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Love of the worlds created by video game designers and personalities drives Alex Smith & Jeffrey Daum (history, law, CS degrees) to provide a scholarly yet light-hearted discussion of how arcade, home console, and PC games merged into a Video Game Industry. Emphasis is on the combination of business and creative elements needed for financial success. Interviews of Atari, EA, Activision, & other execs with detailed source evaluations produce the insights you hear in these 140+ hours!
Episodes

Sunday Nov 15, 2020
Activision and Atari
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
TCW Podcast Episode 126 - Activision and Atari
We look at the video games that Activision made for the Atari VCS/2600 when the founders of Activision split from Atari. Activision focused on graphics and presentation as a key factor in the game creation process. They were able to push the limits of the Atari VCS to do things that were thought impossible by the base system. The sunset employed in the game with Stampede is used again in later games and became a kind of hallmark of some Activision games. With the release of Pitfall 2, the inclusion of a special chip providing enhanced graphics, and music hints at where the VCS could have gone had the crash not occurred!
TCW 009 - The History of Mediagenic Part 1: http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/history-of-mediagenic-part-i/
TCW 010 - The History of Mediagenic Part 2: http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/history-of-mediagenic-part-ii/
How CRT Televisions Work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4UgZBs7ZGo
Dragster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz79pdqiyk0
Checkers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhtePX2BApk
Fishing Derby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_25-gc-sno0
Boxing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JAf0RDD_qg
Bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sckeVsRrsc
Skiing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVBcKKCEkB0
Laser Blast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvnq96SVQh0
Tennis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TueiMj2l3k
Ice Hockey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aev4tsHuPc
Stampede: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-e2ZE5YDeU
Stampede Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB6fbtr9pb4
Freeway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5pdJz3DcNk
Freeway Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqHxuTPcSAs
Kaboom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-SBEh2p9KA
Kaboom Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkNztWEVxD4
Avalanche Arcade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VDvRlNuaX4
Barnstorming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzekJZZ9QW0
Barnstorming Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOIxiVjjZgU
River Raid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnFjVybfxj4
River Raid Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baep8YZO-l4
Starmaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmJcXXvK2Bo
Starmaster Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClO_Gvr7G2U
Sky Jinks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ3ppEtCs0w
Chopper Command: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EecA8TdChxo
Pitfall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAJzamWAFOE
Pitfall Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA4V-n8Ft3g
Grand Prix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWkPqNl0nw8
Seaquest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErknoYi8Ja0
Decathlon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfaOTKClseM
Robot Tank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U9_AzXddBU
Robot Tank Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdJF5jhajb4
Pitfall 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZIMaJnzPzw
Pitfall 2 Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3AWTX3V2yY
New episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month!
TCW Email: feedback@theycreateworlds.com
Twitter: @tcwpodcast
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theycreateworlds
Alex's Video Game History Blog: http://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com
Alex's book is available for preorder and should be released through CRC Press in December 2019: http://bit.ly/TCWBOOK1
Intro Music: Josh Woodward - Airplane Mode - Music - "Airplane Mode" by Josh Woodward. Free download:http://joshwoodward.com/song/AirplaneMode
Outro Music: RolemMusic - Bacterial Love - http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Rolemusic/Pop_Singles_Compilation_2014/01_rolemusic_-_bacterial_love
Copyright: Attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Sunday Nov 01, 2020
The Visions of Coleco Part 2
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
TCW Podcast Episode 125 - The Visions of Coleco Part 2
In our second part look at Coleco we dive into the electronics and transition into programable consoles. We see how they influenced the post crash consoles of Nintendo and Sega. With the release of Colecovision we saw one of the most advanced consoles of the pre crash era. The system was able to do faithful recreations of many popular arcade games. This is most exemplified with the release Donkey Kong. Coleco tried to transition into computers with the release of ADAM. However this turned into a disaster for the company and marked the turning point into a rapid decline. They were able to stay afloat for a little while with the release of Cabbage Patch Kids, however Coleco was unable to recover from the downward spiral.
TCW 025 - Mattel Electronics?: http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/mattel-electronics/
Coleco Quarterback Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93u6POODKQY
Coleco Head to Head Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmLX1ylQhMs
Mini Tabletop Arcade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuo0njOI-qE
Colecovision Retrospective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhOyuI4MwS8
Colecovision Turbo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbxX3DK3pSU
Colecovision Zaxxon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGIAKKsNylU
Colecovision Donkey Kong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI9WwdVb-_A
ADAM Computer Comercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-dmEFOT3FY
Coleco Adam Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAYCqMchb88
New episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month!
TCW Email: feedback@theycreateworlds.com
Twitter: @tcwpodcast
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theycreateworlds
Alex's Video Game History Blog: http://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com
Alex's book is available for preorder and should be released through CRC Press in December 2019: http://bit.ly/TCWBOOK1
Intro Music: Josh Woodward - Airplane Mode - Music - "Airplane Mode" by Josh Woodward. Free download:http://joshwoodward.com/song/AirplaneMode
Outro Music: RolemMusic - Bacterial Love - http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Rolemusic/Pop_Singles_Compilation_2014/01_rolemusic_-_bacterial_love
Copyright: Attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/