They Create Worlds

TCW Podcast Episode 043 - Personal Gaming Histories   We go over some of our early memories of being introduced to video games.  Joys, tragedies, and hilarity.  Very much in the vein of what inspired us to start doing this podcast.  This is a light hearted episode that may help you to reflect on favorite memories from your past.  So stay a while and listen as we reminisce!   Gray and Orange Zapper...

TCW Podcast Episode 042 - Laser Craze   We cover the brief, yearlong, craze that was the laserdisc.  We go into great detail on Dragon's Lair the game that really kicked it off in the United States.  Though many other companies tried to take advantage of the medium, unfortunately it was unable to sustain itself.  There were a few games that did as well, if not better than Dragon's Lair, they all e...

TCW Podcast Episode 41 - Beating Them All Up   We delve into beat 'em ups, and fighters.  We cover why they did not take hold until computer technology progressed far enough to allow for human analogs to be animated well.  We go into the beat 'em up craze, and then the transition to fighting games that occurred with the release of Street Fighter II.  We touch on the fall of fighting games from the...

TCW Podcast Episode 40 - Sierra On-Line We delve into the second half of the story of Sierra.  We cover how they managed to regroup, and rebuild from the company being close to a complete collapse.  We cover many of the classics of the era.  Even though many of them are not as fondly remembered today; they are still important for pushing gaming on the PC to new and impressive heights.  Unfortunate...

TCW Podcast Episode 039 - On-Line Systems   On-Line systems is the company that eventually becomes Sierra Online.  The brainchild of Ken and Roberta Williams.  We go over the  reasons for the company's founding, and the unique makeup of the company's initial titles.  Unfortunately due to backing the proverbial wrong horse multiple times after investment by a venture capital firm they are on the br...

TCW Podcast Episode 038 - Origin Story   We cover the rise and fall of Origin Systems.  A company that is very much defined by one of its founders Richard Garriott.  We cover the company's pre-founding as Richard tried to get his games published, and distributed to the public.  We then delve into its founding and growth into one of the great influencers of the video game industry.  Ultimately endi...

TCW Podcast Episode 037 - Nintendo and Gunpei Yokoi   We go over the career of Gumpei Yokoi.  From his falling into a job at Nintendo until his untimely death.  We cover his contributions to Nintendo, and the game industry, and set the record straight on what he did, and did not have influence on.  In the end his true legacy is the talent he mentored, philosophy, and vision that still influences N...

TCW Podcast Episode 036 - Raiding Eidos   We go over the rise and fall of Eidos.  A company that rose high on the huge success of Tomb Raider, and due to a number of factors ended up being in such dire straits they were ultimately purchased by SquareEnix.    C64 Rick Dangerous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwBIDlcMU5Y   Sega CD/Mega CD Thunderhawk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPS6ObO7ZdM  ...

TCW Podcast Episode 035 - EA The Teenage Years   We go over the transition of EA from a small idealistic company where programmers are rock stars; to the start of the company becoming the large enterprise it is today.  We cover Trip Hawkins later years at the helm of EA and the rising businessman Larry Probst who would later succeed him as president and CEO in the early 90's.  We go over the found...

TCW Podcast Episode 034 -The Nutting Associates   We go into the murky history of Nutting Associates.  This company's founding, and a large part of its history is still unclear due to the lack of proper documentation along with contradictory evidence and testimony.  We look at how Nutting is more than just Computer Space, and by association Nolan Bushnell.  Though Nutting Associates did not surviv...

TCW Podcast Episode 033 - The Saga of Sega   A brief Namco Update, and then we delve into Sega.  We covered them before in episode 5, this time we go into detail of the company's middle and later years.  We cover how Sega changed hands from an American to Japanese company, and look at some of the products they produced during this era.   Wild Gunman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzxcsaIxaZg   E...

TCW Podcast Episode 032 - History of the Atari Brand   We go over the history of the Atari brand.  We go from its inception all the way to modern times with the only Atari name being owned by a company in France.  The brand changes many hands throughout the years.  The initial name split occurring under Warner Communications.  The Atari name has a bit of an allure and curse.  Many companies see th...

