Western Computer-game Machines

A Western computer-game machine is a PC or microcomputer sold by Western computer manufacturers and upon which Westerners primarily played computer games.

By Western, I mean primarily the UK, the USA, the British Commonwealth and Western Continental European countries, such as France, Italy and Germany.

Examples of Western computer-game machines with which the cRPG Blog is primarily concerned:

• Acorn BBC Micro (1981 MOS Tech 6502/6510 clocked at 2 MHz)
• Acorn Archimedes (1987, ARM RISC clocked at 8 MHz)
• Apple 2 (1977, MOS Tech 6502 clocked at 1 MHz)
• Commodore 64 (1982, MOS Tech 6510/8500 clocked at 1 MHz)
• Commodore Amiga (1985, Motorola 68000 clocked at 7.09-7.16 MHz)
• Atari ST (1985, Motorola 68000 clocked at 8 MHz)
• IBM PC & Compatible (1981, PC Booter, MS-DOS, Windows: i808x, i80x86)
• Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1982, Zilog Z80 clocked at 3½ MHz)
• TRS-80 (1977, Zilog Z80 clocked at 1.77-1.79 MHz)

My main focus is on the IBM PC, the Amiga and the C64.

The technical capacities of computer-game machine hardware are found in that article, my History of Shoot 'em ups article, and my History of 1990s Computer Games article. This is because it is more interesting (for me) to consider hardware in the context of software.

 

I collectively refer to computer games that appeared on a micro as its computer-game catalogue.

 

In classic computer-game language Western computer-game machines include 8, 16 and 32 bit micros manufactured by Acorn, Apple, Commodore and others. 

My commentary does not refer to IBM PCs as micros, but rather as IBM PCs, IBM PC compatibles or simply PCs. As a rule, IBM PCs are too physically big to be referred to as micros.

Conversely, in the sphere of computer-gaming the Amiga, the Archimedes and the ST were only very rarely referred to as PCs back in the day, even though they most certainly were personal computers whose high-end variants were audio, science or graphics workstations (e.g., the NewTek Video Toaster of 1990 on the Amiga 2000). But my commentary on home computers is restricted to their role as computer-game machines.

For me, the general term home computer encompasses both microcomputers and PCs. Home computers are constrasted with computers that are not typically used as home appliances, such as minicomputers, mainframes, arcade machines, terminals and workstations.

David Braben's Elite of 1984 running on a BBC Micro clocked at 2 MHz:

cf.

• Best IBM PC Game
• Best Apple 2 Game
• Best ZX Spectrum Game
• Best Commodore 64 Game
• Best Commodore Amiga Game
• Best BBC Micro Game
• Best Acorn Archimedes Game
• Best Atari ST Game
• The First REAL Amiga Game
• Computer Games Listed in Chronological Order
• History of 1990s Computer Games
• History of Shoot 'em Ups
• cRPG Blog (Master Index)