July 17, 2008
SomethingAwful Game Articles
Some humour from SomethingAwful with PC Game Covers 2, looking at various poorly made old game covers, and for Nintendo fans comes some humourous Counselor's Corner! tips in Nintendo Power: The Lost Pages.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 09:13 AM | Comments (0)
July 10, 2008
GOG from CD-Projekt to Offer Classic Games
Good news, from some perspectives, is that CD-Projekt are offering classic PC games for download from their new site come August or so at GOG.com, with prices either being $5.99 or $9.99. They say modern compatibility (perhaps the obvious objective for it really!) is there, and possibilities of extra downloads. It is good to see some great games get some life, and there is no DRM according to the interview - a big plus for us preservationists who hate it! Without a physical copy being offered, the fact is, if the system goes offline we'll still be able to play the games. I am glad they understand this!
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:16 PM | Comments (0)
Stanford Workshop: “Preserving Knowledge in Virtual Worlds”
Our own Henry Lowood at How They Got Game has advertised a new August 2008 workshop titled "Preserving Knowledge in Virtual Worlds". This will among other things hopefully answer: "How will businesses, government organizations, and academic institutions preserve and manage knowledge emerging from work in these spaces?" - read the post for much, much more detail, and I hope to hear news from the event when it is finished!
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)
The Importance Of History In The Excellence Of Video Games
Via. Matteo at How They Got Game, a The Escapist piece which passed me by until now, titled "Excellence Never Goes Out Of Date" penned by Rob Zancy - detailing the basic fact that, of course, if no one plays old games then they couldn't very well make good new ones, and the history of games is very important.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)
Henry Lowood on Machinima and the History of Digital Games
As the titles says, Henry has good piece on Machinima, it's importance for digital game history. Nice to see more evangelicalism for this sector of game preservation!
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)
The First Video Game Sequel with modding?
Jay Barnson at Rament Cyote muses on what the possible first video game sequel and moddable game - Hunt the Wumpus. A interesting note to look at.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)
Discworld Game Remakes
Very interesting, from Chris Bateman comes the news that all 3 Discworld games are being remade by fans, officially allowed and to make the games free to play on modern platforms! This is awesome news, and I've never had the pleasure of playing Discworld Noir - which faired poorly on most systems due to the bugs.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)
July 02, 2008
Interview with Benoît Sokal
Adventure Classic Gaming interviewed Benoît Sokal, designer of celebrated adventure games such as Syberia and Amerzone, and asked his opinion on projects both old and new.Syberia won several awards when it was released in 2003, making Sokal a well known figure in the genre.
Posted by JuliaBrasil at 09:27 PM | Comments (0)
10 things everyone should know about Space Invaders
Benj Edwards from Vintage Computing and Gaming has just published an article in 1up about the 10 Things Everyone Should Know About Space Invaders. It covers everything from development to impact in our culture. A must read for anyone interested in games!
Posted by JuliaBrasil at 09:08 PM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2008
THE MAKING OF… Carmageddon
Edge (via. Next-Gen.biz) has the Making Of...Carmageddon online, a not too new game from the haydays of PC, and a controversial game in the UK and German markets. Should have possibly got more love, it and it's sequel were really just fun.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:53 PM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2008
Ralph Baer On The Industry’s Birth, Preserving History
Ralph Baer had a talk about many things, as detailed in this Gamasutra news article, especially interesting is on the first videogames and the need for preservation. I wonder if any form of transcript would become available, it'd be certainly an interesting read to hear it in full.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 07:58 PM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2008
@Play on Roguelikes and History
Interesting overview of the history of roguelikes by John Harris on his @Play GameSetWatch column, and the efforts made to preserve them. I missed posting this earlier this week, so go read it now if you haven't ;)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2008
Video Games and Libraries
An interesting overview of Video Games and Libraries by Heather of Adventures in Library School, which includes a note about the Library of Congress work with them, and several other endeavours in American Libraries.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:05 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2008
The History of 8bit Gaming in the UK
The History of 8bit Gaming in the UK, a website by Tony Barnett, I recently found and seemingly details a good amount of press releases from 1982 onwards for the UK's gaming scene. Makes for some interesting reading, especially for companies which still exist in one form or another. Certainly, the UK 1980's gaming scene was very different to the USA one, so that too is a nice contrast.
