The Sims wouldn't exist without This | Nostalgia Nerd

[@Nostalgianerd]

As to why Bobby would rather become ill of dehydration than drink directly out of his tap, is one of life's greatest mysteries. Maybe he's not a fan of the water hardness in his area.

[@adamhenry6793]

Stu was lovely in this!

[@mqccompo4156]

Sir ! How dare you criticize the Most Venerable Emperor Bobby Kotick... REEEEEEEE

[@adamhenry6793]

@@mqccompo4156 Dangit, Bobbeh.

[@MrSandvik]

So happy to see a 2019 review of this simulator! Thank you.

[@sonixthatsme]

So in Bobby's computer are microscopical computer people?

[@dantootill]

When I was 14, my secondary school closed and being friends with the I.T. teacher, he let me plunder the department for Commodore stuff. I came home with a load of books and a disk copy of LCP, the "House On A Disk" pack like in the video. I kept it for about 35 years, but rather than sell it I donated it to the Retro Computer Museum in Leicester, UK. It's still there.

[@chiefavagef0x837]

I really appreciate ppl like you! You're donation I'm sure means the world to many ppl! I hope you know that 😁

[@davidmcgill1000]

So it's a screen saver that burns a house into your computer screen.

[@Yntec]

For some reason, I was way more impressed with Johnny Castaway than with this. Also, it was quite clear why only male people were programmed (guy gets naked, takes bath, nobody cares; girl gets naked, takes bath, everyone panics.) I guess the eventual introduction of a female version tells something about the change in the times.

[@Yntec]

@amesdepartmentstore 2002 Adding an extra gender is trivial, just allow for longer hair that syncs with a female name, add the possibiliy of a skirt. Change a few text instances for others. Presto. So I think the possibility of being female was intentionally left out.

[@Yntec]

@amesdepartmentstore 2002 Gender is about appearance, they had many male hairs, male shirts, male pants, male shoes, and male names, so if they were going to add women, they'd had added it while they were adding those (a sync check is trivial to implement), which makes me believe "male only" was decided early in development.

[@SeaJay_Oceans]

@amesdepartmentstore 2002 Well, lack of females is something computer geeks could relate too ? :-) It is a full game where interacting with one NPC IS the game. The 'secret' rooms are interesting ... where does the NPC go and what is in there ? What is he doing?

[@scottwilson419]

HOLY CRAP, LGR for that voice over was AWESOME, love these style of videos, a documentary and a "game review" at the same time. Great video keep em coming....

[@TheAnkMan]

Thought I know that voice. Yes, LGR. But Peter didn't mention that in the credits. Or did I miss it? I also noticed The 8-Bit Guy featured Clint's voice once or twice. Nice to see everybody is helping each other out.

[@blackhatfreak]

@@TheAnkMan oh yeah they're a nice tight knit community

[@MrGameplayer103]

0:48 "...no mention of the actual title: Little Computer People anywhere on the front..." as i was reading "little computer people" on the front.

[@chrispychickin]

LOL just as I went to mention myself, it I saw your comment!

[@_Stin_]

@@chrispychickin Same! XD

[@KageMaxwell]

You just saved me some time by saying. Thanks. 😀

[@TRayTV]

I think it must have been a troll comment to enrage people into interacting with the video. Damn, I've been tricked!

[@ceejayszee]

Ashens AND LGR Cameos? Count me in!

[@densetsu4286]

I thought I heard ashens lol. Was questioning that.

[@chaisefrederick5711]

Awesome addition! Spotted immediately.

[@ColinJonesPonder]

I thoroughly enjoyed this back in the day. Mine was called Hubert ;) You can't kill him because it saves when he goes through a door, so that's like a check point. There was a reset program in a magazine that I typed in and tested on a copy. From that I wrote a "hotel" that could be used to save LCPs. One thing to note these days: it's not Y2K compliant ;)

[@lurkerrekrul]

I was just going to mention that there were programs to reset the disk and save your LCP. :)

[@ColinJonesPonder]

Indeed! I even used that as a basis for a "Hotel" where you could store many personalities.

