The layperson thinks suing is easy: Party B does Party A wrong, Party A sues Party B and a judgement is eventually passed which finds Party B guilty or innocent. However, in law, absolutely nothing is simple or certain. The endless ins and outs of the proceedings from legal action are extremely tedious to study … Continue reading An Incomprehensible Run Down of Video Game Lawsuits
Ever wonder what the first video game with music is? Well, wonder no more: It's Gun Fight by Midway with an adaptation of Frédéric Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2! Or is it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5vSZyDhFLo There is something strange about what should be an exceedingly straightforward fact which is the variety as to whether you get a … Continue reading First Music: The Mystery of the First Video Game Soundtrack
Chicago's a weird and wild place, having been built and rebuilt innumerable times over the decades. As in all great cities, the new and the old collide into something unique which expresses it's own history. The remnants of what was once the coin-op capital are sparse, but it's a pleasure for me to walk to … Continue reading Chicago Legacy: Exploring Bally Manufacturing
A few months back I unleashed my archival efforts of Sega-Gremlin on the Video Game History Foundation. The videos are most visible but there was a small other page with a number of scans and photos of some game materials that I took at the Gremlin Reunion in September 2017. Several of these images feature … Continue reading The Unreleased Games of Sega-Gremlin
This was my first year of intensive work on video game history and I wanted to share how things have been progressing on my end. I have some thoughts about what I was able to accomplish along with my hopes for the future that I would like to share with readers. This will include the … Continue reading The History of How We Play – Status Update
A year goes round, a year goes down. We are back once again with another morbid post hopefully flecked with fond remembrances for the people who have shaped the video game industry. Time marches on and work continues to capture the stories of those who shaped this wonderful hobby that we indulge in. To those … Continue reading 2018: The Losses
(The research in this article, particularly from the Atari memos held by the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York, was provided in large part by Alex Smith of They Create Worlds. Please check him out, as a frequent and high-quality collaborator of mine.) The legend of Breakout is an oft told story. It’s not … Continue reading A Breakout Story
