Top all-time · #5722
edfries.wordpress.com
Personal blog · edfries.wordpress.comgameshistory
edfries.wordpress.com is a personal blog at edfries.wordpress.com about games and history. Since 2016, 13 different Hacker News readers have linked it 14 times, most often “Chasing the First Arcade Easter Egg”. The last post was in 2021, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (4) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Ed Fries's blog for its history of video games: repairing and reverse engineering old arcade cabinets, and early easter eggs, sprites and Atari's Color Gotcha.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 4 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Chasing the First Arcade Easter Egg5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2017-03-22
- Fixing Computer Space (2015)2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-04-01
- Fixing Color Gotcha – First color arcade video game2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-05-31
What Hacker News says?
I should add that Ed Fries, widely known for his role in the development of the Xbox and its impact on the console gaming market, has been repairing and reverse engineering old arcade cabinets in an effort to shed light on the earliest instances of many software engineering phenomena, including the earliest easter eggs. And his articles are a great read! https://edfries.wordpress.com Ed himself was responsible for a…
Comment linking /
on “Long live software Easter eggs”Submitted Chasing the First Arcade Easter Egg as a story · 228 points
HN discussionI disagree respectfully. I feel that if one is going to be documenting or discussing "the very first" of something, then it should actually be documented as the very first. I prefer the term "first known" or "first documented" when it comes to something with as spotty a recorded history as video gaming. For years, people thought Warren Robinett had made the first video game easter egg in Adventure for the 2600. Turn…
Comment linking /2017/03/22/chasing-the-first-arcade-easter-egg/
on “Alpha Waves was the first 3D platform game”Submitted Fixing Computer Space (2015) as a story · 35 points
HN discussionP.S.: If interested in how it was done, I once did a writeup on the matter [1] based on a great textbook on early video game logic by William Arkush [2]. Also, don't miss Ed Fries' entertaining tale of how he repaired his specimen of Computer Space [3]. [1] https://www.masswerk.at/rc2017/04/02.html [2] "The Textbook of Video Game Logic; Volume 1" by Arkush, William, Kush N' Stuff Amusement Electronics, Inc., Campbel…
Comment linking /2015/03/13/fixing-computer-space-3/
on “The Surprising History of Sprites”Submitted Finding the First Videogame ROM as a story · 4 points
HN discussionWhat a coincidence, just this morning I was reading the discovery saga of Atari's Color Gotcha , most probably the first color video game: https://edfries.wordpress.com/2016/05/25/fixing-color-gotcha...
Comment linking /2016/05/25/fixing-color-gotcha/
on “I Hear That Asteroids Machine Calling My Name”Submitted Chasing the First Arcade Easter Egg as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Fixing Color Gotcha – First color arcade video game as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Chasing the First Arcade Easter Egg as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Chasing the First Arcade Easter Egg as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Fixing Computer Space (2015) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Chasing the First Arcade Easter Egg as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Chasing the First Arcade Easter Egg as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
