Jeffrey has to rush to get an episode done today! Learn about the nine launch titles of Atari! Also learn about how the podcast is made! #Atari #VideoGameHistory
www.twitch.tv/tcwpodcast
2 days ago
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Posts by They Create Worlds
Historian Alex Smith (author and host of They Create Worlds) joins us for the latest Video Game History Hour podcast to challenge the prevailing “Genesis does what Nintendon’t” narrative in the early '90s: gamehistory.org/episode-154-sega-in-the-...
3 days ago
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Bob Jacob wanted to put Hollywood into a game box and nearly pulled it off. Defender of the Crown, Wings, Rocket Ranger, and a football game that quietly inspired EA Sports, all from a studio that lasted five years. youtu.be/EN43CmoJpyc #Cinemaware #DefenderOfTheCrown #RetroGaming #GamingHistory
6 days ago
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With the original creators gone and development stalled, a new Bethesda team inherited the Elder Scrolls. Todd Howard's Morrowind ditched procedural generation for a handcrafted world so rich it saved the studio from collapse. youtu.be/_9L1FIa4MoU
#Morrowind #ElderScrolls #Bethesda
2 weeks ago
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From sports sims to Elder Scrolls Arena: how Bethesda's Julian LeFay and Vijay Lakshman built the gladiator-to-RPG pivot, then LeFay's massive Daggerfall vision met Ted Peterson's intricate design and gray moral plots. youtu.be/vK5oo4mU-Xc
#ElderScrolls #Daggerfall #Bethesda #Arena
1 month ago
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1 month ago
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From “Dig Dug” tactics to “Xevious” secrets and “The Tower of Druaga” that helped shape Zelda, Masanobu Endō pioneered concepts that still resonate in games today, from hidden secrets to layering story into gameplay. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmKv... #MasanobuEndo #Xevious #TowerOfDruaga
1 month ago
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Plastic guitars and living‑room stages: how a DDR third‑party peripheral maker teamed with Harmonix, won over Best Buy, and turned Guitar Hero into a fad that collapsed under its own weight. Watch the full story: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU-5...
#GuitarHero #VideoGameHistory #RhythmGames
2 months ago
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Plastic guitars and living‑room stages: how a DDR third‑party peripheral maker teamed with Harmonix, won over Best Buy, and turned Guitar Hero into a fad that collapsed under its own weight. Watch the full story: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU-5...
#GuitarHero #VideoGameHistory #RhythmGames
2 months ago
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How did Virgin go from music to games like Command and Conquer, The 7th Guest, Aladdin, and The Lion King? We explore the rise and fall of Virgin Games, from early development and European distribution to major licenses and corporate collapse.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEM3...
2 months ago
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How did a budget software publisher become the foundation of SEGA Europe? We look at the rise and fall of Mastertronic and how a failed console push changed its fate.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXG_...
#theycreateworlds #videogamehistory #segahistory #retrogaming #mastertronic
3 months ago
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Quest logs, auto-mapping, and early RPG innovation helped define New World Computing. We trace the studio’s growth from Might and Magic through Heroes, the push for faster releases under 3DO, and how pressure and overextension led to its collapse.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS77...
3 months ago
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From the SX 64 and Plus/4 to the C128 and the rise of the Amiga, Commodore entered a new era after Jack Tramiel’s departure. The Amiga 1000 and its bouncing ball demo marked a major shift as Commodore moved into the sixteen bit age.
▶ youtu.be/8agWMGOHObA
5 months ago
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From the PET to the VIC-20 and C64, Commodore evolved from business machines to home computing powerhouses. Smart marketing, the SID chip, and low prices made the C64 a billion-dollar success of the 8-bit era.
▶ www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNzn...
#Commodore #PET #VIC20 #C64 #RetroComputing
5 months ago
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From lamps and typewriters to computers, Jack Tramiel’s drive shaped Commodore’s rise. A Holocaust survivor turned entrepreneur, he led Commodore through scandal and calculators to computing with MOS Technology.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJl4...
#Commodore #JackTramiel #VideoGameHistory
6 months ago
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6 months ago
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Fumito Ueda entered games through art, not play. Influenced by Flashback and Another World, he created ICO’s hand-holding bonds and Shadow of the Colossus’s haunting battles. His style reshaped design and inspired creators worldwide.
▶ www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgD-...
7 months ago
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If you are at DragonCon our presentation is at 4:00 Eastern!
The History of the NES l.core-apps.com/dragoncon25/...
See you there!
7 months ago
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Nintendogs and Brain Age proved Nintendo could reach new audiences. That idea carried into the Wii, with family-friendly controls and games anyone could play. It became Nintendo's best-selling console, leaving its rivals behind.
▶ www.youtube.com/watch?v=98XE...
#Nintendo #Wii #TheyCreateWorlds
8 months ago
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That is what I get for off the cusp talking! :) ~ Jeffrey
8 months ago
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Two failed consoles. A power struggle. The rise of Satoru Iwata. This episode traces Nintendo’s path through internal upheaval and fading relevance on the way to the Wii.
🎧 www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K2U...
#Nintendo #Iwata #Yamauchi #Wii #History #VideoGameHistory #TheyCreateWorlds
8 months ago
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John Carmack set out to build full 3D, dynamic lighting, and client-server multiplayer in Quake. Michael Abrash left Microsoft to help. As development spanned a year, problems at ID became more apparent.
🎧 www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG3h...
#Quake #IDSoftware #JohnCarmack #MichaelAbrash
9 months ago
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Jordan Mechner drew on Castles of Dr. Creep, Robin Hood (1938), Raiders, and Thief of Bagdad (1924) to shape Prince of Persia. He rotoscoped his brother for animation. A re-release after Disney's Aladdin made it a hit.
🎧 www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G45...
#JordanMechner #PrinceOfPersia
9 months ago
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Before Karateka, Jordan Mechner’s journey began with his family fleeing Nazi Europe. At Yale, he blended arcade insight with film ambition—helped by his father, who unexpectedly shaped the game with ideas, movement, and music.
📺 www.youtube.com/watch?v=zblm...
10 months ago
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🎙️ New episode!
We spotlight the lesser-known pioneers of Japan’s coin-op scene — the entrepreneurs behind Tecmo, IREM, Sammy & more. Discover how they got their start and shaped early arcade history.
🎧 podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/coin-op-le...
#videogamehistory #arcadehistory #bizhistory #Japan
10 months ago
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🎙️ Going live now!
Editing episode 235 of They Create Worlds — The Coin-op Legends of Japan!
Come hang out and chat while we work: www.twitch.tv/tcwpodcast
10 months ago
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Yu Suzuki redefined arcades with rideable cabinets, sprite-scaling “3D” & the gyroscopic R360. With Shenmue, he coined “Quick Time Events” & delivered NPCs, detail & interactivity unheard of in 1999. 🎮 #YuSuzuki #SEGA #TheyCreateWorlds #VideoGameHistory
youtu.be/4fXkwuMaOVU
11 months ago
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What do 3 doctors, a dungeon master, a database programmer, and a writer have in common? They made Baldur’s Gate—an RPG often credited with reviving Western RPGs. Built on DirectX & the Infinity Engine, it launched #BioWare into legend. 🎲🎮
🔗 podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/baldurs-ga...
11 months ago
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Covid really screwed up Alex's timeline for working on the book. He needs to do a research trip to an archive of court documents and they were closed to the public for a long time. He hops to be able to make that trip this year.
11 months ago
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I own it! I think Alex has Super Street Fighter II!
1 year ago
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