Spacewar!, the first known digital video game ever made, is now available on the Analogue Pocket thanks to the new PDP-1 Core developed with openFPGA.

FPGA, or field-programmable gate array, is a type of integrated circuit that can be reconfigured after it's manufactured. openFPGA, on the other hand, is the "first purpose built, FPGA driven hardware and ecosystem designed for 3rd party development of video game hardware." It was also "created specifically for preserving video game history."

Spacewar! is obviously a big part of video game history and a 3rd party developer has "painstakingly recreated" the game released on the PDP-1 in 1962 by developers at MIT using public domain open source code for openFPGA.

Using openFPGA, a 3rd party developer “Spacemen3” recreated the PDP-1 and Spacewar! using the original source code in the public domain. You can play it today on Pocket with openFPGA by following this guide here: https://t.co/XFS3ARmaUe pic.twitter.com/ut6N6Ovois

— Analogue (@analogue) July 29, 2022

Video game preservation has always had a big question mark next to it, especially with companies like Nintendo planning to shut down its Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShops and making it even harder to play older games. Hopefully, with this new development, less games will be lost to the history books.

Spacewar! was inspired by science fiction books written by E.E. Doc Smith and developed by a group of MIT students who wished to make a space simulation video game. It was a space shooter and a 2-player versus style game that featured "orbital mechanics around a gravitational star." It was developed to be played by custom "control boxes" that were essentially also the first video game controller.

The PDP-1 had a 1024x1024 CRT vector display and Spacewar! itself used it to the fullest with its "beautiful blue and green phosphors, trailing, bursting, and decaying amidst modernist hexagons."

The developers behind Spacewar! also created certain criteria that a computer game should meet, and they are as follows;

• It should demonstrate as many of the computer's resources as possible, and tax those resources to the limit.
• Within a consistent framework, it should be interesting, which means every run should be different.
• It should involve the onlooker in a pleasurable and active way-in short, it should be a game.

Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, played Spacewar! and was so inspired by it that he would go on to create Computer Space, the first commercial video game and arcade game.

If you have an Analogue Pocket and would like to try Spacewar!, check out the support page that walks you through all you need to know to check out this important piece of history.

For more on Spacewar! and the early days of video games, check out our look back at the history of Atari.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Spacewar!, the first known digital video game ever made, is now available on the Analogue Pocket thanks to the new PDP-1 Core developed with openFPGA.

FPGA, or field-programmable gate array, is a type of integrated circuit that can be reconfigured after it's manufactured. openFPGA, on the other hand, is the "first purpose built, FPGA driven hardware and ecosystem designed for 3rd party development of video game hardware." It was also "created specifically for preserving video game history."

Spacewar! is obviously a big part of video game history and a 3rd party developer has "painstakingly recreated" the game released on the PDP-1 in 1962 by developers at MIT using public domain open source code for openFPGA.

Using openFPGA, a 3rd party developer “Spacemen3” recreated the PDP-1 and Spacewar! using the original source code in the public domain. You can play it today on Pocket with openFPGA by following this guide here: https://t.co/XFS3ARmaUe pic.twitter.com/ut6N6Ovois

— Analogue (@analogue) July 29, 2022

Video game preservation has always had a big question mark next to it, especially with companies like Nintendo planning to shut down its Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShops and making it even harder to play older games. Hopefully, with this new development, less games will be lost to the history books.

Spacewar! was inspired by science fiction books written by E.E. Doc Smith and developed by a group of MIT students who wished to make a space simulation video game. It was a space shooter and a 2-player versus style game that featured "orbital mechanics around a gravitational star." It was developed to be played by custom "control boxes" that were essentially also the first video game controller.

The PDP-1 had a 1024x1024 CRT vector display and Spacewar! itself used it to the fullest with its "beautiful blue and green phosphors, trailing, bursting, and decaying amidst modernist hexagons."

The developers behind Spacewar! also created certain criteria that a computer game should meet, and they are as follows;

• It should demonstrate as many of the computer's resources as possible, and tax those resources to the limit.
• Within a consistent framework, it should be interesting, which means every run should be different.
• It should involve the onlooker in a pleasurable and active way-in short, it should be a game.

Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, played Spacewar! and was so inspired by it that he would go on to create Computer Space, the first commercial video game and arcade game.

If you have an Analogue Pocket and would like to try Spacewar!, check out the support page that walks you through all you need to know to check out this important piece of history.

