I shouldn't write when I'm high.
On Fri, 5 Aug 2005, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
The third was an unwitting clone of Commbat. It was
called Flash Attack!
(1982) and ran on the PET. It was exactly the same thing as Commport. A
^^^^^^^^
I meant Commbat.
Also, to clarify, the author of Flash Attack! wrote it claiming she had no
prior knowledge of Commbat. According to her, it was entirely a
coincidence that her game was almost a clone of Commbat. Flash Attack!
was for the PET and Commbat for the TRS-80. Back then, most people were
wedded to their platform of choice, so this is entirely plausible. Also,
from what I recall, work on Flash Attack! began prior
to the publication
of Commbat and evolved for several years until Flash Attack! was
published
in 1982.
I should add that I have all three games I mentioned (TelePong, Commbat,
Flash Attack!) I got TelePong and FlashAttack! working before the
plaintiff (the patent holder) decided to settle with EA (my client's
client). But not before the patent holder had already gotten a settlement
out of I believe Sega and some other companies. EA should have fought
this and had the patent over-turned, but as these things go, it was
cheaper to settle and let this idiot go on to sue some other poor schlub
of a company.
TelePong requires the somewhat rare Apple Communications Card (prior even
to the original Apple Serial Card) and I have the original cassette that
Apple sent along with their Communications Card. I have an original Flash
Attack! tape and custom cable (thanks to Larry Anderson who provided
both). I managed to find a new, unopened copy of Commbat on the internet
for $10. It's also on cassette. I never got to play with Commbat to
compare it with Flash Attack! One of these days...
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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