"Hi guys! We're the pop group Cleopatra. You no doubt remember us from our 1998 Top 3 hit 'Cleopatra's Theme', in which we threatened to 'come atcha', as well as our subsequent hits 'I Want You Back', and 'Thank ABBA For The Music'. "Well, it has been 20 years, but it's finally time for us to come atcha again - with a potted history of our favourite video game graphics technique... vector graphics! |
"Only ever available to the public during a three-day festival, Tennis For Two was dismantled afterwards and largely forgotten until the late-1970s, when Higinbotham was called upon to testify in the case between Magnavox and Ralph H. Baer over the latter's attempt to patent television video games.
"Well, there were three members in Cleopatra - so it's too bad Higinbotham never released a game called Tennis for Three!!!! LOL."
"Fortunately, he later released the game through Cinematronics, who used his game as the basis for several later vector releases. Perhaps best known for its complicated control system, Space Wars nevertheless featured elements and gameplay which Atari would borrow liberally for its own Asteroids.
"Like Larry Rosenthal, Cleopatra often borrowed liberally from other artists - such as on our covers of the Bee Gees' 'I've Got a Message For You' and Maxine Nightingale's 'Right Back Where We Started From' - but always with permission!!!!! Intellectual property theft is no joke, which is why we've copyrighted the act of 'coming at' someone."
"Cleopatra played concerts in many interesting places, such as The Vatican at the personal request of Pope John Paul II, and at a party for the Sultan of Brunei and his charming family - but never on the moon!!!!! We bet that would've been one gig with no atmosphere!!!!! ROFL!!!"
"It was created by Lyle Rains, Dominic Walsh, and the amusingly-named Ed Logg (who would go on to co-design Centipede and Gauntlet). It was influenced in a significant way by Lunar Lander's physics, and a single non-destroyable asteroid which would wander across the screen in Space Wars. It became Atari's biggest arcade smash, earning $150 million for the company.
"Cleopatra's biggest hit was our debut single, Cleopatra's Theme, which was a top 40 hit in America, and came accompanied by a video which showed us singing and dancing in our bedroom, after being told by our mother to come down stairs to the kitchen!!!!! Clearly she'd have liked us to 'come at her' (in the kitchen) - but we never did!!!!! PML!!!"
"Cleopatra never got furious in space, but you can be sure we were pretty miffed when our CITV sitcom was cancelled after its second series, and the follow-up to our debut album was never released by our record label!!!!! That never stopped us, however, and to this day we're still 'coming at' people in the street and on public transport! LMAO."
"We can imagine that going on a world tour in a tank would be a lot of fun. We never did though. We usually just went on the bus."
"One novel feature is that it had a self-adjusting difficulty level, based upon its previous 32 games. If players were finding it too easy, it would increase the level of challenge, ensuring nobody spent too long playing.
"Cleopatra featured a similar technique on our debut album 'Comin' Atcha!' - the more you listened to it, the harder it got to carry on!!!!!!"
"The biggest nightmare Cleopatra ever faced was our dispute with our record label, when they wanted to sign our lead singer Cleo to a solo deal. We left our contract over it!!! What a bunch of bloody wankers."
"A consolidation of all the vector games which came before it, Star Wars offered additional incentive in placing players within the iconic Death Star battle from the movie of the same name. It had began life as an unofficial game with the title Warp Speed, before Atari 'came at' LucasFilm and purchased the Star Wars license.
"You might have expected some 'star' wars when we toured in support of the Spice Girls on their famous Spiceworld tour - but you couldn't be more wrong. Those girls were lovely, and we don't have a bad word to say about them!"
"Notably, it was also released a year after the game based upon Return Of The Jedi, which featured more traditional pixel visuals.
"Something Cleopatra never was is traditional! We had a very unconventional approach to both lyrics and partying, as indicated in the words to our Japan-only single 'Yes This Party's Going Right':
"There's a party on the hill, will you come?
Bring your own bread and butter and an ice cream bun,
Let's get together,
Spread the love around (around),
It'll be the night to remember (remember),
So come on over now, yeah, yeah.
"And say what you wanna,
Like Eeny meeny macka racka,
Rare raw dominacka,
Chicken poppa lolly poppa,
Om pom push!
"Yes: there ain't no party like a Cleopatra bread and butter party! Come to one of our parties and the second you walk through the door we'll be 'coming atcha' with those sweet buttered loaves!"