Tony also seems to run the parent site ZXSoftware.co.uk, which contains information on Sinclair systems.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:35 PM | Comments (2)
The Horrors of Retro PC Game Covers
SomethingAwful has a look at some of the worst PC Game Covers from the 1980s and 1990s.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:52 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2008
Alone in the Dark History In Pictures
Alone in the Dark has a long history since the first 1992 release - PCGH shows a moderate gallery of pictures for nostalgia.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:23 PM | Comments (0)
Darling Brothers Honoured With CBE
David and Richard Darling, co-founders of game developers Codemasters, were both made Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Good news, and some history too, on the BBC article. Some more on Bruce On Games too.
(Via RPS).
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)
Dan Rubenfield Speaks Out on New Game Enhancements
Not-too-distant-past history, but still worthy of a look is the thoughts of designer Dan Dubenfield on the NGE (New Game Enhancements) to Star Wars Galaxy.
His points are looked at by Scott Jennings at Broken Toys, who is pretty critical of the ordeal in general.
Finally, Rock Paper Shotgun's Kieron Gillen takes a look at the original source and musters some thoughts on it.
(Via. GameSetWatch)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2008
Big Budget Videogame Diasters
Although possibly not all historical fact (with several being estimates of budgets) a pretty good list called "Big Budget Disasters" by Mike Smith charts some of the famous and infamous budget diasters of videogames. I happened to quite like The Last Express however, so check it out if you can like Mike suggests :)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 06:45 AM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2008
The Slow Decline of the Wii Virtual Console
Starlight at PS3news.com has an article up entitled "The Slow Decline of the Wii Virtual Console". This details his opinions on the current failures of Nintendo and the system, and why it will be unlikely that several classics will ever appear on it, or other, virtual places - licensing issues mainly. He compares NES vs. SNES releases and comments on Nintendo's own odd withdrawing from releasing some games (which get posted to the ESRB site then pulled).
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:14 AM | Comments (0)
IA: The Art of Interactive Storytelling
A video from 2003, uploaded recently to the Internet Archive, is "The Art of Interactive Storytelling". Interesting view for those who are too young to know the early games, or have missed playing some that are featured (from a few text-based ones, to Ultima, to Final Fantasy, Half Life, Neverwinter Nights, The Secret Of Monkey Island and others).
Description:
This video is one of two loops prepared by Douglas Wilson for an exhibit curated by Henry Lowood and Casey Alt of the How They Got Game Project, Stanford Humanities Lab, called "Fictional Worlds, Virtual Experiences: Storytelling and Computer Games." The exhibit was hosted by the Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University and ran from 12 Nov. 2003 through 28 March 2004.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2008
The Best N64 Games That Still Matter Today
racketboy and andymol21 have put together a list of the The Best N64 Games That Still Matter Today with some detail on the reasons why these games still matter - these are the games that likely will stand the test of time for their uniqueness or sheer enjoyability, even today (and expect to see most of them pop up on the virtual console service of course).
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2008
Kevin Gifford Enjoys Typing Out A Commadore Program
Okay, "Enjoys" might be a bit of spin. It's interesting none the less that he took the time to try typing out a Commodore 64 program despite never having done so before. Typing in two BASIC programs to even get started on the assembly. You can even view the final result in all it's glory!
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2008
Nolan Bushnell To Be Played By Leonardo DiCaprio in Biopic
Basically as the title says. I didn't know this film was in existence in fact - although Leonardo thinks so much of it he is producing it too:
Written by Brian Hecker and Craig Sherman, project is a biopic about entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell, the creator of Atari and one of the founding fathers of the vidgame industry.Although Bushnell's life rights had long been pursued by various suitors, Hecker and Craig Sherman convinced the gaming pioneer that they could do his unique story justice. Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded Atari Inc. in 1972 and were instrumental in bringing arcade games, home vidgame consoles and home computers to the masses. Among the company's contributions was PONG and the Atari 2600.
"vidgame" is a new one to me, but there we go. We'll see how good it is when it is released I guess!
