[game_preservation] History of Videogames in an hour?

[Rowan Kaiser]

The key question with such short-but-comprehensive histories isn't
necessarily what's included, but more what's left out. You have to pick a
lens through which the history can be understood, otherwise it's just a
series of names and games and dates. Possible lenses include video game
technology, business, biography, and gameplay techniques.

Another important question is how to prioritize information: based on its
importance at the time, or based on its importance in our time? The former
is, perhaps, more comprehensive, but the latter is more potentially
interesting to current games who may want to know where Call of Duty fits in
more than King's Quest.

There's also questions of chronology - history doesn't *have* to be told
starting in the past and moving towards the present. Something
achronologogical, like a list of the most important video games and why, can
tell a story with a decent level of context. Another approach might be to
start with where we are today and work backwards - who is Brian Reynolds and
why is it a big deal that he's making Zynga games? And so on. When so
severely limited by time, being creative with, well, time can make a big
deal.


Rowan

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 12:09 PM, Alex Handy <alex at themade.org> wrote:


> Now that we're kicking off this museum thing, I've been getting requests to

> talk about this and more focused histories of video games. I've been

> considering putting together a video, maybe around 30 minutes or so, that

> gives this whole history, with particular attention being paid to the

> development behind the important titles and systems, and the influences they

> had upon each other.

>

> The only thing I really need in order to do this is have a video editor who

> can intersperse screenshots, people's pictures, and some game play

> footage...

>

> I'd be happy to collaborate here with some folks. Or, perhaps I'll be back

> in a few months with a link for ya'll.

> On Jul 31, 2011 6:50 AM, "Devin Monnens" <dmonnens at gmail.com> wrote:

> > Martin

> >

> > Thanks for pointing those out. I actually didn't watch the whole video,

> but

> > was a little suspicious when they said Magnavox licensed Computer Space

> > (didn't watch much past 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.

> >>

> >> I would really appreciate that, Martin. There really isn't an article

> out

> > there that covers the history of games in 20 pages or less, or at least

> none

> > that does it accurately. That's sort of the goal I was aiming for. I'm

> not

> > sure what approach you would take, but I think a good history would cover

> > handheld, console, arcade, and PC (and now online). I personally take the

> > approach that development of games in each of those trajectories

> influences

> > and is influenced by the others, something that hasn't been discussed in

> any

> > histories I've read. I don't want to say 'hey, write it like this!' but I

> > WILL say there is a lack of articles that can be used to teach

> > undergraduates a short history of games, and that's what I was looking

> for.

> > The PBS documentary or Discovery Channel might come close, but those

> aren't

> > on-demand so are unfortunately out of the question (though I did see a

> > pirated version of the DC documentary with Chinese subtitles...).

> >

> > For the lecture, I intended to cover a history of games using important

> > titles, but specifying games that had a strong artistic/expressive merit

> and

> > showing them in context with titles that influenced design. (It is for

> use

> > in Art History of Videogames). However, I may also assign the article for

> my

> > intro to game design class. Ideally though, you would expect serious game

> > design students to read Ultimate History and Replay (I feel Replay has

> > better facts but lacks the stories of Ultimate History; an alternative is

> > Game Over).

> >

> > -Devin

> >

> > --

> > Devin Monnens

> > www.deserthat.com

> >

> > The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>

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