h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I did, three times - once on the BBC tape version, once on the BBC disk version, and once on the Archimedes version. Only game I've ever given a monkey's about!

I'm currently playing Elite: NewKind, which is a windows remake of Elite from the original Acorn release source code, and in that so far I've only made it to deadly. It's just a matter of time though.

http://www.newkind.co.uk

Is it any good?

I'd say it's pretty good. From what I gather it's a direct port of the BBC disk version with a few extras thrown in from other versions. It even plays as well as the original did

Might give it a go, then.

What we need is a Java port as a GuideML gadget... Er... Jim...?

Just downloaded it... Typical - take a 20K game, recode it in "C" and you end up with a 492K ZIPfile...

So, what, nobody else is admitting to being Elite? Don't tell me I'm the only one, please. I'll never live down the ness!

Peet, you've forgot to take into account the DirectX bloatware.

So far I've only made it to Elite in Frontier. This should change soon after the May exams then I plan to go on a week long Elite marathon

Over the past couple of months I've been thinking about developing a online gaming project of my own, and I've been doing a whole load of research about Elite and various ports of it (mainly the online versions). Trouble is, there's about a hundred 'new' versions of the game, most of which aren't completed, and most of which will never be completed as they're at a drawing-board stage and don't look likely to get further. I haven't come across Newkind yet, will take a look, although I presume it isn't web-based.

What would be good to include in this Entry is a mention of the massive fan community. People would gather together to play Elite and to discuss their experiences in the Elite universe - and the most popular computer magazine of the time, the Acorn one (I forget the name) had a page devoted to Elite every month, full of player letters detailing a variety of odd experiences.

I think the sheer success of Elite was down to two principles: the vastness of the game, and (without trying to contradict myself) the simplicity. The vastness allowed for endless exploration - the version I owned did not include the missions, but I never got tired of the randomly generated scenarios that Elite threw up. And the simplicity - not for the time, but compared to modern games - meant that Elite was never too confusing, I never gave up from frustration.

Additionally, it's worth noting that Elite was *the* first truly 3D game. That was revolutionary in itself, but throwing in the greatest graphics engine ever seen, the greatest AI ever seen, and the greatest variety of gameplay ever seen, meant that it was a sure winner; and still (in my humble opinion) is regarded as the best computer game ever.

Oh, and I got to Elite. Five times. Without cheating.

"and the most popular computer magazine of the time, the Acorn one (I forget the name) had a page devoted to Elite every month, full of player letters detailing a variety of odd experiences."

It did? Acorn User was the most popular Acorn computer magazine of its time (I should know, I edited it!), but it didn't contain a regular Elite column. Perhaps this was in another format's magazine? I'd love to have seen it.

Kudos on the biggest number of Elite statuses (so far) to Peregrin!

"And the simplicity - not for the time, but compared to modern games - meant that Elite was never too confusing, I never gave up from frustration."

I totally concur. On the other hand, when I first bought the game, the BBC tape version, the manual I got was missing a load of pages from the middle, and it took me ages to spot that the page numbers jumped. I spent days trying to work out what on earth was going on... and the amazing thing was I *still* thoroughly enjoyed exploring the game. The atmosphere of the manual was stunning - it's easily the best computer game manual I've ever seen, and I still read it every now and then for a nostalgia kick.

I gave away my last complete copy with manuals last year... to the gas engineer! While he was servicing my heater, he mentioned that his son had resurrected a Commodore 64, but that he couldn't find any games for it in the shops. I had Elite on cassette for the C64 lying on top of my bookshelf, and I felt his need was greater than mine...

I just had a quick rummage through the appropriate area of my bookshelf to see if I still had a copy of "The Dark Wheel" lying around. Sadly not, but I did find a copy of what must surely be the worst computer book of all time: "The BBC Micro Revealed" by Jeremy Ruston...

I still have this game in the house for the Amiga.
Never could get the hang of it, I couldnt even fly to another planet!
Kept running out of fuel!

Lord Smooth

The best geek books ever - 1. The Elite Manual, 2. The BBC Manual

I *was* thinking of Acorn User, but if it didn't have the regular feature, I must have been thinking of another magazine. Might be that A5 one - Micro something - which ran for years after the BBC went out of fashion, may still be in circulation now for all I know... (I'm not very good with names!)

