Tara Ariano June 5, 2015 Share June 5, 2015 After meeting Sara's father, Joe begins a new job. Meanwhile, Gordon grapples with his new freedom as Donna is blindsided by Cameron's surprising hire at Mutiny. Link to comment
dubbel zout June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 I had no idea James Cromwell was 6'7". I looked it up because I couldn't believe someone was visibly taller than Lee Pace at 6'5". LOL at Gordon's delight in having a second land line so he could use a modem and talk on the phone at the same time. I remember the days of having to call first so the person on the other end could plug in the fax. Oh, Joe. When will you learn that you won't start at the top unless it's your company? 5 Link to comment
Primetimer June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 Cameron and Donna find it hard to play nice with others, particularly themselves, while Joe settles into a go-nowhere job and Gordon finds himself trapped in a 1980s anti-cocaine PSA. Read the story 2 Link to comment
thuganomics85 June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 James Cromwell! He's the best! And totally someone I can buy not putting up with Joe's shit and schick. Good seeing Joe get humbled by realizing he was getting an entry-level position. Of course, since he's one of the leads, I'm sure they'll find a way to get him back in the big times, but this was a much needed humble pie for him. Like with last week, had I not seen the first season, I would really think that Cameron and Donna were the leads of the show. I'm not counting the screen time, but it really does feel like they are the ones driving the story forward, and the majority of the focus. And I continue to dig it. They still have issues (for goodness sakes, quit making decisions before discussing it, Cameron! That's just rude!), but I'm liking how they play off one another and their strengths/weaknesses. And the struggles are sad, but accurate. It wasn't over-the-top, but I definitely got the sense that the banker was being disrespectful to the because they are women. No way he would have asked Joe or Gordon if having kids would be a problem. I see Gordon still likes the coke. It did lead to helping him fix that lag problem which is good, but I have a feeling this is going to end up causing major problems in the long run. John's tenor in Mutiny was short, thanks to the hazing that was more mean then fun (nice one, Lev. Dick.), and still struggling with being back in the real world. Hope he gets it together. John/Cameron continue to be a nice duo. Kelly Bishe looks good in most anything, but she really looked good in that business outfit. 1 Link to comment
ketose June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 Kelly Bishe looks good in most anything, but she really looked good in that business outfit. Especially on the couch in that business outfit. Stupid Gordon, he probably could have gotten laid if he didn't go to the garage. 1 4 Link to comment
SonofaBiscuit June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 (edited) Gordon really turns into a shit father when he gets inspired by his computers. Him asking his friend to pick the girls up from school did get a laugh out of me, though. "Find Donna, someone tried to kidnap her kids." Oh, Gordon. I love Lee Pace, but I wasn't very fond of Joe during the first season. Still, I don't like that he's separated from the rest of the cast and feels like he's on a completely different show. I think that this new hacker guy is going to be responsible for some really innovative stuff at Mutiny. He seems like he'll challenge Cameron, and I won't be surprised if he ends up as a love interest for her as well. Edited June 8, 2015 by SonofaBiscuit 4 Link to comment
Cramps June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 Could someone explain the waffle iron? The reference went over my head. 2 Link to comment
thuganomics85 June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 Could someone explain the waffle iron? The reference went over my head. There was a throwaway line in the beginning where Sara's dad/James Cromwell said something along the lines about how Joe's work history was so bad, that he would be lucky to sell "waffle Irons" now. Really screwing up the wording, but that's basically what he said. 1 Link to comment
attica June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 I spent a good ten minutes last night wondering why I was certain that James Cromwell was dead and therefore couldn't be on this show before I concluded I was conflating him with James Rebhorn. Who is dead, and cannot therefore be on this show. Yeesh. I'm glad about Cromwell, though! Because I can't see him do a nice verbal smackdown scene without (in my head) hearing him say "Have ye a valediction, boyo?" as a mic-drop. I get that 'digitizing records' is a comedown for a Genius Like Joe, but some days it's just the mental palate cleanser that does a person good. Productive without being mentally taxing. And could be really interesting if the records you're digitizing are full of good stuff. A very good way to learn the guts of a business, if you ask me. I liked the scene between Cam and Donna about how one's supposed to dress for VC meetings. The writers managed to convey 'there's no way to win' in a way that felt right to both characters. 7 Link to comment
