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52-454: The game is a Breakout clone, where the player moves a paddle back and forth in order to destroy objects. Each stage has a set of the same object (for example, apples on the first stage). Unlike Breakout and other comparable games, the player in Drop Off does not automatically lose a life if the paddle touches the floor and the player is never required to hit the objects in order to clear

104-406: A Compete.com study. In January 1996, Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein quit their positions at IDG and founded SpotMedia Communications. SpotMedia then launched GameSpot on May 1, 1996. Originally, GameSpot focused solely on personal computer games, so a sister site, VideoGameSpot , was launched on December 1, 1996. Eventually VideoGameSpot , then renamed VideoGames.com ,

156-516: A common feature in the genre. In 1986 the Breakout concept found new legs with Taito 's Arkanoid , which itself spawned dozens of imitators. In Japan, the genre is known as block kuzushi ("block breaker") games. Breakout begins with eight rows of bricks, with two rows each of a different color. The color order from the bottom up is yellow, green, orange and red. Using a single ball, the player must knock down as many bricks as possible by using

208-464: A game they were heavily advertising on GameSpot at the time. Both GameSpot and parent company CNET initially stated that his dismissal was unrelated to the review. However, in March 2012, the non-disclosure agreement that forced Gerstmann to withhold the details of his termination was nullified. Not long after, Giant Bomb (a site Gerstmann founded after leaving GameSpot ) was being purchased by

260-409: A mallet. If the player successfully destroys the wall in-game, their inmate escapes with others following. A precursor to Breakout was Clean Sweep , released by Ramtek in 1974. In that game, the player uses a paddle to hit a ball up towards a playfield of dots, which disappear as the ball moves through the dots; the goal is to achieve a clean sweep by erasing all the dots. Clean Sweep was one of

312-431: A maximum of 1,344 points if they are adept enough to keep the third ball in play that long. Once the third screen is eliminated, the game is over. The original arcade cabinet of Breakout featured artwork that revealed the game's plot to be that of a prison escape. According to this release, the player is actually playing as one of a prison's inmates attempting to knock a ball and chain into a wall of their prison cell with

364-466: A new design similar to that of TV.com , now considered a sister site to GameSpot . GameSpot ran a few different paid subscriptions from 2006 to 2013, but is no longer running those. In June 2008, GameSpot ' s parent company CNET was acquired by CBS Corporation , and GameSpot along with CNET's other online assets were managed by the CBS Interactive division. A new layout change

416-584: A paddle into them. The arcade game was released in Japan by Namco . Breakout was a worldwide commercial success, among the top five highest-grossing arcade video games of 1976 in both the United States and Japan and then among the top three highest-grossing arcade video games of 1977 in the US and Japan. The 1978 Atari VCS port uses color graphics instead of a monochrome screen with colored overlay. While

468-461: A prototype within four days. Bushnell offered the bonus because he disliked how new Atari games required 150 to 170 chips; he knew that Jobs' friend Steve Wozniak , an employee of Hewlett-Packard , had designed a version of Pong that used about 30 chips. Jobs had little specialized knowledge of circuit board design but knew Wozniak was capable of producing designs with a small number of chips. He convinced Wozniak to work with him, promising to split

520-504: A semi-automated moderation system with numerous volunteer moderators . GameSpot moderators are picked by paid GameSpot staff from members of the GameSpot user community. Due to the size and massive quantity of boards and posts on GameSpot , there is a "report" feature where a normal user can report a violation post to an unpaid moderator volunteer. In addition to the message board system, GameSpot has expanded its community through

572-510: A single player game, where the player would use a paddle to maintain a ball that depletes a wall of bricks. Bushnell was certain the game would be popular, and he and Bristow partnered to produce a concept. Al Alcorn was assigned as the Breakout project manager, and he began development with Cyan Engineering in 1975. Bushnell assigned Steve Jobs to design a prototype. Jobs was offered $ 750, with an award for every TTL ( transistor-transistor logic ) chip fewer than 50. Jobs promised to complete

