Sommaire pour No. 175 de GamesTM

LUCASARTS Following its acquisition in 2012 – made as part of Disney’s 2012 purchase of LucasFilm for $4.05 billion – it took just six months for legendary game studio LucasArts to be closed down. That’s a move that ensured we never received Star Wars 1313, the action-adventure game starring a young Boba Fett. PROPAGANDA GAMES A part of the Disney Interactive Studios unit, Propaganda was active for just six years before being closed. The studio worked on the Turok 2008 reboot and Tron: Evolution, both of which were poorly received. That left Turok 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned to be canned. BLACK ROCK STUDIOS In 2006 Disney acquired famed UK developer Climax Racing, known for the MotoGP and ATV Offroad franchises, before renaming it Black…

WORLD WAR ONE ISN’T THE PERIOD WE MIGHT HAVE CHOSEN TO PLAY HOST TO A FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER. It’s not exactly an obvious choice. Developer DICE has, of course, been dismissive of that fact from the moment it unveiled Battlefield 1, an all-new FPS designed to celebrate ‘the beautiful chaos of all-out war’. It’s certainly evocative, designed in such a way that it could easily leave you hailing it as a turning point for the genre. But you’ve a right to be wary of the premise, because the gameplay demands of a fast-paced, team-based shooter – one with an emphasis on vehicular combat – seems to be inherently at odds with a setting that is most commonly associated with attrition. When you think of the Great War, it’s likely to conjure…

CRACKDOWN 3 ETA: TBC 2016 • If the Xbox One has a secret weapon in its arsenal then Cloudgine’s resurrection of this excellent superhero cop series is it. If the power of cloud processing can really deliver the destruction that’s been promised, it’s going to be exceptional. TEKKEN 7 ETA: TBC 2016 • Having established itself in arcades it’s good to see that Tekken 7 isn’t passing over this generation of consoles. With Street Fighter V splitting opinion, Tekken 7 could slide into the gap created, by offering a full single-player campaign. STAR CITIZEN ETA: TBC 2016 • The stunning space exploration game is really coming together as its crowdfunded promises come to fruition. If you’ve seen any of the physics demos or had the chance to play a beta,…

DETAILS Format Wii U, NX Origin Japan Publisher The Pokémon Company Developer In-house Release 18 Nov 2016 Players 1-2 POPPLIO TYPE: WATER ABILITY: TORRENT • Inspired by sea lions, Popplio is adept in water and less graceful on land, but still pretty powerful. Drawing on its skills with balloons and acrobatic tricks, it may prove an agile foe, while its type (excellent for defence) makes it a great all-rounder for your team. ROWLET TYPE: GRASS/FLYING ABILITY: OVERGROW • Increasingly a team favourite – though incredibly weak to Ice – Rowlet is a silent assassin, making no sound as it flies through the air before pouncing on its opponent. It’s got close-range slashing attacks and long-range leaf attacks. It’s a promising choice. LITTEN TYPE: FIRE ABILITY: BLAZE • This starter stands…

Behind the spectacle and the storylines, claims of match-fixing, doping, cheating, harassment and contractual corruption are casting a long shadow over the burgeoning professional competitive gaming scene. Competitive gaming is fast becoming one of the biggest spectator sports in the world, with the market expected to be worth $1.1 billion by the end of the 2019. It’s a big entertainment business venture on the verge of a mainstream breakthrough, but it’s riddled with issues. Earlier this year, Riot outright banned three teams from its League Of Legends Championship Series (LCS), putting the careers of over 15 young players in jeopardy after their respective organisations had their integrity called into question. In 2015, a player appeared to openly brag about taking performance-enhancing drugs during a tournament.That same year, Valve banned seven…

THIS IS A SHOOTER THAT RUNS AT A FRANTIC PACE, WITH ITS LAYERS OF COMPLEXITY EMERGING ONE AFTER ANOTHER THE LONGER THAT YOU PLAY DETAILS FORMAT: Xbox One OTHER FORMATS: PS4, PC ORIGIN: USA PUBLISHER: Blizzard Entertainment DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £49.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-12 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes Overwatch succeeds and surprises on so many levels that it’s actually a little embarrassing. Embarrassing, that is, for the myriad of developers currently working on first-person shooters – Overwatch exhibits a degree of technical excellence that will be desperately sought after in the years that follow, though ultimately difficult to replicate. Blizzard has once again sauntered out of its comfort zone and manufactured magic out of madness, though it falls short of perfection by thinking it could exorcise the…

