Grand Prix (video game)
Encyclopedia
Grand Prix is one of the first side-scrolling racing video games, made in 1982. It was developed by Activision
for the Atari 2600
. This game was later incorporated into the Activision Anthology
.
David Crane, the designer, remembers the innovation of Grand Prix.
The track is viewed from overhead. Each course (except Watkins Glen) has at least one bridge to be crossed. There will be an excessive amount of oil slicks on the road as the bridge is approached; the player has a few seconds in between the slicks and the bridge to move into the middle of the road to cross safely (especially at full speed). Opposing cars do not cross bridges or the finish line; they will come to a sudden stop if they are about to approach either while running alongside the player's car.
The four courses to choose from are Watkins Glen (no bridges), Brands Hatch (1 bridge), LeMans (2 bridges) and Monaco (3 bridges).
Game Room
service for its Xbox 360
console and for Windows-based
PC
s in May 2010.
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
for the Atari 2600
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
. This game was later incorporated into the Activision Anthology
Activision Anthology
Activision Anthology is a compilation of most of the Atari 2600 games by Activision for various systems. It also includes some games originally released by Absolute Entertainment and Imagic, as well as some homebrewed games. The Windows and Mac OS X versions are titled Activision Anthology Remix...
.
David Crane, the designer, remembers the innovation of Grand Prix.
Grand Prix featured the first full-color shaded objects for the Atari 2600. Crane remembers, "We were innovators -- six digit scores? No one was doing that. Sunsets and shading... The word 'Activision' with the rainbow... It was considered to be impossible to do those things before we came along. Jay MinerJay MinerJay Glenn Miner , was a famous integrated circuit designer, known primarily for his work in multimedia chips and as the "father of the Amiga"...
, the designer of the 2600 chip, saw our games and said, 'I didn't know it could do that.' We were insane back then. The lengths that we would go for perfection was crazy."
Gameplay and strategy
The object is to complete one of four race tracks in the shortest time possible while avoiding other cars, oil slicks and bridge walls.The track is viewed from overhead. Each course (except Watkins Glen) has at least one bridge to be crossed. There will be an excessive amount of oil slicks on the road as the bridge is approached; the player has a few seconds in between the slicks and the bridge to move into the middle of the road to cross safely (especially at full speed). Opposing cars do not cross bridges or the finish line; they will come to a sudden stop if they are about to approach either while running alongside the player's car.
The four courses to choose from are Watkins Glen (no bridges), Brands Hatch (1 bridge), LeMans (2 bridges) and Monaco (3 bridges).
Ports
Grand Prix was made available on Microsoft'sMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Game Room
Game Room
Game Room is a gaming service for the Xbox 360 video game system, Microsoft Windows PCs, and Windows Phone 7. Launched on March 24, 2010, Game Room lets players download classic video games and compete against each other for high scores...
service for its Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
console and for Windows-based
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s in May 2010.