Death Race (computer game)

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Death Race
Musée Mécanique 221.JPG
Studio Exidy
Publisher Exidy
Senior Developer Howell Ivy
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1976
genre Racing game
Game mode Multiplayer (maximum 2 players at the same time)
control Steering wheel , accelerator pedal , gear lever
casing default
Arcade system TTL circuit
information early controversial computer game

Death Race is an arcade - racing game , US companies in 1976 by Exidy was published. It is considered to be one of the first controversial computer games.

action

The aim of the game is to run a car over as many opponents as possible .

Game principle and technology

Howell Ivy and Edward Valeau developed the game. Pat Peak was responsible for the graphic design on the machine. The title Death Race alludes to the English name of the 1975 film Frankenstein's death race ( Death Race 2000 ). Similar to Atari for their game Shark Jaws , the manufacturer waived a license and the game lacks any background story that it would associate with the film. The technology is based on the hardware of the game Destruction Derby, which was released a year earlier. Exidy developed the racing game for pinball and consumer electronics manufacturer Chicago Coin . The company didn't pay any royalties, however, after which Exidy used the hardware for Death Race. The game, also developed by Ivy, uses computer-controlled vehicles instead of people, with which the game character has to collide. The hardware does not have a microprocessor , but consists of TTL circuits. Own circuits generate sound effects for engine noises, collisions and the screams of the run-over gremlins. A small daughterboard is responsible for the screams.

The arcade machine is designed for two players and has two steering wheels, gas pedals and simple replicas of a gear lever for forward and reverse gear. During a three-stage adjustable time limit, the player (s) try to increase their score by running over as many opponents as possible called gremlins in the game . At any given time, there are two of these gremlins on the field. If a player's vehicle collides with one of these figures, the game draws a cross at the point of contact. If the player drives over a cross, touches the opponent or leaves the playing field, the program reduces his driving speed. Two speeds are possible with the accelerator, the higher of which corresponds to that of the Gremlins.

Production notes

According to Pete Kauffman, Exidy's founder, the company sold about 1,000 units. The then employee Eddie Adlum also commented that the sales figures increased significantly due to the bad press. However, according to Monique Wonderly, the ongoing protests and news reports would eventually have resulted in a ban. According to an article in Criminal Justice and Behavior magazine, Exidy voluntarily ceased production due to widespread protests that resulted in death race machine burns.

In 1977 Exidy released Death Race II . Pete Shaw's listing collection for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum ( Games for your ZX Spectrum , Virgin Books, 1982) contains a colored Death Race porting. 2004 RogueSynapse published an in DarkBasic written Freeware - Remake for Microsoft Windows.

reception

Due to the limited graphics options at the time, it was not possible for players to see that the opponents should not be people. Lauren Gonzales wrote on GameSpot that the game was developed under the working title Pedestrian (English for pedestrians); only later did Exidy add the Gremlins to the game instructions. The American National Safety Council described the game as sick ("sick, sick, sick") according to the news magazine Newsweek . Newsweek went on to say that Death Race alluded to sadistic impulses with one of the most popular weapons of the day, the car. ("That plays upon sadistic impulses with one of today's most accessible weapons, the automobile") The New York Times wrote in December 1976 that the Marriott Corporation (predecessor company of Marriott International ) had removed the machine from its amusement parks because of protests. The publisher Empire Distributing should no longer have sold it at the time. The game was also picked up on the CBS newscast 60 Minutes .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Steven L. Kent: The Ultimate History of Video games, Three Rivers Press, 2001, pp. 90ff, ISBN 0-7615-3643-4
  2. ↑ Monique Wonderly: A Humean approach to assessing the moral significance of ultra-violent video games, Ethics and Information Technology, Springer Netherlands, Feb. 2008 (Online First), ISSN  1572-8439
  3. ↑ Christopher J. Ferguson et al .: Violent Video Games and Aggression, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Sage, Mar. 2008, Vol. 35, p. 311, ISSN  0093-8548 doi : 10.1177 / 0093854807311719
  4. ↑ Gamespot.com: When Two Tribes Go to War: A History of Video Game Controversy. Retrieved October 15, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Newsweek, Jan. 10, 1977, p. 54
  6. ^ New York Times, December 28, 1976, p. 12