PlayHistory

PlayHistory , 2 hours ago to Random stuff

Coleco's lost console.

Announced in 1978 and never released, the Telstar Game Computer was meant to be the culmination of Coleco's Telstar line. Like the Telstar Arcade it was a plug-in TTL system rather than programmable, but it was canceled as Coleco pivoted to handhelds. #videogamehistory

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PlayHistory , 3 days ago to Random stuff

WE ARE GETTING STARTED!

https://www.twitch.tv/play_history

Our epic, dramatic readthrough of the book Console Wars begins tonight! The journey will have many laughs and faux pas - and maybe a little bit of history.

Come along for Part 1 of this crazy ride! #livestream #videogamehistory

PlayHistory , 4 days ago to Random stuff

RIP to Steve Albini, who recorded and mixed our last album. I learned a lot from him and heard so many fantastic stories from a musical legend.

https://pitchfork.com/news/steve-albini-storied-producer-and-icon-of-the-rock-underground-dies-at-61/

PlayHistory , 5 days ago to Random stuff

We've rescheduled this for Thursday - same time. Apologies!

https://oldbytes.space/@PlayHistory/112396431461200071

PlayHistory , 6 days ago to Random stuff

Tomorrow starting at 7PM CST, we will be starting a dramatic readthrough of the book Console Wars which will be livestreamed on my Twitch channel!

We will be playing the characters as we go through the book with insights and critiques. Come by and laugh along with us! #videogamehistory

PlayHistory , 7 days ago to Random stuff

Getting going on a livestream tonight - we're looking at old footage of games and tech related stuff to catalog them!

https://www.twitch.tv/play_history

Join us for undoubted hilarity and pixel hunting, like an adventure game. #livestream

PlayHistory , 8 days ago to Random stuff

Was he right? #videogamehistory

PlayHistory , 9 days ago to Random stuff

Though the stand-up units are more famous, the Virtuality sit-down units used for their flight-style games may have actually been more effective.

Certainly they were what the likes of Disney sought to emulate with their VR attractions.

#videogamehistory

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https://twist.learningguild.net/2016/10/the-emergence-of-vr-and-ar-what-does-it-mean/

PlayHistory , 12 days ago to Random stuff

Just spoke with Rex Bradford, one of the most enduring programmers in the games industry!

Created games like Empire Strikes Back (VCS), Mean 18 (DOS), and British Open Championship Golf at Looking Glass. Friendly, candid guy with lots of awesome stories!

#videogamehistory

1995-05 PC Player pg 73

PlayHistory , 12 days ago to Random stuff

One of the more interesting early articles on #videogamehistory this overview from June 1983's Video Review is startlingly well researched for the time.

It also has some dates for Computer Space. A lot of the other dates are accurate, so where are these from?

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PlayHistory , 13 days ago to Random stuff

Hope you found the four weeks of April posts interesting!

I'll be getting back to normal posting for a bit (to give myself a break).

PlayHistory , 14 days ago to Random stuff

AOL

Neverwinter Nights

No discussion of early online games can go by without discussing this classic. The pet project of game legend Don Daglow Neverwinter Nights helped to define MMOs in the commercial space in terms of social mechanics.

#videogamehistory

1991-08 Computer Gaming World pg 26
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PlayHistory , 15 days ago to Random stuff

Prodigy

Mad Maze

Though less big on games than its competitors, Prodigy's Mad Maze is a well-remembered navigation-adventure game.

It was more about world-building than interaction, creating a Wynne Jones-esque place for pay-by-minute subscribers to indulge.

#videogamehistory

1994 The hitchhiker's guide to the electronic highway pg 184
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PlayHistory , 16 days ago to Random stuff

New post! Ruminations on some discoveries and bumps in the road to modern controller design. Putting the video game controller into a wider context.

https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/2024/04/26/thumb-nation-how-we-learned-to-play-with-our-fingers/

#videogamehistory

PlayHistory , 16 days ago to Random stuff

Quantum Link

Habitat

Among the most famous defunct online services, Quantum Link on the C64 was the staging ground for one of the most ambitious online experiments of the 80s.

Habitat by LucasFilm Games translated their adventure gameplay in a social, real-time world.

#videogamehistory #lucasarts

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PlayHistory , 17 days ago to Random stuff

GEnie

Air Warrior

Kesmai is the most important innovator in online gaming, and it was their impetus that launched the GEnie service.

Their real-time 3D game Air Warrior originally for the Macintosh brought the thrill of PLATO flight game deathmatch to the mainstream.

#videogamehistory

1987-12 MacWorld pg 121
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PlayHistory , 18 days ago to Random stuff

British Telecom

MUD

Mutli-User Dungeon's first commercial foray was through British Telecom - more than fitting.

