After the dropping of two bombs in 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, humanity’s ability to harvest the potential of nuclear energy became a recurring theme in play. In the beginning, nuclear power seemed like an awesome force that offered great promise, even as it was recognized as perilous and destructive. As time went on, however, its catastrophic capacity began to outweigh its potential for good in the public mind, as fears of global destruction invaded the imaginations of toy and […]
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That’s RAD! Excavating Digital Atari Art
As video game graphics became more advanced, the tools required to create them also became more advanced. Artists today can choose from any number of free and paid software tools, allowing for the creation of both 2D and 3D graphics that could only be dreamed about just decades prior. In the past, though, developers needed to develop those specialized tools themselves.
Following the release of 1972’s Pong, Atari’s arcade games grew increasingly complex. Lunar Lander in 1979 was the company’s first […]
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Margot Comstock, Publishing Pioneer
This week we’re celebrating our annual Women in Games event that spotlights women who have shaped the video game industry, and so it seems fitting to post a blog honoring Margot Comstock, a publishing visionary who helped people become familiar and fall in love with computers and computer games. Sadly, Margot passed away on October 22, 2022.
When Margot Comstock began her work in the 1970s, personal computing was just taking root. Computers, as they first developed after World War II, […]
Game Saves: Rock It Man—A Punny Unreleased SEGA Genesis Game
With a growing collection of digital files, it can be a challenge to identify what every file does. But you never know what you may find, including completely unseen games like Rock It Man for the SEGA Genesis.
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Senua’s Journey: The Portrayal of Mental Illness in Video Games
Playing video games can be many things: entertaining, collaborative, emotional, or even a learning experience. Using video games for education is nothing new, but in recent years developers have seen how interactive media can help create an understanding of those around us. According to Professor Paul Fletcher at the University of Cambridge, “Video games can be powerful tools because they are absorbing and immersive. They require active participation, and they allow players to explore new and uncertain worlds.” The topic […]
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Game Saves: The Lord of the Rings Atari 2600
One Prototype to rule them all, One Prototype to backup and save.
Long before Peter Jackson brought The Lord of the Rings to life on the big screen, others tried their hands at adapting the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy classic. With the 1978 animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi just a few years prior, Parker Brothers began advertising a video game adaptation in 1982.
Scheduled for a winter 1983 release, The Lord of the Rings: Journey to Rivendell for Atari 2600 home consoles […]
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Playing with Primes
I was a math kid, one who enjoyed solving simple problems of multiplication and division, arithmetic and subtraction. For many years my favorite toy was DataMan, a calculator themed as a space hero that was created in the late 1970s by Texas Instruments, the same company that introduced not only the portable calculator but also such electronic toys as the Little Professor and Speak n Spell. Still, none of these simple calculations captured my fancy the way prime numbers did.
I […]
That Point and Click Puzzle Game from the 90s: Myst
When I get asked about my favorite video game, most people expect me to say Horizon Zero Dawn or BioShock Infinite based on my cosplays and the games I most frequently mention. My answer, however, is Myst. “That point and click puzzle game from the 90s?!” is the usual perplexed response. So let me explain why this game has remained a favorite for me and why it was such an important game.
Myst came out in 1993, and by 1995 it […]
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Japanese Games at The Strong,Part I
The Strong is home to thousands of video game related objects. Among them is a large collection of Japanese games, sourced from France in a purchase the museum made in 2013. That encompasses more than 6,000 Japanese video games, mostly in excellent and complete condition. When I knew I was joining the museum in December 2021, I felt particularly eager to see what Japanese exclusive games we had, especially for older systems such as the Super Famicom.
The collection didn’t disappoint—at […]