Balance of Power is a Cold War era PC Game [published in 1985] programmed by the legendary game developer
Chris Crawford.
On a whim, I Googled it just to see if it was available. Of course, I expected not to find it and was surprised at finding it in freeware form:
http://www.squakenet.com/computer_games/1381/Balance-of-Power/download.html
Quote:Balance of Power is among the first political simulation that emphasizes diplomacy and politics over outright aggression. When he first released this seminal game in 1984, Crawford single-handedly established the political simulation genre and left a lasting legacy on how to design good diplomatic models in a game that gives a nod to reality. You must use diplomacy, make treaties, issue risky, covert CIA or KGB actions, or riskier, direct military intervention to prop up 3rd world countries or help their insurgents and win them to your governmental philosophy: Capitalism or Communism. The game, not surprisingly, attracted many non-gamers to the field and inspired countless books on the subject. International cold war politics at its best!
It looks like it's still in DOS format ... how would I play it if my system is Windows Vista?
Clearly, I would like to play it for sentimental reasons. Though as a teen, I was terrible at playing the US President and my foreign policy skills were atrociously undisciplined. I wonder how I would do nowadays??
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace