A bunch of (self-proclaimed) computer addicts have participated in a competition to destroy their hardware in a spectacular way. 300 people in the city of Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine, ‘kicked mice’, ‘threw keyboards’ and ‘creatively destroyed monitors’. Ironically, the price for doing this activity was new hardware. Plus, owning a computer in the Ukraine is still very much a luxury.
The event was organized by a local radio station with the ‘aim of raising young people’s awareness of the dangers of spending too much time in front of a computer’. I thought it was funny, because it reminded me of a couple of quotes game designer Roberta Williams (link goes to unofficial fanclub page) once made about creating video games. I’m pretty sure she said that she created games to draw kids away from the TV because computers provided better interaction. Think about the progress humanity has made since those early days.
My search for more answers resulted in silly authentic information. There’s Ken Williams proud announcement of the fact that the SCI (Sierra’s game engine) now supported MIDI music. It reads like a FAQ and the first question raised (‘What is a music card?’) tells a lot about the state of technology those days (You may just as well explore that site for other Sierra relevant information). Those were the days of the Adlib card, the card then recommended by many game makers. I fondly remember the first signs of the SoundBlaster. Both Alfons and I were terribly aware of the state of synths and particularly Yamaha’s push for the sale of their OPL chips. SoundBlaster? Nah. At the end, we both thought they were terrible OPL-based noise generators and eventually we decided to settle for that genuine Roland SCC card (earlier).
I can’t wait for the next Destroy Your Hardware day, featuring OPL-sound-and-safe splatter days.