They Create Worlds

TCW Podcast Episode 193 - Microprose Part 2   In part two of our look at Microprose we focus on the growth of the company with popular games like Gunship, and Sid Meier's Pirates. Wild Bill continued his aggressive push to expand the company moving into the UK market and even the coin-op space. This unfortunately led Sid to step back from the company and become a contractor. Wild Bill took the com...

TCW Podcast Episode 192 -Microprose Part 1   In the first part of our look at Microprose, we cover the central characters of Wild Bill Stealey and Sid Meier. The duo came from very different backgrounds that helped inform the creative and business powerhouse. Wild Bill had to grow up at a young age after his father's death. This led to him having to manage the home finances, negotiate out of debt,...

TCW Podcast Episode 191 - SEGA and CSK Part  2   In part two of our look at SEGA and CSK we look closely at the circumstances that lead to Isao Okawa taking direct control as CEO of SEGA. We also take a new look at the circumstances that lead to the financial difficulties with SEGA in lending money inside the company. We have a lot of new insights here behind the problems with the Dreamcast, how O...

TCW Podcast Episode 190 - SEGA and CSK Part 1   In this first of a two-part episode about SEGA and CSK, we look at the origin of CSK, and the major players involved. Most notably Isao Okawa who had a history of making bold moves to pivot CSK during uncertain times. SEGA was in the hands of Hayao Nakayama who got Okawa to buy the company from Gulf and Western. Nakayama then worked for many years to...

TCW Podcast Episode 189 - The Simulations of Will Wright   In part two we look at the Sim craze with the release of Sim Earth, Sim Ant, and others. It was Sim Ant in combination with the loss of Will Wright's home in the Oakland firestorm of 1991 that laid the groundwork for what would become The Sims. The game went through many iterations, and would not see fruition until the acquisition of Maxis...

TCW Podcast Episode 188 - Will Wright's Sim City   We look at the life of game designer Will Wright who developed the hit game Sim City. Wright was, and is a very talented individual with a deep passion for learning. As a child, he was not into video games, and only his interest in robotics led him to investigate computers more. From there he was enamored with the original Flight Simulator and the...

TCW Podcast Episode 187 - Atari's Sinking Ship   In part two of our look at Atari and the reasons behind the crash of the mid-1980 we see how Atari's handling of the excess product led to its downfall. The idea that they could treat this like any other overstock of products and push through did not consider the consumer's lack of knowledge. Together with the massive price reduction in the hardware...

TCW Podcast Episode 186 - Atari's Distribution Nightmare   In this first part deep dive at the fall of Atari and the video game industry, we look closely at the distribution nightmare and the factors forming it. There is a lot of new information here, and we drill down deep on the factors that led to the early 80's video game crash. Though many wish to blame ET, or bad games causing the crash, in...

TCW Podcast Episode 185 - A Very Naughty Dog Pt 2   In our continuing look at Naughty Dog, we examine the continuing development of Crash Bandicoot and the Jax and Dexter series. After Sony's acquisition of Naughty Dog, and during the development of Jak 2, Andy and Jason decided to part ways with the company to focus more on their personal lives. They did help in training people to take their plac...

TCW Podcast Episode 184 - A Very Naughty Dog Pt 1   Before "The Last of Us" what eventually became Naughty Dog was founded by two teens Andy Gavin, and Jason Rubin. They were drawn into the uncharted waters of computers by making their first published game Ski Crazed. From there they put on the rings of power to become the youngest game developers for EA releasing a game to outdo Ultima on the Seg...

TCW Podcast Episode 183 - A Working Model of Vending   The arcade industry had many influences. From traveling fairs, clockmakers, and more. Eventually, with the invention of putting a coin-activated door on tobacco boxes in bars, the idea inspired others to make coin-operated vending machines and cast iron banks that were marked as toys but were used for gambling in bars. This is a deep dive into...

TCW Podcast Episode 182 - The KOEI Dynasty   We continue our look at KOE and their move onto the console space. This transition is rocky due to the increased costs of cartridge manufacturing. They were able to secure funding by holding a luncheon at the Imperial Hotel for distributors. They were able to start production on Nobunaga's Ambition for the NES. From there they continue to improve settin...