scowl June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 I'm glad that they're looking into purchasing a bunch of VAX 750's like I suggested last week. I now see that leasing computer time isn't an option for them because users would have to connect through a circuit switching dial-up service like Tymnet and that would add more "lag". The industry was still recovering from the video game crash of 1983 so anyone asking for money to make computer games was still considered a crazy risk. I completely believed the bank guy's dismissive attitude. And they haven't ported their stuff to the Apple II, the most popular computer at the time? Way to look like a bunch of slackers! I believe the "software PBX" was cyberbabble, at least I have never heard of one that magically creates phone lines. It sounded more like the guy was just giving his account to other people. I assume the posters in the house are Cameron's because I can't imagine any of these guys at a mid-80's Black Flag concert. Hooray for the Wire song! I still don't care very much about what's going on in either show on this show. Link to comment
dubbel zout June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 I completely believed the bank guy's dismissive attitude. I think he would have turned them down no matter what because they're women. 3 Link to comment
Cramps June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 Yes, kudos on the music. Black Flag last week, and the Black Flag poster (which did not look period), on the wall this week. Definitely, Cameron's taste. None of those guys would have been into them. 2 Link to comment
riverheightsnancy June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 The show is really lacking for me without sociopath Joe motivating the masses with his speeches. I miss him. The house of coders is so chaotic, I really cannot even understand how Donna can work there. I worry that the new guy will be more of a scammer than Joe and will rip-them off big time. 2 Link to comment
scowl June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 I think this season wants to contrast the "oppressive" corporate way of developing products with the mythical way that "creative" companies developed innovative products through anarchy. I still keep thinking "Rent some fucking office space like an adult!" Anything would be better than that frat house. I guess the idea is that Cameron is a social reject and wants to live in a communal house full of other social rejects, and renting office space like a responsible business owner would be too "corporate" and would harm the creativity that's obviously flowing like a river in that dump. 1 2 Link to comment
NorthstarATL June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 I think this season wants to contrast the "oppressive" corporate way of developing products with the mythical way that "creative" companies developed innovative products through anarchy. I still keep thinking "Rent some fucking office space like an adult!" Anything would be better than that frat house. I guess the idea is that Cameron is a social reject and wants to live in a communal house full of other social rejects, and renting office space like a responsible business owner would be too "corporate" and would harm the creativity that's obviously flowing like a river in that dump. Especially with the power drain that is necessary for their business! Then, again, in my area a whole lot of residential homes have been re-zoned commercial, and the people who work there seem to thrive. So the concept itself isn't necessarily flawed. I think he would have turned them down no matter what because they're women. But it's lazy to just have him question them about having kids, and neither of them address his assumption other than for Donna to say she has two. A perfect follow up would have been "And I've had them for several years, and worked, and started this venture. Why do you ask?" Sure, the guy had probably already made up his mind about not assisting them, but neither woman is incapable of handling a jerk if need be. 3 Link to comment
OrientalAmish June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 (edited) I dunno why, but I am liking that John is working @ Mutiny.... Edited June 8, 2015 by OrientalAmish Link to comment
OrientalAmish June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 I LOL'ed when Gordon was picking up the phone to hear the dialup.... Oh that took me back to middle/high school of tying up the landline.... 2 Link to comment
