MicroProse Reborn
They're baaack!
If you played computer games in the 1980s, you certainly played a few from MicroProse. More than a few, most likley. It isn't much of an exaggeration to say that MicroProse singlehandedly started the PC gaming revolution. The Apple II dominated computer gaming in the early 1980s -- which was rather ironic in light of Steve Jobs' famous antipathy towards gaming. Walk into a B.Dalton or Waldenbooks or Software Etc and the shelves would be filled with Apple games. There was a smaller but growing section of Commodore games, the Commodore 64 having been released in January of 1982. But the poor IBM-PC section had (maybe) a copy of SubLogic Flight Sim in it. Most everything else was productivity software, with an occasional one-off game some kid had written on his dad's IBM and was marketing in ziploc bags. PC gaming, for all practical purposes, did not exist in 1982.
Enter Microprose. Founded in 1982 by Sid Meier and "Will Bill" Stealy, they wrote a few games for the Atari computer family before realizing it was a dead end and shifting to the PC and Commodore. MicroProse would go on to release many of the most iconic games of the 1980s and 90s: Civilization, F-19 Stealth Fighter, Pirates!, and Gunship, among many other award-winning games. But their crowning achievements for me were the twin simulations of Task Force 1942 and its aerial cousin, 1942: Pacific Air War. These were simulations like no others before them -- or since, in my mind.
Which is why I'm ecstatic to see that one of the first endeavors of the newly reincarnated MicroProse is Task Force Admiral, a comprehensive simulation of the Pacific War. Just seeing a new game trailer opening with the legendary MicroProse red logo transports me back 30 years. It's gonna be awfully pretty on that new 4K monitor! Take a gander:
If you played computer games in the 1980s, you certainly played a few from MicroProse. More than a few, most likley. It isn't much of an exaggeration to say that MicroProse singlehandedly started the PC gaming revolution. The Apple II dominated computer gaming in the early 1980s -- which was rather ironic in light of Steve Jobs' famous antipathy towards gaming. Walk into a B.Dalton or Waldenbooks or Software Etc and the shelves would be filled with Apple games. There was a smaller but growing section of Commodore games, the Commodore 64 having been released in January of 1982. But the poor IBM-PC section had (maybe) a copy of SubLogic Flight Sim in it. Most everything else was productivity software, with an occasional one-off game some kid had written on his dad's IBM and was marketing in ziploc bags. PC gaming, for all practical purposes, did not exist in 1982.
Enter Microprose. Founded in 1982 by Sid Meier and "Will Bill" Stealy, they wrote a few games for the Atari computer family before realizing it was a dead end and shifting to the PC and Commodore. MicroProse would go on to release many of the most iconic games of the 1980s and 90s: Civilization, F-19 Stealth Fighter, Pirates!, and Gunship, among many other award-winning games. But their crowning achievements for me were the twin simulations of Task Force 1942 and its aerial cousin, 1942: Pacific Air War. These were simulations like no others before them -- or since, in my mind.
Which is why I'm ecstatic to see that one of the first endeavors of the newly reincarnated MicroProse is Task Force Admiral, a comprehensive simulation of the Pacific War. Just seeing a new game trailer opening with the legendary MicroProse red logo transports me back 30 years. It's gonna be awfully pretty on that new 4K monitor! Take a gander:
posted by Jar(egg)head at 11:22
1 Comments:
Awsome. I think I still have your old thrustmaster set.
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