Marble Madness is an arcade video game designed by Mark Cerny, and published
by Atari Games in 1984. It is a platform game where the player must guide an
onscreen marble through six courses, populated with obstacles and enemies,
within a time limit. The player controls the marble by using a trackball.
Marble Madness is known for using innovative game technologies. It was one
of the first games to use true stereo sound—previous games used either
monaural sound or simulated stereo—and it was Atari's first to use the Atari
System 1 hardware and to be programmed in the C programming language. In
designing the game, Cerny drew inspiration from miniature golf, racing
games, and artwork by M. C. Escher. He aimed to create a game that offered a
distinct experience with a unique control system. Cerny applied a minimalist
approach in designing the appearance of the game's courses and enemies.
Throughout development, he was frequently impeded by limitations in
technology and had to forgo several design ideas. Upon its release, Marble
Madness was commercially successful, becoming a profitable arcade game.
Praise among critics focused on the game's difficulty, unique visual design,
and stereo soundtrack. The game was ported to numerous platforms and
inspired the development of other games. A sequel was planned for release in
1991, but location testing showed the game could not succeed in competition
with other titles. Plans for the sequel were canceled.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Madness
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1787:
German-born British astronomer and composer William Herschel discovered the
Uranian moons Oberon and Titania. They were later named by his son John
after the King and the Queen of the Faeries from William Shakespeare's play
A Midsummer Night's Dream, respectively.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberon_(moon)<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titania_(moon)<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…
)
1922:
Insulin was first administered to a human patient with diabetes at the
Toronto General Hospital in Toronto, Canada.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin)
1923:
Troops from France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr Area to force the German
Weimar Republic to pay its reparation payments in the aftermath of World War
I.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Ruhr)
1964:
In a landmark report, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry issued the
warning that smoking may be hazardous for one's health, concluding that it
has a causative role in lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and
other illnesses.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Leonidas_Terry)
1986:
The Gateway Bridge in Brisbane, Australia, at the time the longest
prestressed concrete free cantilever bridge in the world, opened.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_Bridge,_Brisbane)
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
actuate (v) 1. To activate, or to put into motion; to animate.
2. To incite to action; to motivate.
(
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/actuate)
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I do indeed disbelieve that we or any other mortal men can attain on a given
day to absolutely incorrigible and unimprovable truth about such matters of
fact as those with which religions deal. But I reject this dogmatic ideal
not out of a perverse delight in intellectual instability. I am no lover of
disorder and doubt as such. Rather do I fear to lose truth by this
pretension to possess it already wholly. --William James
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James)