[@RetroDawn]

In what manner does it fail due to Y2K issues?

[@ColinJonesPonder]

2 digits only so 22 = 1922.

[@RetroDawn]

@@ColinJonesPonder Oh, right, so 2000 should be a leap year, but perhaps wouldn't because it might be considered to be 1900. Has anyone tested this? That would be the only glitch that would show up in the recent past or future. All other years would have the dates calculated correctly until 2400. It only uses the date to calculate Xmas and perhaps some other holidays. It doesn't ever display the year, AFAIR.

[@faxis2k]

Funny, that BMW Dealer sounds an awful lot like LGR.

[@Nostalgianerd]

It's what he does in his spare time.

[@MaskedGEEK]

I remember programming my own Tamagotchi-esque 'thing' to look after in ZX Spectrum BASIC. It's simple hunger system allowed the user to feed it 5 types of food or drink that would increase it's hunger and thirst meters (a full bar representing it was full, i.e not hungry or thirsty). Using a ton of DATA lines I could have it change expressions as time passed, but while I didn't program in any games to play, it's happiness was purely based on how hungry, thirsty and clean it was (keeping that digital poop scoop on hand). I did include a real time clock and an alarm feature into it so it would sleep after a certain time and wake up either on it's own accord if the alarm was switched off, or when the alarm sounded. I loved my ZX Spectrum, I miss my ZX Spectrum.

[@dingdongbells3314]

12:09 Guy who lives in a computer? Check. An 8 bit computer? Check. Plays piano all day? Check. Is your person secretly The 8-bit guy?

[@nicolasverdi]

He's just missing the glasses.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Nicolás Verdi Comes with age.

[@aitchpea6011]

Bobby: Would you like to play a game? NNerd: Yes, let's play global thermonuclear war

[@fulanitoflyer]

Seems that Bobby has a much more exciting life than mine... at least he can play the piano.

[@BakiX]

Is it weird I felt a tiny sense of sadness for Bobby when the game finally got powered off?

[@theultumzero8491]

"This was Activision and new experiences was their mantra." Oh how the times keep a changin

[@vaporwave2345]

You have no idea how happy i am someone finally reviewed this in detail. *Thank you so much!*

[@ProlificInvention]

*Nostalgia Nerd* Great video! Brought me right back to the 80's! When I was 6-10 I was absolutely addicted to Zork, Little Computer People, and Flight Simulator. Thank you for this excellent overview.

[@BokBarber]

Despite being into video games from the era, I've never heard of this title until today. Amazing to know that virtual pet ideas were being floated that far back.

[@Schming]

Lovely to hear the silky dulcet tones of young Clint from LGR. I often think of you two as two sides of the same coin (just one side has an eagle and the other has old Liz)

[@aliconvoy]

Did you get Ashens to read out the note from the publisher?

[@ahandsomefridge]

Well, now I need to relisten and feel ashamed for not recognizing the voice.

[@kandigloss6438]

It's not exactly surprising, they are friends after all.

[@krashd]

It was also LGR who voiced the enthusiastic American if I'm not mistaken...

[@heartgenerator4967]

Nah, that was Simon Pegg

[@elkneto4334]

@@heartgenerator4967 yeah simon pegg called he wants his face and voice back

[@LeftoverBeefcake]

I always wondered what happened to TRON after he defeated the MCP. Looks like he settled down into retirement quite nicely.

[@RetroDawn]

LOL! You noted the MCP references in the manual/"magazine", too, I take it? Stood for Modern Computer People here, the name of the "magazine". I have to believe they made that acronym intentionally.

[@ZenEmu01]

I must admit that my first copy of this was pirated, created on tape by a freezer cartridge, so pre generated. I loaded it without any context or instructions and was just very confused by it.

[@darkstarnh]

Got this when it was released and my then 4 year old daughter was captivated. We had floods of tears whenever I had to switch him off. Pretty sure she still hasn't forgiven me.