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2008
Remembering 'Deus Ex'
Patrick Klepek has a short piece called "Remembering ‘Deus Ex’ — One Of Modern Gaming’s First Titles Offering Real Player Choice", obviously detailing the fact it has a ton of choice - choice not afforded in more recent games, sadly. It comes on the heel of news that Deus Ex is available for free on GameTap, so might be worth playing or replaying if you have the time.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:10 PM | Comments (0)
The End of Arcades
Michael Thompson has posted on "What we all knew: classic arcades are dying". This details more on the Chicargo Tribunes "Video arcades' last gasp" by Christopher Borrelli, which has information on why local arcades are failing, due to costs and lack of people, from an industry that was "once a $50 billion business and it's now around $7 billion", it seems that arcades are going to die eventually, but the big question is only "When".
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)
A Mario Retrospective - Parts I to III
The Plumbers Log, a fan blog for Mario, is doing a retrospective on the Mario series. Might be worth checking out for nostalgia, parts one, two and three are online, with plans to work up to Super Mario Galaxy.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)
Phosphor Dot Fossils
Randomly found,and I've never heard of it (has anyone reading this?) that a DVD entitled Phosphor Dot Fossils, which sold some recently and is considered a hit. It says to have:
Actual video clips of dozens of games in action, from 1971’s “Computer Space” through the dawn of the NES era, accompanied by fascinating game-by-game historical notes.
It also has adverts and hardware featured.
Sounds interesting, anyone seen it?
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:48 AM | Comments (0)
Brief History of Game Ads
I missed this before, but last Saturday came an article titled A Brief History of Game Ads at Next-Gen.biz, by Joe Keiser.
These detail the advertisements in magazines, from 1989 to 2008, with a choice selection of different adverts for systems and games.a
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:43 AM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2008
Nottingham Trent University Starting an Archive
Good news for anyone lamenting the lack of UK game archives, from the Gamasutra Podcast with Iain Simons:
And he closes with Nottingham Trent University Undergraduate and Post-graduate programs' support of GameCity's latest project: an archive of early to current game artifacts and history.
I'll post more news when it becomes available.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2008
Alex Trowers - The Bullfrog Story Part 2
Alex Trowers details the work continued from Part 1 of his details of Bullfrog, up until EA took over, in Part 2. Insightful article on the now-disbanded company, with Part 2 covering the leaving of Peter Molyneux, the problems getting some games started under EA marketing (marking the departure of some others) and the eventual assimilation of Bullfrog into EA. It finishes on some trivia of Bullfrog, and some fads they had.
Here's to Bullfrog!
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 06:20 AM | Comments (0)
'Neo Geo is the REAL DEAL'
Chewing Pixels has an interesting circa-1991 letter from SNK "The Game Lord" Chad Okada which rubbishes the competition, and shows what the company thought in 1991. You'd likely never get this kind of letter today :)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 05:35 AM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2008
Indiana Jones and the History of his Videogames
British Gaming Blog has released a light-hearted article on the history of the Indy games, from the Atari Raiders of the Lost Ark to Lucasarts' new title still under development.
Posted by JuliaBrasil at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)
Tennis For Two, The Second Videogame - Video
Via. denialworld.com I noticed a Youtube video which shows Tennis for Two being played. Description:
Way back in 1958, William Higinbotham invented Tennis For Two to liven up visitor day at Brookhaven National Laboratory, his workplace. The game uses an oscilloscope with two control pads. It remained largely unknown until 1981 when a lawyer trying to break Magnavox's patent for video games came across writings talking about the game.Blueprints of it were found to predate Magnavox's game, the case was settled out of court, and the game found fame as the second ever invented, since it was later predated by A.S. Douglas' 'OXO' game from 1952.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:05 AM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2008
Alex Trowers - The Bullfrog Story Part 1
Gaming Verdict has Alex Trowers explaining his time at Bullfrog from 1990 onwards, part 1 called: Alex Trowers - The Bullfrog Story Part 1, and goes up to the time Bullfrog released Hi Octane.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:02 AM | Comments (0)
Space Invaders: The Story of a Legend
At Gaming Verdict Chris Wilkins has written a brief article on the beginnings of Space Invaders.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:01 AM | Comments (0)
May 31, 2008
The History of Prince of Persia
Rus McLaughlin at IGN has written an article on the History of the Price of Persia series, detailing some info about each game up to todays releases.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:32 AM | Comments (0)
May 30, 2008
Gamasutra: Game Design Essentials: 20 Atari Games
John Harris has written up a 23 page article entitled "Game Design Essentials: 20 Atari Games" at Gamaustra. This details some of Atari's history, design practices, signature elements, and then lists the 20 essential games from the company.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 07:18 AM | Comments (0)
Parody: 1979 Game Developers Conference
Via. Retroblast is this funny parody on game design ideas, set in 1979...