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624-506: A total of 1,650,336 units by 1983. In 1989, Computer and Video Games reviewed the Atari VCS version, giving it a 24% score. In 2021, The Guardian listed Breakout as the fourth greatest video game of the 1970s , below Galaxian , Asteroids and Space Invaders . Breakout was an influential game that had an impact on the video game and computer industries. Breakout spawned an entire genre of clones. Ten years later,

676-409: Is an arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and released on May 13, 1976. It was designed by Steve Wozniak , based on conceptualization from Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow, who were influenced by the seminal 1972 Atari arcade game Pong . In Breakout , a layer of bricks lines the top third of the screen and the goal is to destroy them all by repeatedly bouncing a ball off

728-433: Is and can be quite addictive in a simplistic sort of way but, with little variety between levels and no power ups to speak of, I suspect most gamers will find the basic appeal wears off quite rapidly." GameSpot ' s Frank Provo commended its "few twists" on the Breakout formula, but criticized the game's design for being challenging and the paddle controls for being sluggish. Breakout (video game) Breakout

780-625: The Apple II computer. He said: "A lot of features of the Apple II went in because I had designed Breakout for Atari. I had designed it in hardware. I wanted to write it in software now". This included his design of color graphics circuitry, the addition of game paddle support and sound, and graphics commands in Integer BASIC , with which he wrote Brick Out , a software clone of his own hardware game. Wozniak said in 1984: Basically, all

832-544: The Atari Jaguar adds a 3D playfield and additional features. A 3D Breakout -inspired game was published simply as Breakout in 2000 for the PC and PlayStation by Hasbro Interactive 's Atari Interactive subsidiary. In 2011, Atari S.A. released an updated version of Breakout as Breakout Boost . The chief difference is the addition of improved graphics, power-ups, and unique brick types. Another enhanced version of

884-603: The TurboGrafx-16 , most of which reviewed it as an import title . Famitsu ' s four reviewers called it "a deformed Breakout -type" game that felt more modified than Arkanoid due to its ruleset, but they commended the ability to freely move the paddle around the screen was commended. Génération 4 ' s Philippe Querleux regarded it as a "grape breaker" because of the title's use of fruits instead of bricks. Joystick ' s Jean-Marc Demoly also noted its use of fruits instead of bricks and limited animation in

936-513: The John Deere engineer has demonstrated ability to run Breakout game on a competitive tractor monitor using ISO 11789-6 standard. In October 1976, the annual RePlay chart listed Breakout as the fifth highest-earning arcade video game of 1976 in the United States, below Midway Manufacturing 's Sea Wolf , Gun Fight , and Wheels , and Atari's Indy 800 . Breakout was later the third highest-earning arcade video game of 1977 in

988-540: The Microworld is an autobiography by David Sudnow detailing his obsession with Breakout . Sudnow describes studying the game's mechanics, visiting the manufacturer in Silicon Valley , and interviewing the programmers. The first-generation iPod Classic had an Easter egg where holding down the center button for a few seconds in the "About" menu caused Breakout to appear. On the 37th anniversary of

1040-432: The US, below Sea Wolf and Sprint 2 , and the fifth highest-earning arcade video game of 1978 in the US. Breakout had a total arcade production run of 11,000 cabinets manufactured by Atari, estimated to have generated over $ 11 million ( $ 59 million adjusted for inflation) in sales revenue. Breakout was also a commercial success for Namco in Japan. On the first annual Game Machine arcade chart, Breakout

1092-409: The ability to freely move the paddle around the screen but expressed mixed thoughts about the game's playability, and criticized both the visuals and sound. TurboPlay ' s Donn Nauert concurred with B.W. when reviewing the title, giving a mixed remark to its playability and criticizing the graphics and sound. In contrast to the other reviewers, AllGame ' s Shawn Sackenheim called it "one of

