On the cover
The computer-generated light-cycles racing across the game grid on the cover come from the Disney movie Tron (© MCMLXXXII Walt Disney Productions). Like the machines benchmarked and reported on by Kirk Jordan in his article in this issue, the light-cycles face basically the same competitive conditions. Unlike the benchmarked machines, failure means destruction for the losing light-cycles. For a closer look at the special effects used in making Tron, see the sidebar accompanying Jordans article, or Peter Sorensens article in Cinefex, No, 8, April 1982, Riverside, Calif. Photos from the movie are used courtesy of Walt Disney Productions.
The light-cycles racing across the cover and getting ready to race at the beginning of this article come from the movie Tron (© MCMLXXXII Walt Disney Productions). The plot rests on the premise that computer software has an identity and indeed a universe parallel to our own inside a computer. Specifically, each human user has an alter ego inside this computer world, with power and personality to match. Only the Master Control Program, the dictator of the computer universe, has true independence—and forces the other entities to deny the existence of their users and accept his (its?) authority.
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