Tag Archives: Short Length (1-1000 words)

Apr 15 2013

Tempest and Tempest 2000

Original version for game 1: Tempest, released in 1980 for arcade
Original version for game 2: Tempest 2000, released in 1994 for Atari Jaguar

No, I’m not thinking of the play by Shakespeare, or the painting by Giogiorne, though both were quite good. I’m talking about the arcade game by Atari. Fresh off their success of Asteroids, Atari once again called upon the sexy power of vectors to make their next space-shooty game. In light of Asteroids’ marked success and the countless clones it inspired, just what makes this unassuming twitch game so special? I mean, aside from the awesomely angular cabinet? Let’s take a look. (Seriously, look at that thing. Atari was not messing around when they chiseled those edges and corners!)

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Mar 25 2013

Missile Command

Original version: Missile Command, released in 1980 for arcade

If you were alive during the cold war you must remember the fear and uncertainty that came with wondering how long the arms race between the US and USSR would last. Missile Command was inspired by this very fear and puts you, the player, in charge of millions of lives.

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Mar 11 2013

Runners-up of 1979

 

Adventure

Original version: Adventure, released in 1979 for the Atari VCS

Before there was Zelda, before there was Ultima, there was Adventure, the premier adventure game for the Atari 2600, then known as the Atari Video Computer System. Released in 1979, it was a first-party title developed by Warren Robinett (more on that later) and was inspired by Colossal Cave Adventure, the seminal text adventure released three years earlier.

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Mar 4 2013

Asteroids

Original version: Asteroids, released in 1979 for arcade

In art, throughout the ages, there has been a push towards representing the subject with as much realism as possible. We can see a drastic difference between a work by Cimabue and one by the later Gaddi, who had the benefit of living a century later and thus could start out with knowledge Cimabue and his colleagues had to discover during their careers. Only after the advent of cameras and the quick, realistic “paintings” they could produce did artists adopt a widespread genuine interest in the stylized and abstract. These artists, possibly feeling threatened by the cheaper, quicker photography, founded a movement called Impressionism, in which the likes of Monet and Picasso flourished.

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Aug 22 2011

“The Tale of Larry”

I wrote this as a birthday gift for my youngest sister, and now that over a year has passed I’ll share it with everyone else. Written July 19th, 2012.

The Tale of Larry
by John Everett

to my sister Chea on her 26th birthday

Oh! What fun it is to be a trout.
To dance and laugh and swim about.
Just go with the flow,
let the winds blow,
and of cheer you will never run out.

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Aug 8 2011

“Epiphany of a Rich Man”

Written March 14th, 2010

Epiphany of a Rich Man
by John Everett

Call: What is it I cherish? What, in this whole world, do I hold
in my heart? My taste has grown fat and my wallet feeds it.
Furs, gems, purple dies, silk. My house has swallowed them up.
Just as Tantalus I can never reach that for which I thirst.

Response: I am a fire.

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