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 ORIGIN: US PUBLISHER: Housemarque DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £15.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-4 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes The mad scientists of development are always finding new ways to splice genres and create freakish new hybrids, but the results are always impossible to predict. More often than not, there’s a colourful puff of smoke as disparate elements are combined, revealing some ill-advised abomination as it dissipates. But occasionally, the forces of good science prevail. The likes of rhythm-action dungeon crawler Crypt Of The Necrodancer and match-three RPG Puzzle Quest are great examples and while Housemarque’s latest isn’t quite such a revelation, it’s at least fair to say that it works far better than a combination of Diablo and Robotron has any right to. Moment-to-moment action benefits greatly from this…

YOU ARE THE SOLO, UNFAILING SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD – HOMEFRONT’S SUPPORTING CHARACTERS STOP JUST SHORT OF CALLING YOU ‘THE CHOSEN ONE’ DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 ORIGIN: Xbox One, PC, Mac OTHER FORMATS: UK PUBLISHER: Deep Silver DEVELOPER: Dambuster Studios PRICE: £49.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 (1-4 online) ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes Here you are, ostensibly a new recruit into the desperate fight to retake America, and yet you’re able to glide through the game’s missions, sidequests and challenges with ease, washing through occupied Philadelphia like a biblical flood. When you arrive, the whole city is in North Korean hands. After a single hour of play, you’ve destroyed countless enemy installations and reclaimed entire neighbourhoods. You start to question how the occupation ever gained a foothold in the first place. Homefront:…

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: Xbox One, Vita, PC, Mac ORIGIN: Finland PUBLISHER: Rising Star Games DEVELOPER: Triple Eh? PRICE: £14.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A Lumo places you in control of a wizard charged with navigating their way through a large and sprawling dungeon. With relatively basic visuals and single-room puzzles and platforming, the game cleverly blends classic challenges with new-school levels of variety. And as you effortlessly speed your way through the early rooms you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’ve already seen all Lumo has to offer; it does all feel very familiar. But despite its simplistic beginnings, Lumo gradually serves up a growing array of interesting challenges and puzzles, each more inventive and varied than the last. Basic platforming gives way…

DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 ORIGIN: Australia PUBLISHER: Tru Blue Entertainment DEVELOPER: Wicked Witch Software PRICE: £39.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-2 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes Poor old rugby union. Following the travesties that are Rugby World Cup 2015 and Rugby 15 – two of the worst games on current-gen, never mind of the rugger genre – the sport has been crying out for a decent simulator to emerge from the virtual locker room. Is Rugby Challenge 3 that glorious, sweat-drenched saviour? No, sadly, but it is the best rugby title out there. Okay, that’s not technically true. Last year’s impressive Rugby League Live 3 is the true rugby king but that’s a different code so we’ll just call RC3 the best union offering. In the…

KONAMI, LIKE MANY other developers with its roots in the arcades, is no stranger to shoot-em-ups. It jumped on the Space Invaders wagon in 1978 with Space King and continued to dabble in the genre for years to come. Gradius is by far its most successful shooting series and has given us such catchphrases as “Shoot the core” as well as several spin-off franchises. We can’t discuss Gradius however without briefly mentioning Konami’s rather excellent 1981 shooter Scramble. Originally seen as a standalone series, the release of Gradius Generations and Gradius V retrofitted the game to be the first title in the Gradius series. This makes sense as Konami’s developers once revealed that Gradius had the working title of Scramble 2 during development. Sadly, the connection wasn’t to last. Five…