dubbel zout June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 (edited) I think he would have turned them down no matter what because they're women. But it's lazy to just have him question them about having kids, and neither of them address his assumption other than for Donna to say she has two. A perfect follow up would have been "And I've had them for several years, and worked, and started this venture. Why do you ask?" Sure, the guy had probably already made up his mind about not assisting them, but neither woman is incapable of handling a jerk if need be. The guy would NEVER have asked a man that. And because his mind was made up from the get-go, it wouldn't have mattered how Donna and Cameron (or should we start calling her Catherine now?) answered the question. He'd make some condescending comment about wimmins be changin' their minds, or other sexist nonsense. ETA: Yikes, autocorrect! Edited June 8, 2015 by dubbel zout 2 Link to comment
qtpye June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 What I do not understand is if the guy had made up his mind that women would not be a good investment because they are too worried about family, etc...then why the hell even have the meeting? Did he think Cameron was a guy? Did he expect both of them to answer that they were sterile so running a company would be no problem? It just seemed like a big waste of time. 2 Link to comment
scowl June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 Especially with the power drain that is necessary for their business! Then, again, in my area a whole lot of residential homes have been re-zoned commercial, and the people who work there seem to thrive. So the concept itself isn't necessarily flawed. Oh yeah, three or four professionals working in a house is great, but we're seeing a pack of wild kids turn the place into a dorm room which is not an environment for producing high quality products. It's also not going to help get your new software company any funding in the lean mid-80's. There's no way a bank would lend a dime after touring those facilities. Lot of game companies did look similar to that before the 1983 crash but they also had org charts and release schedules which Mutiny apparently doesn't have. The kids they hired those days were intensely focused on writing code and were as intensely dull when they weren't talking about computers (with some exceptions). 1 Link to comment
dubbel zout June 8, 2015 Share June 8, 2015 (edited) What I do not understand is if the guy had made up his mind that women would not be a good investment because they are too worried about family, etc...then why the hell even have the meeting? For one thing, it keeps him in the loop for what's going on in tech. Depending on how big a slime ball he is, he could steal the idea and give it to someone he did want to invest with. He might also have just been curious. The meeting lasted 10 minutes, tops. It's not like he lost an afternoon. Edited June 8, 2015 by dubbel zout Link to comment
rho June 9, 2015 Share June 9, 2015 The show is really lacking for me without sociopath Joe motivating the masses with his speeches. I miss him. The house of coders is so chaotic, I really cannot even understand how Donna can work there. I worry that the new guy will be more of a scammer than Joe and will rip-them off big time. I kept expecting the guy to be secretly working for Joe. At this point, I think it's only a matter of time before Joe tries to hijack Mutiny. It's totally his MO and his mini me is basically Joe + IT skills. At least, that's the only way I can justify any reason to keep Joe on the show. I don't care for the new reformed psychopath and his bullshit love story. I think this season wants to contrast the "oppressive" corporate way of developing products with the mythical way that "creative" companies developed innovative products through anarchy. I still keep thinking "Rent some fucking office space like an adult!" Anything would be better than that frat house. I guess the idea is that Cameron is a social reject and wants to live in a communal house full of other social rejects, and renting office space like a responsible business owner would be too "corporate" and would harm the creativity that's obviously flowing like a river in that dump. I think it's her process. In early S1, she all but moved into Cardiff's basement. She works around the clock as inspiration strikes. Cameron doesn't differentiate between work and play. It looks like they were using that as an indicator that she doesn't have the business intellect to run a company. That's why we need Bos. Btw, it broke my heart when those dickwad nerds were hazing him. I wanted Cameron to smack their stupid little ringleader. 3 Link to comment
