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Although it wasn't released to arcades until 1978, the origins of Space Wars stretch back to the birth of video games in 1962. Generally considered to be the first computer game, the original Spacewar was written by a group of MIT students and quickly spread to computer labs across the country, giving grad students yet another excuse to put off their studies.
Though the game's concept may not have
been entirely original, Space
Wars definitely had its share
of firsts. The most obvious innovation was the pioneering use of vector
graphics. Instead of the traditional dot-based raster graphics of earlier
arcade games, Space War drew its objects with glowing lines,
creating a sharper image. The vector look eventually died out, but not before
appearing in such smash hits asAsteroids, Lunar Lander, Battlezone and Tempest.
With so many options available, and with the ability to compete against a human
opponent, Space Wars had enough replay value to keep gamers
coming back for battle after battle. Space
Wars gave Cinematronics its
first major hit, and the company went on to create such vector graphics
classics as Starhawk, Tail Gunner and Armor
Attack before ushering in the
Laserdisc age with the smash hit Dragon's
Lair.
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