Wow, we haven’t taken a look at Bits and Bytes since July! Time to get back to it. Bits and Bytes episode 8 deals with Simulation software and games which have an educational lean to them. While being an episode dealing with games, it does touch into some elements of gaming back in the early computer days, such as the rather direct way that controllers were connected to the Apple II computer.
We get a look at some decently famous software – no Oregon Trail here, but we do see Choplifter on the Apple II and SCRAM on the Atari 800. Since analog controllers are used for Choplifter, we get an explanation on the differences between the concepts of analog and digital, with a laypersons explanation on just how all this relates to computers – it’s pretty good, actually.
We look at programs to help kids learn about ATM’s, how to run a simile business, and more – we hear from students making their own simulation game and hear from teachers on how this helps them learn and, in what has to be the best moment in the episode, we see Billy Van play the nuclear power simulator SCRAM, and get to watch as he shuts down every flow valve in the reactor causing a total core meltdown! I was actually laughing as I saw him do this, since I’ve regularly played nuclear power plant simulators (which are all based on this same design, even today) and know what was going on. Hilarious, it’s like he was making sure it failed on him, which I’m sure the script called for.
We also hear from an Atari game developer on the educational aspects of a game he has worked on, and on just how well a properly designed simulation or educational game can teach someone.
The episode does have its strange points, and is almost cringe-worthy at the start – the use of “Paddles” instead of “Paddle Controllers” is just odd phrasing, almost requiring the digital and analog explanation above. The episode goes into a small section on DOS (not MS-DOS, but the generic concept of a “Disk Operating System” seemingly out of nowhere, almost like it was forced in at the last minute, much like the discussion of inside a computer when Billy opens up the Apple II to install the paddle controllers. This does result in him getting to hold a CPU die (or at least an blank made to look like one) which, if it would have been a 6502, would have been kind of awesome.
A strange episode in some ways, but enjoyable, much like most of this show.