Video Game History Hour

Eric Switzer joins us to share the development and downfall of Darkwatch in his article The Untold Story Of Darkwatch. A vampiric haunted western, Darkwatch could have, in another universe, been a major franchise. But, through a series of acquisitions and mandated pivots, its storyline deadended after only one title. Will this long silent universe ever see its rebirth? Switzer gives us his exciting take on what may come down the line. See more from Eric Switzer: Twitter: @EpicSwitzer Website: thegamer.com The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Our podcasting duo takes us back to the dawning of real-time computer games: Spacewar! Alex Smith joins us for round two, being our second second-time guest, to pairaphrase the history of this 2-player game of binary ships thrusting around a gravity-well star, who (reluctantly) wrote it, who modded it, who played it, and who created the first couple of video game controllers ever made. If necessity is the mother of invention, can we agree ‘fun’ is at least a cool aunt? The second generation of computer engineers doubled down on these machines simply being fun toys and spawned an entire industry which now generates more than twice the revenue of both the music and film/TV industries combined! Play Spacewar!: Masswerk.at See more from Alex Smith: Blog: videogamehistorian.wordpress.com Video Game Pioneers Archive: https://invention.si.edu/node/20723/p/489-videogame-pioneers-archive Project Transcripts: https://sova.si.edu/details/NMAH.AC.1498?s=0&n=10&t=C&q=&i=0 Book: https://www.routledge.com/They-Create-Worlds-The-Story-of-the-People-and-Companies-That-Shaped-the/Smith/p/book/9781138389908 Podcast: http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/ The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Ben Hanson returns to the show to bring us The Oral History Of PopCap Games, a not 4 hour long video in which we learn how the “colors game” spawned the casual juggernaut Bejeweled, the black sheep in the corner made all the money, the PopCap Burrito won’t give us Plants Vs Zombies on our Switches, and the final score is 3-4. Look, I know that doesn’t really make a lot of cents, but you really only need nine. See more from Ben Hanson: Twitter: @yozetty Website: www.Minnmax.com Patreon: /minnmax Podcast: The MinnMax Show The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Show

Dr. Sparkle, the creator of Chrontendo, takes us through his more than decade long project to analyze every commercially released game for the NES and Famicom in chronological order while simultaneously spinning off this already massive show into two more: Chronsega and Chronturbo. If you’re ever looking for something to do with your free time, this guy might have some ideas for you. But, you may just be committing years and years of your life to a ‘bad’ (read: admirable) idea. See more from Dr. Sparkle: YouTube: /Chrontendo Twitter: @Chrontendo The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Raven Simone takes us down the research rabbit hole she fell into while making her video The Girl Games Of Lost Media - Documentary. With few clues to follow, she started researching the Mean Girls game, but soon found herself chasing down info on Clueless and Pretty in Pink as well, discovering that research can often take you in unexpected directions. Frank, Kelsey, and Raven bond over how satisfying and thrilling it feels hunting down the treasures of lost media, the anguish of knowing how much data we’ve already lost due to a lack of preservation, and how you always seem to get new information as soon as you ‘close the book’ on your project. See more from Raven Simone: YouTube: /RayMona Twitter: @TheRayMona Instagram: @theraymona The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Should Monkey Island be made into a movie? Could it be? Jack Yarwood lays out the history of how this project almost came to be as well as why it gave up the ghost, instead. He, Frank, and Kelsey cross swords over if this could have been a glorious triumph*, like Super Mario Bros.: The Movie, or a *mumble mumble mumble*, like The Watchmen. Either way, the beloved Monkey Island franchise could still find its way to the silver screen as you never know what lies just beyond the horizon. Find Jack’s more in-depth history in his recent Polygon article Spilling the secrets of the canceled Curse of Monkey Island movie. *Producer’s Note: As the producer of this podcast and the writer of these episode descriptions, it is my prerogative to infuse my very personal, and very correct, opinion of Super Mario Bros.: The Movie into the official, and now forever historically archived, VGHF stance on said movie. “The VGHF” loved this movie when she was growing up and thinks people should give it more of a chance. See more from Jack Yarwood : Twitter: @JackGYarwood The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

David Haywood, AKA Haze, discusses the MAME software preservation project: a collaborative, encyclopedic haven and emulator for all those ‘forgotten’ games of our past. In December 2020, while most of us were cowering under a table feebly awaiting the fresh start of the new year, David took a look back at the community’s accomplishments within the project over the last seven years and what still needs attention in his article Looking Back at a List. He joins the Video Game History Hour to discuss the inner workings of recovering old code (including risky chemistry, dangerous plastic-melting acids, and literally reading 1’s and 0’s with a microscope), the value of Plug and Plays, and what can be learned from poorly designed games. See more from David Haywood: Twitter: @mamehaze YouTube: /mamehaze Twitch: /mamehaze Website: mamedev.emulab.it/haze/ The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Author, documentarian, artist, guest VGHF blogger, and wild west gunslinger Kate Willaert claims the title of First FMV Game for this fast draw pistol duelling simulator in her recent article Wild Gunman ‘74: The Forgotten First FMV Game and video by the same name. She’s a straight shooter as we hit topics of the effect of the oil crisis on this game and bowling alley laser clay equipment. But, don’t holster your earbuds too quickly at the end! Kate also discusses her 50 part video series Video Dames: The History Of Playable Female Protagonists. See more from Kate Willaert: Twitter: @katewillaert YouTube: /acriticalhit Website: acriticalhit.com Patreon: /acriticalhit Newsletter: criticalkate.substack.com The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Musical Archeologist and Demo Stylist (professions we made up just now), The Brickster, explains how he and his colleagues collaborate to recreate music from some of our favorite retro games in a richer, uncompressed, true-to-each-instrument style. The recently viral music from Super Mario World Restored - Fortress brought this unique form of historical research, along with its potential for legal entanglements, to light. Look up what samples we know of, so far, in your favorite games in their living spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JJBlHHDc65fhZmKUGLrDTLCm6rfUU83-kbuD8Y0zU0o/edit#gid=1570468977. See more from The Brickster: YouTube: /thebricksterr Twitter: @lebrickster The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

You and Diddy better jump inside that explosive barrel and get tossed into this minecart because we are going on a trip! This week we’re playing co-op with TWO guests at the same time. We meant to have artist Kev Bayliss and composer (not music engineer) David Wise join us to reminisce about Dinosaur Planet, as Kev did in his editorial “I was a lead on Dinosaur Planet and this week’s leak brought back great memories.” However, things went truly off the rails and we ended up looking back at their time working on not only Dinosaur Planet, later Star Fox Adventures, but also Donkey Kong Country, Diddy Kong Racing, Battletoads, Wheel of Fortune, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Killer Instinct and we’re just not sorry at all. Spoiler Alert: there may be a Dragonheart spoiler ahead. See more from Kevin Bayliss & David Wise: Twitter: @Kev_Bayliss Twitter: @David_Wise Website: dkcreationsltd.com @dkcreationsltd Website: https://www.playtonicgames.com/ The Video Game History Hour music is Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/