Tennis For Two Short Review for Analog computer / Apple iOS

Tennis For Two (1958, 2011)

Analog Computer Windows Simulator / iOS

 

 

William Higinbotham created this game for visitors to the Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1958.

I'm going to short review two recreations of the game, one for Windows PC and another for iOS. 

Tennis For Two is like a side view Pong, but with 'bounce' physics and to be fair the game is relatively fun, providing the players agree to create and stick to some rules. You see the game itself doesn't incorporate many rules. An example of this is players take it it turns to hit the ball, but the ball can be hit anywhere on the screen. Therefore it's necessary to have a gentleman's agreement to a) only hit the ball if it's on your side of the court and b). do you have to let the ball bounce or do you allow volleys ? 

Once you have pre-determined your own parameters and decided how you wish to keep score, it's a nice game to play and one I managed to get my 5 year old daughter to play and it held her attention for 5 whole games !

The Windows recreation is sparse to look at with a black and white representation of the original game, it plays fine using the mouse to angle the shots. The big advantage this has over the iOS version is that the simulator has a one player version where you play the Tennis-o-Tron which can help save you begging someone to play old games with you (in my case my young daughter). 

The iOS version has a more authentic look/approximation of the original game (videos are available on You Tube) and even recreates the clicking sound of the original game, however this is 2 player only. The touch screen works surprisingly well as more often than not old games play horribly with touch screen controls. Another nice addition is the app provides images of a rebuild of the original system.

Overall it still plays a decent, fun game of electronic tennis and is worth a quick play with a second player.

Sut's Score: 3 out of 5

OXO Short Review for the EDSAC

OXO (1952, A.S. Douglas)

EDSAC EMULATOR FOR WINDOWS

Oxo was one of the first graphical games to run on a computer, the game wasn't widely available to play because the EDSAC computer it ran on was unique to Cambridge university. I can see how this would have been a big draw in 1952 with the fact you could interact with a computer.
Today however from a pure game playing experience  it's unfair, why ? Because the EDSAC was programmed to play a perfect game of Tic-Tac-Toe therefore the very best outcome you can achieve is a drawn game.
The original EDSAC loaded programs via paper tape. The emulator, which is simple and accessible simulates this. You then choose whether to go first or let the EDSAC start proceedings. You place your mark on the grid by dialling the relevant number on a simulated dial eg 9 places your marker in the top left square of the grid. The user interface is intuitive enough and the emulator does a great job of giving you some idea of what it must have been like to experience the game.
So I look on this game with two eyes. It was designed to demonstrate what computers could do and show that one day they will take over the world  so from that angle it succeeds. However is it fun to play ? No because there is no reward element to the game, therefore no sense of achievement because you cannot win, it is futile.
So OXO is a relic of it's time, but Tic-Tac-Toe would return with various home computer and console versions being released especially during the initial wave of second generation consoles.

Sut's Score: 2 out of 5