Creator unknown
HARRY SPILMAN has the distinction of being the first P.I. to appear in any form of the internet.
Back in the early eighties, the NABU Network (an early precursor of the internet) had a mystery series that encompassed five interactive cases in the “LITERATURE” section. These stories allowed readers to essentially “become” Harry, solving the cases through different clues and access to different computers and documents. NABU stood for “Natural Access to Bi-directional Utilities.”
The cases were pretty interesting. For example, “Birds of a Feather” involved the death of a Senator’s secretary, “Fall From Grace” revolved around a televangelist and “Night Watch” was set in a hospital and concerned the murder of a former science classmate of Harry’s.
Harry was a peaceful man who did the legwork but tended to leave the actual apprehension of the villain to others. Unfortunately, when the NABU Network went out of business somewhere around 1988, Harry Spilman went out of business too.
BUT WHAT THE HELL WAS NABU?
According to Wikipedia:
“The Nabu Network was a microcomputer system which was linked to a precursor of the Internet in the 1980s primarily in Ottawa, Canada. It is now obsolete but was then revolutionary, if unsuccessful…
Families would buy a Nabu Network PC, which would be connected via cable TV to Nabu’s servers. The PC had all the capabilities of a normal PC, but in addition, it would download software and information content through the cable feed and could upload primitive information back up to the servers. Applications included games, the programming language Logo, news/current events, and primitive PC banking/shopping. Connection speeds were on the order of 6 MBit/second. The Nabu Network PC cost $950 CAD, approximately the same price as other PCs at the time, and the network service cost $8 to $10 per month.
The project was heavily subsidized by Canadian government. (It) first became available in 1982 through Ottawa Cablevision (but) never achieved commercial success and ceased operation in 1985.”
INTERACTIVE CASES
- HARRY SPILMAN
(Early eighties, NABU Network)- “Birds Of A Feather”
- “Embassy Caper”
- “Fall From Grace”
- “Murder Mansion”
- “Night Watch”
FURTHER INFORMATION
- Oh, the Videogames People Played Then (Part Une)
Some Early P.I. Videogames - The NABU Network
Dedicated to preserving NABU PCs, the Internet Adapter and Software
Respectfully submitted by Anthony Durrant, with additional info by Kevin Burton Smith.