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1144-478: The anime-style introduction sequence. Regardless, Demoly stated that Drop Off was a "well realized" game inspired by Arkanoid and similar titles on computers, giving positive remarks to the audiovisual presentation, animations and controls. Tilt ' s Alain Huyghues-Lacour compared it with Addictaball for Atari ST due to both titles sharing similar principles. Nevertheless, Huyghues-Lacour found

1196-436: The ball has broken through the red row and hit the upper wall. Ball speed increases at specific intervals: after four hits, after twelve hits, and after making contact with the orange and red rows. The highest score achievable for one player is 896; this is done by eliminating two screens of bricks worth 448 points per screen. Once the second screen of bricks is destroyed, the ball in play harmlessly bounces off empty walls until

1248-516: The best puzzle games on the system." Sackenheim praised its fast action and "tried and true breakout formula", but criticized the visuals for being sparse and repetitive gameplay. Commentary on Drop Off has been more negative since its re-release on the Virtual Console . Nintendo Life regarded it as "possibly the worse example of a Breakout style game out there." They found that its gameplay innovations made it cumbersome and criticized

1300-401: The concept found new legs with Taito 's 1986 Arkanoid , which itself spawned dozens of imitators. In Japan, the genre is known as block kuzushi ("block breaker") games. Breakout was also the basis and inspiration for certain aspects of the Apple II personal computer and Taito 's arcade shoot 'em up game Space Invaders (1978). Breakout directly influenced Wozniak's design for

1352-475: The concept was predated by Ramtek 's Clean Sweep (1974), Breakout spawned an entire genre of clones . It was the inspiration for aspects of the Apple II computer and Taito 's Space Invaders (1978). An official sequel was released in 1978, Super Breakout , which eventually became the pack-in game for the Atari 5200 console in 1982. Super Breakout introduced multiple balls in play at once, which became

1404-414: The fee evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Wozniak had no sketches and instead interpreted the game from its description. To save parts, he had "tricky little designs". Near the end of development, Wozniak considered moving the high score to the screen's top, but Jobs claimed Bushnell wanted it at the bottom; Wozniak was unaware of any truth to his claims. The original deadline

1456-554: The game features were put in just so I could show off the game I was familiar with— Breakout —at the Homebrew Computer Club . It was the most satisfying day of my life [when] I demonstrated Breakout —totally written in BASIC. It seemed like a huge step to me. After designing hardware arcade games, I knew that being able to program them in BASIC was going to change the world. Tomohiro Nishikado cited Breakout as

1508-551: The game has been announced for release exclusively on the Intellivision Amico . A revamped version of the game titled, Breakout: Recharged , was released on February 10, 2022, for Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S , Microsoft Windows and Atari VCS as part of the Atari Recharged series. It was developed by Adamvision Studios and SneakyBox. Pilgrim in

1560-497: The game to be fun and interesting than other Arkanoid clones, noting that the descending fruit pieces added pressure into the gameplay and praised the visuals, animations and sound effects, but criticized the controls for being less ergonomic than a mouse for these types of games. Power Play ' Henrik Fisch regarded Drop Off as a nice but non-addictive title, criticizing the audiovisual presentation and other aspects. VideoGames & Computer Entertainment ' s B.W. noted

1612-484: The game's release, Google released a secret version of Breakout accessible by typing "atari breakout" in Google Images . The image thumbnails form the breakout bricks, turn different colors, and after a ball and paddle appear the game begins. GameSpot GameSpot is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site

Drop Off - Misplaced Pages Continue

1664-414: The gameplay to be the same as his original creation and could not find any differences. The arcade cabinet uses a black and white monitor , but the monitor has strips of colored cellophane placed over it so that the bricks appear to be in color. A software version of Breakout was written for the Atari 2600 by Brad Stewart. The game was published in 1978, but with only six rows of bricks, and

