A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Do you remember MicroProse Software’s F-15 Strike Eagle series of video games/simulators?  I sure do; the three editions of the classic game were among my favorite pastimes when I was younger and had several PCs that ran on the MS-DOS operating system. If you are old enough to have played DOS-based computer games in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, you probably played one of the now-gone (but not forgotten) Maryland software company co-founded by retired Air Force colonel John Wilbur (Wild Bill) Stealey, Sr. and legendary game designer Sid Meier, who is best known for creating Sid Meier’s Civilization and Sid Meier’s Pirates! F-15 Strike Eagle was the first sim in the series. (C) 1985 MicroProse Software The F-15 Strike Eagle franchise was launched in 1985 by its eponymous Meier-designed flight simulator for the Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64. A first-person perspective-based game dominated by a representation of a Heads-Up Display (HUD), F-15 Strike Eagle was al...

Cover art for the 1991 re-release of the DOS edition of F-15 Strike Eagle II.  (C) 1989, 1991 MicroProse Software B ack in the early days of computer gaming, particularly the 1980s and early 1990s, MicroProse Software of Hunt Valley, MD was one of the leading game publishing companies in the U.S. Founded in 1982 by a retired Air Force pilot named William ("Wild Bill") Stealey and legendary game designer Sid Meier, MicroProse earned a well-earned reputation for its innovative and entertaining games and simulations, beginning with Meier's Hellcat Ace and Spitfire Ace, two World War II-set flight simulators for Atari 8-bit computers that were released in 1982. Eventually, MicroProse's library of hit games grew to include Silent Service and Silent Service II, Red Storm Rising, Sid Meier's Covert Action, M-1 Tank Platoon, F-19: Stealth Fighter and its more realistic update F-117 Nighthawk: Stealth Fighter 2.0, and Sid Meier's Civilization. I was a huge fan of...