Pivotal in the development of persistent multiplayer worlds, MUDs became far more associated with BBS' than in bespoke commercial on-line services.

#videogamehistory

1984-08 Personal Computer World pg 135
1984-09 Micro Adventurer pg 23

PlayHistory , 19 days ago to Random stuff

PLATO

Moria

The commercial version of the revolutionary PLATO service ported over many of their revolutionary games.

Moria was the ORIGINAL first person dungeon crawler, with active multiplayer, team-based elements providing the root of the Wizardry feel.

#videogamehistory

1984-07 Antic pg 41

PlayHistory , 20 days ago to Random stuff

Compuserve

MegaWars III

The oldest of the "walled garden" services accessible to microcomputers, Compuserve played host to wargame MegaWars III - based on the classic Star Trek game.

It supported up to 100 players at once with games running for around a month each.

#videogamehistory

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PlayHistory , 20 days ago to Random stuff

There's a rather infamous clip of the Atari software manager Steve Wright speaking about how games are a corporate product and programmers don't need recognition - post Activision defection.

I would like to see the whole thing if it's in an archive.

https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxZG-Fu2p9-xv8z2Gw15P6fS9jStabwbCV

#videogamehistory

PlayHistory , 21 days ago to Random stuff

Another week of subjects down!

For this last month of April, let's highly the ephemeral - online services and the games that made them popular.

Comparably little work has gone into researching pre-WWW services so I hope this will be enlightening!

PlayHistory , 21 days ago to Random stuff

Tom Petit (1955-2017)

Initially joining Atari as a young gun, Petit made his mark at companies like Data East before eventually heading Sega's US arcade division.

Games like Hang-On and Virtua Fighter came out under his watch. Later he headed Vivendi's video games efforts.

#videogamehistory

1985-12 RePlay cover
1988-07-16 Cash Box pg 32

PlayHistory , 22 days ago to Random stuff

Stan Jarocki

Mr. Pac-Man himself. There was no bigger champion for the legendary game in the US than Jarocki, who moved mountains to make it the success it was.

His salesmanship put him at the pinnacle of legendary product movers of the era of arcade video games.

#videogamehistory

1981-03 Play Meter pg 64
https://mediaburn.org/video/wired-in-raw-30/

PlayHistory , 23 days ago to Random stuff

Lenore Sayers

Sayers had a whirlwind tour of the coin-op industry. From Atari's secret subsidiary Kee Games to Cinematronics to Sega to Williams, she spent an impressive amount of time in the evolving industry - possibly longer than any video game salesperson outside of Atari.

#videogamehistory

1984-12-31 Play Meter pg 43
1992-11-14 Cash Box pg 28

PlayHistory , 24 days ago to Random stuff

Nick Alexander

Co-founder of Virgin Games and subsequently head of Sega Europe, Alexander was in large part responsible for Sega's enduring identity in Europe.

https://www.sega-16.com/2008/09/interview-nick-alexander/

#videogamehistory

1993-12 MEGA Machines pg 22
1993-08 Mega Power pg 14

PlayHistory , 25 days ago to Random stuff

Kenzo Tsujimoto

One of the most remarkable businesspeople in the history of the video game industry, Tsujimoto is the renowned founder of Capcom - still CEO today.

He led the company through several reinventions to become one of the richest men in Japan.

#videogamehistory

1985-11-02 Cash Box pg 47 / 1993-10 RePlay pg 184
1985-12 RePlay pg 85

PlayHistory , 25 days ago to Random stuff

Cathy Carlston Brisbois (1957-1995)

Though long passed, Cathy was instrumental in Brøderbund's educational arm - exemplified with products like Carmen Sandiego.

She was with the company from some of its earliest days and helped it reach some of its greatest cultural heights.

#videogamehistory

1983-04 Creative Computing pg 52
1993-11-29 Microtimes pg 78

PlayHistory , 27 days ago to Random stuff

Patrick Karns (1941-2010)

The ORIGINAL video games salesman. Karns came to #Atari in early 1973 before defecting to Fun Games in 1975.

He was the man that really built a solid base for Atari - unfortunately never recognized in his life for the service he filled for them.

#videogamehistory

1973-11-24 Cash Box
1974-11-16 Cash Box pg 40

PlayHistory , 27 days ago to Random stuff

I hope you've enjoyed the look at console development these past two weeks!

We may come back and do this again with some of the more obscure contenders.

For now, we'll move to a new subject: Important video game sales men and women!

PlayHistory , 28 days ago to Random stuff

Nintendo Super Famicom

Head Engineer: Masayuki Uemura
Technology Engineer: Unknown

The most infamous console in history for what we DON'T know. All we do is that it was development hell, and that story has to be FASCINATING.