• THOUGH FOR THE most part Elite Force focused on the Hazard Team, voiced wonderfully by Rino Romano, Devon Raymond, Iris Bahr, Derek McGrath, Michael McFall and Thomas F. Wilson, the cast also featured more familiar characters. Adding to the authenticity of the game, Elite Force featured the vocals talents of the cast of the Voyager TV series. In regards to his work on Elite Force, Tim Russ, who is best known for his role as Tuvok says, “Working on Elite Force was fairly straight forward. I was of course playing a role I had played for seven years, unlike other videogames wherein I have to play several different characters. The sessions ran about four hours each, and there was a ton of dialogue, because the Tuvok character had to…

ULTIMATE AGENT 47 SET • Your one-stop shop for a brand new Agent look. Each of these items from suit jacket to cufflinks can be bought separately, but the full ensemble is the way to go if you ask us. Pretty reasonably priced for a full suit, too. www.musterbrand.com FAITH JACKET • Inspired by Faith’s new look in Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, this waterproof jacket is designed with free-running needs in mind. Breathable fabric should mean it’s always comfy, and storm cuffs will keep the rooftop chills at bay. www.musterbrand.com CHUN-LI HOODIE • This is quite a fun interpretation of Chun-Li’s classic outfit in hoodie form, including great details like the buns on her head and the shoulder details on her traditional dress. Other characters are available. www.yellowbulldog.co.uk…

“ The HTC Vive is showing potential rather than final proof of the VR concept ” We’ve had plenty of time with Oculus Rift and tested PlayStation VR extensively, but neither of them come close to the virtual reality experience of HTC Vive. The difference is that it’s a combination of the best elements of both devices, offering the fidelity of Rift and the interactivity of PlayStation VR when it’s combined with Move controllers. The use of remotes and sensors to give you a full room VR experience is what makes Vive stand out. The immersion into the experience is more complete, the reality more convincing. But HTC Vive represents the biggest barrier to entry for all of the VR tech currently looking to get attention. At $799 the kit…

POLITICAL THEMES Kojima games have tended to tackle large political issues, most commonly war in the Metal Gear series for obvious reasons. We don’t expect that to change with future projects. MISDIRECTION Are you really playing as the character you think? Kojima has played with his audience on a number of occasions. You can’t always trust what you see in his games. STRONG ARTISTIC VISION As a student of film and lover of cinematic motifs, Kojima’s games always have a clear visual style and artistic flair. He’s toned down the cutscenes a little, but otherwise this trait remains. INSIDE JOKES As serious as the themes of his games can be, Kojima has a tendency not to take other matters quite so seriously. He likes an in-joke and he likes poking…

Infinity Ward is back in command of Call Of Duty. The studio isn’t merely flirting with the future in Infinite Warfare, it’s grabbing gamers by the throat and dragging them kicking and screaming into a science fiction-fuelled intergalactic civil war. It’s been all too easy to jump on the hate train for Infinite Warfare – familiarity does breed contempt, after all – but look beyond the whining and you’ll see that this might just be the most ambitious Call Of Duty yet. 01 RIDICULOUS SCOPE Ever since Infinity Ward first injected Call Of Duty with scenes of impressive cinematography and spectacular setpieces, it’s become a franchise defined by conflict escalation. Every Call Of Duty has to be bigger, louder and more explosive than the last; Infinite Warfare is no exception…

DETAILS Format Wii U, NX Origin Japan Publisher Nintendo Developer In-house Release 2017 Players 1 • The illustrative style of this game sits nicely between the cel-shading of Wind Waker and the more traditional graphical style of Twilight Princess, but is still probably closest to what we saw in Skyward Sword, pointing towards that game being the key influence here. • It’s rare that Link spends much time out of his traditional green outfit, but when he does it’s usually because the character has to take up the mantle of responsibility that comes with being the embodiment of the spirit of the hero. This Link’s journey to earning or taking on the appearance of the classic hero is looking more challenging than any Link that we’ve seen before. • Link’s…

