Gaming milestone for Elite game

[danrok]

The classic computer space-trading game Elite has celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Elite was released on 20 September 1984 for the BBC Microcomputer and was one of the first games to use 3D graphics.

Many developers regard the title as the forerunner of many modern games and have described it as a "milestone".

BBC NEWS | Technology | Gaming milestone for Elite game

[Daniel ~]

Any one know when Quake was first released?
(My first game!)

[chrisbard]

Quake is a first-person shooter video game that was released by id Software on June 22, 1996.

[Aedan]

Which is interesting, as Descent was released in 1995. Descent was a fully 3D multiplayer FPS with six degrees of freedom.

But Elite was there before them, although without the multiplayer aspect.

[danrok]

Elite was extremely impressive at the time.

The 3D graphics weren't all that impressive, but for me it was more the 3D perception of being able to travel around space, they pulled off that illusion very well. Plus, the ability to play the game in different ways, i.e. as a trader, or a bounty hunter, etc. No other game had done all of this.

What's more it was all done with just 48K of memory on my ZX Spectrum.

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by chrisbard

Quake is a first-person shooter video game that was released by id Software on June 22, 1996.

Thank you! ":O}

[Aedan]

Originally Posted by danrok

Elite was extremely impressive at the time.

The 3D graphics weren't all that impressive, but for me it was more the 3D perception of being able to travel around space, they pulled off that illusion very well. Plus, the ability to play the game in different ways, i.e. as a trader, or a bounty hunter, etc. No other game had done all of this.

What's more it was all done with just 48K of memory on my ZX Spectrum.

On the BBC, although the machine had 32K of RAM, some 10K of it disappeared to the graphical display, and the OS took a little for various buffers. Thus Elite had to run completely within less than 22K! It also used a split mode display, where the upper monochrome part was in one hardware configuration, and the lower colour part was in another.

The Spectrum, due to some interesting choices made by Sinclair, only used 4K of memory for it's display. Thus the 48K spectrum had closer to 44K of free memory.

[chrisbard]

Originally Posted by Áedán

On the BBC, although the machine had 32K of RAM, some 10K of it disappeared to the graphical display, and the OS took a little for various buffers. Thus Elite had to run completely within less than 22K! It also used a split mode display, where the upper monochrome part was in one hardware configuration, and the lower colour part was in another.

The Spectrum, due to some interesting choices made by Sinclair, only used 4K of memory for it's display. Thus the 48K spectrum had closer to 44K of free memory.

One of my friends had a Spectrum 128 and man the sound of that yamaha sc was so much better..

"The Spectrum 128 (code named Derby) is the successor of the Spectrum +. It was made just before Amstrad bought the right to use the Sinclair name in computer products. So it can be regarded as the last "real Sinclair Spectrum".

The 128 is the first real evolution of the old Spectrum. It has a lot of new features: 128kb RAM (two 64kb banks), a new sound chip (Yamaha AY-3-8912), RS232/Midi and video RGB outputs.

The Spectrum displays a menu when it is switched on:
- "Tape Loader" to run programs on tape,
- "Calculator" to enter operations without typing PRINT before,
- "Tape Tester" to test the input level of the tape recorder,
- "BASIC 48" and "BASIC 128".

The Spectrum 128 can use two versions of BASIC: BASIC 48 is just for the compatibility with the previous models and can't use the new features.
The Basic 128 mode has a full screen editor and the user can enter the Basic statements letter by letter instead of pressing key combinations. It has new keywords to use the extended memory as a RAM disk (unless bank-switching routines are utilized) and to handle the new sound chip and the MIDI out socket. "

[Toro]

is it Elite that was the milestone or the fact that it is now 25 years old? I read it that the fact that it had been around 25years was the milestone... hardly a milestone, it was always going to make it to 25 years old, it cannot be erased.

[Aedan]

Elite in itself was the milestone. It wasn't the first 3D game, although it's probably the first 3D vector based game with six degrees of freedom on a home computer. Even Quake didn't manage six degrees of freedom!

[Aedan]

Originally Posted by chrisbard

a new sound chip (Yamaha AY-3-8912), RS232/Midi and video RGB outputs.

Technically, the AY-3-8912 is a General Instruments (who are now Microchip, who produce the PIC range of processors) chip, whereas the Yamaha version was YM2149, and had a couple of minor differences.

The problem with that was that when developers wrote code, they'd write it for the 48K Spectrum on the whole, rather than really taking advantage of the 128K variants.

On the other hand, it was released in the same year as the Amiga A1000 and the NES.

[booman]

Wow, hardware, speeds, games all in one thread? I feel that I am amongst geek friends.
I am a huge quake fan and still play it today.
But Elite? I've never heard of.... and I'm a game collector.
Looking it up right now

Wow I'm impressed, 1984/3D vector graphics/Space & adventure/role playing aspects
Not bad for its time. I'll look up the sequels.

[danrok]

EVE Online would be a good example of a modern day Elite.