1716-491: The hundred best websites, alongside competitors IGN and CNET Gamecenter . On July 19, 2000, CNET announced its acquisition of ZDNET , putting GameSpot and Gamecenter under the same parent company. That December, The New York Times declared GameSpot and Gamecenter the " Time and Newsweek of gaming sites". In February 2001, GameSpot was spared from a redundancy reduction effort by CNET which shuttered Gamecenter . In October 2005, GameSpot adopted

1768-411: The lack of variety and power-ups. IGN ' s Lucas M. Thomas called it "a half-hearted clone of an old design from the '70s, that was done better... in the '70s." Thomas felt that its premise did not make sense and stated that its gameplay elements did not work together, but commended the addition of boss battles. Eurogamer ' s Dan Whitehead wrote that the title "It's amusing enough for what it

1820-551: The original inspiration behind his hit Space Invaders (1978). He wanted to adapt the same sense of achievement and tension from destroying targets one at a time for a shooting game . The success of the game resulted in Super Breakout ' s release in 1978. It contains three separate game modes. The home ports include Breakout as a fourth mode, using the Super Breakout visual style. Breakout 2000 for

1872-595: The player is given five turns to clear two walls instead of three. In the Breakthru variant, the ball does not bounce off of the bricks but continues through them until it hits the wall. Atari had this term trademarked and used it in addition to Breakout to describe gameplay, especially in look-alike games and remakes. Atari's 1977 dedicated Video Pinball console includes a Breakout game. On March 16, 2005, during ISOBus plugfest in Lincoln Nebraska,

1924-403: The player restarts the game, as no additional screens are provided. However, a secret way to score beyond the 896 maximum is to play the game in two-player mode. If "Player One" completes the first screen on their third and last ball, then immediately and deliberately allows the ball to "drain", Player One's second screen is transferred to "Player Two" as a third screen, allowing Player Two to score

1976-465: The purchase of ZDNet by CNET , GameSpot UK was merged with the main US site. On April 24, 2006, GameSpot UK was relaunched. In a similar fashion, GameSpot AU (Australia) existed on a local scale in the late 1990s with Australian-produced reviews. It ceased in 2003. When a local version of the main CNET portal, CNET.com.au was launched in 2003, GameSpot AU content was folded into CNET.com.au. The site

2028-450: The same parent company as GameSpot , and that they moved their headquarters into the same building. As part of this announcement, Gerstmann revealed that the firing was indeed related to threats of Eidos pulling advertising revenue away from GameSpot as a result of Gerstmann's poor review score, which was confirmed by GameSpot's Jon Davison. GameSpot ' s forums were originally run by ZDNet, and later by Lithium . GameSpot uses

2080-544: The stage. Instead, the player must avoid the series of objects that are scrolling vertically downward to move on to next stage, and the gameplay is practically identical to Cluster Buster , an earlier title on the DECO Cassette System . The player has the option of switching the direction of their paddle from vertical to horizontal during the game and is free to move the paddle anywhere on the screen. Drop Off contains 16 stages divided in 5 rounds. Drop Off

2132-518: The top ten best-selling arcade video games of 1974 and sold a total of 3,500 arcade cabinets . Breakout , a discrete logic (non- microprocessor ) game, was designed by Nolan Bushnell, Steve Jobs, and Steve Bristow, all three of whom were involved with Atari and its Kee Games subsidiary. Atari produced innovative video games using the Pong hardware as a means of competition against companies making " Pong clones". Bushnell wanted to turn Pong into

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2184-425: The walls and/or the paddle below to hit the ball against the bricks and eliminate them. If the player's paddle misses the ball's rebound, they will lose a turn. The player has three turns to try to clear two screens of bricks. Yellow bricks earn one point each, green bricks earn three points, orange bricks earn five points and the top-level red bricks score seven points each. The paddle shrinks to one-half its size after

2236-524: The work was copyrightable. Atari was unable to use Wozniak's design. By designing the board with as few chips as possible, he made the design difficult to manufacture; it was too compact and complicated to be feasible with Atari's manufacturing methods. However, Wozniak claims Atari could not understand the design and speculates "maybe some engineer there was trying to make some kind of modification to it". Atari ended up designing their own version for production, which contained about 100 TTL chips. Wozniak found

