Microsoft Adventure - ADG Episode 260
312There's something inherently ironic about the first PC game ever made being a port...
Today on Ancient DOS Games, Gemini's taking a look at Microsoft Adventure, one of the launch titles for the IBM 5150, the first ever DOS PC, which is a 1981 port of the original Colossal Cave Adventure made by William Crowther and Don Woods for PDP-10 mainframe computers back in the mid 70s, ported over by Gordon Letwin operating under the business name Softwin Associates.
Since this is a text adventure with little to say about the game itself, a sizable portion of this video today will be dedicated to talking about the packaging and manual, as well as the history of the game, the details of which are definitely much more interesting than you might expect!
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Additional Information and Corrections:
* I tried my best to find images for the history sequence, but I live in Canada and am subject to Fair Dealing laws which are slightly different from Fair Use laws in that I need to be able to supply sources for all the material I use (part of the reason why I have credits at the end of my videos) and quite frankly, I couldn't find a single picture of Gordon Letwin that was properly sourced, thus I wasn't able to legally include one in the video. If you're so inclined, there's an iconic Microsoft photo from 1978 that's easy to find online, just not easy to find the original source for, and out of everyone in the photo, Gordon Letwin is the furthest right on the middle row.
* There's a TON more pictures of Bedquilt Cave if you look up the page I sourced those photos from with a lot of impressive views. Definitely worth a look if you're curious!
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Photo Credits:
Bedquilt Cave (Photo By: Lynn Brucker)
http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/1/2/000009/000009.html
William Crowther (Photo By: Nancy Crowther)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Will_Crowther_Fall_2012.jpg
Bedquilt Cave (Photo By: Lynn Brucker)
http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/1/2/000009/000009.html
Bedquilt Cave (Photo By: Dennis G. Jerz)
http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/1/2/000009/000009.html
IMP Team at BBN (Photo By: Unknown)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IMP_Team.jpg
DEC PDP-10 (Photo By: Gah4)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DECSystem10-KI10.JPG
Don Woods (Photo By: Ben Collins-Sussman)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bcollsuss/4477612755/
1976 ARPANET Map
https://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/internet_history70s.htm
Open Letter to Hobbyists
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Gates_Letter_to_Hobbyists.jpg
Tandy TRS-80 (Photo By: National Museum of American History)
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_334337
IBM 5150 (Photo By: Ruben de Rijcke)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ibm_px_xt_color.jpg
Bedquilt Cave Y2 Rock (Photo By: Dennis G. Jerz)
http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/1/2/000009/000009.html
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