For more on Spacewar! and the early days of video games, check out our look back at the history of Atari.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland doesn't have a lot of love for the animated comedy's fifth season. Speaking with IGN for an interview during San Diego Comic-Con, Roiland admitted to having mixed feelings about last year's season, though there were extenuating circumstances.

"Season 5 was a weird one. We lost Mendel," Roiland says, referring to line producer J. Michael Mendel, who died unexpectedly in 2019.

The show's fifth season, which continued the adventures of the chaotic Rick and his perpetually traumatized grandson, Morty, put the spotlight on Evil Morty and his plan. As always, it featured a mixture of high-concept sci-fi, smart writing, and seriously dark humor.

But even if the season largely lived up to the standards set by earlier seasons, Roiland still has mixed feelings about it owing to the circumstances of the show's production.

"It was tough. We were thrown for a loop. That was... yeah. If I talk anymore, I'll start crying," Roiland says.

Now in its sixth season, which was confirmed to be releasing in September earlier this week, Rick and Morty has become known for its chaotic energy, quotable lines, and occasionally wild cultural moments. Originally a parody of sorts of Back to the Future, Rick and Morty has steadily grown into its own vast multiverse with a serialized storyline.

But for as much as it's grown, Roiland continues to prefer Rick and Morty's first and second seasons, which he owes to the "silliness and fun that was happening in the creative process."

Justin Roiland shares his five favorite episodes

Asked his five favorite episodes, Roiland ticks them off in no particular order: Total Rickall, the one where the family deals with memory parasites; Rixty Minutes, the first cable episode; Big Trouble in Little Sanchez, or the one with Tiny Rick; The Ricks Must Be Crazy, guest starring Stephen Colbert, and M. Night Shaym-Aliens, in which Rick, Morty, and Jerry get trapped in an alien simulation.

Roiland recalls these episodes as being akin to "Rubiks Cubes" that the team had to solve. He describes a scene where he, co-creator Dan Harmon, and the rest of the team would be gathered around a white board, exhausted, arguing over every possibility — "little things" like whether Jerry would lose his suit when the simulation went away.

Later seasons were a little more formalized, Roiland says, less likely to stray wildly. "We weren't just going to rip it all up and throw it away and start over."

The passing of Mike Mendel, who had previously worked on The Simpsons, The Critic, as well as Roiland's Solar Opposites, was difficult and tragic for the Rick and Morty staff. Roiland wrote at the time, "My friend, partner, and line producer Mike Mendel passed away. I am devastated. My heart breaks for his family. I don't know what I’m going to do without you by my side Mike. I'm destroyed."

Looking ahead to Rick and Morty's sixth season, though, Roiland seems more optimistic.

"I will say that it's a bit more canonical," he explains, though he says there will be also be good "point of entry" episode as well. "It really rewards fans of the show that have been watching up to this point...So it's like, I think we're kind of finally back into the rhythm of Rick and Morty, and I think Season 6 is... I didn't particularly think Season 5 was bad, but Season 6 is f*cking amazing. It really is a f*cking quality season."

As for his relationship with co-creator Dan Harmon, whom he compared to Rick at one point, Roiland says, "It's good."

"I mean, look, we work very differently and I don't like to work. His philosophy is perfection," Roiland says.

Roiland himself is busy as ever, working on Hulu's Solar Opposites and continuing to run his own game studio, which is current developing High On Life — an ambitious first-person shooter. Meanwhile, Rick and Morty Season 6 is slated to release September 4 on Adult Swim.

There's lots more coverage from San Diego Comic-Con, which wrapped up last Sunday, including our list of SDCC's winners and everything announced during the show.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland doesn't have a lot of love for the animated comedy's fifth season. Speaking with IGN for an interview during San Diego Comic-Con, Roiland admitted to having mixed feelings about last year's season, though there were extenuating circumstances.

"Season 5 was a weird one. We lost Mendel," Roiland says, referring to line producer Mike Mendel, who died unexpectedly in 2019.

The show's fifth season, which continued the adventures of the chaotic Rick and his perpetually traumatized grandson, Morty, put the spotlight on Evil Morty and his plan. As always, it featured a mixture of high-concept sci-fi, smart writing, and seriously dark humor.

But even if the season largely lived up to the standards set by earlier seasons, Roiland still has mixed feelings about it owing to the circumstances of the show's production.

"It was tough. We were thrown for a loop. That was... yeah. If I talk anymore, I'll start crying," Roiland says.

