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DEC PDP-1 emulator running "Spacewar", the earliest known digital video game


Play Spacewar!, the classic 1960s video game, on a virtual PDP-1.

the basic physics of turning a ship: inertial rotation by angular momentum for a realistic simulation of rocket-propelled navigation in space, or the more convenient Bergenholm rotation, simulating the action of gyros single shot or continuous fire (salvoes) the presence of the central star (on or off) the extent of its gravity (normal or low gravity) controls for the background-starfield finally, whether contact with the central star destroys a spaceship or warps it to the "antipode" at the corners of the screen. (However, there weren’t resources left to apply gravity to torpedoes, as well, thus the weightless “photon torpedos.”) Annoyed by an early random star background, Peter Samson added the realistic simulation of the “Expensive Planetarium”, and Martin Graetz contributed the original hyperspace routine, featuring a warping animation reminiscent of the Minskytron. Steve Russell, who had left MIT to follow Marvin Minsky to the West coast, returned in Septmeber to devise the improved version 3.1, which consolidated the various patches into a comprehensive program.

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Photo of Spacewar

Spacewar

Photo of DEC PDP-1 emulator

DEC PDP-1 emulator