[@Ali107]

Just don't forget to buy "Walking Sim Feature" DLC, it only cost 59.99$

[@evanfehr3819]

They weren't smart enough back then to rob us like that

[@KonolaChopin]

@@evanfehr3819 or scummy enough.

[@hugovangalen]

I had the original tape version in the 80s. Years (more like, "decades") later I heard the disk version had a few more features. And now I see the disk version had a fake magazine too! The tape edition came only with a poster.

[@lonesquiff6551]

Thanks for this vid! I remember wanting to get it for our Amiga but could never convince my parents. I could never remember the name of it but new it predated The Sims. I was beginning to think I had imagined it lol. I've found myself watching a lot of your vids lately and am loving this channel. Subbed and looking forward to more :)

[@LunaManar]

Yeesssss OMG I'm so glad you did this!! I STILL check in on "Tom" on my ST every now and then. You know, to make sure he's OK. I live in fear of the day his disk stops working. So far, so good though!

[@EdgarTarly]

LGR cameo for the win!

[@ChocoHearts]

I genuinely laughed out loud when I heard his silky-smooth voice. "I love being an American!"

[@TheRetroByte]

You got to admit, he has an excellent voice broadcast.

[@frankschneider6156]

Not only LGR, also Ashen.

[@ohnoitschris]

I prefer Ashens tbh

[@joonasfi]

It's pronounced La-grr

[@MartGC]

I had this game on my C64 as a little boy in the 80s. That's so nostalgig now. Thanks so much for another entertaining video, love your humor and the way you talk, i could just listen to you for hours and hours. Well.. sometimes i do. :) Greetings from Cologne!

[@coachtomas]

LCP will always hold a special place in my gaming heart. I remember "playing" this with a mix of both fascination and confusion. Fast forward to 2022 and I am now making a modern day version of LCP for fun.

[@davidinark]

LCP was one of my favorite C64 games! Back in my youth, I would leave the computer running all day while I was at school.

[@krashd]

Hahaha, your alternative channel name gave me a giggle. You should change to Old Man Gaming if you can :)

[@BertGrink]

Around 0:48 Peter says that there is no mention of the title on the front page of the "Magazine" yet it clearly says "Discover The Little Computer People Inside Your Computer - They Play Games, Write Letters and Live Full, Active Lives!"

[@shazib21]

I noticed that too, was wondering if someone had already commented on that

[@Nostalgianerd]

TRUE. I meant more in a titular sense, rather than a cunning little reference.

[@BertGrink]

@@Nostalgianerd I apologise for my misunderstanding.

[@thematicschematic]

I used to enjoy playing with Marvin, my LCP, on the Apple ][+ when I was a kid. Thanks for this!

[@DrxSlump]

I'm looking for the background music (I assume public domain) on 1:32... thanks :)

[@Jimbobuk10]

Wow......blast from the past.....had forgotten about this game.......if it actually was a game! Remember at the time thinking this was something special and unique. Gr8 vid

[@garyharrison4915]

I'm not sure they were honest in the manual. I ran it on an emulator and it worked.

[@krashd]

How do you know your LPC wasn't just a migrant from the host PC? :D

[@TheDigitalThreat]

but do you get dif little people each time you reload the rom? Different = random gen = they lied, Same little dude = just a copy from the host floppy

[@sporkafife]

It's amazing how strong our emotions of empathy can be that our brains force us to feel bad for a couple of pixels and lines of code.

[@PeteJohnsMusic]

Clint cameo for the bloody win!! Loved this video Pete(r). (Never know if all Peters like the ‘r’ removal like I do).

[@dyscotopia]

I remember reading about this in Compute and the language was singularly breathless about what a unique, advanced breakthrough this game was. I was immediately reminded of it when I first encountered the Sims, despite having never had the exhilaration of playing it when it was contemporary

[@prophismusic]

They should make a modern 4th wall breaking human sim

[@WR3ND]

I think they do, but the breaking is on the other side. It's call... _The Internet_

[@Hapetiitti]

Like, say, Seaman?