kieyra June 9, 2015 Share June 9, 2015 (edited) I guess I have to defend the group house concept again. I think to an extent they may be taking a page from the history of iD software (Doom), who iirc worked out of someone's house and "borrowed" computers from their day job to work on games. That said, again HACF is about five years early and still in an era of not particularly interesting home PC capabilities or anything they can point to as a de-facto internet. I think they're doing the best they can within the technical confines of 1985, though, virtual PBX notwithstanding. I agree they have a few too many people there--it's a mob, not a team--but I suspect they will thin the herd, maybe as part of Cameron's growing-up arc. But anyway--the group house concept is a legitimate part of nerd storytelling DNA, in everything from Microserfs (Douglas Coupland's early 90s proto-geek novel) to the "hacker hostel" in HBO's current (modern-day) show Silicon Valley. Edited June 9, 2015 by kieyra 2 Link to comment
NutmegsDad June 9, 2015 Share June 9, 2015 I spent a good ten minutes last night wondering why I was certain that James Cromwell was dead and therefore couldn't be on this show before I concluded I was conflating him with James Rebhorn. Who is dead, and cannot therefore be on this show. Yeesh. I'm glad about Cromwell, though! Because I can't see him do a nice verbal smackdown scene without (in my head) hearing him say "Have ye a valediction, boyo?" as a mic-drop. Thanks to American Horror Story, I have to interject "WHORE!" at random times while he's speaking. :) Slow golf clap for the episode title. I'm hoping Gordon doesn't go the whole 80s RDj route. Joe needs to go through full comeuppance to get some redemption. I'm hoping New Lawyer Coder isn't the Devil You Don't Know got Mutiny to bring in Joe. Link to comment
tennisgurl June 9, 2015 Share June 9, 2015 Well, it is the 80s, we all knew someone had to start doing Coke. And Gordan is already an addict, so it fits pretty well. Of course Joe cant just work some random job he got through his fiance. He would be miserable, and he could never be Mr. Super Star. I like his fiance though. He actually seems like kind of a normal person with her, but I don't see it ending well at all. Eventually, he`ll have to join up with the rest of the gang, after doing some serious redemption searching in. The Cameron and Donna show continues to be great. Loved when they both freaked out about their outfits. And they actually seem to be growing positively! Although, Cameron really does need to stop doing things on her own. I know being all rebellious and independent is a big part of her personality, but this is a partnership now. At least she seems to understand that better now. Link to comment
Capricasix June 9, 2015 Share June 9, 2015 Holy crap, Zefram Cochrane! Guess I'll watch the rest of the show now :D Link to comment
dubbel zout June 9, 2015 Share June 9, 2015 At least she seems to understand that better now. Maybe. I think Cameron will get caught up in herself again soon enough and make yet another unilateral decision. If Bos isn't ready to get back to work—and I don't blame him for that—will he still get paid? Is he getting paid now? I can't imagine Donna will want to spend money on an employee who isn't contributing anything. 1 Link to comment
ganesh June 9, 2015 Share June 9, 2015 I don't have a problem with the big house either v office. It's a bunch of 20 something gamers. nbd. A very good way to learn the guts of a business, if you ask me. If anyone can turn a mindless data entry job into taking over the company, it's Joe. That was a great scene. I also really liked that he didn't get all mad at the gf. Once she told him the story about the ex, I could practically hear the gears turning in his head. 1 Link to comment
tennisgurl June 9, 2015 Share June 9, 2015 Also, amazed Cameron didn't punch that kid reading the letter right the hell out. At least she has some self restraint. 1 Link to comment
ganesh June 9, 2015 Share June 9, 2015 Seriously, though, the soap joke was funny. Didn't Gordon throw away the coke at the end? Did they let on last season that there was coke use? I don't think this is the kind of show where I need an addiction story line. Actually, I think it would be kind of funny if Gordon just used coke now and then and it wasn't a big deal. Except they already showed him screwing up with the kids, but still. Link to comment
Hanahope June 9, 2015 Share June 9, 2015 I have to say, seeing some of these 'nostalgic' shows about what it was like for women in business 30+ years ago, I'm glad I didn't have to go through that kind of thing. Hats off to those that had to put up with that crap, and a big Thank You. Its not perfect, we still have to fight for things like paid maternity leave (or any maternity leave for some), but its getting better. I'm struggling to remember, though, anything about 'on-line' gaming back in the 80s. All I recall was stand-alone games, both on consoles and computers. It seemed to me that on-line gaming didn't (and really couldn't) take off until phone lines improved (DSL lines). Hopefully Gordon can stick with the 'computer' drug, rather than the coke drug. Link to comment