TCW Podcast Episode 181 - The Fabric of Koei   We look at the company KOEI and the power couple Yoichi and Keiko Erikawa. Keiko came from the city and had a love of design and investing. Yoichi came from the Japanese countryside and loved games and local history. Yoichi made board and card games based on historical events and people. They met in college when Yoichi rented a room from Keiko's grand...

TCW Podcast Episode 180 - Space Invaders Part II   In part two of our look at Space Invaders we explore the impact of the game on Japan and the world. Space Invaders started off rocky, but operators soon realized that players were crazy for the game. Popularity exploded, and Taito was unable to fulfill the orders coming in. This led to the licensing of popular products to other companies in Japan....

TCW Podcast Episode 179 - Space Invaders and Nishikado   We look at the life and career of Tomohiro Nishikado, and the life influences that led to his creation of one of the most influential games ever made. Space Invaders! Starting life at the tail end of World War II, Nishikado always had a rebellious streak wanting to get into electronics then follow his mother into education. After some diffic...

TCW Podcast Episode 178 - The Intellivision Part 2   In part two we look at how Mattel starts aggressively marketing the Intellivision by directly attacking Atari in its advertisements. New leadership by Josh Denham helped to foster this and to rework the production of the Intellivision to make it for cheaper. This lower cost model was released as the Intellivision II. Still some in the company we...

TCW Podcast Episode 177 - The Intellivision Part 1   In part one of our look at the Intellivision we look at the rocky road that made the system almost not come to market. The system had issues with both settling on chipsets to use as well as production problems. Not only was the system delayed multiple times, but the price kept going up. The Intellivision was marketed as an a gateway into computi...

TCW Podcast Episode 176 - The SEGA Technical Institute   SEGA has had a long history of mixing the west and Japanese ideas. To that end, we look at the SEGA Technical Institute or STI. A project to blend the best of Japanese and American developers to create unique games with worldwide appeal. Many talented people worked for STI, and this blending was realized with the release of Sonic the Hedgeho...

TCW Podcast Episode 175 - Shady Cocktail Cabinets   We look at the formation of cocktail cabinets in lounges and cocktail bars. There was an untapped market in these upscale establishments. The problem came from being able to break into the established coin-op industry. This led to some shady practices by various marketers targeting investors who did not know the industry. The cocktail cabinet des...

TCW Podcast Episode 174 - The Computer Wars Part 3   In our conclusion of the live stream, and our look at the computer price wars we see the implosion of the home computer market in the 1980s. The main players were trapped in a race to the bottom. Eventually, Commodore was able to beat out Texas Instruments. This also took out the smaller players like Coleco and Mattel. In the end Commodore was a...

TCW Podcast Episode 173 - The Computer Price Wars Part 2   In part two of our look at the computer price wars, we dive deep into the major players. Commodore with the VIC-20 and Texas Instruments with the TI99/4A were the major players. Other players included Apple, the TRS-80 Color, and even the US version of the ZX Spectrum.  As fears mounted that Japanese PC makers would eventually price out th...

TCW Podcast Episode 172 - The Computer Price Wars part 1   Part one of our live recording as we cover the Computer Price Wars. We focus on the development of the PC market. The state of computers in the home. The hobbyist computer market, and the major players involved. We see the rapid development of computers and the shift to pre-assembled PCs. We wrap up by looking at the major players of the l...

TCW Podcast Episode 171 - A Rogue's Survival Part 2   In part two we look more closely at the evolution of rogue and its descendants. The game Hack which lead to the development of NetHack, and Moria.  These games continued down branching paths to have influences on MMOs, Diablo, and others. We then jump ahead to the modern indie scene, and how the random generation aspects were adapted to create...

TCW Podcast Episode 170 - A Rogue's Survival Part 1   We start looking into Rogue by looking at the computer systems that helped to spawn its creation. We cover the history of UNIX. The development of UNIX is tied heavily to the development and distribution of Rogue. Rogue was programmed in partnership between Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman. The game featured extensive replayability. The game start...

TCW Podcast Episode 169 - Activision and Kotick Part 3   In our final part on Activision and Kotick we see how Activision continued to develop and acquire new IPs. With Spycraft they were in on the Siliwood era of games a trend that continued with Zork Grand Inquisitor. Attempts were made to gain further ground with games like Interstate '76, Big Game Hunter, and Apocalypse. However it was not unt...