Documenting the Past – Page 2

Searching for the Perfect Trivia Video Game: Jeopardy!, 1 Vs 100, and HQ Trivia

Video game players have been searching for the perfect trivia game since the very beginning… and I mean that literally. Nutting’s Computer Quiz coin-op, which was first released in the 1960s, served as the precursor to both Computer Space and Pong.

After more than 50 years, developers are still trying to figure out what players want from a trivia game. It’s a good question, as the answer has eluded pretty much everyone.

But there are times when everything clicks into place, and though the genre is built on a bevy of game show adaptations, developers have also produced some fun and interesting experiments over the years. Let’s look at a few.

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Game History Secrets Uncovers the WorkBoy, The Simpsons: Hit & Run 2, and This Is Vegas

Liam Robertson was very busy this past year. The journalist produced multiple new videos for his Game History Secrets series, uncovering the facts about unreleased passion projects such as the fabled WorkBoy peripheral, Midway’s This Is Vegas, and Radical Entertainment’s The Simpsons: Hit & Run 2.

While the latter two games share a common lineage with Rockstar’s explosive Grand Theft Auto franchise, the discovery of the WorkBoy is no less exciting. So let’s travel back in time and learn more about two massive open-world adventures and an organizer for your Game Boy.

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Video Game History Foundation Launches Video Game History Podcast

“Did You Know?”

Podcast hosts love to ask this simple question before diving headfirst into some unexpected nugget of history. If you love these sorts of microhistories, then you should definitely pull up a chair for the new podcast from the Video Game History Foundation.

The Video Game History Hour is hosted by the nonprofit’s Directors, Frank Cifaldi and Kelsey Lewin, and each week they’ll peer into gaming’s weird and wacky corners alongside a rotating band of “content creators, game developers, video game historians, and storytellers.”

Best of all, they’ve already produced four episodes, and you can find them after the break.

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Celebrate the 35th Anniversary of Tetris With A Look Back at its History

I think it’s fair to say that most video game fans are at least a little familiar with the basic beats behind the creation of Tetris. Alexey Pajitnov, a technician with the USSR’s Computer Centre, programmed the puzzle game in his spare time using only the text display of an Electronika 60. After porting the game to IBM-Compatible PCs with the assistance of his co-workers, Pajitnov’s supervisors would go on to sell the international rights to the game to multiple companies, creating a legal mess that would drag on for years.

In time, Pajitnov would move to the United States and regain the rights to Tetris after partnering with Henk Rogers to form The Tetris Company in 1996. Since then, dozens of developers have put their own stamp on Tetris, including the eye-popping VR effects of Tetris Effect in 2018 and the hyper-competitive multiplayer of Tetris 99 in 2019.

Today is Tetris‘s 35th Anniversary, and if you’re unfamiliar with the story behind the game’s creation (or just want to hear it again), there’s no better time than now to dive back into this fascinating story.

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Behind-the-Scenes With A Few PlayStation Classics

Sony’s film division has been attempting to adapt the Uncharted franchise for the big screen for quite a few years now. In that time, a large number of writers and directors have cycled through the production, and several very different actors have signed on to play Drake at one time or another (Spider-Man‘s Tom Holland is currently slated to play a younger version of the character in a film that’ll serve as a prequel to the game franchise).

That protracted process is likely part of the reason why Sony Interactive Entertainment decided to bring their next set of game adaptations in-house under the new PlayStation Productions banner. The studio was formed earlier this week, and its inaugural task will be to create a television show based on the Twisted Metal series, but that won’t be the first bit of filmmaking to bear the PlayStation logo.

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The Untold Stories Behind Doom’s Cheat Codes, Splatoon’s Canceled Predecessor, and Creating an E3 Press Conference

Start your weekend off right by diving into a trio of videos highlighting some of the lesser-known stories behind the creation of Doom, Splatoon, and Ubisoft’s annual E3 extravaganza.

Start your weekend off right by diving into a trio of videos highlighting some of the lesser-known stories behind the creation of Doom, Splatoon, and Ubisoft’s annual E3 extravaganza.

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