Video Game History Hour

Alex Smith returns to the show, this time to talk about Computer Space: a 1971 arcade game often considered the beginning of the commercial video game industry. Continuing the annotation series of his book, “They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry, Vol. I”, Alex Smith has condensed down the history of this first coin-operated video game in his recent blog post: Worldly Wednesdays: A Timeline Of Computer Space. Always the thorough historian, Alex Smith treats us to an incredibly educational hour of video game history. See more from Alex Smith: Website: theycreateworlds.com Blog: videogamehistorian.wordpress.com Podcast: podcast.theycreateworlds.com Book: https://www.routledge.com/They-Create-Worlds-The-Story-of-the-People-and-Companies-That-Shaped-the/Smith/p/book/9781138389908

Cyberlaw Clinic tech lawyer Kendra Albert and librarian and video game historian Phil Salvador join the show to give us their professional insight into the U.S. Copyright Office's October 2021 ruling which affects how libraries are able to provide access to video games and other software. As we discuss this current event, we hope to provide context as to what this ruling means, how it was reached, and how we might approach the next round of exemption proposals to best serve preservation efforts. Further Reading: Cyberlaw Clinic (background material): https://clinic.cyber.harvard.edu/2021/03/12/clinic-spn-and-lca-fight-digital-deterioration-prepare-for-1201-hearings/ Final rule (10 page version): https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-10-28/pdf/2021-23311.pdf Register’s recommendation (300 page version): https://cdn.loc.gov/copyright/1201/2021/2021_Section_1201_Registers_Recommendation.pdf See more from Kendra Albert: Twitter: @Kendraserra Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic: https://clinic.cyber.harvard.edu/ Cyberlaw Clinic Twitter: @cyberlawclinic Software Preservation Network: https://www.softwarepreservationnetwork.org/ Software Preservation Network Twitter: @SoftPresNetwork See more from Phil Salvador: Twitter: @itstheshadsy Website: obscuritory.com

Rachel Weil started the FEMICOM Museum to catalogue, celebrate, and remix the history of girl games, girly games, and femme games. She joins us to provide insight into how this massive category of video games has been shut out of history preservation (hint: follow the money) and how she’s been countering this trend for the last decade. As Founder and Director, Rachel combines both an online museum experience with a physical archive of games, electronic toys, and software. We bask in the nostalgia of Barbie Fashion Designer, the Game Boy Sewing Machine, Hello Kitty games, My Little Pony games, Neopets, and so much more! See more from Rachel Weil: Twitter: @FemicomMuseum Website: femicom.org Personal Twitter: @partytimeHXLNT

Executive Director of Hit Save!, Jonas Rosland, joins us to showcase some of the amazing work this fellow 501(c)(3) non-profit does in preserving video game history, especially through community-driven projects. Hit Save! has brought together amazing resources in both their Scanning.Guide! and Dumping.Guide! to aid our community in digitizing existing materials as well as a program facilitating interviews with game developers to preserve that history which may not yet have been documented. Rosland also gives us a peek into many other current projects and we learn how any of us can get involved. Mentioned in the show: Scanning.Guide! (https://scanning.guide/) Dumping.Guide! (https://dumping.guide/) See more from Jonas Rosland: Website: hitsave.org Patreon: /hitsave Twitter: @hitsaveorg GitHub: github.com/hitsave Personal twitter: @jonasrosland

Gaming historian and journalist Damiano Gerli shares the details of how exactly Nintendo marketed itself to the Italian consumer in the 80’s and 90’s as laid out in his article Selling Mario to Italians: the untold story of Nintendo in Italy. They really had their work cut out for them as they tried to bring their console into an environment already heavily favoring PC gaming as well as free of software copyright laws. How did they make it work and what byproducts still survive today as a result? See more from Damiano Gerli: Twitter: @damgentemp Genesis Temple blog - dedicated to obscure gaming history and analyzing interesting elements of game design: https://genesistemple.com/ Patreon: /thegenesistemple Facebook: /TheGenesisTemple

Author Tim Lapetino joins us to discuss his new book, Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon. After so many years, why are there still stories to tell about Pac-Man? During a time when shooting aliens was the hot gameplay on the scene, we find out why this game, with such a different experience, had mass appeal. Tim takes us down the rabbit hole of what is just so fascinating about this iconic character, the legendary franchise, and its creator. See more from Tim Lapetino: Twitter: @lapetino Website: timlapetino.com Instagram: @timlapetino Book: Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon: Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon Recommended Book: Art Of Atari

GlitchCat7, competitive gamer/ROM hacker/full time streamer/Kaizo Mario historian of record, joins us to discuss his extensive blog post, The Complete History of ‘Kaizo Mario’. GlitchCat7 helps us understand how ‘Kaizo’ was born from exploring glitched levels, wall clipping, and ROM warping. These rearranged, and quite difficult, Mario levels provide a jumping off point for a philosophical journey through what it means to go beyond the horizon of what’s explorable in a game and play out of bounds. Mentioned in the show: https://www.smwcentral.net// See more from GlitchCat7: Website: https://www.glitchcat7.com Twitch: /glitchcat7 Twitter: @GlitchCat7 TikTok: @GlitchCat7 Instagram: @GlitchCat7 Patreon: @GlitchCat7 Mallow’s Instagram: @mallowspiraltail

Historian and documentarian Kate Willaert returns to the show, this time to discuss her recent article on “adult” games made under the Mystique banner for the Atari 2600: Porno Hustlers Of The Atari Age. Kate guides us through the very troubled history around these titles’ creation and release, including protests, legal suits, and attempted legislation. She also unravels the complicated company structures behind these games to figure out who was really involved in this story. See more from Kate Willaert: Twitter: @katewillaert YouTube: /a critical hit Website: acriticalhit.com Patreon: /acriticalhit Newsletter: criticalkate.substack.com

John Rairdin of Nintendo World Report joins us to discuss his ambitious documentary The History and Development of Star Fox Command (Ft. The Original Developers). He shares the previously undocumented history of this Nintendo DS title, its developers from Q-Games, and its many creators. As a side note: John has some pretty good ideas on how to make a game about space rodents, who may or may not have robotic legs, flying around saving the universe into a pretty fun racing game. Let’s get on this, Nintendo! See more from John Rairdin: Twitter: @jtsknight92 Website: NintendoWorldReport.com YouTube: /NinWRTV Patreon: /NWR

We’re joined, once again, by Norman Caruso to discuss the history of a unique 1990 Nintendo Entertainment System controller, the U-Force. All the rage when it was announced, this hands-free controller uses infrared emitters/detectors to locate your hands in 3-dimensional space for game control input. In his recent video Don't Touch: The Story of the U-Force | Gaming Historian we learn how this device came about and why, sadly, it didn’t perform very well, both physically and in the retail market. Find more content from Norman Caruso: YouTube: /gaminghistorian Twitter: @gaminghistorian Patreon: /gaminghistorian