ketose June 10, 2015 Share June 10, 2015 I wasn't a gamer, but the thing I remember from the 80's (okay, 90s) were BBSes. That was the ancient version of a Facebook wall. I assume you could play games on them since they were modem connections. Modems in the 80's were also really slow. Acoustical modems with the phone cradle were about 300 baud. Link to comment
Hanahope June 10, 2015 Share June 10, 2015 I'm sure there were some 'on-line' games, like the VC guy said, chess, backgammon, checkers, maybe that tank game, but nothing remotely sophisticated like Paralax is supposed to be, unless its real basic graphics, little to no contact with other players and more turn-based play because the systems/phone lines just couldn't function fast enough for instant play. Link to comment
kieyra June 10, 2015 Share June 10, 2015 Have they actually said something about Parallax being graphical? I'd been assuming it was like a proto-MUD (i.e., a text-based multi-user dungeon), which would be technically plausible. As for other multi-user online services, GEnie, Compuserve and Viewtron (at least) existed in the commercial realm in 1985. Viewtron was even 'graphical', for a given value of graphics. And yeah, BBSes were also well under way by then. (I feel kind of bad that this show will have to pass a technical plausibility test for each episode. I suppose the only thing worse would be if it was set in the 90s and trying to mimic other, better-known technical/hardware/online breakthroughs. Hell of a topic they are taking on.) 1 Link to comment
Bort June 10, 2015 Share June 10, 2015 Have they actually said something about Parallax being graphical? I'd been assuming it was like a proto-MUD (i.e., a text-based multi-user dungeon), which would be technically plausible. Yeah, I was assuming Parallax was similar to Oregon Trail and about strategy with little graphics. Was Oregon Trail ever played online or was it just on a floppy? Link to comment
Hanahope June 10, 2015 Share June 10, 2015 Have they actually said something about Parallax being graphical? The coders commented that the hacker who had copied Paralax and giving it away for free had "improved the graphics." Link to comment
ganesh June 10, 2015 Share June 10, 2015 There's a really quick shot of Parallax on a monitor and there's definitely some graphics. Link to comment
scowl June 10, 2015 Share June 10, 2015 The tank game is graphical. I don't remember any online multiplayer graphical games from 1985 but games weren't my thing. I vaguely remember some game in the late 80's that people could play against each other on separate PC's through their serial ports but it may have been text. Some research shows that "Maze War" was the first graphical multicomputer game but we're not talking Commodore-64 computers or modems. These games ran on mainframes networked to expensive graphics terminals. Multiplayer games like xtrek/nettrek also appeared on Unix X-windows systems with Ethernet in the late 80's. I remember playing xtrek after hours at the computer lab with a bunch of students in 1989. These were still expensive mainframes and expensive graphic terminals, not home computers. I didn't own a 1200 baud modem until 1987 but I think what the show is presenting could have actually, worked even with 300 baud modems. To make an online tank game work it would only have to pass small amounts of data ("move forward", "turn right", "fire", etc.) through the modem so this is plausible. The show may have finally found something that was technically possible at the time but no one thought of! Link to comment
ketose June 11, 2015 Share June 11, 2015 Yeah, I was assuming Parallax was similar to Oregon Trail and about strategy with little graphics. Was Oregon Trail ever played online or was it just on a floppy? I remember seeing Oregon Trail on an old PC clone and being jealous of the people playing. Link to comment
DrSpaceman June 11, 2015 Share June 11, 2015 Much like last week, the less Joe the better in my opinion, still really enjoying this season so far. Seeing those old TV and computers sure brings back memories. And those ealy/mid 1980s graphics.......STATE OF THE ART! May have been mentioned already, but that shooting game looks a lot like the old Atari game, I remember you would run this little square "tank" around a screen and shoot at each other. It was SLOW, not because it was online but because the tanks moved slow. The bullets would bounce off the walls and around the screen though. The loan guy was an ass at the end, but he also brought up some good points I think about the company at the beginning. They have basically one game and if people are getting bored with it early, and they have no real overall plan for how they are developing more games, then the company has no future. Its a huge disorganized mess how everything is run. I have no idea if there is even an organizational structure, but it seems they need to divide into teams and at least have a plan in place. Take some people and put them in change of hardware, another group in charge with future ideas for games, another gorup programming. Heck I am not even sure how they get people to know about the games they have, do they have a marketing department or people or is it all word of mouth? Frankly I am not sure with as many people who work there and what I have seen out of them so far how they have survived this long. They don't seem to have anything close to the infrastructure, fan base or financial and structural efficiency needed to be a successful company. 3 Link to comment