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 05:49 AM | Comments (0)
May 29, 2008
Gametrailers.com Metal Gear and Star Wars Games Retrospectives
Gametrailers.com has a Metal Gear Retrospective up, covering all the Metal Gear games - Metal Gear, Snake's Revenge, and MG2: Solid Snake in part 1. Metal Gear Solid, VR Missions, and The Twin Snakes in part 2. Finally, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and MGS2: Substance in part 3.
They also have The Star Wars Retrospective covering games from the movies. The Arcade shooters and Atari beginnings of far, far away in part 1. The games that brought you each original chapter from start to finish in part 2. The games that started the saga - Menace, Clones, and Sith in part 3. Finally, X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and Alliance; the dogfights that drove the conflict forward in part 4.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)
May 28, 2008
Sega Genesis / Megadrive 101: A Beginners Guide
Scooter has contributed a guide at Racketboy.com called http://www.racketboy.com/retro/sega/genesis/2008/05/sega-genesis-megadrive-101-a-beginners-guide.html. Looks like a good overview of the systems history, variants and current emulation and availability.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)
Escaping the Escapist
Jason Scott has some commentary on The Escapist's old PDF versions and it's change to web format. An interesting read, noting how commercial websites change.
I also learned something about the Webby awards, something that means I doubt the IGDA site will get one anytime soon ;)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)
May 26, 2008
Book Extract: Dungeons and Desktops: 'The Silver Age'
A great 14-page extract from the book Dungeons and Desktops by Matt Barton is at Gamasutra, specifically the section on "The Silver Age"
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 01:23 PM | Comments (0)
Capcom Releases Lifetime Sales Numbers
Capcom has released the sales numbers for its franchises and individual titles over the past 22 years with some very interesting numbers. I, for one, am surprised to see that Dino Crisis sold more copies than Devil May Cry or Resident Evil 4.
Thanks to Captain Commando for the link.
Posted by JuliaBrasil at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)
May 22, 2008
Classic Gaming Expo 2008 Not On
Sadly, the Classic Gaming Expo 2008 will not be on this year, due to problems getting a location. Hopefully there will be one in 2009!
(Via GameSetWatch)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 09:50 AM | Comments (0)
May 15, 2008
A history of the Amiga part 7
Jeremy Reimer has part 7 "Game On!" of the series about the History of the Amiga online at ArsTechnica.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2008
A History of Gaming Platforms: Mattel Intellivision
By Matt Barton and Bill Loguidice have written up another part of the series "A History of Gaming Platforms", this time concentrating on the Mattel Intellivision at Gamasutra.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2008
Timeline of Casual Gaming
CasualGaming.biz has put up a brief history of casual gaming in the form of a Timeline from 2200BC up to today.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:26 AM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2008
Video Arcade Timeline
Via RetroBlast! (again, whee, they get a ton of good links to post :) ), comes a link to a Video Arcade Timeline (Javascript required) going through from 1971 through to today. Details a lot of varied arcade machines many with videos of them being played.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 06:44 AM | Comments (0)
The Rise and Fall of Atari
Via. RetroBlast! comes a great piece on the Rise and Fall of Atari (the original one!) which should be interesting, especially since the Atari name is ongoing with it's company being brought by Infogrames.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 06:39 AM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2008
Retrospective: Kingpin
RPS has a retrospective of Kingpin: Life Of Crime, with a few details too on what the game might have been if development had more money and time.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 05:38 AM | Comments (0)
April 30, 2008
Flea Market ROMs Dumped and Confirmed
An update on the previously released Flea Market ROM's found, they've been uploaded after being checked - the set includes 10 revisions of the Cabbage Patch Kids game. Check the later Gism Butter articles after the release for much more info on the titles, and who helped get them off the chips.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:35 AM | Comments (0)
April 29, 2008
Starcade Episodes Online
Via. RetroBlast!, it seems Starcade! are all online in full episodes. It was a adcade-based game show (playing arcade games to win an arcade cabinet at the end), which is an interesting look back.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 07:21 AM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2008
The first Grand Theft Auto BBC Report
BBC News has a old clip up of Rory Cellan-Jones touring DMA Design's Dundee office, meeting several of the staff, seeing the audio, music and testing departments and even motion capture for another game, although I've no idea what one (Possibly Body Harvest or Space Station Silicon Valley according to their release info).
