When I first switched over to WordPress, I was surfing over at Binary Bonsai, since Kubrick is the default theme and BB is Michael Heilemann’s site (the author of the Kubrick Theme). As I read, I noticed a blog entry titled “I am not an atomic playboy”. Now, that may not mean anything to you, but if you’d been following the demo scene in the early nineties, you’d know exactly what that refers to. It is from Future Crew’s Second Reality Demo. Second Reality was an amazing achievement in 1993. Back in those days (my BBS dialup days), I was way into Assembly, the Demoscene, ANSi Art (like ACiD and iCE). While I didn’t have the talent to program like these guys, I definitely recognized the skill it took to do what they could do.
Back to the BB post. In the comments there’s a link to the open source project called DOSBox which basically emulates DOS for different operating systems. It works perfectly with Windows XP so I downloaded the old FC demos and had a huge nostalgia trip watching them. I got chills, I’m embarrased to say. That was months ago. Just recently I noticed a couple links over at Waxy.org – this link to the Assembly 2005 awards and this link to the overall winner of Assembly 2005 browser demo (you may have to use IE to see this link). Man, there are still a bunch of talented cats out there.
I lost track of the demoscene years ago but it’s great to see it’s still alive and kicking. It may not demand the same respect it did when I was younger, but it’s a great place to see some talented people do some really cool things. Their influence on video games is undeniable (and vice versa). Watch the Che Guevara clip and you’ll see what I mean.
So, what about you guys? I would imagine this will be new stuff for the younger buttonmashers, but perhaps some of you “mature” readers may have fond memories about these demos. If you do and you’re looking for a stroll down memory lane, hit up DOS Box and download those FC files from scene.org. You be happy you did.
(On a side note, now that I have DOSBox working, I’m looking forward to loading up some old-school DOS gaming. There are a handful of sites popping up recently with downloads from old games. I can’t wait)
Update: I often wondered about what the significance of the “I am not an atomic playboy” quote was. I figured it was just a sample from some random europop song I would never had heard of. As Jake points out in the comments, it is actually a quote from a military commander, referring to the power of the atomic bomb. You can read about it here. Or here. Thanks, Jake. I think I have a new email sig:
“The bomb will not start a chain reaction in the water, converting it all to gas and letting all the ships on all the oceans drop down to the bottom. It will not blow out the bottom of the sea and let all the water run down the hole. It will not destroy gravity. I am not an atomic playboy.”
Vice Admiral William P. Blandy
Commander of Operation Crossroads
CorvusE says
Don’t forget the The Underdogs!
Josh says
Yeah, I’m considering a jaunt into DOS games as well. Particularly with my curse with modern PC hardware, I might go back and try to finish the games I never did, like Ultima IV and System Shock.
I wonder why PC studios don’t think about porting those to consoles as well. I bet a classic Ultima pack would sell decently on the PlayStation.
Factory says
http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=16338
or anything by MFX or Kewlers.
Robin Ward says
Screw DosBox, and check out Mind Candy for all your demo scene nostalgia! I bought that puppy a couple of years ago and love the hell out of it. It’s fantastic to just be able to put in the DVD and watch dozens of demos on my TV.
shindakun says
Ahh. Sometimes it feels really like a long time ago… Just the thought of demos brings back the joy of calling BBS’s with my 2400 to download the latest demos and artpacks. Blazing speeds for sure. I was just talking about how the only thing better then DosBox is…. Dos itself ( http://www.shindakun.net/archive.php?postid=66 ). I’ve got a nice collection (it comes in around 8.5 gigs now) of games put together through friends and some i’net resources. I’ll have to go back and finish my Dos boot cd…
Oh and for anyone who wants a quick walk down memory lane with some great intros/cracktros check out http://www.flashtro.com it has a bunch a great stuff converted into flash.
Tony says
Oh yeah! I have the underdogs bookmarked as well. I’m pretty excited about some “retro PC gaming”. Maybe some Spaceward Ho! (if I can find it)
I would love to see some old PC games ported. Ultima would definitely could translate well.
Tony says
Factory – I really liked that MFX link, those particle effects are pretty smooth.
All – Thanks for the links, I hadn’t heard of the Mind Candy DVD or flashtro. I’ll definitely check those out. I would imagine the Mind Candy disc would be awesome on a nice home theater system.
oh, and shindakun – 8.5 gigs of DOS games? Do you have, like, all of them? That’s pretty crazy.
Jake of 8bitjoystick.com says
Actually the term “I am not an atomic playboy” was a quote from one of the commanders of one of the first the above ground atomic bomb tests in the pacific in the 1950s.
shindakun says
Tony: Nah I don’t think it’s anywhere near ‘all’ off them heh. I’m in the process of tracking down as many of the actual floppies as I can (not an easy task). Most of the people I’ve spoken to have pirate versions and not the original disks (I’ll take those to if anyone has any to donate).
Tony says
Thanks, Jake, I updated with a little more info you referred to. I had always wondered who “wasn’t an atomic playboy.”
Besides me, I mean.
do0zle says
Wow, what a trip… I remember Hitting totse on hacked 1800 lines. Checking out all the scene BBS’s running my LD bill through the roof. Hacking pbx’s for free ld. Good times.. I was actually part of GRiP, Spastic, CIA, and a bunch of other little groups over the years. creating asm / pascal based loaders and appgens… I should find the one I did for grip its was pretty slick, internal compression, s3m support, mode x, and a tonne of asm… =) lol… I miss those days…. makes me hatee windows It just stagnates creativity to not have to build your own gui from the ground up =)
Conor says
When Playboy Ruled?
Seriously though, when did playboy “rule the world.”?
Doggie says
Hi,
Check out: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Henry_Purnell_Blandy
The quote is even longer 🙂
Cheers,
Doggie