Now in its sixth season, which was confirmed to be releasing in September earlier this week, Rick and Morty has become known for its chaotic energy, quotable lines, and occasionally wild cultural moments. Originally a parody of sorts of Back to the Future, Rick and Morty has steadily grown into its own vast multiverse with a serialized storyline.

But for as much as it's grown, Roiland continues to prefer Rick and Morty's first and second seasons, which he owes to the "silliness and fun that was happening in the creative process."

Justin Roiland shares his five favorite episodes

Asked his five favorite episodes, Roiland ticks them off in no particular order: Total Rickall, the one where the family deals with memory parasites; Interdimensional Cable, the first cable episode; Big Trouble in Little Sanchez, or the one with Tiny Rick; The Ricks Must Be Crazy, guest starring Stephen Colbert, and M. Night Shaym-Aliens, in which Rick, Morty, and Jerry get trapped in an alien simulation.

Roiland recalls these episodes as being akin to "Rubiks Cubes" that the team had to solve. He describes a scene where he, co-creator Dan Harmon, and the rest of the team would be gathered around a white board, exhausted, arguing over every possibility — "little things" like whether Jerry would lose his suit when the simulation went away.

Later seasons were a little more formalized, Roiland says, less likely to stray wildly. "We weren't just going to rip it all up and throw it away and start over."

The passing of Mike Mendel, who had previously worked on The Simpsons, The Critic, as well as Roiland's Solar Opposites, was difficult and tragic for the Rick and Morty staff. Roiland wrote at the time, "My friend, partner, and line producer Mike Mendel passed away. I am devastated. My heart breaks for his family. I don't know what I’m going to do without you by my side Mike. I'm destroyed."

Looking ahead to Rick and Morty's sixth season, though, Roiland seems more optimistic.

"I will say that it's a bit more canonical," he explains, though he says there will be also be good "point of entry" episode as well. "It really rewards fans of the show that have been watching up to this point...So it's like, I think we're kind of finally back into the rhythm of Rick and Morty, and I think Season 6 is... I didn't particularly think Season 5 was bad, but Season 6 is f*cking amazing. It really is a f*cking quality season."

As for his relationship with co-creator Dan Harmon, whom he compared to Rick at one point, Roiland says "It's good."

"I mean, look, we work very differently and I don't like to work. His philosophy is perfection," Roiland says.

Roiland himself is busy as ever, working on Hulu's Solar Opposites and continuing to run his own game studio, which is current developing High On Life — an ambitious first-person shooter. Meanwhile, Rick and Morty Season 6 is slated to release September 4 on Adult Swim.

There's lots more coverage from San Diego Comic-Con, which wrapped up last Sunday, including our list of SDCC's winners and everything announced during the show.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

1980s icon Max Headroom is making a long-overdue comeback.

According to Deadline, AMC is now developing a Max Headroom drama, with Matt Frewer reprising the role of the world’s first “Artificial Intelligence” TV personality.

The new Max Headroom series is being written by Halt & Catch Fire scribe, Christopher Cantwell, who will also act as showrunner. That feels like a particularly good choice, seeing that this show was all about the ‘80s computer revolution. Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah’s SpectreVision and All3Media will produce the project.

The character first appeared in a 1985 British cyberpunk movie, Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future but went on to host The Max Headroom Show where he played a selection of music videos in between snarky commentary and hilariously timed visual glitches.

Of course, Max was a smash hit, gaining quite a following. He even appeared in adverts for new Coke, as well as on the cover of Newsweek.

But he became an even bigger sensation when ABC produced Max Headroom – a drama that continued the story that was introduced in the earlier film. The show aired on ABC between 1987 and 1988 when the character’s popularity began to take a hit.

However, he’s remained a cult figure over the years, often referenced in pop culture shows such as Bojack Horseman and even Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He even made a rare appearance in Selena Gomez’s music video, “Love You Like A Love Song”.

Max Headroom’s look is iconic, encapsulating the forward-thinking of the ‘80s computer revolution while remaining distinctly of the era.

Essentially a satire of older television hosts, Max came along at the perfect time – his computer-generated style, heavy makeup, and plastic suit created a very different kind of TV host that the ‘80s youth went wild about.

Although Frewer is best known for Max Headroom, he recently had roles in Fear the Walking Dead and Orphan Black, and notably played the character Moloch in Zack Snyder’s Watchmen.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

1980s icon Max Headroom is making a long-overdue comeback.

According to Deadline, AMC is now developing a Max Headroom drama, with Matt Frewer reprising the role of the world’s first “Artificial Intelligence” TV personality.

