In the high-stakes world of early console gaming, Nintendo knew it would have to think outside the box to prevent crappy games from being compatible with its new system. Atari wasn’t having any of it...
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Tetris is not only one of the most universally loved games ever created, it also has one of the most fascinating histories. This episode covers everything from its invention by a Russian government programmer to its phenomenal success in the world market.
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The story of an upstart leather company that took on a corporate titan. Colecovision could’ve been the next big thing if it wasn't for some major problems that popped up along the way to their unattainable success. Another interesting episode in the history of video games courtesy of Pl...
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Hosts discuss the rise of arcades and all the old school games: Space invaders, Asteroids, Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger, and many more! Enjoy this blast from the past while you learn how and why home gaming eliminated arcades.
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If you play a fair amount of home video games, one thing you’ll notice is that they all have a certain general form. Just like movies all have a repeated basic structure that has been crafted over the last 80 years, video games also have a conventional mold that parallels audience expec...
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Usually, the history of video game failures is pretty simple. Either the games, the hardware, or the marketing stinks. But there was one failure that was an all around near perfect product, and yet it failed anyway - The SEGA Dreamcast. Why?
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This little computer rocked the gaming world. Back in the day, the Commodore 64 came screaming out of the gates into the waiting hands of gamers all over the world. Although it is no longer around, it has left an impression on the multi-billion dollar industry that lingers to this day.
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In 1981, A couple of MIT students named Doug Macrae and Kevin Curran started a small company called General Computer. These guys loved video games, played video games, bought a few arcade games, and even had their own coin-op route on campus. But the two kids were just engineering stude...
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Video game mascots used to be all the rage in the late 80’s to the late 90’s. Similar to the Hollywood “star system” of the 1940’s, back in the day, there was a tremendous drive to create and push mascots by game companies. What happened?
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This rivalry tells us an important story about electronics in the 20th century. Based on the information that Sony accrued creating peripherals for the console makers, they were able to create a groundbreaking and popular system themselves. The Sony Playstation would go on to become on...
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The arcade is back! You might not have noticed, but it returned to the gaming scene. After the advent of home gaming systems, many assumed the end of arcade gaming as we know it was upon us. They were wrong.
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The video game industry is thought of as having started in the early 70’s with Pong and other early arcade hits. While this may have effectively started the business, video games themselves go all the way back to 50’s.
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