Once more into the Wasteland! Today we attempt to finish the seminal Interplay RPG or die trying. www.twitch.tv/play_history We're gonna die trying, aren't we?

A fascinating anomaly inside a circa 1981 Chuck E Cheese. An electro-mechanical horse ride with a gun hooked up to an Atari VCS playing the game Outlaw. Apparently you could aim your gun and shoot at the target - not sure how! A fascinating, weird kit bash.

Argonaut Software's attempt at a 3D platformer on the Saturn is original enough to remain fun, despite suffering from a finicky camera and tank controls. There's still enough quality here to occupy an afternoon for those willing to make the adjustment. www.sega-16.com/2026/07/croc...

For the past couple months I have been working on compiling a list of Shigeru Miyamoto interviews that are lost, may or may not exist, are incomplete, unscanned, and/or untranslated. There are over 200 on this page, maybe you can help in some way: spritecell.com/shigeru-miya...

The Fourth is passed, but patriotic coin-op lives on with the Uncle Sam handshake grip testers! This iconic, creepy mannequin lasted on location for decades after first appearing in the early 1900s.

Are we gaming historians, or ludocumentarians?

The single biggest story in video games this month, prompting widespread concern across the community, and the ESA has no comment. Thank you @duckvalentine.bsky.social for holding them accountable for their total failure on this issue

We are resuming a playthrough of Wasteland on this Holiday weekend - nothing more American. www.twitch.tv/play_history Watch the Gaming Alexandria crew survive the apocalypse with the power of friendship!

This week on The Digital Antiquarian: "The Life and Times of Maxis, Part 1: SimEverything" www.filfre.net/2026/07/the-...

Retail sales have always been a controlling factor in the video game industry. From Atari to Acclaim to Interplay to THQ, the requirements of being part of the retail ecosystem has always been a Sword of Damocles hanging over the landscape.

Save the Games. July 29 and 30. Rochester, NY. Worried about our all-digital future? Want to know how researchers interact with game history? What the challenges that game studios are facing? All that and more, just weeks away. www.museumofplay.org/save-the-gam...

A British dev built a Game Boy prototype that could do something it was never supposed to do, caught Nintendo's attention at CES, and helped build a 3D chip for the SNES. The Super FX chip made Star Fox possible, but Argonaut walked away with little to show. y2u.be/0vwa2366H4w #StarFox #SNES

Mills Novelty was the most important company in the formation of the American coin-op industry in the early 1900s. And in its first years of operation, it faced several major crises that nearly put it out of business. This is the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad first decade of Mills Novelty.

New update to the blog, as I get into Laser Blast, David Crane's March 1981 release that likely became Activision's first million-seller: www.atariarchive.org/blog/laser-b...

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine interview one of the minds behind Video Game Update/Computer Entertainer, Marylou Badeaux to see what the video game world was like leading up to and during the Crash. www.patreon.com/VGNRTM/posts...

An impromptu stream for researching my next book! We're going to be playing Wasteland, the 1988 stone cold classic. Join us for my horrific deaths and other commentary. www.twitch.tv/play_history

Jones was *the* key figure at Bungie. He wrote Minotaur and Pathways. Steve Jobs introduced him at MacWorld! If you want to learn more, I made a 15-minute doc (a decade ago, wow) about Bungie's first ten years as an independent, mostly-Macintosh, game developer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1x2...

Despite widespread pinball bans in the 1940s, some people still found their salvation in the silver ball. This 1949 articles by Ted Hodges highlights the 'addictive' quality of these underground games in the post-War era.

Nintendo's slow rollout of Game & Watch in the US opened the door for similar games to gain hold, such as the Masudaya Thumb Games of a similar form factor.

Ten years ago, I did my first deep dive on video game history: The Making of the Nintendo 64. I was able to talk with three team members from SGI including chief architect Tim Van Hook. www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/2021/06/t... I'd love to expand it, but I think it's still a ripping tale!

Do you recognize the audience member in this recording from CGDC 1989? This might be the earliest recording of game designer Warren Spector! This amazing find from a researcher comes from our CGDC 1989 tape collection: https://archive.gamehistory.org/folder/0b002d20-ab64-4d5b-b612-024fb56988a3

Pioneering game designer Howell Ivy (Death Race, Circus, Venture) and later Sega executive passed away last month. I had the pleasure of speaking with him about his very early work on microprocessors. Incredibly forthcoming and kind. He will be missed.

The first notable automatic photo station operated in Minneapolis in 1890. For just a nickel and two minutes of development time, you could walk away with a handsome picture with minimal human involvement.

The spade icons in Super Mario Bros. 3 aren't just a sign that you're playing a card game. They're a callback to the 1950s logo Nintendo used when it was making playing cards — AND that's why Mario gets the spade icon in Mario RPG. More info: www.thrillingtalesofoldvideogames.com/special/mari...

