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I removed the text claiming that Ed Rotberg also created Red Baron. That (dis?)honor goes to Rich Moore (Lunar Lander). Moore wrote much of Red Baron while Rotberg was working out the data organization for Battlezone. While Moore was the first to get something up on the screen, he was unable to finish the game using his original data organization method, and ended up using much of Battlezone's.
Sources:
Halcyon Days by James Hague, Ed Rotberg interview: http://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/ROTBERG.HTM
Arcade History Database, Red Baron entry: http://www.arcade-history.com/history_database.php?page=detail&id=2197
Ed Rotberg: http://www.edrotberg.org
Just wondering if its worth mentioning Novagen's "Encounter!" on the C64 and Atari 8 bit, that was a pretty succesfull (filled graphics) clone of Battlezone? Paulie 17:12, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
I've mentioned this on the NBA Jam talk page: there was a trick in some versions of that arcade game to play Battlezone for free. I can't remember how, but if anyone remembers please add the info. -- LGagnon 20:11, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
I've removed the trivia entry about this video. While it's an excellent throwback to the classic era of wireframe vector graphics, it doesn't contain anything to tie it to Battlezone specifically. Skyraider 01:17, 9 October 2006 (UTC)
Included one popular myth (erupting volcano). I recall there being other rumors involving the UFO. I don't remember it, tho. JAF1970 17:43, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
User:Wgungfu has twice removed information pertaining to the Panther (computer game), a tank game prior to Battlezone. The passage in question read:
Its gameplay exhibited similarities to that of the team tank game Panther, written for the PLATO System in Illinois in 1975.
His edit summary was "RV speculative content. Battlezone was brainstormed in a boardroom meeting as an update to Tank, just after their Vector monitor was created. Atari's work with PLATO didn't begin until early 80's." And then: "RV. Which again is speculation, it serves nothing to enhance the actual description of Battlezone." He also removed some text from the Panther article, which I agree was speculative, but then removed a simple See also link to Battlezone as well: "RV based on speculative, unreferenced comment." How a See also link to another early tank game can be "speculative" is not explained.
I note on his user page that Wgungfu is an employee of Atari, and his action represents a possible conflict of interest. Even if Battlezone was not inspired in some way by Panther, as some of Panther's authors suggest (Atari supposedly had a busy PLATO account), the earlier game deserves at least a passing mention, as a pioneering effort in the same genre. It is not for an Atari employee to remove this content, in an attempt to make his own company's product seem more innovative, or to suppress discussion of the relationship between the two.
I should also point that I have no particular axe to grind here: I have been a fan of Battlezone since it came out and achieved a high score of over two million; I think its gameplay has never been matched. As the Panther article makes clear, the gameplay was different in many respects; however, it was a) a line-wire tank game with b) a 3-D environment and c) mountains in the background. The Battlezone article also links to Spectre, a later such game. ProhibitOnions (T) 22:16, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
If you follow the link from the Panther article to the slideshow, it should be obvious from the screenshots (from 1975) the BZ is a direct descendant of Panther (and therefore originated on PLATO). It's not just another 3D-perspective tank game; it's the same game only multi-player. Any web search with terms "battlezone panther plato" will provide ample supporting documentation. -Renamed this section to "Panther and Plato" from "Conflict of Interest". -- RainmanCT ( talk) 18:32, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
I suggest we stop talking about motives and instead submit the evidence. If RainmanCT believes BZ was derived from Plato, the burden is on him to provide verifiable, reliable sources. A Google search and comparison of screenshots are both original research and not acceptable, in my opinion. Rees11 ( talk) 20:37, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
What's up with the revert war over Scott Evans? It's pretty clear from the reference (safestuff.com) that Scott Evans claims to own the Bradley Trainer, and doesn't mind if people know about it. Whether it's true or not, I don't know, but a verifiable reference carries more weight than truth here on Wikipedia. I'll admit that a single web page is not the best ref, but I think 65.57.245.11 has violated the 3RR. Rees11 16:47, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Why is this game categorized as a simulation and not as vehicular combat? -- Logomachist 20:47, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
If you believe the images should not be on Wikipedia, you need to challenge the Non-free use media rationale on the image pages. After the image pages have been removed you can come back here and remove the links to them. Rees11 ( talk) 00:44, 12 March 2009 (UTC)
Since most of the information on clones are one-sentence paragraphs, I propose to list them in a table with all the important information in columns. An example is show below.
