The Video Game History Hour

Once again, we’re joined by Kevin Bunch of Atari Archive, this time to talk about his 50th episode of said series: Stellar Track (Star Trek): Atari Archive Episode 50. We learn the history of this very early, very influential game, its many iterations, and its different names along the way.  See more from Kevin Bunch:…

We open up the mailbag and answer some of our listeners’ burning questions! We cover emulation preservation, the definition of a gaming historian, growing pains of the organization, best dinosaur games ever made, plans for our personal collections, and so much more! Quick note: this is episode 40, but we refer to it as episode…

Fan turned archivist Mat Van Rhoon of Big Finish Games tells the story of the lost Tex Murphy series production tapes in a recent article, Tex Murphy and the Raiders of the Lost Tapes. We hear about the sheer elation, joy, and maddening frustration these adventures in preservation led to, as well as the odd…

Norman Caruso is here to share the history of the Sega Mega Modem from his most recent video SEGA Mega Modem: Ahead of Its Time | Gaming Historian. Despite many of its drawbacks and pitfalls, this device pointed to a brighter future that wasn’t able to come to fruition until almost a decade after its…

Grace Kramer and Derek Alexander are this week’s guests discussing the Nokia N-Gage from their recent documentary, N-Gage: Cell Phone Gaming’s First Big Flop | Past Mortem [SSFF]. While there is some debate on the pronunciation of Nokia depending where you live, there is little doubt to the N-Gage’s major DOA status. Find out what…

Game historian, journalist, and content creator Kim Justice joins us to talk about the commercial and critical disappointment, though surprisingly influential, Jurassic Park: Trespasser. In her recent documentary Jurassic Park: Trespasser – A Failure That Stood The Test Of Time | Kim Justice we’re taken through her six part story of its development, its failings,…

We sit down with Jimmy Maher, author of The Digital Antiquarian, to examine his recent four part series: The Ratings Game. This series takes a look at how games came to have age ratings, why it was inevitable and necessary, and the fascinating butterfly effects that came because of it. Maher draws a very clear…

Felipe Pepe is here to showcase his collaborative, non-profit project to create a historical guide to computer role playing games: The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games. What CRPG’s around the world are cool, interesting, historically important, popular, meaningful, and why are they so? Each entry highlights a game’s eccentricities, context of the…

Diving into the history of the Xbox in his recent long read, Bet on Black: How Microsoft and Xbox Changed Pop Culture, Part 1, David L. Craddock goes back to the time of JezzBall, Age of Empires, and trusty ‘ol Minesweeper: the games that kept us entertained while someone else in the house was using…

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…