[@gracezb1]

that packaging is super cool, love the aesthetic

[@htintin85]

i've played LCP ... a lot ! but the AI in modern games are more interactive than LCP, it was a very very cool great game, i've spend a lot of time in it, but very limited, no real AI in it's only programmated sequence norhing from raw data. But it was the first one of "not really a game" but a concept. I hope some some studio took it to make a real interactive AI game.

[@posban]

Listening on my earphones.For the first time I've discovered the cool music mixed in with the videos. Great work NERD!

[@sUASNews]

We used to play that at RAF Chivenor and would leave it running whilst we went to the pub coming back to a very sad character.

[@da71000]

This is awesome. Thanks! I've been trying to remember the name of this ... thing? ... for decades. When The Sims came out and everyone was wetting themselves about it, I was like "But this has been done before ... on the C64... It was called .... uhhhhh". I had similar feelings about The Sims and LCP. Interesting concept, fun for a few hours, then it's just like .... so, what's the point? I'm simulating a person living a mundane life, just like I do. Heh. Cheers to the LGR cameo. Thanks for solving a decades long mystery for me.

[@AudieHolland]

We had the cassette version back in the day. One thing, the opening scene was always 'in media res' meaning there was no official entering the house. So no 10 minutes of having to wait before trying to interact with the little bugger! And no, we didn't get a new random LCP everytime we started a new session. Our little guy's name was Andy! Graphics were very good and it was nice to see him move about the house, gratifying even when he responded to our requests for playing a game or playing the piano. Getting him sick and trying to kill him was of course also a rather entertaining way to 'punish' him whenever you felt like it.

[@adamsimmons631]

Played this on C64 back in the day. Yes, I can see where you are coming from with its similarities to The Sims. Thanks for posting 👍

[@robertwoodall4330]

That LGR cameo truly made my day. I really needed that guys! Thank you to Clint and Peter

[@ahandsomefridge]

True KZbin Heroes Of The Current Age

[@robertwoodall4330]

Yes. Also listen to the very end for a bonus bit.

[@NathanTempleton_Integration]

LGR as a BMW dealer from Tx! Bloody freakin brilliant! I love it! Best cameo for the win!

[@RAMChYLD]

Incidentally, Perifractic just put out a video about this game. The reason the little guy goes into the back room is due to the game saving data onto disk, due to an issue with the code the characters would vanish when the game writes its save to disk. So they make him go into the back room so the character could vanish as the game saves and the player will never notice. Thats really paying attention to details!

[@nuclearping9959]

I'm amazed that those little computer people survived for over 2 decades inside your Commodore 64. They don't seem to have aged a bit.

[@krashd]

I dunno, little Bobby had leathery looking skin, he was clearly a very old man or a 35-year old Australian.

[@campisimike]

I miss you Walter! Sorry about that one time I refused to feed you and made you play the piano until you got sick!!!!

[@andrewbernhardt3061]

I still have my LCP stuff (magazine, disk, etc) in my closet with my C64s and SX64s. I enjoyed running it as well.

[@KashouWannabe]

I loved Little Computer People. I had the C64 cassette version. I was missing the pullout so had no idea what all the taps and speech lines meant, but it was still fun and cute.

[@IanHodgetts]

I absolutely LOVED that game! I borrowed a friend's C64 to play it a few times. Eventually, it came out for the ZX Spectrum 128 but it was nowhere near as good as the original. It just had a certain charm to it. I distinctly remember leaving it running overnight to see if my LCP would die! :-o

[@curtismenzies428]

Thanks for all these amazing videos Peter! Nice flashback to the Tamagotchi, I would love to see a "thing" featured on that unless you already have.

[@BRBTechTalk]

5:37 Nice, getting Clint to do the voice over, great touch.

[@TheGamingMuso]

This is one of those games that passed me by! However after watching this vid I’m really upset it did! Great vid Peter!

[@420sakura1]

It's an Activision game, are you okay with aggressive monetisation?