Name | Year | Developer | Platforms | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Stellar 7 | 1980s | Damon Slye/ Dynamix, Inc. | Amiga, DOS, Macintosh | The developer, Damon Slye, created several other similar tank games |
Arcticfox | 1986 | Damon Slye/ Dynamix, Inc. | Amiga, Apple IIe, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, ZX Spectrum | Similar game, by developer of Stellar 7. Added valleys and hills to landscape. |
Robot Tank | 1983 | Activision | Atari 2600 | One of Activision's first games |
Let me know what you think. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 18:32, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
At least that's the impression the bankruptcy sale documents gave, leaving Atari (or whoever ends up buying the classic arcade properties) with a perpetual royalty-free license to resell this version. If this is correct, should it not be mentioned somewhere in this article? Sslaxx ( talk) 12:22, 11 January 2014 (UTC)
Both are correct. "Plain" is a geographic term, "plane" is a topological one. I don't have a preference. Kendall-K1 ( talk) 11:57, 12 February 2015 (UTC)
I like the recent cleanup. This article was getting too bloated with speculation and trivia. The only thing I'd like to see put back in is the high score record, which seems well sourced. I would just put in the first two sentences: "On August 30, 1985, David Palmer, of Auburn, California scored a world record 23,000,000 points while playing at The Game Room arcade in Citrus Heights, California. This game took 23 hours, at the end of which he quit with four tanks still left. [1]" Anyone have a strong opinion? Kendall-K1 ( talk) 00:37, 16 March 2015 (UTC)
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I'm not opposed to including something about Panther, but the recently added text is not supported by the source. It doesn't say "It is often described as having been inspired by Panther". It says "Panther and Panzer would prove to be the inspiration for a game that would mark the appearance of polygon-based 3D graphics in both the arcade and the home: Atari’s Battlezone. " but the author of that source has said that was speculation on his part. Kendall-K1 ( talk) 17:52, 16 January 2017 (UTC)
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The article tells that VIC-20 version was released in May 1984.
However, a LGR Youtube video tells IBM PC and VIC-20 versions were released in 1983. VIC-20 part even reads "(c) 1983 ATARI". He also tells that the Atari ST version was released in 1986. 93.106.177.245 ( talk) 01:41, 1 December 2022 (UTC)
This article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's
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I removed the text claiming that Ed Rotberg also created Red Baron. That (dis?)honor goes to Rich Moore (Lunar Lander). Moore wrote much of Red Baron while Rotberg was working out the data organization for Battlezone. While Moore was the first to get something up on the screen, he was unable to finish the game using his original data organization method, and ended up using much of Battlezone's.
Sources:
Halcyon Days by James Hague, Ed Rotberg interview: http://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/ROTBERG.HTM
Arcade History Database, Red Baron entry: http://www.arcade-history.com/history_database.php?page=detail&id=2197
Ed Rotberg: http://www.edrotberg.org
Just wondering if its worth mentioning Novagen's "Encounter!" on the C64 and Atari 8 bit, that was a pretty succesfull (filled graphics) clone of Battlezone? Paulie 17:12, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
I've mentioned this on the NBA Jam talk page: there was a trick in some versions of that arcade game to play Battlezone for free. I can't remember how, but if anyone remembers please add the info. -- LGagnon 20:11, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
I've removed the trivia entry about this video. While it's an excellent throwback to the classic era of wireframe vector graphics, it doesn't contain anything to tie it to Battlezone specifically. Skyraider 01:17, 9 October 2006 (UTC)
Included one popular myth (erupting volcano). I recall there being other rumors involving the UFO. I don't remember it, tho. JAF1970 17:43, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
User:Wgungfu has twice removed information pertaining to the Panther (computer game), a tank game prior to Battlezone. The passage in question read:
Its gameplay exhibited similarities to that of the team tank game Panther, written for the PLATO System in Illinois in 1975.
His edit summary was "RV speculative content. Battlezone was brainstormed in a boardroom meeting as an update to Tank, just after their Vector monitor was created. Atari's work with PLATO didn't begin until early 80's." And then: "RV. Which again is speculation, it serves nothing to enhance the actual description of Battlezone." He also removed some text from the Panther article, which I agree was speculative, but then removed a simple See also link to Battlezone as well: "RV based on speculative, unreferenced comment." How a See also link to another early tank game can be "speculative" is not explained.
I note on his user page that Wgungfu is an employee of Atari, and his action represents a possible conflict of interest. Even if Battlezone was not inspired in some way by Panther, as some of Panther's authors suggest (Atari supposedly had a busy PLATO account), the earlier game deserves at least a passing mention, as a pioneering effort in the same genre. It is not for an Atari employee to remove this content, in an attempt to make his own company's product seem more innovative, or to suppress discussion of the relationship between the two.
