Computer Game Museum Display Case

Stuart Cass	2024-04-12 23:27:49
This is Fujitsu Habitat version 2.1L12 for the PC-9801. Habitat was originally created by Lucasfilm Games and development began in late 1985 under the leadership of Chip Morningstar (who would later write the first version of the SCUMM compiler). Only a small team worked on Habitat including Aric Wilmunder, Lucasfilm legend and Randy Farmer who alongside Chip would go on to be pioneers in the virtual world industry. Gary Winnick also provided artwork for Habitat alongside Ken Macklin. Habitat was created in partnership with the ISP Quantum Link who would later become AOL. Lucasfilm pitched the game idea to QLink who agreed to fund it in exchange for exclusive rights to the software once it was ready. Habitat was beta tested from 1986 until 1988, where it closed down in May of that year due to development ending in preparation for the final release. Habitat was renamed to Club Caribe and released in the Summer of 1989 on QLink and the Commodore 64. It would survive until February 1994. There was a lot of industry buzz about Habitat and Fujitsu who were about to release their FM Towns system were interested. Fujitsu would go on to license the technology and intellectual property from Lucasfilm. In August 1988, Fujitsu executives went to Skywalker Ranch and and attended a technology transfer seminar hosted by Chip and Randy to teach them everything they knew. Fujitsu went back to Japan and created their own version of the software that was entirely different. A lot of the same concepts were used, but the underlying code is entirely different, as are the artwork and music. It's an entirely seperate thing to Lucasfilm's Habitat, but still an important part of gaming and virtual world history (especially with Habitat being the first ever graphical massively multiplayer virtual world in existence). Fujitsu Habitat would operate solely in Japan from January 1990, all the way up until March 1999. Fujitsu would later go on to purchase the Habitat intellectual property outright from Lucasfilm in 1993 and create a successor virtual world named WorldsAway which was released on CompuServe in 1995 and was designed by Chip and Randy. It's a more modern version of the original Habitat. It would also be localised for Japan and released as Habitat II. Both worlds were moderately successful but ultimately before their time as things didn't really blow up until the release of Second Life.

Stuart Cass

2024-04-12 23:27:49

This is Fujitsu Habitat version 2.1L12 for the PC-9801. Habitat was originally created by Lucasfilm Games and development began in late 1985 under the leadership of Chip Morningstar (who would later write the first version of the SCUMM compiler). Only a small team worked on Habitat including Aric Wilmunder, Lucasfilm legend and Randy Farmer who alongside Chip would go on to be pioneers in the virtual world industry. Gary Winnick also provided artwork for Habitat alongside Ken Macklin. Habitat was created in partnership with the ISP Quantum Link who would later become AOL. Lucasfilm pitched the game idea to QLink who agreed to fund it in exchange for exclusive rights to the software once it was ready. Habitat was beta tested from 1986 until 1988, where it closed down in May of that year due to development ending in preparation for the final release. Habitat was renamed to Club Caribe and released in the Summer of 1989 on QLink and the Commodore 64. It would survive until February 1994. There was a lot of industry buzz about Habitat and Fujitsu who were about to release their FM Towns system were interested. Fujitsu would go on to license the technology and intellectual property from Lucasfilm. In August 1988, Fujitsu executives went to Skywalker Ranch and and attended a technology transfer seminar hosted by Chip and Randy to teach them everything they knew. Fujitsu went back to Japan and created their own version of the software that was entirely different. A lot of the same concepts were used, but the underlying code is entirely different, as are the artwork and music. It's an entirely seperate thing to Lucasfilm's Habitat, but still an important part of gaming and virtual world history (especially with Habitat being the first ever graphical massively multiplayer virtual world in existence). Fujitsu Habitat would operate solely in Japan from January 1990, all the way up until March 1999. Fujitsu would later go on to purchase the Habitat intellectual property outright from Lucasfilm in 1993 and create a successor virtual world named WorldsAway which was released on CompuServe in 1995 and was designed by Chip and Randy. It's a more modern version of the original Habitat. It would also be localised for Japan and released as Habitat II. Both worlds were moderately successful but ultimately before their time as things didn't really blow up until the release of Second Life.

Habitat was ahead of its time. An early attempt at an online virtual world similar to Sierra's The Sierra Network, or M.U.D., it used a SCUMM-like engine to attempt to create a virtual reality. It premiered on Quantumlink for the C64. Unfortunately it never really took off and is now extremely rare. The fact that a Japanese version even exists is a testament to the ambitious project it could have become.