They Create Worlds

TCW Podcast Episode 061 - Where in the Game is Carmen Sandiego?   We go into the development, creation, and surprise smash hit that is the Carmen Sandiego franchise.  Starting off as a video game that flopped at launch; it grew into one of the biggest things of the mid 80's through to the 90's spanning not just video games, but also a game show, a cartoon, and other entertainment media.   Where in...

TCW Podcast Episode 060 - Williams' Crazy Story Pt 2 Part two of our look at Williams' story of how a pinball company grew through a combination of mergers and hit products to become one of the dominate players in the industry during the early to mid-90's.  They had many successes in the arcade utilizing the digitization technology that they helped pioneer.  Not only were they successful in the vi...

TCW Podcast Episode 059 - Williams' Crazy Story Part one of a look at the history of Williams Manufacturing Company.  Starting with Harry Williams' monumental contributions to the pinball industry with the creation of the tilt mechanism and later on adding electromechanical elements to the machines.  We cover the sordid history of the company as it changes hands multiple times, and the pinball/vid...

TCW Podcast Episode 058 - EA Sports: It's in the Game! We revisit EA with a deep dive into EA Sports.  Some information that was in our EA: The Teenage Years episode, but with more detail!  We start off with some of the early ventures into sports, and how EA evolved into the sports juggernaut it is today.  We cover the origins of the EA sports brand, how hats were a deciding factor in getting the...

TCW Podcast Episode 057 - Foundation of the Japanese Video Arcade Game Industry We go over the games, companies, and events that lead to the foundation of the Japanese Video Arcade Game Industry.  We extensively cover breakout, and how the cloning of that game lead to the start of many companies that would come to power during the 90's.  With Space Invaders, we see a full blown encouragement of sm...

TCW Podcast Episode 056 - Revisions and Updates We go over our past episodes and provide updates, if we have any, on each one.  There are a lot of little tidbits, and expansion on a variety of topics.  Some of the big ones are Namco, the Nutting Associates, and James Morgan.  Happy Holidays everyone! Episode 1 "All I can do is ask why?": 0:02:54 Episode 2 "You talked to whom?": 0:07:07 Episode 3 "...

TCW Podcast Episode 055 - Blizzard: Hellfire and The World… of WarCraft  Part two of our look into Blizzard Entertainment.  We start in the late 90's with the finishing of Diablo, and the development of StarCraft.  We see the evolution and cross influences of the Blizzard cinematics department on the course of Diablo.  This is also the same time we learn of how Blizzard is not afraid to kill an es...

TCW Podcast Episode 054 - Blizzard: Vikings and WarCraft Part one of our dive into one of the most influential computer game companies in existence.  We cover the founding of Blizzard, which started as Silicon and Synapse, with their start by being independent contractors for PC and console.  With the company wanting to transition into being full developers, they accepted an offer to be acquired b...

TCW Podcast Episode 053 - The History and Merger of Enix and Square We cover the individual histories of the companies Enix and Square.  Everything from early projects to influences that helped shape them into the companies they would become.  We delve into the dream teams for each company that created their seminal hits, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.  We cover how they each had problems getting...

TCW Podcast Episode 052 - The Many Faces of Konami We go over the whole history of Konami at the macro level.  The origin, founding, and the initial setup that continues to influence the company to the present day.  Though much of the history is shrouded behind a language barrier, or simply lost, there is still plenty of information out there.  We cover the hits they had in the video game arena, a...

TCW Podcast Episode 051 - Sons of Pong Starting off with a discussion of the unique setting of the time leading into Pong's debut, we transition over to the various companies that created clones of Pong, and their reasons for doing so.  We discover that the company that created the most Pong-style games was not Atari, nor one of the big Chicago companies, but a company based in Florida called Alli...

TCW Podcast Episode 050 - Civilizing Sid Meier We go over Sid's transition into the video game industry.  Starting with meeting "Wild Bill" and their break out game HellCat Ace, and the iterations that lead to F-15 Strike Eagle that cemented MicroProse as a company.  We cover the how/why of Sid Meier's name being on the boxes particularly for the simulation and 4X games.  We wrap it all up with th...

TCW Podcast Episode 049 - Old and Elite  We go over a classic from Great Britain!  Elite is unique in the ambition and execution of creating a massive open world space, complete with a 3d perspective, on such  limited hardware.  The game has influenced a variety of others most notably Grand Theft Auto. Demo of Elite on a BBC B: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owz7XExO-Wk Elite Comparison of BBC B...

TCW Podcast Episode 048 - Driving Games and Technology We go over the wild ride of driving games.  These games were used as a vehicle to demonstrate advances in graphics technology.  Starting with electro-mechanical games, and ending up with textured polygons; we cover the whole track of an era where cars were king!  There are a lot of examples in this episode drawn from the arcade, consoles, and...

TCW Podcast Episode 047 - Vestiges of Atari   In our fourth and final episode investigating the rise and fall of the original Atari we delve into the factors that caused the fall of Atari.  We cover the lead up to and tipping point of the variety of factors that lead to the crash.  No one entity can take the blame for it.  The major factors including distribution, overzealous sales forecasts, and ...

 TCW Podcast Episode 046 - Atari, Ray Kassar and Warner   We continue on to part three of our four part look into Atari.  We delve into Atari under the leadership of Ray Kassar.  It becomes apparent that while Ray did make mistakes the leadup to the fall of Atari cannot be entirely placed at his feet.  We also explore the role of Warner in the direction Atari took and the difficult decision on whe...

TCW Podcast Episode 045 - Atari, Ventures and Acquisitions   In our second of four episodes detailing the rise and fall of the core Atari company we go over the rapid expansion of the company, and its ever increasing need for capital.  Atari had to court venture capital, and got the patronage of Don Valentine.  Later on to secure the funding needed for the VCS launch they had to be acquired by a l...

TCW Podcast Episode 044 - Founding, Syzygy to Atari   Part one of our four-part dive into Syzygy/Atari! We cover the personal histories of the founders, and how the company would not really be a company without the efforts of Nolan Bushnell.  We go into the controversy of where he learned of Spacewar.  Then off to the debut hit for Atari of PONG.  We cover the rocky road Atari had after its initia...

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...