C'mon Nintendo, let us have it.

#videogamehistory

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https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/016832945/publication/JP3056514B2

PlayHistory , 29 days ago to Random stuff

Sega Mega Drive

Head Engineer: Masami Ishikawa
Technology Engineer: Unknown (Yamaha)

We have a fairly solid idea of the console from the book Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works, though not nearly the level of detail as we do on something like the Famicom.

#videogamehistory

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retrohistories , 29 days ago to Random stuff

My Fallout headcanon: the reason that the diegetic music used in the series would have been 120+ years old by the time the bombs fell was that EMPs destroyed all digital and magnetic devices and storage, so all the pre-war audio that had survived in playable condition was on vinyl.

I know the games have contradicted this (integrated circuits never existed in the Fallout timeline, so CDs, for example, couldn’t)… but what's the alternative? Ella Fitzgerald being born 100 years later in-universe?

PlayHistory , 1 month ago to Random stuff

NEC PC Engine

Head Engineer: Unknown
Technology Engineer: Unknown

While we have a bit of the WHY to the project, we have basically no insider information about how it was made. Check the shmuplations article for our scant details:

https://shmuplations.com/pcengine/

#videogamehistory

PlayHistory , 1 month ago to Random stuff

Congrats to Norm for getting this epic documentary done!
I'm in good company with the likes of @katewillaert in the credits, helping Norm gather some images.

Watch it! #videogamehistory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QbjlHeoLdc

PlayHistory , 1 month ago to Random stuff

Atari 7800

Head Engineer: Steve Golson

Technology Engineer: Unknown

Golson gave an interesting talk on the system and showed some documentation, but that was all particularly high-level. We need a bit more on-the-ground stuff.

https://youtu.be/akrOZ82peT4?si=j8C1_-QvL9wL5jVL

#videogamehistory

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https://patents.google.com/patent/US4729119A/

PlayHistory , 1 month ago to Random stuff

Sega Mark III/Master System

Head Engineers: Hideki Sato, Masami Ishikawa

Technology Engineers: Unknown (Yamaha)

Very little gets said about the Mark III, though it was a definitive step forward from the SG-1000.

#videogamehistory

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PlayHistory , 1 month ago to Random stuff

Nintendo Family Computer

Head Engineer: Masayuki Uemura

Technology Engineer: Katsuya Nakakawa?, Masahiro Ootake?

It's a little unclear who actually made the PPU, but thanks to the 1994 Nikkei Electronics article we know a lot of in depth info.

https://web.archive.org/web/20120731044313/http://www.glitterberri.com/developer-interviews/how-the-famicom-was-born/deciding-on-the-specs/

#videogamehistory

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PlayHistory , 1 month ago to Random stuff

Atari 5200

Head Engineer: Unknown
Technology Engineer: Jay Miner

It is extremely frustrating how little we know about this console. Most of those who have spoken about it worked on the peripheries, not on the wild decisions in re-engineering the Atari 400/800 technology.

#videogamehistory

PlayHistory , 1 month ago to Random stuff

End of MGC!

Great time, hope to see more familiar faces out next year.

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PlayHistory , 1 month ago to Random stuff

GCE Vectrex

Head Engineer: Jay Smith III?

Technology Engineer: John Ross

Decently documented, if a bit fragmented of a story. The Vectrex has a hardcore fanbase whose dredged up a lot of facts about how this very unique console was made.

#videogamehistory

Jay Smith (third from left)
https://patents.google.com/patent/US4500879A/

PlayHistory , 1 month ago to Random stuff

Colecovision

Head Engineer: Robert Schenck
Technology Engineer: TI 9918 team (https://patents.google.com/patent/US4243984A/ )

Precious little known about the system, despite my interviews. Enough to form a picture, but I have more questions to ask Schenck.

https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/designer-of-the-colecovision-an-interview-with-robert-schneck-by-ethan-johnson/

#videogamehistory

https://patents.google.com/patent/US4243984A/

PlayHistory , 1 month ago to Random stuff

Heading to MGC tomorrow! Let me know if you're there too.

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PlayHistory , 1 month ago to Random stuff

Mattel Intellivision

Head Engineer: David Chandler
Technology Engineers: Stephen Maine (GI)

Thanks to Chandler putting his documents online and the work of the upcoming Intellivision book, we know SO MUCH about the creation of the system. Can't wait for y'all to read it.

#videogamehistory

Chandler on right.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US4246452A/

PlayHistory , 1 month ago to Random stuff

Magnavox Odyssey²

Head Engineer: Unknown
Technology Engineers: Peter Salmon (Intel)

We know very little about the development of the Odyssey².

I did talk to the video chip designer, but we know basically nothing about the internal impetus or decisions for the console.