A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

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 (...

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...

Silent Service II torpedo-firing cutscene. (C)1990 MicroProse Software In 1990, the now-defunct video game and computer simulation publisher MicroProse Software released Silent Service II, a submarine simulation game set in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. Developed by MicroProse’s in-house MPS Labs, the game is a sequel to 1985’s best-selling Silent Service. It is a single-player game that puts you in command of a U.S. Navy submarine during America’s war with Japan in various areas of Earth’s largest ocean. The game’s design team – led by the project’s main designer Arnold Hendrick and programmer Roy B. Gibson – took advantage of improvements in computer technology (such as more powerful CPUs, better sound cards, and VGA graphics) to create a more realistic and enjoyable gaming experience that took its cues from Sid Meier’s original game but was a bigger and better simulation. In Silent Service II , players can: Choose Boats from Nine Dif...