always feel in control.

Most importantly, though, it has that 'one more go' factor so necessary in a game with such a simple premise.  Go on, you owe it yourself to Destroy The Humanoids - even if it means clambering around in your attic to dig out your machine  You can also download (and why haven't you before now!?) the other above mentioned games from the same link. :)