A significant percentage of people I know went out to buy Grand Theft Auto IV yesterday, queueing patiently with slightly sweating hands and then making their way home faster than was strictly necessary. They were then, no doubt, up until the early hours of the morning, driving, thieving and assassinating.
Most of these friends of mine are well over the age of 30; we all have a propensity to become obsessed with computer games – which is mainly why I've stubbornly refused to buy a gaming console – but addiction can spring from the most unexpected areas. And this week I've found myself frittering away precious time by reliving my pre-teenage years on a ZX81 emulation site.
Most of my 12th year on this planet was spent listening to a Kids From Fame album and playing on a ZX81 while my mum urged me to go out and run about and be normal. (She still does this every so often, but as she lives 50 miles away it doesn't really have much effect any more.) Simon Holdsworth's site provides a fearsome memory jog for people like me – not least because you don't have to download an emulator and download the games – you can just play them within your internet browser window.
I remember with great affection the blind terror of being hunted down by a blocky Tyrannosaurus Rex in 3D Monster Maze; the exercise in imagination that was the text-only adventure Inca Curse, and several shoot-em-up games that involved manoeuvring a black square around a screen, shooting fullstops at an army of flying capital "V"s.
To call them graphically primitive is a hilarious understatement – but because they were well written, they provided hours of amusement. And, to my surprise, they still do.
In a box in the corner of my office was a cassette with the words "Bouncing Bert" on the label; a quick listen confirmed that it wasn't a failed indie band from the mid-80s, but a ZX81 program. I sent it off to Mr Holdsworth; it turns out that it's a long-lost release by Software Farm, whose main achievement was managing to get the ZX81 to display hi-res (ish) graphics.
Anyway, he extracted the content of the tape and sent me the game, the memory of which came flooding back. They did their best with the animation, bless 'em; the results, however, would make an 11-year old in 2008 smack the floor with laughter. Now all I need is, er, to download the Kids From Fame album.
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