520.2K
Downloads
257
Episodes
The games we love reveal something true about who we are, and about the world that made them. They Create Worlds is a podcast about the people, technology, and forces that built the video game industry.
Through video game history, the show looks at how culture, business, and technology shaped what we play, tracing the choices and circumstances that led to the games so many people around the world enjoy.
Each episode digs into where games came from, who made them, and why they were made the way they were. Business decisions, technological shifts, and creative choices all shaped what ended up on screen, and the show covers all of it together, not just one piece in isolation.
Hosted by Alex Smith and Jeffrey Daum, They Create Worlds grew out of long conversations about the strange corners of the industry and the patterns that only show up when you look across companies, platforms, and decades. That conversational feel remains, built on careful research, clear structure and editing that makes even the deepest topics easy to listen to.
History turns out to be less settled than it looks. New documents surface, memories conflict, and the clean stories about why things happened the way they did rarely survive contact with the evidence. The show digs into all of that, following the creative and business forces that pushed and pulled on each other, and uncovering the human stories that lie beneath the games so many people around the world enjoy.
New episodes are released twice a month.
Episodes
Wednesday Oct 01, 2025
Wednesday Oct 01, 2025
TCW Podcast Episode 243 - RCA Studio II
The RCA Studio II emerged from the company’s faltering computer division and the vision of engineer Joseph Weisbecker, who had long dreamed of personal computing after reading "Giant Brains or Machines That Think". He developed FRED at home, a TTL-based hobby computer. A later iteration using the COSMAC microprocessor inspired his daughter Joyce, who went onto program Studio II games, and RCA’s forays into coin-op experiments like the Fredotronic. With the development of the CMOS-based COSMAC chip, RCA built trainers like the MicroTutor and kits like the COSMAC ELF, but the Studio II became their entry into the console market. Innovative in concept but hampered by primitive graphics, the system faced FCC challenges delaying release. The console launched in 1977 against the Channel F and Atari VCS, it struggled to find success, though its technology lived on in Taiwan and European licensed systems. Much of its history was later uncovered by researcher Kevin Bunch, which saved the Studio II from being just a footnote in video game history.
Mechanical Televisions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5OANXk-6-w
32 Line Mechanical TCV Popeye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozpBDOBXiPs
TCW 096 - Hello Big Blue: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/hello-big-blue/
TCW 026 - The Magnavox Odyssey: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-magnavox-odyssey/
RCA Spectra 70: https://d1yx3ys82bpsa0.cloudfront.net/brochures/rca.spectra70.1965.102646099.pdf
Project Gutenberg - Giant Brains or Machines That Think: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/68991/pg68991-images.html
Radio Electronics - Simon Computer: https://vintagecomputer.net/simon.cfm
Think-a-Dot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think-a-Dot
RCA System 00 and FRED: https://www.retrotechnology.com/memship/cosmac_system_00.html
Fredotronic: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/2021/10/13/home-to-the-arcade-a-perfect-translation/
RCA MicroTutor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCXQZY8XCK8
Popular Electronics - COSNAC ELF: https://archive.org/details/197608PopularElectronics_20181123
Popular Electronics - COSMAC ELF (Condensed): https://archive.org/details/popular-electronics-cosmac-elf/page/n15/mode/2up
Building a COSMAC ELF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npvkHmTo_1U
COSMAC VIP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDnufgeONYg
(Atari Archive has examples of all games and many of the things we talk about!)
Atari Archive - EP01 - The Story of RCA FRED and the Studio II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o35y6W9hI-o
Atari Archive - EP02 - The History of RCA's Commercial Games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXIoi1QAcoY
RCA Studio II: http://videogamekraken.com/rca-studio-ii
RCA Studio II Console Tour & Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJkedjfK4aQ
M-1200 (RCA Studio III): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NstUUSIwUwY
Star Wars (Studio II): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FYKkCkNZOY
Pinball (MPT-02 - Studio III): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b3LO41z7ks
New episodes are 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, published Dec 2019, is available at CRC Press and at major on-line retailers: 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: RoleMusic - Bacterial Love: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Rolemusic/Pop_Singles_Compilation_2014/01_rolemusic_-_bacterial_love
Copyright: Attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
No comments yet. Be the first to say something!