2288-516: Was adopted in October 2013. CNET was sold to Red Ventures in October 2020. Two years later, Fandom acquired GameSpot , along with Metacritic , TV Guide , GameFAQs , Giant Bomb , Cord Cutters News, and Comic Vine from Red Ventures. In January 2023, 40-50 employees were affected by a round of layoffs. More layoffs at GameSpot took place in January 2024. GameSpot UK (United Kingdom)

2340-481: Was fully re-launched in mid-2006, with a specialized forum, local reviews, special features, local pricings in Australian dollars , Australian release dates, and more local news. Jeff Gerstmann , editorial director of the site, was fired on November 28, 2007 as a result of pressure from Eidos Interactive, a major advertiser; Eidos objected to the 6/10 review that Gerstmann had given Kane & Lynch: Dead Men ,

2392-616: Was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition to the information produced by GameSpot staff, the site also allows users to write their own reviews, blogs, and post on the site's forums. It has been owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. In 2004, GameSpot won "Best Gaming Website" as chosen by the viewers in Spike TV 's second Video Game Award Show , and has won Webby Awards several times. The domain GameSpot.com attracted at least 60 million visitors annually by October 2008 according to

2444-419: Was merged into GameSpot . On January 6, 1997, SpotMedia and publisher Ziff Davis announced a $ 20 million agreement allowing the publisher to run content from Computer Gaming World and Electronic Gaming Monthly on SpotMedia's websites. By the following month, Ziff Davis's substantial financial infusion enabled GameSpot to grow to 45 employees. In February 1999, PC Magazine named GameSpot one of

2496-443: Was met after Wozniak worked at Atari four nights straight, doing some additional designs while at his day job at Hewlett-Packard. This equated to a bonus of $ 5,000, which Jobs kept secret from Wozniak. Wozniak has stated he only received payment of $ 350; he believed for years that Atari had promised $ 700 for a design using fewer than 50 chips, and $ 1000 for fewer than 40, stating in 1984 that "we only got 700 bucks for it". Wozniak

2548-639: Was re-released on Nintendo's Virtual Console in North America on July 30, 2007 and in Japan on August 28, 2007. It was released for the first time ever in Europe by Nintendo on August 3, 2007 on the Virtual Console. The publisher was G-Mode which currently owns the rights to most of Data East 's video games. The game was delisted from the Virtual Console in early March 2012. Drop Off received mixed reception from critics since its release on

2600-516: Was started in October 1997 and operated until mid-2002, offering content that was oriented for the British market that often differed from that of the U.S. site. During this period, GameSpot UK won the 1999 PPAi (Periodical Publishers Association interactive) award for best website, and was short listed in 2001. PC Gaming World was considered a "sister print magazine" and some content appeared on both GameSpot UK and PC Gaming World . Following

2652-561: Was the engineer, and Jobs was the breadboarder and tester. Wozniak's original design used 42 chips; the final, working breadboard he and Jobs delivered to Atari used 44, but Wozniak said: "We were so tired we couldn't cut it down". The simplicity of the game created a problem when the copyright filing was denied because it "did not contain at least a minimum amount of original pictorial or graphic authorship, or authorship in sounds" and Atari appealed. In Atari Games Corp. v. Oman , then Court of Appeals Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg found that

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2704-524: Was the fourth highest-grossing arcade video game of 1976 in Japan, below Taito's Ball Park ( Tornado Baseball ) and Speed Race DX and Sega 's Heavyweight Champ . The following year, Breakout was Japan's third highest-grossing arcade game of 1977, below only two racing games , Namco's electro-mechanical game F-1 and Taito's video game Speed Race DX . In total, Breakout sold 15,000 arcade units worldwide by 1981. The Atari 2600 version sold 256,265 units in 1980. Breakout went on to sell

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