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:34 PM | Comments (0)
April 27, 2008
Amiga "Still Alive" Animated Tribute
Eric Schwartz has put up a youtube video entitled "Animated Amiga Tribute", all done on an Amiga in fact. He himself does agree, it's a bit late, but he was trying to get Valves permission, but never got a response.
(via. RPS)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2008
Unreleased Atari 2600 Game Found At Flea Market
Via. slashdot, comes a story of a flea market find of an unreleased Atari 2600 game. Finding actual EPROMs, of unreleased material no less, at a flea market, must be quite random :) . He says that the old games (which some he can only guess at what they are) are stuck on the EPROMs until he can find some help to transfer them to PC (any takers here?). It's a wonder how they turned up however, even if they will be very bad/buggy/unplayable.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 05:23 AM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2008
"Everything I Needed to Know About Programming I Learned from BASIC"
A look back at the programming language BASIC by Jeff Atwood at Coding Horror, and how he programmed Atari programs using it. (I like the pictures of the code input controls! wowza!)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:57 PM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2008
First Issue of EGM
Racketboy.com has some nostalgia posted, it being the first issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, from way back in May, 1989.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:25 PM | Comments (0)
Milliways: Infocom's Unreleased Sequel to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Andy Baio at Waxy.org has put up a piece on Milliways: Infocom's Unreleased Sequel to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Julie, who will be a new blog editor around here, wrote this up for the mailing list, where there is a few posts discussing the use of private emails too.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2008
The History of Panzer Dragoon
Kurt Kalata has written a rather in depth article on The History of Panzer Dragoon, a series now abandoned likely forever by SEGA, even though fans still exist. (those interested in more on Panzer Dragoon should visit page 8 where there are some decent links to other retrospectives and history pieces regarding the series).
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)
How to fix your NES
Game|Life takes a look at how to fix any old NES consoles you have, in it's video, aptly named "How To Fix Your NES".
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:00 AM | Comments (1)
April 09, 2008
"Tilt: The Battle To Save Pinball" Interview
GameSetWatch hosts a interview with Tilt's director Greg Maletic, about his film Tilt: The Battle To Save Pinball. Why is this even on GameSetWatch, or even here? Well, Pinball 2000 was an attempt to merge pinball and videogames to revive the market, and this documentary looks at it, with the interview providing some nice details.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)
Super Mario in Javascript
Seems one CupBoy has made a 14kb javascript version of Super Mario. It's pretty fun, although I didn't try the music version. Try it for a bit of nostalgia, and the fact it's a pretty impressive use of Javascript!
(Via Guardian Games Blog)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 07:06 AM | Comments (0)
Rediscovering Arcade Nostalgia
Jeff Atwood loves his arcade machines, and details a ton of information on recreating the nostalgia and what he's done revamp-wise. A neat read about what you can do to get the arcade feel back.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 06:51 AM | Comments (0)
April 08, 2008
Gaming Pioneers: Part Two: Ralph Baer Interview
GameIndustry.biz has Mark Androvich interviewing Ralph Baer in part two of an interview series on gaming pioneers.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 06:47 AM | Comments (0)
April 06, 2008
American Libraries and Videogames
GameSetWatch has released an ALA (American Library Association) press release about their Gaming in libraries project. Interesting, and I hope in the future Libraries will at least get into storing and preserving games with as much vigor as books.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 05:11 PM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2008
RPS: The Making of System Shock 2
Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Kieron Gillen has put up his Edge-commissioned Making of: System Shock article. It's quite a nice read about the game.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 06:03 PM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2008
GameDev.net: Learning From The 3000 "Classics"
Ben Garney and Eric Hartman take an interesting look at Mame and the different ROMs available from it - trends, patterns, the design of them and more.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:11 AM | Comments (0)
March 31, 2008
Retro: Space Hulk
Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Alec Meer has another rose-tinted-glasses Retrospective, in the form of Space Hulk.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:50 PM | Comments (0)
March 30, 2008
Ocean and Imagine 1983/4 video
Simon at GameSetWatch links to a video described as a "Fantastic bit of history showing a behind the scenes of software houses Ocean and Imagine circa 1983/4." - go watch if you're interested (I wonder where it's from, unless it's literally called "Commercial Breaks" :) ).