The new Max Headroom series is being written by Halt & Catch Fire scribe, Christopher Cantwell, who will also act as showrunner. That feels like a particularly good choice, seeing that this show was all about the ‘80s computer revolution. Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah’s SpectreVision and All3Media will produce the project.

The character first appeared in a 1985 British cyberpunk movie, Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future but went on to host The Max Headroom Show where he played a selection of music videos in between snarky commentary and hilariously timed visual glitches.

Of course, Max was a smash hit, gaining quite a following. He even appeared in adverts for new Coke, as well as on the cover of Newsweek.

But he became an even bigger sensation when ABC produced Max Headroom – a drama that continued the story that was introduced in the earlier film. The show aired on ABC between 1987 and 1988 when the character’s popularity began to take a hit.

However, he’s remained a cult figure over the years, often referenced in pop culture shows such as Bojack Horseman and even Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He even made a rare appearance in Selena Gomez’s music video, “Love You Like A Love Song”.

Max Headroom’s look is iconic, encapsulating the forward-thinking of the ‘80s computer revolution while remaining distinctly of the era.

Essentially a satire of older television hosts, Max came along at the perfect time – his computer-generated style, heavy makeup, and plastic suit created a very different kind of TV host that the ‘80s youth went wild about.

Although Frewer is best known for Max Headroom, he recently had roles in Fear the Walking Dead and Orphan Black, and notably played the character Moloch in Zack Snyder’s Watchmen.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Stranger Things is a cultural phenomenon these days, but not everyone was so sure of its success. It turns out that David Harbour was sure the show would get canceled.

During an interview with BBC’s The One Show, the 47-year-old actor explained why he thought Netflix’s then-new sci-fi horror series was going to bomb.

“I remember when we were shooting the first season,” he said. “We were down in Atlanta, Netflix had given us a budget of about $20. Halfway through I remember my hair person coming up to me, like about episode four we were shooting, and she was like, ‘I don’t think it’s gonna work.'”

Despite the show’s low budget, Stranger Things became an overnight sensation. Debuting on Netflix in July 2016, the first season tapped into ‘80s nostalgia in a way we’ve never quite seen before. The show’s grainy film stock feel and low-fi retro soundtrack helped the show to find its place.

But before it debuted, Harbour still wasn’t convinced.

“By the time we finished, we wrapped, I thought we wouldn’t get a second season” he added. “We’d be the first Netflix show kind of ever to never get a second season. We thought no one would watch it, it was going to be a disaster.”

Of course, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Six years on and Stranger Things is still a massive draw for Netflix. In fact, the fourth season of Stranger Things recently became Netflix’s biggest English-language TV season ever – watched for a staggering 1.4 billion hours since it launched.

IGN’s own review of Stranger Things Season 4 Part 2 said: “There are as many thrills as you could hope for, but also quite a few lovely, tender moments between characters we’ve come to care so much about. There are so many series-best performances that it’s hard to single out any in particular, but it’s especially nice to see Noah Schnapp’s Will get a bit more attention than he did in Part 1.

It still ends up feeling a tad bit unwieldy – a hard thing to avoid when juggling this many characters and storylines – but ultimately, these four hours pack in just about everything a Stranger Things fan could ask for.”

Want to read more about Stranger Things? Check out the 5 burning questions we have after the Season 4 finale, and take a look at how Vecna’s big action scenes were made.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Stranger Things is a cultural phenomenon these days, but not everyone was so sure of its success. It turns out that David Harbour was sure the show would get canceled.

During an interview with BBC’s The One Show, the 47-year-old actor explained why he thought Netflix’s then-new sci-fi horror series was going to bomb.

“I remember when we were shooting the first season,” he said. “We were down in Atlanta, Netflix had given us a budget of about $20. Halfway through I remember my hair person coming up to me, like about episode four we were shooting, and she was like, ‘I don’t think it’s gonna work.'”

Despite the show’s low budget, Stranger Things became an overnight sensation. Debuting on Netflix in July 2016, the first season tapped into ‘80s nostalgia in a way we’ve never quite seen before. The show’s grainy film stock feel and low-fi retro soundtrack helped the show to find its place.

But before it debuted, Harbour still wasn’t convinced.

“By the time we finished, we wrapped, I thought we wouldn’t get a second season” he added. “We’d be the first Netflix show kind of ever to never get a second season. We thought no one would watch it, it was going to be a disaster.”

Of course, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Six years on and Stranger Things is still a massive draw for Netflix. In fact, the fourth season of Stranger Things recently became Netflix’s biggest English-language TV season ever – watched for a staggering 1.4 billion hours since it launched.