[@TheRetroByte]

Oh my lord. I am in the middle of recording an episode for little computer people. Can't believe it... nice work though...

[@papaquonis]

I gave you your very first subscribe. Hope you still make the video.

[@TheRetroByte]

Oh cheers. I'm truly humbled thanks

[@nicolasverdi]

@@TheRetroByte: I'd love to see it, please do make it.

[@JeffDeWitt]

About a year earlier GE introduced the "GE Homeminder", which used your TV and X-10 modules to control your house. One of it's cool features was a graphical house on your TV screen You would install various devices in the virtual house to match ones in your real house and use the Homeminder to control them. The house looked very much like this one. I wonder if that virtual house was one of the things that influenced this one. Ironically enough with all our advances in technology I STILL can't control my house anywhere near as easily today as I could my little trailer in the woods over 30 years ago.

[@uzimonkey]

I had a Little Computer Person, his name was Dwight.

[@Jogjosmowwdkfs]

Ah, does a mildly attractive man named Jim pester him?

[@jeromelulling568]

well done, thx 4 the upload. LCP was and still is a fascinatin' game.

[@shortbreadhead]

loved the little Ashens cameo, keep up the good work buddy!

[@oleblue73]

I had that game on my Commodore 64. My little person's name was Hugh. My favorite thing to do with him was play poker.

[@gato38]

wow amazing I swear you sounded like Stuart or Clint there for a sec . You are very talented.

[@mikesmith2905]

The Numbskulls in (IIRC) the Beano c1960s was based on a similar premise but set in the human head. That was a comedy strip and I find it hard to imagine how it could have been 'gamed'. This fascination of 'Hey I can make it do something' morphed over time into the Flaming Rotating Logo syndrome that makes some websites as enjoyable as this game.

[@nickscott9129]

Great video on this Nostalgia Nerd, an infamous title that certainly stuck in my mind from back in the day. I recall buying this on cassette for the C64 and feeling totally duped in its even more limiting lack of appeal. It did not randomise the LCP on each load however, it was always the same guy, from my hazy memory he always signed things "your friend" on the typewriter and didn't come coded with a name and with no save data and no game interactions it soon became very boring. One of those titles that even with its limits should never have been released outside of disk format. Most certainly a title designed in America for the American market with the disk format being prevalent, and with it being innovatively popular cash cowed/dumbed down onto cassette for the C64 and the other popular computers of the day in Europe. I also tried to kill the blighter leaving my C64 on whilst at school for a couple of days and soon coming to the realisation it did not seem possible.

[@kyleboyd504]

2:44 - Can't speak to what was available in the UK, but here in the States I had that same "research discovery pack" for my Apple //e version of the game.

[@SevenDeMagnus]

So cool. History and documentaries are cool, it makes things more comprehensible.

[@UnforeseenConsequences586]

Ah, nostalgia rushes in on those little moments of going and visiting Adam and Binky and listen to them play their piano, feet their pet, talk on their phones and watching their televisions

[@m2mm4m]

@12:29 If my memory is correct, the music played from the record is from the game from ‘Master of the Lamps’.

[@8-bitsteve500]

I bought LCP in the mid 80's. I'd just got a 1541 disk drive for my C64 and wanted some disk only games, LCP was my first and although it's not a real game.. it was a ton of fun and my wife loved it too.

[@DavidRysz]

I absolutely LOVED this game on my C64!!! My friend had it as well and his guy was different.

[@Caolan114]

Seems like something you would sit in the corner of your room so you don't feel alone and glance at it from time to time to see what bobby is up to in his world

[@theoldar]

Hey it's Clint!

[@gamingtonight1526]

Little Computer People was my go-to game when I got home from school. Had to see how Stan was doing!

[@jonbourgoin182]

I was wondering where you’ve been, glad you’re back!

