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Play History

@playhistory.bsky.social

3.3K followers 41 following 1.5K posts

Independent games researcher, Ethan Johnson. Preserving gaming history! Patreon: http://tinyurl.com/pdp5pdrj YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@play_history/videos Blog: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ Editor of Gaming Alexandria

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · Oct 17

Hi!

Here's my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@play_history

Here's my blog: thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com

I help @gamingalexandria.bsky.social www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/

I have a book on classic 80s arcade companies coming out in the near future!

That's my starter kit.

Play History

Play History is all about the history of video games. From their origins, to how they influence the world today, together we explore the phenomenon that's captured the world. Video game design, art, a...

www.youtube.com

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 1h

Wartime could be scoretime if you played your cards right.

With no care for the veneer of treaties, Bally unleashed several combat-themed light gun games in the few years before the war to capitalize on public sentiment.

Flyer of Rapid-Fire by Bally MFg.

https://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/brapfir.htm

Advertisement for Bally's Sky Battle gun game.

https://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/skybatt.htm

A look inside the mechanism of Rapid-Fire by Bally, with a U-boat target.

https://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/brapfir.htm

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Frank Cifaldi @frankcifaldi.bsky.social · 1h

Hey! Did you get an NES Classic mini console but you don't care about the manual/poster it came with? Put it to use supporting @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social! I'm seeking these out for fundraiser autograph opportunities, but need them ASAP. Let me know! Can pay!

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 1h

I actually double checked with a bunch of email interviews I'd done and never put on the list.

I've actually reached 161 people with 13 deceased. The work of a historian never ends!

Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 3d

I updated my personal interview list - chiefly to account for deaths that I've missed.

thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/2016/09/29/f...

Out of the 142 people I've formally interviewed, at least ten have passed away since I started. If you ever need a motivation to reach out - let it be that!

Full Game History Interview List

How many people can one man interview? Take a look and find out.

thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com

Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 3h

Another interview! This time with Rich Moore of Atari, Capcom, and EA.

Plenty of interesting thoughts about what it was like to manage Atari programmers and the transition from Atari Inc. to Atari Games. Still got more to go!

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Frank Cifaldi @frankcifaldi.bsky.social · 7h

Collectors! Store owners! Hoarders! Help us out! @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social is looking to source copies of this 1985 NES pack-in poster for fundraising reasons, and we need them asap. We already cleaned out eBay. Note that they need to be the ones that say copyright 1985, as pictured! Can pay!

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Brian Clark (bclarkomp) @onemillionpower.com · 8h

This is the story of Sega's R360: The legendary arcade cabinet that spun players around and left arcade floors far too early. Exclusive interviews, developer quotes, and more!
I'd appreciate not only everyone watching, but also sharing this post and the video!
youtu.be/I-LnKFILB5I

Sega R360: Spinning Dreams in the Arcade

YouTube video by One Million Power

youtu.be

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 19h

We conclude the articles on Activision's four initial games with a history of Dragster, David Crane's other game from the lot and, reportedly, one of the company's biggest early successes... as well as a game infamous for a speedrunning scandal. www.atariarchive.org/blog/dragste...

Dragster – August 1980, Atari Archive

While David Crane's other August release, Fishing Derby, was a unique experience in the gaming space, the same can’t exactly be said for his other...

www.atariarchive.org

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 1d

Today's interview was with game programmer/designer Vic Tolomei of Exidy.

Super in depth technical and business analysis of the coin-op industry. He had some particularly great stories about the WILD Exidy vector game Vertigo/Top Gunner (which led him to be hired by Sun Microsystems).

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 1d

The blog continues its updates, as Bob Whitehead's Boxing gets its time in the spotlight. Unassuming but a blast to play, particularly if you're using the original joysticks and want to experience actual exhaustion in your boxing match. www.atariarchive.org/blog/boxing-...

Boxing – August 1980, Atari Archive

After exiting Atari upon the completion of Video Chess and participating in the risky venture of starting up the novel idea of a third-party video game...

www.atariarchive.org

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 1d

From my reading, I don't think those are useful histories. They're incited broad overviews of reception and maybe a few anecdotes of development you'd be better off finding in a written article that can be verified.

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 1d

Boss Fight Books are difficult because sometimes they're just high-level essays on experience and sometimes in-depth making ofs and it's hard to tell which is which when.

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 1d

I've neglected updating the Video Game History Booklist for a while.

thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/2020/08/27/t...

Anybody remember some of what came out this year or is forthcoming? Not review or reminiscence books - history (any language).