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2008
Debut UK Commadore 64 Virtual Console Titles
Gamasutra reports the first Commadore 64 titles, Uridium and International Karate.
While not strictly preservation as such, this does go to show nostalgia seems to be a seller, and that those games won't be open sourced any time soon. Virtualization and emulation is certainly an important part of videogame history, and I'll post other articles which are linked to it as I see them.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2008
Apple IIc Autopsy
Benj Edwards noted he's now taking apart more things, this time an Apple IIc computer for PC World.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2008
Gaming Pioneers: Part One: Allan Alcorn Interview
GameIndustry.biz (with their fancy new site) has Mark Androvich interviewing Allan Alcorn in part one of an interview series.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 06:08 AM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2008
Raph Koster on A brief history of botting
Raph Koster has put up a neat little entry entitled "A brief history of botting", a look back on the days of MUDs and the invention of client-side automated bots, and the reasons for banning them but not the entire telnet clients they ran from.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:10 PM | Comments (0)
RPS: Retro: Colonization
Rock, Paper, Shotgun author Alec Meer has a rambling retro look at Colonization.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 09:33 AM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2008
Internal pictures of a Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo)
There's a large set of photos over at TechRepublic by Mark Kaelin detailing the taking apart of a Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo). Lots of internal photos with good explanations, and instructions on how to open it - no doubt a bit nostalgic for those that ever owned the system!
(Thanks Captain Commando!)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 05:47 PM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2008
The History of The Sims
Eurogamer has an article by Dan Whitehead which details The History of The Sims.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 11:48 AM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2008
The Atari and Sega Failure-rama, Part 1
411mania.com has an article by Vincent Chiucchi entitled The Atari and Sega Failure-rama, Part 1, looking back at the original incarnation of Atari, and the last failures that pushed the company into failure.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:03 PM | Comments (0)
'Beeb' creators reunite at museum
People who remember the BBC Micro might be interested in this BBC article, noting the creators of the "the beeb" will be meeting up and hopefully there'll be a 2009 exhibition about the machine.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 07:35 AM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2008
A History of Mac Gaming
Susie Ochs has written a long article titled "A History of Mac Gaming" over at GameTap, giving a overview of the history of the Macintosh and games on it.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 07:33 AM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2008
Al Alcorn Interview (Beyond Pong: Hacking Allan Alcorn)
GameSetWatch has a good interview with Al Alcorn by Drew Taylor about various things, and is an interesting read.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2008
GTA Profile
Develop has a IP profile of GTA, exploring it's history, and the trends of the game.
(Via. Level Up).
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2008
THE MAKING OF... Japan's First RPG (Black Onyx)
Another article I missed, a look back on THE MAKING OF... Japan's First RPG (Black Onyx) over at Next Generation/Edge.
(Via. GameSetWatch).
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:07 AM | Comments (0)
March 02, 2008
A History of Gaming Platforms: Atari 2600 Video Computer System/VCS
Gamasutra has another history article I forgot to post, A History of Gaming Platforms: Atari 2600 Video Computer System/VCS by Matt Barton and Bill Loguidice.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2008
Retrospective: Dungeon Keeper
Rock, Paper, Shotgun has got an article up about Dungeon Keeper. I missed this earlier so enjoy it now - it's a nice short read about the game.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 01:13 PM | Comments (0)
Ralph Baer and Al Alcorn's GDC talk
GameSetWatch is covering Ralph Baer and Al Alcorn's GDC seminar on the birth of the industry and a rundown of their talk. It was previously at Gamasutra but I missed it, sorry! I also couldn't make the talk myself, damn!
From GDC we should have preservation roundtable rundowns and other information of plans made for the SIG, stay tuned!
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2008
Born Free: the History of the Openworld Game
An article by Dan Whitehead at Eurogamer titled "Born Free: the History of the Openworld Game" goes through the history of open world games, leading up 2001 with the release of GTA III.
(Via. Rock Paper Shotgun)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 07:25 AM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2008
Past GDC and E3 photos
The time of GDC is almost upon us - of course, the past has seen lots of GDC conferences and E3 events. Dave Mark has a collection of some photos from previous years.