* to Mark for being an editor for Acorn User... already high opinion of him raised even further*

Come to think of it, wasn't Acorn User renamed? I forget (again) the original name, but wasn't it called Acorn User when the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro were overtaken by the Acorn Archimedes?

Sorry, Peregrine, but the BBC Micro Advanced User Guide was better than both of them put together!

Nah, Acorn User retained its name from birth to the present day (it's still going- check it out at http://www.acornuser.com/ if you like).

The Micro User changed its name to Acorn Computing, and then that got folded into Acorn User. Also A&B Computing became Archimedes World... but Acorn User stuck with the same title. Here's the potted history:

* Acorn User was launched by Redwood Publishing, with funding from the BBC. I think this was in 1982, or something like that. Whatever, in that year, Acorn User came second in the industry awards, in the section 'best magazine launch'. The winner was Just 17.

* I joined as Technical Editor in 1993, moving from another Acorn magazine, RISC User. Nine months after I joined, at the end of 1993, Redwood sold Acorn User to Europress, who were the publishers of the recently-renamed Acorn Computing.

* I moved to Europress with the magazine, insisting on being made Editor in the process. Not long afterwards, Acorn Computing was closed and was incorporated into Acorn User.

* I left Acorn User in 1995 to travel the world. Soon after Europress went down the pan, but Acorn User was bought by a new company, Tau Press, founded by Steve Turnbull, the editor of Acorn Computing at the time it was closed. He was the editor of Acorn User until fairly recently,.

The only other Acorn magazines of note were:

* A&B Computing, which was renamed Archimedes World. I think it's bitten the dust, but I'm not sure.

* BEEBUG magazine, which begat RISC User, on which I cut my teeth. (Incidentally, I became the last editor of RU in 1999-2000, editing it from home while also being Editor of h2g2 - busy, busy, busy.)

* Acorn Publishing, a title created by Mike Williams, erstwhile editor of RISC User, and my first boss. Still going strong, damn fine publication.

I think that's all of 'em, but I've probably missed out something. And a final piece of trivia for you: Jim Lynn is an ex-Acorn guru too, and so were a lot of the original h2g2 development team. I introduced Jack Kreindler, whom I employed as Acorn User's graphics editor when I was working at Redwood, to the team at Computer Concepts (who wrote the definitive Acorn graphics package of the time), and when a lot of those programmers, including Jim, moved to h2g2, Jack went with them. He designed the Goo and the h2g2 logo. Meanwhile I got a job at Computer Concepts as Assistant Webmaster (because the Webmaster was a friend of mine, and another ex-Editor of Acorn User), though by this time the company was called Xara, and when the vacany for Editor of h2g2 came up, they thought of me and got me in for a chat. And the rest, as they say, is moderation history.

Small world. From little Acorns, huge oaks do grow, and there's a pleasant circular aspect to the way a bunch of Acorn people, who cut their teeth on the BBC Micro, are now spreading their stuff throughout the BBC...

Re: online elite - Peregrin, I don't know if your research has led to http://www.galileo-projects.org (there's also a link from my space) yet or not - this is the project I've been involved with for a number of years, I'd be interested to know your thoughts on the whole online elite subject.

MM - sounds like the beginning of a very interesting university project on "Magazines for Computer Users of the 1980s"

My twopenneth on Elite:

1) I remember the outrage of me & my friends when Elite failed to win "Game of the Month" in Computer & Video Games - November 1994 (some things just stick in the memory). The winner was Pyjamarama - a good game for sure - but I recently completed it in about 3 days on a Spectrum Emulator - Elite was vast. When asked how they could choose Wally over Elite, C&VG claimed they had only got Elite late on in the month and so been unable to properly review it. That was no consolation for me & my BBC owning mates, who were always trying to convince the "Spectrummers" that we had the better machine, and this was our one true shot at Game of the Month ...

2) There was a bug in Elite. The exact details suddenly fail me, but the circumstances were ... At the start of a game you would have to go through the tough old docking sequences until you could earn enough money to buy a docking computer. This usually took 3 or 4 trading runs. Therefore the risk of the "Game Over" message coming up was high until you had the technology, because docking was b****y difficult. HOWEVER, the bug (and this is the bit I can't remember) allowed you to either a) get money quickly or b) get hold of the computer. Actually my power of recall begins to believe that the bug enabled you to buy lots of a particular commodity (more than your money could buy) and then sell it all. Having done this you only needed to make one run to get the docking computer.

bbs