I should also point that I have no particular axe to grind here: I have been a fan of Battlezone since it came out and achieved a high score of over two million; I think its gameplay has never been matched. As the Panther article makes clear, the gameplay was different in many respects; however, it was a) a line-wire tank game with b) a 3-D environment and c) mountains in the background. The Battlezone article also links to Spectre, a later such game. ProhibitOnions (T) 22:16, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
If you follow the link from the Panther article to the slideshow, it should be obvious from the screenshots (from 1975) the BZ is a direct descendant of Panther (and therefore originated on PLATO). It's not just another 3D-perspective tank game; it's the same game only multi-player. Any web search with terms "battlezone panther plato" will provide ample supporting documentation. -Renamed this section to "Panther and Plato" from "Conflict of Interest". -- RainmanCT ( talk) 18:32, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
I suggest we stop talking about motives and instead submit the evidence. If RainmanCT believes BZ was derived from Plato, the burden is on him to provide verifiable, reliable sources. A Google search and comparison of screenshots are both original research and not acceptable, in my opinion. Rees11 ( talk) 20:37, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
What's up with the revert war over Scott Evans? It's pretty clear from the reference (safestuff.com) that Scott Evans claims to own the Bradley Trainer, and doesn't mind if people know about it. Whether it's true or not, I don't know, but a verifiable reference carries more weight than truth here on Wikipedia. I'll admit that a single web page is not the best ref, but I think 65.57.245.11 has violated the 3RR. Rees11 16:47, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Why is this game categorized as a simulation and not as vehicular combat? -- Logomachist 20:47, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
If you believe the images should not be on Wikipedia, you need to challenge the Non-free use media rationale on the image pages. After the image pages have been removed you can come back here and remove the links to them. Rees11 ( talk) 00:44, 12 March 2009 (UTC)
Since most of the information on clones are one-sentence paragraphs, I propose to list them in a table with all the important information in columns. An example is show below.
Name | Year | Developer | Platforms | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Stellar 7 | 1980s | Damon Slye/ Dynamix, Inc. | Amiga, DOS, Macintosh | The developer, Damon Slye, created several other similar tank games |
Arcticfox | 1986 | Damon Slye/ Dynamix, Inc. | Amiga, Apple IIe, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, ZX Spectrum | Similar game, by developer of Stellar 7. Added valleys and hills to landscape. |
Robot Tank | 1983 | Activision | Atari 2600 | One of Activision's first games |
Let me know what you think. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 18:32, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
At least that's the impression the bankruptcy sale documents gave, leaving Atari (or whoever ends up buying the classic arcade properties) with a perpetual royalty-free license to resell this version. If this is correct, should it not be mentioned somewhere in this article? Sslaxx ( talk) 12:22, 11 January 2014 (UTC)
Both are correct. "Plain" is a geographic term, "plane" is a topological one. I don't have a preference. Kendall-K1 ( talk) 11:57, 12 February 2015 (UTC)
I like the recent cleanup. This article was getting too bloated with speculation and trivia. The only thing I'd like to see put back in is the high score record, which seems well sourced. I would just put in the first two sentences: "On August 30, 1985, David Palmer, of Auburn, California scored a world record 23,000,000 points while playing at The Game Room arcade in Citrus Heights, California. This game took 23 hours, at the end of which he quit with four tanks still left. [1]" Anyone have a strong opinion? Kendall-K1 ( talk) 00:37, 16 March 2015 (UTC)
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Cheers. — cyberbot II Talk to my owner:Online 04:38, 18 October 2015 (UTC)
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Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot ( Report bug) 00:32, 29 October 2016 (UTC)
I'm not opposed to including something about Panther, but the recently added text is not supported by the source. It doesn't say "It is often described as having been inspired by Panther". It says "Panther and Panzer would prove to be the inspiration for a game that would mark the appearance of polygon-based 3D graphics in both the arcade and the home: Atari’s Battlezone. " but the author of that source has said that was speculation on his part. Kendall-K1 ( talk) 17:52, 16 January 2017 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
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Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot ( Report bug) 15:31, 11 January 2018 (UTC)
The article tells that VIC-20 version was released in May 1984.
However, a LGR Youtube video tells IBM PC and VIC-20 versions were released in 1983. VIC-20 part even reads "(c) 1983 ATARI". He also tells that the Atari ST version was released in 1986. 93.106.177.245 ( talk) 01:41, 1 December 2022 (UTC)