The Life & Times of Video Games

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

Eine durchschnittliche Folge dieses Podcasts dauert 31m. Bisher sind 64 Folge(n) erschienen. Alle 3 Wochen erscheint eine Folge dieses Podcasts.

Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 1 day 13 hours 12 minutes

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Super Mario Kart


How Nintendo and its mascot created a genre, and a combat-racing franchise heavyweight, and in the process gave us a masterclass in game balance, with the best-selling 1992 Super Nintendo game Super Mario Kart. All music and sound effects in this episode were composed and performed by me, except for the bits that I lifted out of Super Mario Kart. If you enjoyed this episode, you might like to consider listening to the previous entry this season, on Sega Rally Championship...


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Sega Rally Championship


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 June 7, 2019  21m
 
 

Soundbite: Henk Rogers on randomness and dilemmas in Tetris


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 June 5, 2019  5m
 
 

The Boss Button


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 May 16, 2019  22m
 
 

Lode Runner


The story of how a terrible description of the Donkey Kong arcade game led to the creation of Lode Runner, one of the greatest games of all time and one of the earliest games with a built-in level editor. Lode Runner Legacy is available for Windows and Nintendo Switch. An official remake of the original game is also available on Android and iOS. The Life & Times of Video Games on the Web and social media Website: lifeandtimes...


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 April 30, 2019  24m
 
 

Soundbite: Scott Kim shares a few secrets of puzzle design


Legendary puzzle designer Scott Kim discusses the process and principles of puzzle-making for games. This is excerpted from an interview I conducted while researching my book The Secret History of Mac Gaming.Support The Life & Times of Video Games Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices


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 February 11, 2019  4m
 
 

Bonus: Game devs on the impact of the original Mac


For any of you who aren't aware, last week was the 35th anniversary of the release of the original Mac. I published a Medium article to celebrate the milestone, and here now you can listen to an audio version of that. It's 14 current and former game developers talking about the early Macintosh computer and how it inspired them to make something insanely great...


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 February 1, 2019  1h3m
 
 

episode 13: Girl Games, Inc.


On the 90s girl games movement, and its assault on the status quo of the video game market, featuring Girl Games Inc founder and former filmmaker Laura Groppe. Support comes from my Patreon and PayPal backers, with special credit going to Wade Tregaskis, Simon Moss, and Vivek Mohan. Thanks fellas! Original scoring and sound design by me. These days Laura Groppe runs the Girls Intelligence Agency, which does research and consulting on the female youth market...


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 November 23, 2018  40m
 
 

Microsoft Games


Before something like the Xbox could ever hope to exist, Microsoft first needed to learn how to be a successful games publisher on the PC. This is the story — or part of it — of how Microsoft got games, featuring input from four key Microsoft Game Studios people — Ed Fries, Stuart Moulder, Ed Ventura, Jon Kimmich — and Age of Empires co-creator Rick Goodman. Support comes from my Patreon and PayPal backers, with special credit going to Wade Tregaskis, Simon Moss, and Vivek Mohan...


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 October 31, 2018  35m
 
 

Soundbite: Spotting "the magic" (Jon Kimmich, ex-Microsoft Games)


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 August 31, 2018  5m