FrontierAstro

Elite for the #CommodoreAmiga improved on the original in virtually every way, with fast, colourful graphics, secret missions and exciting gameplay. Somehow though, it lacked both the x-factor and wow factor of the 8-bit versions, probably because games had moved on by 1988.

If you still enjoy playing #FrontierElite2 you might want to take a look at #glFrontier by Tom Morton. The basic game is unchanged, but the graphics are far clearer and it runs much faster than the original. tinyurl.com/FrontierElite2

@tiff_tv Crofty is a legend!

Just in case you didn’t notice, pole in China was set by an Italian and he was the youngest ever pole sitter … I thought Crofty was going to explode!!

@CaptainHippo I think that's just the way the Apple II colour display works. These pictures are from the AppleWin emulator, which I believe is quite accurate.

@FrontierAstro The colouring on the planets and ship wireframes looks odd though. Is that just a poorly tuned TV or screenshot?

The #AppleII version of #Elite attracted relatively little attention in the UK, on its release in 1986. In the USA, it was a different story, due to the machine's popularity there. It was a good, colourful conversion, with the full range of ships, space stations and missions.

@johnrheritage They were all pretty good, but I would say the Tatung Einstein had the least capable version. Ships just disappeared when you destroyed them, rather than exploding, and you could shoot the space station as much as you liked without the police vipers coming after you!

@FrontierAstro Which original Elite port / version ended up being the most barebones?

@Mr_Husky1 Why would he not wear his wedding ring??

She fell. She laughed. Two days later, she was gone. In March 2009, Natasha Richardson was taking a beginner ski lesson at Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. She fell on a gentle slope, stood up, laughed it off, and said she felt fine. There was no visible injury. No panic. No reason to worry. Hours later, she developed a severe headache. By the next day, she was brain-dead. The cause was an epidural hematoma, a rare and devastating injury known for its “lucid interval.” A person appears normal, even happy, while bleeding silently builds inside the skull. By the time symptoms become obvious, it is often too late. Her husband, Liam Neeson, rushed to her side and faced the unimaginable. Natasha was an organ donor and had made her wishes clear. In the midst of unbearable grief, Liam made the hardest decision of his life and authorized the removal of life support so others could live. Natasha was 45 years old. They had been married for 15 years. Their two sons were brought in to say goodbye. Her organs saved multiple lives. After that day, Liam stepped away from public life and focused entirely on raising his children. Years later, he would describe grief as coming in waves, saying some losses never truly leave. He never remarried. Friends say he still wears his wedding ring. Natasha Richardson fell on a gentle slope and laughed. Forty-eight hours later, she was gone. Liam Neeson has played heroes on screen his entire career. But the real courage was waking up every day after losing the person who anchored his life, and choosing to keep going. This is not a movie scene. It is life. Fragile. Sudden. Unforgiving.

@3HeadedMonkey I'd call it a "racing incident" 🙂

I accept that this was probably my fault #f1 #crash F1 2015 at Shanghai/China

@AeroTechVH I definitely saw Kimi's speed drop from 208mph to 202mph as the battery power ran out. Also, George's pole time was just 0.7s slower than last year's (I'm assuming the circuit hasn't changed) so they aren't exactly hanging about!

I appreciate all the comments saying we had normal data shown on some other cars.The point is not if this is a bug in data or manipulation The point is of all the gaslighting, hiding comments and gagging drivers that we had. They created a situation where they can't be trusted

FOM is now shamelessly manipulating live feed data to obscure the fact that these cars are slowing down on approach to braking zones to charge the battery The fact that Antonellis is "going" at 325 both on throttle and while braking is hilarious

Elite for the #AcornElectron often gets a bad press for its cut-down features, compared to the BBC and other versions. But instead of focusing on what it lacks, we should be amazed that the game was able to run on the little machine at all, thanks to David Braben & Ian Bell!

@IntRschAgncy Absolutely, and just about visible!

@FrontierAstro FE2 also had synchronized clock towers IIRC.

Sometimes it's the little touches in a game that make it special. For example, in FFED3D-AJ, the church clock tallies with the local system time on the screen. Then there's the mysterious blue/green power source on the side of an orbiting space station 😍 tinyurl.com/FFED3D

@UncleGoyda @Vanhaser I'm in the process of updating the FFED3D page, and now I'm going to add a beginner's guide as well! Sometimes, when you're very familiar with a game, you forget there are still people who are just starting out 🙂

@Vanhaser @FrontierAstro I will probably give it another try : ) Thanks!

@UncleGoyda Did you download the game from my website? If so, what problems did you encounter? It should rum straight out of the box 🙁

@FrontierAstro Well, spent 2 hours trying to find the game and to install the mod, and it was a complete failure. But without preinstalled builds, the technical entry threshold is huge, and without prior knowledge or a very detailed guide, it is barely accessible to an average person, sadly : (

@Vandread010 I thought I had! Maybe there's another one out there 🤔

@FrontierAstro Get the HD mod pack. Trust me.

It's not Elite or Frontier, but I've installed Freelancer HD on my PC and I'm looking forward to spending some time on it. I played it on release in 2003 and it's amazing how the game and its characters are still familiar despite not having experienced the game for over 20 years!

@RetroBrothers ISTR the screen went blank when the match was in progress 🤭

@FrontierAstro Football manager was groundbreaking. Very immersive at the time and the lack of colour/sound didn't detract from it.

So, the first machine I ever used, the #ZX81 turns 45 today. My friend had one, complete with 16K RAM Pack. Seeing it run Sabotage and then later, 3D Monster Maze opened up a whole new world to me... I've been hooked ever since. #retrogames

@IntRschAgncy Are you using Windows? I wrote a guide to running FFE at frontierastro.co.uk/DosBox/DOSBoxF… which should still work but it does require a little bit of knowledge of DOS and batch files. FFED3D should run with no issues at all; just follow the download link at the address in my post.

@FrontierAstro I wish I could play this but it won't run on my OS. In fact, FFE won't run on any version of Dosbox I can find either, nor under virtualization at least so far with my attempts.

When Frontier First Encounters launched in 1995, it was a DOS-only game in 320x200 resolution. Some 30 years later, we can all enjoy the same brilliant game in much greater detail, thanks to some enterprising and talented coders. Details of FFED3D are at tinyurl.com/FFED3D-AJ

@jehuty77 @cyberglum Maybe, but in FFE's case, it was Gametek - the publisher - who seemed to be at fault.

@FrontierAstro @cyberglum A habit from FDev ...