Video Chess
Video Chess,
a chess program for the Atari 2600 Video game console released by Atari in 1978,
developed by Larry Wagner and Bob Whitehead (Graphics) in 6502 Assembly, the game AI with the help of Julio Kaplan [2].
According to Larry Wagner, Video Chess was developed as a direct result of a customer who complained that the (original) Video Computer System box showed a picture of chess, but that no chess game existed [3]. Bank switching ROMs was pioneered for earlier prototypes of Video Chess that were larger than four kilobytes, however the released version ended up fitting the standard 4K size [4].
Contents
Venetian Blinds
The up to eight pieces per row exceeded the sprite limitations, since the Atari 2600 was only able to display three sprites in a row. Bob Whitehead developed a pioneering "venetian blinds" [5] animation technique, an algorithm that horizontally reused and vertically interlaced sprites several times while rendering each frame, to give the illusion that the system had more than the maximum number of sprites allowed by the hardware [6]. However, the computer could not show the position and calculate at the same time.
Atari Catalog 1981
Atari Catalog 1981 Scan, Video Chess [7]
See also
Publications
- John Urwin (1979). Two New Programs Are Tested. Personal Computing, Vol. 3, No. 12, pp. 71 » MyChess
Forum Posts
- Atari 2600 Video Chess by Steven Edwards, Hiarcs Forum, December 29, 2013
External Links
- Video Chess from Wikipedia
- Video Chess for Atari 2600 (1979) - MobyGames
- Video Chess for Atari 2600 (1979) MobyRank - MobyGames
- AtariAge - Atari 2600 - Video Chess (Atari)
- Atari 2600 Manual: Video Chess (1978)(Atari) hosted by the Internet Archive [8]
- MESS in a browser! - Atari 2600: Video Chess hosted by the Internet Archive [9]
References
- ↑ A screenshot of Video Chess (1979), Video Chess from Wikipedia
- ↑ Tekla E. Perry, Paul Wallich (1983). Design case history: the Atari Video Computer System. IEEE Spectrum, March 1983, "Doing the 'impossible': chess"
- ↑ DP Interviews with Bob Whitehead by Scott Stilphen
- ↑ Video Chess from Wikipedia
- ↑ Venetian Blinds from Wikipedia
- ↑ Bob Whitehead from Wikipedia
- ↑ HuguesJohnson.com: Atari Catalog 1981 Scans
- ↑ Atari 2600 Video Chess by Steven Edwards, Hiarcs Forum, December 29, 2013
- ↑ Multi Emulator Super System - Wikipedia