Know of any others? Post a comment or contact us to have them linked from there. I've not yet found any from the very early GDC's, which surely would be interesting to see :)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 06:26 PM | Comments (0)
The History of Dragon Quest
This is a tad late, but an enjoyable 10 page article on The History of Dragon Quest by Kurt Kalata is at Gamasutra.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 05:49 PM | Comments (0)
February 06, 2008
Atari Games Document Library updated
The Atari historian/collector Scott Evans has updated his site, AtariGames.com, to include lots of new documents in the library. Well worth checking out if you're interested in the old arcade games.
(via. GameSetWatch and AtariAge)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:24 AM | Comments (0)
DMA design pictures and photos
Back from DMA design's history is a new set of uploaded photos, from Mike Dailly. Interesting look at the history of the company, up until it became "Rockstarred". Some very good material for those interested!
(Via. ScottishGames.biz)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:01 AM | Comments (0)
January 31, 2008
A History of Gaming Platforms: The Apple II
At Gamasutra, Matt Barton and Bill Loguidice continue the series on gaming platforms, this time with an in-depth look at the Apple II.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
Retro look: Syndicate
Rock Paper Shotgun has a look back at the classic PC game Syndicate.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 08:49 AM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2008
A Guide to Board and Card Games Based on Video Games (1971 to 2007)
I came across a link to A Guide to Board and Card Games Based on Video Games (1971 to 2007) by Yehuda, from Raph's website, and is a good read through of the conversions from videogames to board/card games - either for promotional material or as actual separate things.
(Source)
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:01 AM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2008
The 50 Greatest Arcade Cabinets In Video Game History!
This article at I-Mockery.com is quite a fun look at some great arcade cabinets of the past.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:12 AM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2007
Gamaustra: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Vectrex
Gamasutra has an article By Matt Barton and Bill Loguidice on The Vectrex, a early home console.
This comes on the heels of the Commodore 64 article a while back in Gamasutra. I'd love to read more when they appear!
(Missed this earlier! oops, I should keep more up to date ;) )
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:00 PM | Comments (0)
December 16, 2007
Computer History Museum youtube channel
The Computer History Museum, known on our project list as a "massive Silicon Valley-based collection of hardware/software, includes some game material", now has a youtube channel, showing some videogame related media such as the newest being Commodore 64 - 25th Anniversary Celebration - worth checking out!
Found via. Slashdot.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 05:10 AM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2007
VC&G Interview: Nolan Bushnell, Founder of Atari
Benj Edwards yet again has an excellent interview with one of the historical figures of the videogame industry, Nolan Bushnell.
If you're interested in more interviews by Benj, he has done interviews with Ralph Baer, Bill Harrison and Steve Wozniak too. All well worth reading!
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 04:37 AM | Comments (0)
November 06, 2007
The History of Atari: 1971-1977
A 20-page "The History of Atari: 1971-1977" has been published at Gamasutra, done by Steve Fulton. A good and highly detailed read (even with it's own sources and references page).
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2007
A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Gamasutra has a great piece "A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64", by By Matt Barton and Bill Loguidice.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 03:58 PM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2007
Q&A on Johnny Mnemonic
At Game Set Watch there is an interesting Q&A with Douglas Gayeton about Johnny Mnemonic, which he help design and write for - a classic 1995 interactive FMV based game.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 05:15 PM | Comments (0)
Preserving Game Worlds - Kotaku interview
Kotaku has got an interview/feature up about the Preserving Game Worlds project. GameSetWatch also has a writeup and additional comments on it.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 02:41 AM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2007
UT Videogame Archive fundraiser reports
The UT Videogame Archive funraiser happened yesterday - a report from J at Game Set Watch (with Photos) gives the details, and Warren Spector posted about it too, twice, and did an interview with Gamasutra with some details on it too.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2007
UT Videogame Archive Fundraiser annouced
The new UT Videogame Archive is having a fundraiser on September 4th at Richard Garriott’s estate on Lake Austin.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)
August 11, 2007
Original Collossal Cave Adventure Source Code Found
Adventure: Crowther's original source code found; photos from inside the real Colossal Cave - Source code for the original Colossal Cave Adventure has been found.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2007
Preserving Virtual Worlds project annouced!
Digital Preservation Program Makes Awards to Preserve American Creative Works - Preserving Virtual Worlds project is officially announced.
Posted by AndrewArmstrong at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)