Today's the 9th anniversary of a video on an infamously ambitious cancelled game. With information and clips that nobody had seen before, supplied by multiple members of the team, I honestly think it may still be the most comprehensive Vulcan Fury history out there. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI8Gc..

The Save the Games schedule is up! I'll be among the last presenters alongside some excellent peers! Hope to see plenty of people there.

Happy 30th birthday, #Quake! If you haven’t yet, read the #longread about the game’s creation FOR FREE @shacknews.com (based on interviews with the dev team), or buy it on Kindle or in paperback. *Shacknews: www.shacknews.com/article/1011... *Paperback/Kindle: www.amazon.com/dp/B07VFBJ8GX

Thanks for sharing the article around! I had a lot of details I couldn't fit into the overview as I wanted to focus things on the case, but here's some good bits 🧵 bsky.app/profile/gami...

No matter how much you think you know about the Universal v. Nintendo lawsuit (the battle of the Kongs), @playhistory.bsky.social's new piece will very likely fill in some gaps on what happened and why it went down the way it did. www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/2026/06/h...

New article up on the site! @playhistory.bsky.social breaks down the oddly exciting legal drama where Donkey Kong clobbered King Kong. This the true story! www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/2026/06/h...

Look at how beautiful it is...

If you’re into retro computer you’re probably already following this lovely bot, and if you’re not you should fix that. But I do have to offer a correction on this post: this schematic for the Whirlwind I (WWI) is probably from 1951, not 1944.

Par-Golf, and elaborately painted mechanical pinball by Moorman Game Co of New York City. The game has a several interesting gimmicks - which you can view in this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNuh...

In Batman: The Complete History, historian Les Daniels misremembers the Bob Kane passage saying it took place at the Playboy Mansion, which spread to the internet due to the ubiquity of the book. And that's how it happens. My biggest fear when writing is introducing similarly widespread errors.

Our digital archive keeps growing with new magazines! Some recent lesser-known additions include: - @Gamer - InterAction - Pocket Games - Surge - Video Games - Walmart GameCenter archive.gamehistory.org/folder/9a193...

Wading into recent events again... Should you be anxious about Xbox? Yes. Should you be surprised? I don't really think so.

Don't believe the hype! Lots of chatter today about how Space Invaders released publicly on this day in 1978—but that's not the case. In the US, the first mention in trade publications didn't occur until late October. The games themselves probably didn't arrive at locations until November.

June 16th, 1978: Space Invaders (and some other games) is revealed by Taito to its base of operators. The game was largely overshadowed by the more simplistic shooting game Blue Shark but once released it would build into a grassroots phenomenon that forever changed video games.

In honor of 40 years of Famitsu, I translated an article by old-school editor Hamamura Tsuushin reflecting back on the old days of the magazine, and what led to it going weekly! A must read for anyone interested in one of Japan's biggest game publications! www.onemillionpower.com/fami-memo-me...

How does a Canadian liquor company end up owning Universal Studios and help create Activision Blizzard? Seagram, Vivendi, bad timing, and deceptive accounting. The full story is Messier than you think. 🎙️ youtu.be/PzHARV7hO7w #VideoGameHistory #Vivendi #ActivisionBlizzard

To Life, To Life - Vivendi! All about how that company that once owned Activision popped like a balloon, from @theycreateworlds.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzHA...

Thissala (potentially) is one of the largest adventure games ever made, started in 1979. It was not only lost but unknown to even exist until last year when it was unearthed off an old Data General drive. bluerenga.blog/2026/06/14/t...

The latest Kent readthrough it up! We went late, nearly went insane, but at the very least we have a greater appreciation for how even reporting basic facts can go awry. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CMW...

Neat to see Atari's legacy being celebrated with the placement of a historical plaque in Sunnyvale for Pong. However, the details of said plaque are a bit suspect. Check out my thread regarding the uncertain timelines around Pong and its many myths. bsky.app/profile/play...

The opening was truly grand! Some amazing historic pinballs and lots to look at! Looking forward to seeing the space evolve and hopefully take in some great business!

My current release date query is tracking down the month for the PC cult hit Darklands. It had several announced dates, was advertised since late 1991, yet I can't narrow down where between August and October 1992 it was actually shipped.

The newest Atari Archive video delves into Spectravision's three September 1982 releases, which include an unusual space shooter, a strange nuclear meltdown title, and a clone of the fairly nascent Snake genre:

This weekend marks the opening of The Flip museum in Chicago, a pinball-dedicated museum space in its homeland! www.theflip.museum/blog/grand-o... I'll be heading to the grand opening at 4pm today. They've amassed an impressive collection!

What's harder: Boxing the world champ or playing Pong after a few beers? You decide.

We've got a big one today. Almost 20 years after Maxis released Spore, we talked to eight people -- including Will Wright -- about the studio's big experiment.