Editing PC game (section)

=== Early personal computer games ===
[[File:Mystery House - Apple II - 2.png|thumb|''[[Mystery House]]'' (1980, [[Apple II]]), a text-based [[adventure game]]]]

By the late 1970s to early 1980s, games were developed and distributed through [[hobby]]ist groups and gaming magazines, such as ''[[Creative Computing (magazine)|Creative Computing]]'' and later ''[[Computer Gaming World]]''. These publications provided [[type-in program|game code that could be typed into a computer]] and played, encouraging readers to submit their own software to competitions.<ref name="codesubmission">{{cite magazine |title=Computer Gaming World's RobotWar Tournament |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1981&pub=2&id=1 |format=PDF |magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]] |page=17 | date=October 1982 | access-date= October 22, 2006}}</ref> Players could modify the [[BASIC]] source code of even commercial games.<ref name="proctor198201">{{Cite magazine |last=Proctor |first=Bob |date=January 1982 |title=Tanktics: Review and Analysis |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1982&pub=2&id=2 |magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]] |pages=17–20}}</ref> ''[[Microchess]]'' was one of the first games for [[microcomputer]]s which was sold to the public. First sold in 1977, Microchess eventually sold over 50,000 copies on [[cassette tape]].

As with [[Second generation of video game consoles|second-generation]] [[video game console]]s at the time, early home computer game companies capitalized on [[Golden age of arcade video games|successful arcade games]] at the time with [[porting|ports]] or [[video game clone|clones]] of popular [[arcade video game]]s.<ref name="Enterprise-1982">{{citation|title=Cash In On the Video Game Craze|work=[[Black Enterprise]]|date=December 1982|volume=12|issue=5|issn=0006-4165|pages=41–2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6pacvfrf0wC&pg=PA41|access-date=May 1, 2011|last1=Earl g. Graves|first1=Ltd}}</ref><ref name="Markoff-1981" /> By 1982, the [[List of best-selling video games|top-selling games]] for the [[Atari 8-bit computers]] were ports of ''[[Frogger]]'' and ''[[Centipede (video game)|Centipede]]'', while the top-selling game for the [[TI-99/4A]] was the ''[[Space Invaders]]'' clone ''[[TI Invaders]]''.<ref name="Enterprise-1982" /> That same year, ''[[Pac-Man]]'' was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers,<ref name="Markoff-1981" /> while ''[[Donkey Kong]]'' was licensed for the [[Coleco Adam]].<ref>{{citation|title=Strategic management: an integrated approach|author1=Charles W. L. Hill |author2=Gareth R. Jones |name-list-style=amp |edition=8|publisher=[[Cengage Learning]]|year=2007|isbn=978-0-618-89469-7}}</ref> In late 1981, [[Atari, Inc.]] attempted to take legal action against unauthorized [[List of Pac-Man clones|''Pac-Man'' clones]], despite some of these predating Atari's exclusive rights to the home versions of [[Namco]]'s game.<ref name="Markoff-1981">{{citation|title=Atari acts in an attempt to scuttle software pirates|author=John Markoff|work=[[InfoWorld]]|date=November 30, 1981|volume=3|issue=28|issn=0199-6649|pages=28–9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SD0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28|access-date=May 1, 2011}}</ref><ref name="mace19820412">{{Cite magazine |last=Mace |first=Scott |date=1982-04-12 |title=Zenith working on 16-bit micros |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=true |access-date=2025-03-16 |magazine=InfoWorld |pages=1,4}}</ref> Thousands of children attended the 1982 [[West Coast Computer Faire]] to see computer games there, despite organizers warning that the convention "is designed for mature individuals".<ref name="iw19820412">{{Cite magazine |last=Freiberger |first=Paul |last2=Dvorak |first2=John C. |date=1982-04-12 |title=West Coast Computer Faire draws 40,000 people |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA3&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=true |access-date=2025-03-16 |magazine=InfoWorld |pages=1, 6-7}}</ref>