As a teenager, Emlyn Hughes would run up and down flights of stairs in tower blocks until he passed out, in an attempt to build up his stamina. He would do this once or twice a week, and on one … Read more

A couple of weeks ago we spoke about – yes, that’s right – isometric projection and the way it vaguely brought a kind of 3Dish feel to the yawn-smothering delights of Zaxxon (see ‘The angles and the Zaxxons‘, June 21st.) … Read more

There’s a little person in my computer! And I have to feed him! Imagine a sim version of the Sims, but back in 1985 before the Sims had been invented, and before the word ‘sim’ had entered the English language. … Read more

When you think of 1982, you immediately think of isometric projection. It was this go-on-then-but-we’re-being-very-generous 3D-ish effect that first came to the popular consciousness with the landmark game Zaxxon, an early arcade hit for the pre-Sonic house of Sega. In … Read more

Tiredness? Sore eyes? Headache? Forget Lemsip and Clarityn. The best way to clear all these symptoms is to remove Sim City from your hard drive. So what’s going on here. Well, the early versions – and it was originally designed … Read more

Shropshire is like pipe smoking tobacco, Last of the Summer Wine box sets and spleens: you’ll never need them, but it’s nice to know that they’re there. It’s the home of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and Ditherington flax mill, … Read more

When I was younger, I did two paper rounds every morning, which provided me with the then-massive weekly income of £9. I would be paid this on a Saturday and, if West Ham were playing away, would convert this into … Read more

Paradroid was excellent. Geography homework competed with it in the manner of plankton competing with a blue whale, and Andrew Braybrook – the game’s creator – must bear at least some responsibility for a wave of poor O Level results … Read more