#Video Game History

[arconinternet]

Poly-Play (In-browser, Arcade, VEB Polytechnik, 1985/1989)

Soviet East German arcade multi-game cabinets - each of these versions has some games the other doesn't. You can play them in your browser here.

Controls: arrows, Ctrl & 5 (1's unneeded here).

Tip: you can make the screen less wide by pressing Tab, then using arrows and Enter to select Video Options and then Screen #0, and turning Maintain Aspect Ratio on, then leaving the menu with Tab.

[obscuritory]

VGHF Holiday Calendar Day 1: We remastered The Making of Riven

If you played Riven back in the day, you might remember the mini-doc that came with Riven. It was pretty great, but it was also compressed to hell in QuickTime.

As part of our project to digitize Cyan's archives, we went back to the original master tape for The Making of Riven and brought it back at unbelievable quality, including 4x the original framerate. Just look at this difference! Holy moly!

We're sharing this as part of our annual fundraiser! If you like what you see, please consider donating a couple bucks to the Video Game History Foundation's pledge drive to fund our next year of operations!

[prokopetz]

It’s easy to troll thirtysomething gamers about their age because of how weirdly console generations overlap in the late 1990s and early 2000s, especially once you add handhelds to the mix. The Game Boy Color was contemporary with the PS2. The orginal Xbox hit the shelves less than three years after the Super Nintendo was discontinued. With careful selection, you can basically make games from that era look like whatever you want.

[courtingwonder]

Atari - Circuit Diagram Schematic of the original Pong (1972)

[nickysfacts]

That time when Nintendo of America decided to play god and created new life just to market a Pikmin game!👩🏻‍🌾

🌸🎮🌼

[flailingdorkusgirl]

tekken lore explained

[pixelfireplace]

R-Type - irem - Sinclair ZX Spectrum - 1988

source: ZX Spectrum Games

[receptorconsuming]

deSPIRIA was a scifi adventure game made by Atlus for the Dreamcast in 2000. It takes place in 2070 Japan, after the end of WWIII. You play as a secret agent named Allure, investigating the cause of a crashed train which may have political implications. The game had unique combat and is viewed entirely in first-person.

Moby Games // Gameplay footage // Blog about the game

[ouchlord-vivaldi]

Also thought this would be funny.

[go-go-devil]

Happy 20th Anniversary to Sly Cooper and The Thievius Raccoonus!

[nyxthefkdeityofnight-crows-stuff]

Today, 10 years ago, the first Minecraft update that I can remember got added. I was 8 at the time. I'd only just started playing video games. It added stained glass, acacia and dark oak wood, and salmon. Discovering acacia wood is probably the oldest memory I have. I'm tearing up whole writing this.

This is the oldest I've ever felt.

[arconinternet]

Mastering Pac-Man - Revised Edition (Book, Ken Uston, 1982)

This sort of thing is why Pac-Man Fever mentions patterns. Also covers Ms. Pac-Man, two far more obscure clones, and Atari's notorious BANKBANKBANKBANK version. You can read it here.

[obscuritory]

GDC 2024: What's New in Game History!

Hey, my GDC panel is up, and it's free! Watch me, historian Laine Nooney, Stanford curator Henry Lowood, tech policy lawyer Kendra Albert, and Chloe Appleby from the Powerhouse Museum talk about what's been happening in the field of game history.

We cover a lot of ground in an hour. This is a great way to get up to speed on what's been happening with game history/preservation, the challenges we're facing, and where we see things going in the next year. And yes, we talk about Yuzu.

(If my line "Today's piracy tools are tomorrow's preservation tools" ends up getting quoted, I won't be mad.)

[jesselouiscox]

TOMORROW a brand new Gentlemen’s Gaming Club comes out on YouTube! This time Santell and I are diving into one of the most controversial games from the 90s! What is it about this game that had Congress so upset? Find out that and more tomorrow!

Who’s excited??

[illuminesce]

I just did a deep dive into the Shadow Hearts series and holy shiiii

I'm not going to duplicate it here because it's long and has tons of research, images and links about what is cool about this video game series that lived and died from 1999~2007.

Check it out on cohost.

[nickysfacts]

The Mii are a unique interpretation of the “toys to life” concept!😄