DETAILS Format PS4 Origin France Publisher Sony Computer Entertainment Developer Quantic Dream Release TBC 2017 Players 1 • There’s been little word on David Cage’s follow-up to Beyond: Two Souls until an image from the motion capture sessions was revealed by Quantic Dream’s official Twitter account a little while back. It seems clear from the image that the team is deep in production and we shouldn’t necessarily hold our breath for a quick release. Quantic Dream has set itself the goal of not only making a game that exceeds the graphical standards of the generation so far, but also pushes forward the developer’s own passion for narrative story-telling in videogames. We’re not sure which it will ultimately find harder.…

eSports had a reality check of sorts in 2015, as pro Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Kory ‘Semphis’ Friesen admitted in an interview that he and other players had taken Adderall during a tournament. “We were all on Adderall,” he said at the time of performance enhancing-drug. “I don’t even give a fuck. It was pretty obvious if you listened to the comms.” This was rumoured to have occurred in an ESL CS: GO tournament that Friesen was a part of, which led the organiser to introduce random drug tests in all future events. Adderall in the United States is commonly prescribed – used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – and it’s thought to be a benefit to those looking to calm their nerves as they seek to win thousands…

60 MINS • There’s so much to love in Overwatch, and – for all that she’s been one of the main faces of the game – it’s only Tracer’s voice that’s grating on a game by game basis. 20 HOURS • Starting to master characters and get a handle on the maps. At this point, playing with friends reveals some interesting team compositions and attack strategies. 7 DAYS • If we have to escort one more Payload we’re going to scream, but the hunt for another Legendary skin is too appealing. You’ll likely have a definite favourite at this point.…

THE COMBAT IS SO HECTIC THAT THERE’S RARELY TIME TO CONSIDER WHAT’S HAPPENING ELSEWHERE DETAILS FORMAT: PS4 OTHER FORMATS: PC, Xbox One ORIGIN: USA PUBLISHER: 2K Games DEVELOPER: Gearbox Software PRICE: £49.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-10 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes There are few adjectives in this world more subjective than “annoying”, but Battleborn’s campaign bucks its user-friendly status quo to deliver a shooter that isn’t even slightly interested in accommodating casual players. What’s more, in its own way it’s as fatuous and poorly conceived as Colonial Marines was; a situation that’s exacerbated by the fact that you’re apparently supposed to grind through it a frankly insane number of times. It may have been touted during 2K’s marketing blitzkrieg as the most generous and varied FPS package…

REGARDLESS OF THE PATH YOU TAKE IN FATES, YOU’RE GETTING THE FULL FIRE EMBLEM EXPERIENCE DETAILS FORMAT: 3DS ORIGIN: Japan PUBLISHER: Nintendo DEVELOPER: Intelligent Systems PRICE: £34.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-2 ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes Fire Emblem is a series that thrives on backing the player into a corner at every opportunity, forcing you to make brutal choices that not only affect the outcome of the narrative but of the lives and relationships of those that you hold closest. Never has the pressure to deliver on the battlefield felt so demanding, as emotionally taxing as it does here in Fire Emblem Fates. It’s a difficult tactical RPG that rewards the bold, and punishes just about any player that dares play it. While many of the mechanics are comfortably…

DETAILS FORMAT: PC ORIGIN: Japan OTHER FORMATS: PS4, Xbox One, Mac PUBLISHER: Versus Evil DEVELOPER: Stoic PRICE: £14.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 MINIMUM SPEC:: Windows XP SP3, 2GB RAM, 4GB HDD space ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A Thankfully, The Banner Saga 2 picks up immediately after the thrilling events of the original. Here you are on a mighty adventure, leading a band of fighters, scavengers and terrified refugees as they flee from the invading Dredge, a vast army of demonic, murderous stone warriors. Yes, fans of the first game, it’s still classic fantasy fare, wrapped up in a tactical RPG format and presented in an utterly breath-taking art style, and it’s still just as captivating. The beautiful adventure has you primarily dealing with an almost constant stream…

DETAILS FORMAT: PC/Oculus Rift ORIGIN: Germany PUBLISHER: Crytek DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: $49.99 RELEASE: Out now MINIMUM SPEC: Oculus Rift, Nvidia GTX 970 / AMD 290, 8GB Ram, Windows 7, 2 x USB 3 ports, HDMI 1.3 video output. PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A Partway through a gruelling ascent of a canyon face in Crytek’s The Climb , we couldn’t take it any more. We were sweating and emotionally-exhausted, both in the game and out, halfway across an underhang where every slip meant a plummet to certain death – and we were slipping plenty. We died again, and alt-tabbed out to have a break. And the game crashed. Could we face restarting it? We could and did. Because The Climb is odd for one of these first-gen VR…

