tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7274560874062585311.post877383313280518950..comments2024-03-28T06:43:37.598-07:00Comments on Gaming After 40: Cover to Cover: Aardvark Ltd. 1983 Catalog (pp. 7-8)StillGaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18366215127642090500noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7274560874062585311.post-25596102598587204062015-01-10T11:56:09.513-08:002015-01-10T11:56:09.513-08:00Hey, Bob -- Dave Edson chimed in below, the fish f...Hey, Bob -- Dave Edson chimed in below, the fish finder in question was the Computrol TBL300.StillGaminghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18366215127642090500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7274560874062585311.post-82949606101663512002015-01-10T11:55:45.484-08:002015-01-10T11:55:45.484-08:00Thanks for chiming in, Dave! One of the reasons I...Thanks for chiming in, Dave! One of the reasons I started this blog was to try to capture some of these stories about the early days. Very much appreciated!StillGaminghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18366215127642090500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7274560874062585311.post-74056329827471690472015-01-10T10:42:08.987-08:002015-01-10T10:42:08.987-08:00Computrol TBL300
And the game was met with such po...Computrol TBL300<br />And the game was met with such positive praise that all the finders had hidden games in them after I left. It was just a summer job for meAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7274560874062585311.post-79273461104527145182013-01-16T16:14:25.077-08:002013-01-16T16:14:25.077-08:00Dave Edson was truly a "computer genius"...Dave Edson was truly a "computer genius", and one of the most gifted programmers I've ever met.<br /><br />He bypassed using BASIC and went directly to hand-assembled machine code (no assemblers in those days). His first commercial game (which I don't see on these pages) was a racing game similar to "Midnight Racer" (which may be a more familiar name), fast and smooth, and he just improved from there.<br /><br />A story he told me one time- Dave was working as a programmer for a well-known company which made "fish finders" for fishermen. While developing the software for a new model, he ended up with some left-over space in the ROM chips, so he programmed in a little game, just for fun. When it was rainy and the fish weren't biting, if you knew the correct keypress sequence, you could bring up a game (similar to his "CatchEm" clone of Activision's "Kaboom") where you had to catch little fish coming down the screen on the fish-finder with a net at the bottom you could move by pressing a couple of the buttons on the front panel of the unit.<br /><br />When the boss found out about it (and the units had already gone into production), Dave almost got fired, and was told NEVER to do that again.<br /><br />I wish I knew exactly what model that fish-finder was. I don't have any particular use for one, but as a piece of gaming history it's probably one of the most rare examples of the art.Bob Retellenoreply@blogger.com