20th Century Video Almanac - Revision history

Elliogle at 05:25, 14 August 2026

2026-08-14T05:25:41Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:25, 14 August 2026
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	'''''20th Century Video Almanac''''' is the 3DO version of so many CD-Rom encyclopedias that were popular for PCs back in the pre-interwebs days. Menu navigation on the 3DO, however, makes this title a chore to work with.		'''''20th Century Video Almanac''''' is the 3DO version of so many CD-Rom encyclopedias that were popular for PCs back in the pre-interwebs days. Menu navigation on the 3DO, however, makes this title a chore to work with.

			== Credits ==

			*Programmers John Crane, Kim Bowdish, Cindy Swafford, Chris Iden
			*Artist Cheri Loyd
			*Administration and Sanity Marie Summers
			*Artist and Font Babe Gloria Garland
			*Producer Joe Marusak
			*Chief Technical Officer Mike Duffy
			*CD ROM Production Manager David Lawrence
			*Quality Assurance Greg Dawson
			*Creative Services Ruth Weston
			*Vice President, Marketing Jim Fisher
			*Director, Public Relations Jeneane Harter
			*Public Relations Associate Tracy Egan
			*Multimedia Producer Marty Perlmutter & Ghost Dance Productions
			*Original Art Design Wes Jenkins
			*Writer & Editor R.F. Holznagel
			*Writers Freude Bartlett, Michael McCarthy, "Indefatigable Perlmutter"
			*Video Digitization Bob Dennis & Pacific Media Center
			*Opening Theme and Credits Music Audio Magic
			*Source Video Editor Maurice Jacobsen & Alternet
			*Sound Paul Carlson
			*Archival Music Arnold Jacobson
			*Video Still Selection Harry Hamilton, Karen Sass
			*Original Video Music Tom Phillips & Music Consultants
			*Special Thanks Skip Waldmen and the people at CEL Communications; John Crane, Chris Iden, Kim Bowdish "and the other Tachyoids"


	== Disc Archaeology ==		== Disc Archaeology ==

Elliogle at 05:22, 14 August 2026

2026-08-14T05:22:11Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:22, 14 August 2026
Line 21:		Line 21:

	'''''20th Century Video Almanac''''' is the 3DO version of so many CD-Rom encyclopedias that were popular for PCs back in the pre-interwebs days. Menu navigation on the 3DO, however, makes this title a chore to work with.		'''''20th Century Video Almanac''''' is the 3DO version of so many CD-Rom encyclopedias that were popular for PCs back in the pre-interwebs days. Menu navigation on the 3DO, however, makes this title a chore to work with.

			== Disc Archaeology ==
			''Findings from a byte-level analysis of the US retail disc image (670,351,360 bytes / 327,168 blocks). As a 1993 launch-window title, the disc is a time capsule of the 3DO platform's earliest production environment.''
			=== A launch-era system folder full of 3DO's own diagnostic tools ===
			The disc's <code>/System/Programs</code> folder contains 24 programs — far beyond the handful of file utilities found on typical retail pressings — including 3DO's internal hardware test and debug suite, shipped to every customer:
			* <code>BANGON</code> — a CD-ROM stress tester (its first string is ''"Bangon: hello world!"''), with options for checksumming, block-delay simulation, double-speed testing, Red Book reads and looping forever.
			* <code>CERTIFY</code> — a CD-ROM certification tool that exercises CIRC error recovery and read/compare passes.
			* <code>LOOKIE</code> — an Event Broker monitor with unusually chatty diagnostics (''"Lookie says broker refused configuration request"'', ''"Lookie-loo unexpected signal"'').
			* <code>LUCKIE</code> and <code>MAUS</code> — live control-pad and mouse input monitors.
			* <code>HELLO</code> and <code>HELLO.ROM</code> — literal "Hello, world!" test programs.
			* <code>GDBUG</code>, <code>CPDUMP</code>, <code>DUMPFILE</code>, <code>FOCUS</code>, <code>BLINK.ROM</code> and others — kernel, control-port and event-system debug utilities.
			Other marks of the early Portfolio OS environment: empty system directories (<code>Daemons</code>, <code>Devices</code>, <code>Drivers</code>, <code>Graphics/Fonts</code>) are held open by 1-byte placeholder files literally named <code>junk</code>; the OS kernel image is a compact early build (<code>os_code</code> 78,852 bytes, <code>boot_code</code> 2,236 bytes, <code>rom_tags</code> 128 bytes); and the boot scripts carry no copyright header at all, just chatty tutorial-style comments.
			=== Debug mode and developer strings ===
			The application executable (<code>launchme</code>, 160,304 bytes) retains its full development scaffolding:
			* The strings ''"entering Debug mode"'' and ''"exiting Debug mode"'' indicate a debug mode was left compiled into the retail build, alongside <code>Debugger</code> and <code>Crash</code> handler strings and the plaintive fatal-error message ''"How did I get here?"''
			* Assertion machinery survives intact: ''"SUSPICIOUS POINTER! %s = %x"'' and ''"File %s; line %i ### ASSERTION FAILED! %s"''.
			* One source comment ships signed with its author's initials: ''"TextBox doesn't support non-ascii fonts, jc"'' — matching '''John Crane''', first-listed programmer in the embedded credits.
			* The code's Macintosh heritage shows everywhere: classic Mac Toolbox function names (<code>ExitToShell</code>, <code>FlushEvents</code>), and the UI fonts are <code>geneva18</code> (Apple's Geneva) plus in-house faces named <code>wawona18</code>/<code>wawona24</code>.
			=== Embedded credits ===
			The complete staff roll is stored as plain text in the executable, with some memorable job titles: "Administration and Sanity" (Marie Summers, Gloria Garland), a writing credit for "Indefatigable Perlmutter", programmers John Crane, Kim Bowdish, Cindy Swafford and Chris Iden, and Software Toolworks CTO Mike Duffy.
			=== The almanac database ===
			The content is a bespoke micro-database of 2,400+ entries, all readable with custom Opera filesystem types: <code>.stil</code> photographs, <code>.film</code> Cinepak-era videos, <code>.LNG</code> long-form articles, <code>.btn</code>/<code>.menu</code>/<code>.anim</code>/<code>.imag</code> interface resources, and index files (<code>A2C.IDX</code>, <code>C2A.IDX</code>, <code>YEARS.IDX</code>) mapping articles to chronology. The master index (<code>MASTER.TXT</code>) opens with entry 0000 "Opening Title" followed by 0001 "Edison Builds First Movie Studio". The '''full text of every almanac article sits uncompressed and unencrypted''' in <code>ALLDAT.DAT</code> and the <code>.LNG</code> files — trivially extractable with any hex editor.
			=== Unallocated space ===
			37,307 blocks (~73 MB, 11% of the disc) belong to no file. Every byte was checked: the region is 100% the standard <code>iamaduck</code> mastering filler, with nothing hidden inside.