scowl June 11, 2015 Share June 11, 2015 Another problem is that it appears that their online gaming only works through local phone lines so unlike online services like CompuServe, their product only works in their area code. No one would ever pay md-80's long distance charges to play a game for hours. So their tiny market is even tinier than what the loan guy said. To avoid the delays of using a circuit switching provider, they'd have to franchise network hubs just like this one in every major city. Maybe that's why no one ever did anything like this. In the early 80's I worked for a small game developer in a small town. We gave arrogant interviews in national gaming and computer magazines which were big back then. Our games got reviewed and a positive review was all the marketing you needed. We advertised in magazines and sold lots of copies through mail order. There were also games stores that sold computer games retail before the 1983 crash. There were lots of small retail computer stores back then too so even before the Internet a good game could nearly sell itself. The way Mutiny is surviving (I think) is by hiring kids who know barely anything about programming, paying them next to nothing (free room helps), and promising them tons of royalties like what rock stars get. This was the dream life of young nerd programmers back then. Who needs to go to college and take boring classes when you could get hired out of high school (or earlier) and start living the life of a genius? This episode did a great job of quickly telling us technical viewers that these kids don't know much about programming. Cameron was explaining to the big guy with the beard that recursive functions have to be reentrant. Recursive functions are Computer Science 101, but if you taught yourself to write awful BASIC code, you'd never learn what a recursive function is and you'd probably break one if you had to change it. I'm surprised at how much technical accuracy was in this episode. I normally assume most of the show is technobabble. 4 Link to comment
riverheightsnancy June 11, 2015 Share June 11, 2015 There were also games stores that sold computer games retail before the 1983 crash. There were lots of small retail computer stores back then too so even before the Internet a good game could nearly sell itself. Scowl, several of the posters (like yourself) have mentioned this event in the 1980s that really set back the computer gaming. What happened? I was a sophomore in college at the time, but am unaware of what occurred. Link to comment
dubbel zout June 11, 2015 Share June 11, 2015 (edited) Per Wiki: The video game crash of 1983, also known as Atari shock in Japan,[1] was a massive recession of the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985. Revenues had peaked at around $3.2 billion in 1983,[2] then fell to around $100 million by 1985 (a drop of almost 97 percent). The crash was a serious event that brought an abrupt end to what is considered the second generation of console video gaming in North America....The main cause was saturation of the market. The full events of the industry crash would not be felt until 1985. Edited June 11, 2015 by dubbel zout 2 Link to comment
scowl June 11, 2015 Share June 11, 2015 (edited) Before 1983 lots of nerds felt they could get a few fellow computer nerds from high school, start a game company, and write the most amazing computer games ever seen. There were dozens of these. The place I worked at for three months was financed by the owners' parents (!) who had total confidence that they were investing in the next Apple. By 1985 they had lost everything. Some parents had invested their kids' college funds which was doubly sad. The cause of the collapse was market saturation but I think the saturation was due to the limitations of the Atari 2600 console that everyone had. The thing was designed to play Pong and every cartridge was really just a variation of a square blob moving around the screen and a dot moving in a straight line and hitting something. You can only write so many games with that. PC's like the C-64 and Atari 400/800 had advanced graphics like arcade games so companies started writing games for these. The assumption was that Atari console owners would be blown away by these games and would surely upgrade to new hardware (the Atari 400 and 800 even had a familiar cartridge slot). This was totally wrong. Most people enjoyed simple console games and didn't want a computer yet. Also, regarding drug use...no cocaine where I worked but lots of guys were hitting bongs pretty hard, especially when it was obvious they were going out of business (I was already gone). For some reason showing a vial of mysterious white powder is more acceptable on television than showing a bong. I just checked... I worked there in the summer of 1981. I heard Devo's "Working in a Coal Mine" at least ten times every day. Edited June 11, 2015 by scowl 3 Link to comment
