ScuzzBlog: Diaries February 2026 Entry 1st February 2026: Post 2: Missile Base - What ! Acornsoft copying stuff ?. Missile Base - What ! Acornsoft copying stuff ?. Very unlike Acorn to take some other persons idea and make it their own. Especially when that other company is none other than Atari. I know a lot of cloning stuff took place in the early years of the home computer but even I was surprised that this blatant copy of the Missile Command classic found its way into the Acornsoft library. When the game arrived I expected it to respect the originating creator and at least give them a mention. In this incarnation the base is on the moon but pretty much everything else looks the same. I am building a small collection of this game and its variants just for **its and giggles given the multitude of crap on offer as new on the PS5. I just had another load of crap to discharge from PS5 duty cus of the moronic dumb nature of the game play. I have a simple rule, if it ain't fun it ain't a game. capeesh ! Anyhoo this adventure gave me the opportunity of listening to Chris Curry in a series of interviews discussing the early days of Acorn on YouTube as I played World of Warcraft. Whilst I generally know what happened in those early years it is interesting how Chris has a view on giants like Clive and is very respective of their important contributions to the home computer industry. I watched a video of the first edition of the BBC Micro Show which featured the BBC Micro as part of the first programme. The plethora of connectors on the BBC and the ability to expand the chip base just knocks the socks off any of the competition for the literacy challenge. Especially interesting is the Econet connector which Chris explained actually gave remote access to the machine enabling mouse and keyboard control. This was way before it became more main stream. The BBC was heads and shoulders way ahead of the NewBrain and the Spectrum. It is little wonder why it was such a success in schools. Trouble with Acorn was they didn't have a Sir Clive or Alan Sugar to promote and sell the thing. It was very sad to listen to the horror failure of the Electron and how it managed to bring the company down to its knees. Anyway Acorn managed in the end to influence greatly the world of micro technology so it wasn't all bad. For my part whilst I own the BBC range of machines along with two versions of the NewBrain I have to admit I spent all my early years with Sinclair. And for why ? Cus it is all I could afford. And for that I have to thank Sir Clive. Anyway... I have a mage waiting in Azeroth so better fly. Missile Base - What ! Acornsoft copying stuff ?.

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Last updated 1st February 2026

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