An award-nominated documentary and narrative audio series about video games and the video game industry — as they were in the past, and how they came to be the way they are today. History doesn't just vanish into the distance behind us; it casts a very long shadow that affects everything that comes after it, and so with The Life and Times of Video Games journalist and historian Richard Moss draws those through lines to tell fascinating stories about the past that link right back to the present.
https://lifeandtimes.games
Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 1 day 13 hours 12 minutes
recommended podcasts
PAX Panel: Shareware Downunder
I was on a panel about shareware games at PAX Australia in October, with Halloween Harry / Alien Carnage co-creator John Passfield, indie developer and bookshop owner Terry Burdak, and ACMI games curator Arieh Offman. This is the full audio from that panel.
You can find a PDF of my slides from the panel at this Dropbox link. I've also got John's slides in PowerPoint format (so you can play the videos yourself) and Terry's in another PDF...
Soundbite: Home of the Underdogs founder Sarinee Achavanuntakul on abandonware vs piracy
The founder of influential old website The Home of the Underdogs discusses the difference between "abandonware" and piracy, and explains why the former needs to exist.
If Monks Had Macs
To wrap up the year I wanted to revisit one of my old favourites: a story I made for my other (currently-inactive) podcast about one of the strangest and most thought-provoking programs ever created. This is the story of If Monks Had Macs.
The Tomb Raider grid (remastered)
To celebrate the 25th birthday of my favourite game franchise, I thought I'd pull out the old Tomb Raider grid episodes from Season 1 and merge them into one. I also put some time into cleaning up the audio, though it'll still sound rough compared to newer episodes — given the lower-fidelity recordings I was using then.
episode 33: MobyGames, the IMDB of Video Games
There was no encyclopaedia nor fleshed-out database of video games in 1999. There were barely even any reliable or comprehensive lists of video games. Not until Jim Leonard decided he needed to build one.
Interview: Kate Willaert
I speak to games historian and graphic designer Kate Willaert about her research and current projects, as well as her efforts to turn this work into a job...
episode 32: Flight Control, the simple little iPhone game that helped redefine an industry
How a game designed in a week helped to change everything — for the company that made it, for a local industry in turmoil, and for a global industry in transition.
Interview: Andrew Borman (Strong Museum of Play, PtoPOnline)
The Strong Museum of Play's digital games curator Andrew Borman describes his deep passion for uncovering and preserving cancelled, unreleased, and prototype games. This is so much more than a vocation for him, and here you get to hear all the stories and insights he shared with me when I interviewed him for the season 4 finale, The Ghosts of Games That Never Were...
Chris Crawford on thinking in processes vs facts
When I interviewed the legendary game designer and GDC founder Chris Crawford for episode 30, on his famous Dragon Speech, I asked him if he'd have pursued this dragon had he known he'd still be chasing it three decades later. He admitted that he probably would have not. He'd have instead put his energy into making more simulations, teaching people to think in a way that he only recently realised is rare...
episode 31: Ghosts of Games That Never Were
What about the games that never make it to market? Do they have stories worth telling, or lessons worth learning? These are the ghosts of games that never were.