Specially since Model 2 was a complete revolution years ahead of anything existing on the gaming namespace (or almost anywhere really). Daytona USA was made in 1993 and still looks kind of acceptable in 2025. At the time was a complete revolution, nothing compared to it.
I agree that Military Companies are nasty thingys, but there is nothing INFAMOUS about SEGA model 2.
Early flight simulators were a real leap forward in technology, even though the frame rate and graphics processing were very primitive at the time, and 2 frames per second was only part of the "brilliance". But just like the first flight simulation game I played as a child, although the graphics were simple, the sense of immersion and freedom is still exciting when I think back now. I think the work of people like Foley and Van Dam is really underestimated. Their technology paved the way for today's 3D game graphics. They are really heroes ignored by the times!
There's a whole host of researchers who helped paved the way for modern graphics that no-one outside the graphics community knows about. Ever heard of Eric Veach? His work on path tracing is extremely important, and I've never heard a single person who wasn't already in the weeds of writing their own path tracer mention him or his ground-breaking thesis.
I think Foley and van Dam's work in 3D rendering really laid a solid foundation, but you're right, their book did come out a few years after Artwick's flight simulator. Still, their influence has been significant in later game engines.
1989; SGIs flight sim GL demo on a brand new 4D-220. It did not appear to be a complete "game", could have been developed for military sim?, but nothing on a PC or home machine came close, as I recall.
Sega infamously worked with Lockheed Martin/GE Aerospace to develop the graphics hardware for their Model 2 arcade board [1].
[1] https://segaretro.org/Lockheed_Martin
Serious, not snarky, question, why was it infamous and not just famous?
Specially since Model 2 was a complete revolution years ahead of anything existing on the gaming namespace (or almost anywhere really). Daytona USA was made in 1993 and still looks kind of acceptable in 2025. At the time was a complete revolution, nothing compared to it.
I agree that Military Companies are nasty thingys, but there is nothing INFAMOUS about SEGA model 2.
(2023) Discussion at the time (52 points, 48 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34955179
Pity they don't show the even older graphics on TRS-80.
Delight in the 128x48 monochrome display, max 6 fps.
http://www.trs-80.org/t80-fs1/
The basic layout (airfields, mountains) you see in the article was kept for a few iterations even after MS bought them.
What was the frame rate? I remember some of these early versions being really horrible in that regards, e.g. 2fps etc.
The article says 3-6.
Early flight simulators were a real leap forward in technology, even though the frame rate and graphics processing were very primitive at the time, and 2 frames per second was only part of the "brilliance". But just like the first flight simulation game I played as a child, although the graphics were simple, the sense of immersion and freedom is still exciting when I think back now. I think the work of people like Foley and Van Dam is really underestimated. Their technology paved the way for today's 3D game graphics. They are really heroes ignored by the times!
There's a whole host of researchers who helped paved the way for modern graphics that no-one outside the graphics community knows about. Ever heard of Eric Veach? His work on path tracing is extremely important, and I've never heard a single person who wasn't already in the weeds of writing their own path tracer mention him or his ground-breaking thesis.
https://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/veach_thesis/thesis.pdf
I think Foley and van Dam's work in 3D rendering really laid a solid foundation, but you're right, their book did come out a few years after Artwick's flight simulator. Still, their influence has been significant in later game engines.
1989; SGIs flight sim GL demo on a brand new 4D-220. It did not appear to be a complete "game", could have been developed for military sim?, but nothing on a PC or home machine came close, as I recall.
I was surprised Foley and van Dam were not mentioned — but it looks like that text came out a few years after Artwick's first flight sim.
Bold claim. Elite probably has a stronger claim considering it's a , you know, game.
But subLOGIC flight simulator was a seminal product.
I learned my initial 3D graphics rendering from Bruce Artwick's 1984 book
https://www.amazon.com/Microcomputer-Displays-Graphics-Anima...
also Geoff Crammond's Aviator from 1983
https://aviator.bbcelite.com/
[dead]