Like all things in the corporate world, Strategic Simulations Inc., or SSI, was acquired by a bigger video games development firm. Join me in a virtual tour of the history of SSI, which is, for me, one of the most unforgettable video game developers and publishers.

Strategic Simulations Inc. was founded by war games enthusiast Joel Billings. He hired two notable computer programmers to start the company’s reign in video gamedom: John Lyons, who wrote Computer Bismarck for the Apple II and later the TRS-80 in 1980, and Ed Williger, who wrote Computer Ambush. Both games, Bismarck and Ambush were written in the Basic language. Come to think of it, almost all games in that era were written in Basic.

With its founder being a war games fanatic, SSI naturally launched mostly strategy games in its first two years of operations, from Computer Bismarck to Southern Command. Interestingly, SSI also developed and published sports video games, such Computer Quarterback, a football simulation game for the Apple II and the Commodore 64, and Computer Baseball.

No, not all SSI titles had the word “Computer.” In 1982, SSI launched the RapidFire line of video games, which included Cytron Masters, Cosmic Balance, and Galactic Gladiators. Don’t ring a bell? How about Epidemic!, a real-time strategy game dealing with a global plague?

SSI’s more memorable games, however, came only in 1987 with its acquisition of rights to develop and publish Advanced Dungeons & Dragons video games from TSR. The first such game, Pool of Radiance, came out in 1988. Oooh, Alias and Dragonbait! Oh, wait, that’s Curse of the Azure Bonds, another SSI title.

Of course, who can forget SSI’s powerhouse of strategy games, Panzer General, which spawned a host of other “General” games, like Allied General and Pacific General.

So what happened to SSI after all these successful titles? It was acquired in 1994 by Mindscape. Later, it became part of Mattel, and later still, a division of Ubisoft. Unfortunately, Ubisoft retired the brand name, and thus the world had been robbed of the legacy of SSI.

Post from: EveryJoe

Whatever happened to Strategic Simulations Inc.?

Anyway, without further ado, I present to you dear readers my answers to Aiza’s meme:

1. Name and Job/s (if I want to share it) - Joel, freelance writer and editor by day, mild-mannered father by afternoon, and video game addict hell-bent on virtual world domination by night.

2. You’re currently playing? - Perfect World, which is, in my mind, currently the best MMORPG available in this little tropical country, Drift City, MMOdom’s answer to my Need For Speed, and a plethora of old video games, including Super Mario Brothers, Adventure Island, Where in the World is Carmen San Diego, and Contra. I’m also into—gasp!—casual gaming with AstroPop, Dynomite, Zuma, and Feeding Frenzy topping my list.

3. Favorite game genre/s - It’s got to be MMORPGs and their direct predecessors RPGs and adventure games. Real-time strategy comes a close second.

4. Favorite game/s of all time - Hmmm, let’s see. There’s the Zoids series for the Gameboy, the Super Mario Brothers series for the Nintendo systems, and the Starcraft, Warcraft and The Sims series for the PC. Oh, wait, I forgot to include the totally mind-blowing Total War series. They really rock!

5. Favorite game character/s - Megaman, hands down.

6. Earliest and fondest memory of gaming? - Hundreds of hours playing Taipan on my rusty and yellowing-with-age Apple IIc. It was sooooo good, despite the lack of graphics and sounds. Incidentally, I revived my Taipan addiction by playing Tradewinds.

7. Most hated gaming moment/s - Does spending an entire day trying to get a little brown alien out of a pit count?

8. Gaming gadgets/consoles you own/owned - In order of “appearance”: Coleco Telstar Arcade, Mattel Intellivision, Pac-Man arcade machine, Galaxian Travel arcade machine, Apple IIc, Atari 2600, Nintendo Family Computer, IBM PC (the really old one that came in a very heavy metal casing), Nintendo Super Entertainment System, Gameboy, Playstation, and this computer I’m using now.

9. If you had a “gamer’s shirt,” what would the color and design be? - Hmmm, color, hot pink … with the line, “I’m wearing this because …” in front, and ” … my girlfriend (wife, lover, boo, whatever) pwned me in PvP.”

10. Gaming stuff on your wish list? - A very powerful laptop and unlimited wifi connection.

Oh, wait, it doesn’t end here. I’m going to bring this meme a bit further by tagging some friends in the local MMORPG industry. Let’s hear it from Mon, Carlo, PJ, John, Chino, and Chris.

Well, that’s it for now. Stay tuned for their answers to Aiza’s meme. I’ll make sure to repost them here. *wink, wink*

Screenshot taken by Jake Majadillas (bonAkid of Perfect World Philippines Tiger Server) and modified by Joel from the online game Perfect World, property of Beijing Perfect World Co. Ltd. Cross posted on MMOtaku.

Post from: EveryJoe

Egad, I’ve been tagged!

Back in the 80s, when Atari was still the in thing, I remember getting my grubby hands on the controls of Mattel’s Intellivision at the house of a family friend.

Boy, they weren’t kidding when they dubbed the machine “intelligent television.” It took me an entire day just to figure out how to operate the whacked out controller, which consists of a keypad and dial. And that’s just learning how the darn thing operated. Mastery was a word I couldn’t connect to the machine that was in front of me that time.

The Intellivision was developed by Mattel Electronics, a subsidiary of Mattel formed expressly for the development of electronic games, Wikipedia says.

It adds: One of the slogans of its television advertisements stated that Intellivision was “the closest thing to the real thing”; one example in an advertisement compared golf games. The other (read: Atari) console’s games had a blip sound and cruder graphics, while the Intellivision featured a realistic swing sound and striking of the ball, and graphics that suggested a more 3D look, although undoubtedly crude when compared with modern gaming consoles. There was also an advertisement directly comparing the Atari 2600 to it, featuring the slogan “I didn’t know.”

Well, compared to the Atari 2600, which had joysticks for controllers, the Intellivision was not for the dexterity challenged, people like me. No, I wasn’t a bad gamer. I had—and still have—this affinity for video games that allows me to easily master controls. The Intellivision’s controller was a different animal, so different that it made my fingers ache with frustration.

I’d take a joystick over that spaced-out controller any day.

Post from: EveryJoe

Mattel’s Intellivision: Not for the dexterity challenged