The Video Game History Booklist

The Video Game History Book List is a chronological list of books in physical, digital, and webpage format which aspiring game researchers can use to find reading material related to the developmen…

thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 2d

This may not be the one but there's a paragraph in this King's Quest VI article covering that subject.

archive.org/details/Inte...

InterAction Magazine - Vol. V Number 3 - Fall 1992 (1992)(Sierra On-Line)(US) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

InterAction Magazine - Vol. V Number 3 - Fall 1992 (1992)(Sierra On-Line)(US)

archive.org

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 2d

One of the earliest "themed" games, the trade stimulator Dewey by Mills Novelty venerated the recent war hero of Manila Bay, George Dewey.

These stylish and grand machines were of the early generation of gambling, before the tabletop games.

The front facing display of a Mills Dewey trade stimulator.

https://www.bidsquare.com/online-auctions/leonard-auction/mills-dewey-5c-slot-machine-with-music-box-4294387

Full view of the Dewey machine by Mills Novelty.

https://hansonslive.hansonsauctioneers.co.uk/lot-details/index/catalog/507/lot/229738/Mills-Novelty-Company-Dewey-1898-Floor-Roulette-Machine-The-oldest-example-of-any-machine-within-the-auction-the-Mills-Dewey-was

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 2d

I know this isn't the point you're getting at, but TSR's litigious streak had largely to do with Tim Kask - not Gygax.

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Jason Dyer @jdyer.bsky.social · 2d

in which I embark on Infocom's wildly ambitious Suspended, where you are in partial cryofreeze and can only communicate with the world using six robots, each with their own abilities and methods of communicating

bluerenga.blog/2025/10/07/s...

Suspended (1983)

A bicycle can get you from New York to LA, so will a jet plane. In one sense they are the exact same thing; in another they are nothing alike. In one sense we are working within traditional genres …

bluerenga.blog

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 2d

Ed Rotberg is alive as far as I know, last interview I see with him was from 2022.

www.teddabneyexperience.com/episodes/tde...

TDE EP22 - Atari Battlezone and S.T.U.N. Runner programmer Ed Rotberg — The Ted Dabney Experience

In accordance with Theurer’s Law - named after Missile Command and Tempest programmer Dave Theurer, which states that every programmer’s first game will be a relative failure - Ed Rotberg’s first game...

www.teddabneyexperience.com

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 2d

I wrote a long article about Rieko Kodama, her career at Sega, the evolution of her company, the games she worked on (including some canceled games and/or games for which she is not credited), the status of women and working conditions in the video game industry, etc.
vgdensetsu.net/riekokodama/

Illustration: a portrait of Rieko Kodama with some of the games she has worked on. The dominant colors are yellow, purple and red. Counterclockwise from top left: Rieko Kodama, Alis and Lutz from Phantasy Star, Sonic in a maze, Alex Kidd and his motorbike next to Flicky on a waterfront pier, Joe Musashi and his dog near the Statue of Liberty facing a skyline, the three playable characters from Golden Axe seen from behind on the edge of a cliff, and one of the flying ships from Skies of Arcadia.

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 3d

Interestingly, many of those that have passed I had some of my longest interview sessions with.

Try to not leave stones unturned, if you're doing this historically! Though there may always be another chance, don't bet on it.

Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 3d

Full Game History Interview List

How many people can one man interview? Take a look and find out.

thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 4d

Of course, I don't know a thing about what the people in power at Nintendo think of Shibata. The man himself is also pretty under-the-radar.

Just if I were to make a prediction about future changes, this is one I feel decently confident about. Maybe not for another decade, but possible.

Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 4d

He's also an energetic public face, which the company has certainly not had at the head since Iwata.

With every new era of gaming comes new changes, and I think Shibata may be a necessary mover-and-shaker after the steady caretaking of the past Presidents.

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 4d

Obviously his name came up when Iwata passed away, as the head of Nintendo of Europe it seemed logical.

I think his very worldwide experience has positioned Shibata as a very experienced director. Him filling one of Iwata's former posts a decade later may indicate he has similar drive.

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 4d

So I don't normally comment on stuff happening in the game industry currently, but recently with the changeover at Nintendo of America this has been a thought on my mind.

I think Satoru Shibata - who's become NOA CEO - is being positioned to take over Nintendo if Shuntaro Furukawa leaves early.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 4d

New video is up. This one took a while due to the release schedule and difficulty of the first game being higher than expected. It's about Hitoshi Yasuda and the Ghost Hunter trilogy, as well as the various behind the scenes weirdness that caused it to be forgotten.

youtu.be/PWXv0LsT1xY

Forgotten Horror: How early tabletop gaming in Japan led to a forgotten Lovecraftian game series

YouTube video by F_T_B

youtu.be

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