[HN Gopher] A System for the Sixties-and-a-Half: The Toshiba Vis...
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       A System for the Sixties-and-a-Half: The Toshiba Visicom COM-100
        
       Author : ingve
       Score  : 25 points
       Date   : 2025-01-19 11:58 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (nicole.express)
 (TXT) w3m dump (nicole.express)
        
       | timthorn wrote:
       | Reminds me of the racing games for the ZX Spectrum. They
       | exploited the rubber keyboard and recommended the use of a large
       | roll of Sellotape pressed on to the computer as a steering wheel.
        
         | NikkiA wrote:
         | It should be noted that they recommended that _after_ one early
         | racing game included a plastic wheel that rolled on the keys in
         | the same manner, and people noticed that it was about the same
         | size as a reel of sellotape
         | 
         | https://spectrumgamesuk.com/index.php?game=Formula-One
         | 
         | Sadly the major racing game that preceeded it, Psion's
         | Chequered Flag, didn't thus support the key scheme that the
         | reel of tape method produced; a shame, since it was by far a
         | better game otherwise.
         | 
         | edit: also, of course, in early 1984 the spectrum+ became the
         | default 'sinclair spectrum' and didn't really work with the
         | plastic wheel / reel of sellotape method, so it was a fairly
         | short lived method all told, even though it lived on as an
         | option in a few games for a couple of years longer.
        
           | NikkiA wrote:
           | In 1986 there was also a surfing game that utilised a similar
           | method of including a little plastic surfboard that rested on
           | rubber key'ed spectrums, and depending on which way you
           | tilted it, it would press certain key/key-combos down and
           | claimed to thus give you a more 'realistic' control method.
           | 
           | https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/zxsr.php?id=5078
           | 
           | I believe this one had little nubs under the board, and thus
           | worked 'somewhat' on the Spectrum+ too. Notably the review
           | calls out that at least one of the reviewers couldn't get it
           | to work quite right on the + keyboard.
        
           | qingcharles wrote:
           | Damn, no images of the actual plastic steering wheel survive,
           | if it even existed. The feature works, though, with the later
           | Mastertronic instructions!
           | 
           | You're right about Chequered Flag too. Spent too much time on
           | that game.
        
             | NikkiA wrote:
             | I'm sure I remember seeing an image of the 'official' wheel
             | at the time, but I think it was in a less mainstream
             | magazine - probably home computing weekly.
             | 
             | I did own the mastertronic rebadge of it a couple of years
             | later, and it was dire, really dire.
             | 
             | Oh, and a fun fact, 'Mastertronic' still exists, of a
             | sort... Flight Simulator and Train Simulator vendor 'Just
             | Flight'/'Just Trains' purchased the Mastertronic brand
             | about 20-some years ago, and purchases from them still show
             | up as Mastertronic in financial records.
        
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       (page generated 2025-01-19 23:01 UTC)