A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

© 2017 Killerfish Games Do you like military-themed simulations or games based on hypothetical wars? Do you like submarine games? Are you a fan of Tom Clancy’s 1986 novel Red Storm Rising or its computer game spin-off from 1988? Then have I got a computer game recommendation for you! In the early 1990s, back when the original version of MicroProse was the go-to source for user-friendly military simulations and strategy games, I played a game called Red Storm Rising.  Based on the eponymous 1986 novel by the late Tom Clancy, Red Storm Rising was a nuclear sub simulation set in a fictional Third World War between the still-in-existence Soviet Union and the U.S. led North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In it, you played the role of a U.S. Navy officer in command of a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine assigned to seek and destroy surface and submarine units of the Red Banner Northern Fleet to thwart the Soviets’ offensives on land and sea, as well as to

Title screenshot of Flashpoint Campaign: Red Storm - Player's Edition. © 2014 Slitherine Ltd/Matrix Games and On Target Simulations On November 21, 2014, the UK-based computer game publisher Matrix Games released Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm - Player's Edition, a revamped version of the original turn-based strategy game set in an alternate history of the 1980s in which the Cold War turned hot and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact clashes with the U.S.-led NATO forces in West Germany. Created by On Target Simulations for the merged Slitherine Ltd/Matrix Games studio and inspired by several fictional works about a hypothetical Third World War fought in the mid- to late 1980s, including Sir John Hackett's The Third World War: August 1985 and Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising, Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm - Player's Edition puts you in command of either the Allied or Soviet armies in several campaigns and more than 20 stand-alone scenarios, including many player-

Screenshot from Crusade in Europe. © 1985 MicroProse Software Well, 2018 is almost over for those of us who live in the Americas, and I am glad! It's still morning in the subtropical state of Florida, and it looks like it's going to be one beautiful New Year's Eve day. It's mostly sunny as I write this, and the temperature outside is 71℉. If I don't get sucked into watching Star Wars; The Force Awakens,   or try to get some writing done, I might grab one of my many books and go read on the front porch later. Knowing myself well, though, it's quite likely that I'll probably end up taking a shower, change into comfortable but nice-looking clothes, then come back to my computer and play one of my favorite games for a couple of hours. Since I got my first computer 31 years ago (it was a gift from my paternal Uncle Sixto), I've always divided my time at my desk between "productivity" and "entertainment." Starting from the time wh

Package of the DOS version of M1 Tank Platoon (C) 1989 MicroProse Software In 1989 - that annus mirabilis marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Soviet domination in Eastern Europe, MicroProse Software published the original version of M1 Tank Platoon: The Definitive Simulation of Armored Land Warfare.  Part vehicle simulator and part real-time tactics map-based game, M1 Tank Platoon was the first tank warfare game to break away from the "one tank against the entire Red Army" trope in other games set in a conventional World War III scenario. Instead, M1 Tank Platoon put the player in command of a four-tank platoon of M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks and, depending on the mission type selected, a wide array of supporting forces that included M2/M3 Bradleys, AH-64 Apache attack helos, OH-58 Kiowa scout helicopters, A-10 Thunderbolt II attack jets, Improved TOW Vehicles, infantry squads, 107mm mortars, 155mm artillery, and Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS)

As an occasional computer gamer, I often find it difficult to find a World War II strategy game along the lines of the late and much lamented Microprose Software's 1986 game Crusade in Europe.  Created by the now-legendary game designer Sid Meier with Ed Bever, Crusade in Europe was a map-and-icons simulation of the Allied campaigns to liberate Northwest Europe; as the product's promotional blurb put it, it put players in command of either the Allied or German forces  "from D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge!" Cover of the user's manual for Crusade in Europe. (C) 1986 MicroProse Software I've already written several posts, including a reminiscence , about Crusade in Europe so I will try to not repeat myself much here. I will, however, try to make a case for asking Firaxis Games (where Sid Meier holds court now) or any other game developer to follow up that classic with a modern-day sequel. Now, there are plenty of computer strategy games with Wor

"Main Title" screen from MicroProse's M1 Tank Platoon. (C) 1989 MicroProse Software In the late 1980s and early 1990s, MicroProse Software was one of the most innovative and successful computer and video game publishing companies in the world. Co-founded by retired Air Force pilot  "Wild Bill" Stealey and Sid Meier, the Maryland-based company created some of the gaming industry's most popular titles, including Silent Service, its sequel Silent Service II, the three-game F-15 Strike Eagle series, Red Storm Rising, and the classic world history simulation Sid Meier's Civilization.  Although MicroProse's catalog included games from various genres, many of its titles were military simulators. This isn't surprising; the company's co-founder was a veteran, and many of its best-selling games were simulators of combat aircraft ( F-15 Strike Eagle, F-19 Stealth Fighter ), submarines ( Red Storm Rising, Silent Service II ) and even helicopters (

Screenshot from F-15 Strike Eagle III, Panama Campaign.  All images are (C) 1992 MicroProse Software As much as I love computers, I sometimes get frustrated with how quickly they become obsolescent. I read somewhere that advances in computing technology are so fast that the PCs we buy now (say, October of 2018) will already be "old tech" by January of 2020, if not sooner.  In the 1990s I went through at least five computers in less than eight years for one reason or another (new operating systems came out; new chips replaced older, slower ones, better graphics cards/soundcards came out; CD-ROM replaced floppies; the list is freakin' endless).  And because I was getting a new PC every year or so (mostly inexpensive ones built from storebought parts), I found that some of the  DOS-based games I played in my spare time didn't work on newer machines.  I miss quite a few of those old DOS-based games, especially those that were never got new-and-improved ve