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