[game_preservation] History of Videogames in an hour?

[Martin Goldberg]

On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 4:33 PM, Devin Monnens <dmonnens at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi guys,

> It's that time of year. Cleaning up my syllabus for the Fall 2011 semester.

> I still have that same old problem of finding a good article or video that

> will cover the history of videogames pretty decently and in a relatively

> short span of time. So far, I've yet to find anything really condensed

> outside of Wikipedia, and I'd rather not use them.

> I may direct my students back to Dot Eaters. It's pretty detailed, but

> doesn't cover as much history as I'd like.


It's an entertaining site, but unfortunately detailed doesn't always
mean the correct details.


> I'm staying away from timelines

> because they don't seem to communicate that much. However, Steve Kent has a

> 40-page timeline that seems pretty decent - just no images or illustrations.


Steve's are usually pretty decent as well, though again accuracy isn't
always there.  You might try referring to both?


> I am also considering videos. There's some history of videogames videos on

> YouTube, but most of them contain lots of cursing (IrateGamer's seemed like

> a good start though).  This clip is a nice, short timeline, though it

> doesn't show a lot of the significance of the games and who made them.

>

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yn4JRsmyy4


Falls prone to some contradictions, calling making sure Naughts and
Crosses and Spacewar are called computer games but then calls
Higinbotham's a "video game".

Also some outright errors - Computer Space was not an attempt to
recreate Spacewar.  Likewise it certainly was not licensed by
Magnavox.
Al Alcorn didn't program any games, he was an engineer and all coin-op
games at this time were discrete logic state machines.
The description on Gun Fight is way off - microprocessor based boards
are of course solid state as well.
The sale to Warner was never about finishing the 2600, the company
itself had been in financial straights for the last several years.
Hence they sold of the Japanese division to NAMCO and "merged" in Kee
all that Winter while the 2600 was still being proof of concepted out
at Cyan.
The First Homebrew moniker on the Fairchild system doesn't make sense.
Sea Wolf (1976) was the first video coinop to maintain a high score.
The 400/800 were released in 1979, and the idea of it not being taken
seriously or being pulled off the market is pulled out of thin air -
neither are true.
Pizza Time was opened well before Nolan left Atari.
The Atari Cosmos was exhibited and cancelled in 1981, not 1979.
The Intellivision was '79 with a national release in early 1980.
Nintendo did not test market in '84.
I could go on, but the whole video is like that.....


> Any thoughts on a good, short history?

> -Devin


Devin, it sounds like a project for the SIG Wiki or main site?
Otherwise if you like, I'll try and put together something that meets
those lines and host it as part of the E2M at the atarihq site?  I'll
give specific permission releasing it's use for any academic
institution.  I'll just need more specifics of your needs.





-- 
Marty