TCW Podcast Episode 031 - An Epic Game   We cover the history of EPIC as one of the few remaining independent developers left.  They are most known for the creation of the Unreal Engine, and Gears of War.  They have an interesting history of having a distributed business that includes developers from around the world.  Love the unreal engine or hate it.  Epic's influence on middleware, and the gam...

TCW Podcast Episode 030 - DOOM   We discuss ID Software, and the lasting effects of the company on the video game industry, and society as a whole.  We delve into the ramifications of the tech industry in general, and coders specifically with perpetual crunch time.  We go into a lot of different subjects tangential to the ID story. Ultimately realizing the lasting effect a group of guys taking adv...

TCW Podcast Episode 029 - 50 Years of Namco   We delve in the fifty year history of Namco.  Starting with its cloudy beginnings all the way to its acquisition by Ban-Dai.  Namco is responsible for many classics including Pac-Man, Galaga, and a slew of racing games.  Though they did not always have a visible presence in the US Arcade scene, they still had a presence in the arcade and console arenas...

TCW Podcast Episode 028 - Picking up the Pieces: The US Arcade Industry After the Crash   We go over the arcade industry after the crash.  It has a surge in popularity with kits breathing new life into old cabinets. The JAMMA system standardization allowed for video arcade cabinets to penetrate into many locations.  These two things along with other technologies allowed arcades to thrive until hom...

TCWPodcast Episode 027 - Magnavox Patent Lawsuits   We coverthe lawsuits levied by Magnavox against other companies for patentinfringement.  There were three majorcases expanding the scope of the patent over its seventeen year lifespan.  The fascinating aspect of the lawsuits is howmany people thought they could challenge it and win.  However all of the lawsuits resolved inMagnavox's favor.  Even...

TCW Podcast Episode 026 The Magnavox Odyssey   We delve into the Magnavox Odyssey the first home console video game system created by Ralph Bear.   Alex's Blog Post: https://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/1tl200-a-magnavox-odyssey/   Ralph Bear's Website: http://www.ralphbaer.com/   Magnavox Odyssey Manuals: https://archive.org/details/magnavoxodysseymanuals   Elliott Avedon Virtual M...

TCW Podcast Episode 025 - Mattel Electronics? We go into the mysteries of Mattel's venture into the videogame industry.  We cover its inception and development into a very advanced system that was hampered by lack of big arcade titles.  Ultimately failing and nearly taking Mattel with it in the great video game crash the that worked  there people went on to spread their influenced throughout the v...

TCW Podcast Episode 024 - The Project and Others in the Field   We cover the developments in Alex's work, and others doing research into video game history. We delve into history in general and question how accurate can it really be? Even though the work done now will be superseded by work done in the future it is still valuable, and we are in a unique time of being able to record historical figur...

TCW Podcast Episode 023 - The Complete Tetris Story   We tell the complete story of Tetris! Created by a computer scientist in Russia by the name of Alexey Pajitnov. We go over the twists and turns of licensing and comedy of errors that was brining Tetris to the market.   Tetris God - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alw5hs0chj0   Atari Tetris Arcade - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emy1D4P0XPo  ...

TCW Podcast Episode 022 - The Galaxy Game   We go over the Galaxy Game. It was one of the first commercial attempts to bring video games to market. Though it was unable to get the venture capital needed to get off the ground, the two prototypes that were created proved that there was a market for video games.   Space War Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP2OaKHaDxM   Punch Cards Explained...

TCW Podcast Episode 021 - The Great Video Game Crash Part 3   We cover the severe correction of the arcade market. We also go into why the correction happened, and how it was not a crash. We also go into how this is independent from the home market crash. It went from 8.9 billion to 4 billion over a two years. We also go over some of the myths surrounding the crash, such as the E.T. dump, and disc...

TCW Podcast Episode 020 -The Great Video Game Crash Part 2   We discuss the fates of all the major home video game producers. As they tried, and generally failed, to transition to computers as the future game systems. This turned out to be the wrong way to go. With the distraction of computers no company made a transitional console for home users.  Coleco got close to surviving the crash, but call...

TCW Podcast Episode 019 - The Great Video Game Crash Part 1   We go over the lead up to the crash, and the unique situation that caused it. We touch on who to blame for the crash. Is it all Atari's fault? What about retailers, and distributers? There is also the fly by night operations that could have been the straw that broke the camel's back. We cover this and more in part one!   New York Times...