ganesh June 11, 2015 Share June 11, 2015 Blaspheme! I played Adventure and Indiana Jones on my Atari! There were lots of great games more than just hitting something. And ET! 1 Link to comment
DrSpaceman June 11, 2015 Share June 11, 2015 I didn't realize the crash between 1983 and 1985 was that bad. I loved my atari, had over a 100 games for it, was playing it well into 1986/1987, then I think I got a Nintendo. But yes the atari 2600 graphics were pretty limited. Link to comment
riverheightsnancy June 12, 2015 Share June 12, 2015 Thanks for all that info. I was in college at the time, but did not have any of those systems, nor any interest in gaming at that time, no awareness that this happened. Now we had a computer in our division office, but mostly for graphic layouts(as limited as it was) and obviously writing and saving papers to a floppys, letters, etc... Not sure if anyone ever played a game on it though. Link to comment
scowl June 15, 2015 Share June 15, 2015 Blaspheme! I played Adventure and Indiana Jones on my Atari! There were lots of great games more than just hitting something. And ET! From the programmer's view, there isn't much under the hood of an Atari 2600 to help write innovative games. In fact the poor thing spends most of its time keeping the screen looking right. The hardware only helps the programmer know when one blob is overlapping another blob on the screen (a hit) so every cartridge used that feature as often as possible. Later on, the Commodore machines and the Atari 400 and 800 had graphics chips that had been used in arcade games. Doing pretty graphics became a nearly trivial part of writing a game. It's funny that people now regularly upgrade phones and tablets and televisions and digital cameras, but back then not many people felt like upgrading their little Atari VCS to a real computer. I remember adults admitting that the new games looked great but they had no interest in buying expensive typewriters that hooked up to their televisions. 2 Link to comment
TakHallus July 4, 2015 Share July 4, 2015 (edited) "This episode did a great job of quickly telling us technical viewers that these kids don't know much about programming. Cameron was explaining to the big guy with the beard that recursive functions have to be reentrant. Recursive functions are Computer Science 101, but if you taught yourself to write awful BASIC code, you'd never learn what a recursive function is and you'd probably break one if you had to change it. I'm surprised at how much technical accuracy was in this episode. I normally assume most of the show is technobabble." I had to laugh at some of it. The Atari 1027 printer was not only a turd, but it wouldn't work with either of the computers Gordon bought, one of which wouldn't be released for 2-3 months (the ST). I get that props may be at a premium, but this is a show about tech. Also, the idea that chatting between nodes is some revolutionary idea is silly. That was the point of having a multi-node (i.e. phone line) BBS. You logged on to chat with others. Some other silliness: GEnie wasn't launched until seven months after when the show takes place, and color graphics weren't offered by a major online network for another nine months. Mutiny is essentially supposed to be a local "Quantum Link" (what turned into AOL eventually) but QL didn't start until late that year, too. Edited July 4, 2015 by TakHallus Link to comment
scowl July 7, 2015 Share July 7, 2015 I had to laugh at some of it. The Atari 1027 printer was not only a turd, but it wouldn't work with either of the computers Gordon bought, one of which wouldn't be released for 2-3 months (the ST). I get that props may be at a premium, but this is a show about tech. This show is jarring when it comes to technical details. At times they'll push the dates of props a few months so they can include them which isn't a huge deal. Sometimes they have reasonably accurate technical details for a television show. On very rare occasions they'll use hindsight from the 21st century to show something that would have been innovative at the time. But far too often they pull a bunch of technobabble out of their asses and we might as well be watching Star Trek. Link to comment
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