GRADIUS VERSION NES In this game, this powerful cheat activates all power-ups in the game with the exception of Speed-Up, Double and Laser. GRADIUS SYSTEM: PC ENGINE If you’re finding the PC Engine port too tough enter the code to receive full options, the shield and Missiles. LIFE FORCE VERSION: NES Enter the infamous code on the title screen and you’ll be rewarded with 30 lives. It doesn’t work on all versions of the game though. GRADIUS II VERSION: PC ENGINE If you pause the game and enter the code you’ll receive full power. You can use it multiple times when playing on easy mode. GRADIUS III SYSTEM: SNES This is a sneaky one. You receive all power-ups but instantly die upon pausing the game. Use the L and R…

• THE MAIN CAMPAIGN of Elite Force was everything a Trekker could ever have wanted, but its online multiplayer placed all the weapons, items and characters within the confines of a singular level, all the while pitted against 31 enemies. The result, whether you were playing against real players or making use of Elite Force’s fantastic AI bots, was simply stunning to behold. From playing as the Klingon messianic figure Kahless and taking down your friends in Deathmatch, to choosing Boothby, the elderly Starfleet Academy grounds keeper, and evading the growing collective in Assimilation mode, multiplayer in Elite Force was addictive, hilarious at times and often proved a better time sink than the main campaign itself.…

K.K. SLIDER K.K. Slider is the lovable hippy dog that travels to your village every week to sing a few tunes and have a few laughs. While K.K. has appeared in other Animal Crossing games, he has decided to become a DJ, which just isn’t as cool as the roaming guitarist. ROVER You should have known going to this village was a bad idea when you got accosted on the train by a talking cat. Rover sits opposite you any time you travel, demanding details such as your name, birthday and location. He says he isn’t crazy, but we have our doubts. PETE We always liked Pete. Unlike our real-life Royal Mail, his postal deliveries are always on time. At 9AM and 5PM he will appear to deliver your mail,…

THE LAB • Valve’s own VR testing area is available for free and acts as a great showcase of the kind of interactive games you can play with the device. It even features a cameo from everyone’s favourite psychotic and murderous robot AI, GLaDOS. JOB SIMULATOR • You may have seen some of this being played by YouTubers and there’s a reason; this is a great little sandbox of madness. Enter a robot-created ‘human’ world, photocopying donuts and making delicious cactus and hot sauce smoothies. It’s magical. CLOUDLANDS: VR MINIGOLF • Minigolf action in the VR space comes in many varieties – this is the best we played. Using just one remote as your club, it requires no button presses to swing, and the physics are excellent. AUDIOSHIELD • A…

ASSAULT The fiercest action has always been on the frontlines in Battlefield and that’s no different here. The Assault kit comes equipped anti-vehicle weaponry and explosives designed to aid you in disabling enemy armour and disrupting defensive lines. MEDIC Those with a penchant for healing and reviving their brothers in arms will want to take up the role of Medic, which has been separated from the Assault kit – the first time this has happened since Bad Company 2. SUPPORT Suppression and flank tactics are more integral than ever in the larger spaces of Battlefield 1’s theatres of war. The Support kit lets a soldier have access to light machine guns and gives them the opportunity to resupply ammunition. SCOUT With an emphasis on destructible landscapes and trench warfare, engaging…

As we move into an era where things like augmented reality, wearable tech that becomes a part of who we are, fully immersive VR and hologram advancements are all happening and being celebrated in the here and now, it’s growing increasingly apparently that it’s ‘Could we…?’ Rather than ‘Should we…?’ that is the leading question in the modern tech market. As great as it is to see the former play out, to see the tech of science fiction from only a decade or two ago become reality, there are genuine fears surrounding the latter. The closer technology comes to being integrated into people on a mass scale – which, believably, could be only a few years out – the more risk there is of something going wrong. Only here, it’s…