IGN’s own review of Stranger Things Season 4 Part 2 said: “There are as many thrills as you could hope for, but also quite a few lovely, tender moments between characters we’ve come to care so much about. There are so many series-best performances that it’s hard to single out any in particular, but it’s especially nice to see Noah Schnapp’s Will get a bit more attention than he did in Part 1.

It still ends up feeling a tad bit unwieldy – a hard thing to avoid when juggling this many characters and storylines – but ultimately, these four hours pack in just about everything a Stranger Things fan could ask for.”

Want to read more about Stranger Things? Check out the 5 burning questions we have after the Season 4 finale, and take a look at how Vecna’s big action scenes were made.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Iron Man director Jon Favreau tried to save Tony Stark from his Avengers: Endgame fate.

During an interview with Vanity Fair, the Russo Brothers explained how they received a phone call from Favreau begging them to reconsider.

“Part of the pressure [not to kill Tony Stark] came from Jon Favreau, who called us up after he read the script… and said to us, ‘Are you really going to kill Iron Man?’” revealed Anthony Russo.

“He did. Yeah,” added Joe Russo. “And I remember pacing on the corner of a stage on the phone with Favreau trying to talk him off a ledge.”

Iron Man debuted in 2008 under Favreau’s direction – essentially kicking off the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. But Favreau has also appeared throughout the MCU as Happy Hogan, Tony’s security chief, and best pal… so it’s nice to see he was still in Tony’s corner.

Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame was one of the most powerful moments in the entire MCU, cementing Iron Man in legend while providing the perfect exclamation point to Tony’s story.

But Favreau was having none of it.

“Because he’s like, ‘You can’t do this,’” said Joe. “‘It’s gonna devastate people, and you don’t want them, you know, walking out of the theater and into traffic.’ We did it anyways.”

Ultimately, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely agreed with the Russos – this was the perfect note for Iron Man to end on… and it made so much sense.

“Everyone knew this was going to be the end of Tony Stark,” said McFeely.

“We had the opportunity to give him the perfect retirement life, within the movie,” added Markus. “[He already got that]. That’s the life he’s been striving for. Are he and Pepper going to get together? Yes. They got married, they had a kid, it was great. It’s a good death. It doesn’t feel like a tragedy. It feels like a heroic, finished life.”

Iron Man fans may feel his absence to this day, but it was the heroic end Tony deserved.

Want to read more about Marvel’s Avengers? Check out our guide to Marvel’s Phase 4 plans, as well as everything Marvel announced at San Diego Comic Con.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Iron Man director Jon Favreau tried to save Tony Stark from his Avengers: Endgame fate.

During an interview with Vanity Fair, the Russo Brothers explained how they received a phone call from Favreau begging them to reconsider.

“Part of the pressure [not to kill Tony Stark] came from Jon Favreau, who called us up after he read the script… and said to us, ‘Are you really going to kill Iron Man?’” revealed Anthony Russo.

“He did. Yeah,” added Joe Russo. “And I remember pacing on the corner of a stage on the phone with Favreau trying to talk him off a ledge.”

Iron Man debuted in 2008 under Favreau’s direction – essentially kicking off the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. But Favreau has also appeared throughout the MCU as Happy Hogan, Tony’s security chief, and best pal… so it’s nice to see he was still in Tony’s corner.

Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame was one of the most powerful moments in the entire MCU, cementing Iron Man in legend while providing the perfect exclamation point to Tony’s story.

But Favreau was having none of it.

“Because he’s like, ‘You can’t do this,’” said Joe. “‘It’s gonna devastate people, and you don’t want them, you know, walking out of the theater and into traffic.’ We did it anyways.”

Ultimately, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely agreed with the Russos – this was the perfect note for Iron Man to end on… and it made so much sense.

“Everyone knew this was going to be the end of Tony Stark,” said McFeely.

“We had the opportunity to give him the perfect retirement life, within the movie,” added Markus. “[He already got that]. That’s the life he’s been striving for. Are he and Pepper going to get together? Yes. They got married, they had a kid, it was great. It’s a good death. It doesn’t feel like a tragedy. It feels like a heroic, finished life.”

Iron Man fans may feel his absence to this day, but it was the heroic end Tony deserved.

Want to read more about Marvel’s Avengers? Check out our guide to Marvel’s Phase 4 plans, as well as everything Marvel announced at San Diego Comic Con.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.