	== Media ==		== Media ==

Elliogle: Created page with "right| = Overview = '''Full Name:''' 20th Century Video Almanac '''Code:''' *'''Type:''' First-person shooter, Racing..."

2021-06-06T09:57:24Z

Created page with "thumb|right| = Overview = *'''Full Name:''' 20th Century Video Almanac *'''Code:''' *'''Type:''' First-person shooter, Racing..."

New page

[[Image:20th_Century_Video_Almanac_Front.jpg|thumb|right|]]

= Overview =

*'''Full Name:''' 20th Century Video Almanac
*'''Code:'''
*'''Type:''' First-person shooter, Racing, Vehicular combat
*'''Developer:''' [[The Software Toolworks|The Software Toolworks]]
*'''Publisher:''' [[The Software Toolworks|The Software Toolworks]]
*'''Language:''' English
*'''Release Date:''' 1993
*'''Region:''' NA
*'''Barcode:''' 0 24294 11441 0
*'''Local Title:'''
*'''Rarity:''' 1
*'''Notes:'''

== Summary ==

In The Best of Our Century, we've taken multimedia to dizzying new heights and you control the ride! Relive the most earthshaking events of the 20th century. Touch down on the moon with the Apollo astronauts. Relive Woodstock. Attend President Kennedy's inauguration. Take a front row seat for the incredible 1916 World Series. This multimedia reference work uses one of the world's largest archives of historical video to produce a visual encyclopedia of the century, with audio, photos, and text. The 20th Century Video Almanac provides a broad look at the events that shaped our world.

'''''20th Century Video Almanac''''' is the 3DO version of so many CD-Rom encyclopedias that were popular for PCs back in the pre-interwebs days. Menu navigation on the 3DO, however, makes this title a chore to work with.

== Media ==

<gallery>
20th_Century_Video_Almanac_Back.jpg|Back of the box
20th_Century_Video_Almanac_Inside.jpg|Contents of the box
20th_Century_Video_Almanac_Disc.jpg|Disc
20th_Century_Video_Almanac_1.png|Screenshot
20th_Century_Video_Almanac_2.png|Screenshot
20th_Century_Video_Almanac_4.jpg|Screenshot
20th_Century_Video_Almanac_5.jpg|Screenshot
20th_Century_Video_Almanac_6.jpg|Screenshot
</gallery>

[[Category:3DO Games]]

20th Century Video Almanac - Revision history

Elliogle at 05:25, 14 August 2026

Elliogle at 05:22, 14 August 2026

Elliogle: Created page with "right| = Overview = *'''Full Name:''' 20th Century Video Almanac *'''Code:''' *'''Type:''' First-person shooter, Racing..."

Elliogle: Created page with "right| = Overview = '''Full Name:''' 20th Century Video Almanac '''Code:''' *'''Type:''' First-person shooter, Racing..."