BELOW ETA: TBC 2016 • Capybara’s roguelike was off the radar for a little while, but it returned in style at PAX East this year and impressed us all over again. It’s a stunning game with an amazing sense of scale and depth. It promises to be a challenging pleasure. PYRE ETA: TBC 2017 • The maker of Bastion and Transistor is back with another great-looking indie title. This time it’s going after the party-based RPG experience, adding its own uniquely colourful and vibrant art style to the mix. We’re very excited. YOOKA-LAYLEE ETA: TBC 2017 • The spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie still has some development to go, but this could be an amazing renaissance for the 3D platforming genre. Playtonic is packing this game with all the classic collectibles…

Users of the internet are no strangers to hate mobs, especially in the gaming scene. But their impact on competitive gaming has gone largely unnoticed, until now. The staggering range of harassment that exists in eSports came to a head at DreamHack earlier this year. African-American competitor Terrence ‘TerrenceM’ Miller was subjected to a torrent of racist abuse on the Twitch stream’s chat log as he earned his first real success in the Hearthstone eSports scene. “I knew it would be bad, but I didn’t think it would be that bad,” he said in a post-match interview with Polygon. “I was getting texts from my parents saying, ‘Oh, we saw you on your interview, really good job.’ And I was just hoping they saw it in full screen and didn’t…

THERE HAVE BEEN MORE SOPHISTICATED GAMES, MORE NUANCED, AND MORE INNOVATIVE, BUT FEW AS FUN, CHALLENGING AND INTENSE DETAILS FORMAT: Xbox One OTHER FORMATS: PS4, PC, ORIGIN: USA PUBLISHER: Bethesda Softworks DEVELOPER: id Software PRICE: £49.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 (2-12 online) ONLINE REVIEWED: Yes There was a point during the course of our first playthrough of Doom where we were not very happy with it at all. While we were appreciating it aesthetically and could see what id Software was trying to do, we were becoming increasingly frustrated with issues of pacing and escalation and one or two enemy types that seemed designed to annoy to the point of gamepad-snapping anger. Lucky then that we had a little time to calm down and reflect…

DETAILS FORMAT: PS Vita ORIGIN: Canada PUBLISHER: DrinkBox Studios DEVELOPER: In-house PRICE: £11.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1 ONLINE REVIEWED: N/A Beautiful, bold and eerily haunting, Severed puts us in the samurai shoes of Sasha, a young warrior who we meet as she staggers home, clutching the bloodied stump that was her right arm. To add insult to injury she finds her house in ruins and family missing, the fate of whom forms the crux of the game’s quest. Severed successfully combines first-person and RPG elements, much like the dungeon crawlers of old. But where the likes of Ultima Underworld would leave movement and combat to keyboard presses, here the Vita’s touchscreen is used to add a modern twist. Anyone who has played Fruit Ninja will…

DETAILS FORMAT: PC ORIGIN: France PUBLISHER: Focus Home Interactive DEVELOPER: CyberConnect2 PRICE: £34.99 RELEASE: Out now PLAYERS: 1-2 (online) MINIMUM SPEC: 64-bit operating system, 3.3 GHz quad core CPU, 1GB DirectX11 GPU, 4GB RAM, 10GB HDD space ONLINE REVIEWED: No Battlefleet Gothic: Armada very much rides along on the concept of its board game equivalent as much as it can. It brings the systems and the rules into a real-time tactics environment, and a great job has been done porting it all over. It’s an RTS for those who prefer controlling more important, less discardable units – think more Total War or Company Of Heroes rather than StarCraft. The Warhammer setting and ruleset creates a game that – if you’re a 40K fan – you probably ought to…

I SAW THE ADVERTS FOR THE SPECTRUM: HIGH-RES MOVING COLOURED GRAPHICS AND AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE! What was your first experience with computing? I went to Abbs Cross Technical School in Hornchurch, Essex. I learned there to program in a language called ALGOL 60 and we wrote programs on special squared paper to give lists of square numbers. The computer was the size of a desk with some control panels on top and flashing lights. It was magic; like being in a spaceship. You fed your paper tape into it and the results were printed on output tape, which you fed into a teletypewriter. I then moved to Rayleigh Sweyne school and the school was raising money for charity; I was part of a group that designed and wrote a…