[@toddmiller5322]

In reference to "Chronology of a Discovery" I must point out that both the Commodore PET and Apple I were prototyped in July of 1976. If fact if not for Commodore, the Apple I would likely not have even existed as it shared the same cheap 6502 microprocessor that Jack Peddle(who worked at Commodore) designed and was using in the PET. In fact if Commodore had made the decision to not sell it's 6502 and instead kept it in house for only their projects, Apple computers would most likely have never existed at all as the next cheapest processor at the time was nearly 5x the cost of the 6502. The world at large today has no idea how much they owe to Commodore and it's brilliant engineers for the inception of the personal computer revolution.

[@degerhandeger]

This is an informative video. It is interesting to see how ideas evolve incrementally!

[@RalphH007]

I still have the cassette version for the c64, sadly the magazine was not included there.

[@st3ddyman]

I remember this game like i played it yesterday. So well marketed and because everybody got a different house, person and pet it felt real.

[@gamesessions]

I would have loved this game as a kid - I remember I spent just as much time watching the people in the house on Sim Ant as I did playing the actual game. Not to mention the great Johnny Castaway as my screensaver :)

[@brianoconnell6459]

It was almost 35 years but my memory was triggered when you got to Darwin, I used to look through old games (well, old now) at the computer store and make wish lists of what I'd love to have if I could afford a C64.

[@AxeGaijin]

I saw the title and immediately though: LCP. Had it on my C64, I was fascinated by it. Many years later I also became enamoured with the Sims franchise, although it stopped when they announced the watered down version 4.

[@SonicMrSumo]

Liked the LGR cameo... NN, you're awesome too!

[@tomsuzyinfluencerinfj2712]

Before LCP there was a game called, I think, The House, available on Apple ][. Take care of the residents living in the house. I read about it in Computer Gaming World or Electronic Gaming Monthly, one or the other.

[@stevensavoie856]

If the sims story of starting as an architecture game holds water, then it most certainly would exist without this. Either way, fun video. I never heard of this, but our family got a computer a bit later than the commodore.

[@gejyspa]

I saw this video title and said, "He's not talking about Little Computer People, is he?" And he IS! I bought that for my college roommate when that first came out (it wasn't available for the computer I had, an Exidy Sorceror, but then, basically nothing was ;-) . I had to write my own software)

[@herbiehusker1889]

The amount of effort that went into the marketing of this game is fantastic. The game itself seems a little underwhelming.

[@frankschneider6156]

Herbie Husker Imho the general idea is absolutely brilliant, but as a game it's pure rubbish. It's as good as an ant farm as a "toy".

[@herbiehusker1889]

@@frankschneider6156 agreed. The concept is cool and impressive, but probably not very fun.

[@SandyRiverBlue]

What winds me up are the little purple pants/green shirt combination and well as the total lack of toilet in the bathroom...Oh you think you're better than us Bobbie?!

[@Shinji_Dai]

This. This was my game back in the day on the Commodore 64. Spent many hours on it. Immediately after The Sims came out I thought "Huh. That sounds like Little Computer People."

[@LeeTennant90]

Great video. I'd forgot about this game. Loved playing it on my Atari STe.

[@sparkcrushervcm]

I loved this as a kid. I loved that I could just keep it on and it was like having an aquarium. Of course, I was poor and only had a pirated copy of some LCP named Blake.

[@RubenvanKuik]

Great little documentary as always :)

[@Christopher-N]

(4:46) Doesn't Malcolm Kaufman look like Taradino Cassatt in _Rise of the Triad_ ?

[@cadburybunny]

Great video and love the LGR voice Cameo.

[@pufaxx]

The sound @ about 8:00 doesn't come from the SID-chip, or does it?

[@AzraelsEntertainment]

Had this on the Apple II has a kid. Our LCP, if I remember correctly had a cowcoy hat and red skin... I thought I was remembering wrong when I downloaded an Apple II emulator and rom.

[@FullSemiAuto357]

That's crazy that they got LGRs dad to do a quote in that magazine. The dulcet tones apparently run in the family.

[@RDurfee]

I totally forgot about this game. I loved it back in the day!

[@jackgorman802]

What's the Can or Can-like song at 7:00?