Deus Ex Automata

November 22, 2019 3:21 AM

A 22 minute overview of Automata and Pi-Man. If known at all, the software house Automata are famous for their indescribable 1984 futuristic art game Deus Ex Machina (feat. Jon Pertwee, Ian Dury and Frankie Howerd). This video by RoseTintedSpectrum gives an overview of their earlier, equally experimental releases leading up to and including it.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue (6 comments total)

The Automata cartoon-strip adverts starring Pi-Man were a highlight for teenage me of the computer magazines of the times. Surreal, rude, funnyl and totally early 80s, I enjoyed them a lot more than the games...
posted by Devonian at 4:32 AM on November 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

Mel Croucher was a real visionary in many ways, striving at multimedia experiences before the technology was in any way affordable for the home.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 6:41 AM on November 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

Another good read is The Merry Pranksters of Automata at the Digital Antiquarian.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:23 AM on November 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

Cheers both for those links! That blog post goes into a lot more detail, great read.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 4:54 PM on November 22, 2019

I remember when Mel was the “official spokesman” of the not-tremendously-successful SAM Coupé home computer — an 8-bit launched in 1989. The few times I saw him do his bit for selling these he seemed as if he'd much rather be somewhere else.
posted by scruss at 7:37 AM on November 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

I was sorta on the periphery of the SAM Coupé adventure, and I think it's fair to say that most people involved would rather have been somewhere else. And let's not talk about the Flan Eneterprise.
posted by Devonian at 11:56 AM on November 24, 2019