This Week in Video Game History

Two Companies, Two Last-Ditch Games, One Week | This Week in Video Game History #25

Two companies stared down bankruptcy this week — and two games pulled them back from the edge. This is July 6th through 12th in gaming history.A young artist named Shigeru Miyamoto turns two thousand dead arcade cabinets into Donkey Kong and saves Nintendo. A near-bankrupt studio called Square bets everything on one last role-playing game and names it accordingly. A summer arrives when the entire world walks outside to catch Pokémon. And a little handheld takes its final bow — built by the man who created the Game Boy.Games covered this week:• Pokémon GO — iOS/Android — July 6, 2016• Rocket League — PS4/PC — July 7, 2015• Donkey Kong — Arcade — July 9, 1981 (Japan debut)• Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec — PS2 — July 9, 2001• The App Store / iPhone 3G — July 10–11, 2008• Final Fantasy — NES — July 12, 1990• SwanCrystal (WonderSwan) — July 12, 2002 (Japan)Deep dives: the genius of Gunpei Yokoi and the philosophy behind the Game Boy • the desperate gamble that became Final Fantasy • the summer of Pokémon GO and the map that was waiting all along.⏱️ Chapters in the comments / below.🎨 Artwork by MizTink🎵 Music by Shane Mandani🎙️ Written, produced, and hosted by Doug ColemanNew episodes every Sunday. Be sure to save your game, nerds.

The Day the iPhone Was Born (And Couldn't Play a Single Game) | TWIVGH Ep 24

Video game history, one week at a time. Episode 24 covers June 29–July 5 — the week the original iPhone launched in 2007 unable to play a single game, and the story of how mobile went on to become the biggest force in gaming. We run the timeline from Diablo II and NiGHTS into Dreams to Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Civilization Revolution 2, Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow, Zenless Zone Zero, and Identity V. Then two deep dives: The Mobile Revolution, and The Diablo Diaspora — Blizzard North's rise, fall, and comeback with Torchlight. Plus the debut of "Sometime in July," a round-up of NES classics from Kid Icarus to Snake Rattle 'n' Roll. Follow for new episodes every week.

Sonic, Mario, and Gaming's Strangest Date | June 23 | TWIVGH Ep 23

Five legendary games. One date. June 23rd is the strangest, most loaded square on the entire gaming calendar — and this week we walk through all of it. From the birth of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis to Super Mario 64 launching the Nintendo 64, the immersive-sim landmark Deus Ex, Sonic Adventure 2's farewell on the dying Dreamcast, and Batman: Arkham Knight — plus Quake dragging the whole industry into true 3D with a Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails soundtrack.This Week in Video Game History covers gaming history week by week — release dates, the stories behind the games, and the rivalries that built the medium. This episode (June 22–28) also features three deep dives: the Broken-Launch Era of Arkham Knight and Cyberpunk 2077, the 2011 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association that declared video games protected free speech, and the Console Wars between Sega and Nintendo.Covering: video game history, retro gaming, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, id Software, Quake, Deus Ex, Sonic vs Mario, console wars, FPS history, immersive sims, 90s and 2000s gaming.Artwork by MizTink. Music by Shane Mandani. Written, produced, and hosted by Doug Coleman.00:00 -- Teaser01:15 -- Intro02:16 -- Timeline Intro02:49 -- Quake04:56 -- Sonic The Headgehog06:44 -- Super Mario 6408:15 -- Deus Ex09:44 -- Sonic Adventure 211:13 -- Batman Arkham Knight12:31 -- Deep Dive 1: The Broken-Launch Era14:04 -- Deep Dive 2: Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association15:37 -- Deep Dive 3: The Console Wars17:19 -- Outro

This Week in Video Game History: Halo, Mario, Final Fantasy Tactics & Among Us | June 15–21

This Week in Video Game History covers June 15th through June 21st — five releases and three deep-dive stories tied together by one idea: the day a game comes out is almost never the day that decides what it becomes.On the timeline: Among Us (2018), the InnerSloth social deduction game that flopped on release and became the defining game of 2020; Wrecking Crew (1985), the early Nintendo puzzle game where Mario swaps his jump for a sledgehammer and rival Foreman Spike makes his debut; Baku Baku Animal (1996), Sega's charming, forgotten Saturn puzzler; Final Fantasy Tactics (1997), Yasumi Matsuno's genre-defining tactical RPG and the birth of the world of Ivalice; and Shadows of the Damned (2011), the cult horror-action trip through hell from Suda51, Resident Evil's Shinji Mikami, and Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka.Then three stories worth slowing down for: how Disney animator Don Bluth quit the studio, nearly went broke, and was rescued by the 1983 laserdisc arcade classic Dragon's Lair; how the cursed Ghostbusters: The Video Game survived development limbo to reunite the original cast and become the third movie fans never got; and the quiet June 2000 morning Microsoft bought Bungie, turned Halo into the Xbox's killer app, and reshaped the console war.This Week in Video Game History is a weekly podcast and YouTube show covering notable game releases and industry history from the 1970s to today. Written, produced, and hosted by Doug Coleman. New episodes every Thursday. Follow for more video game history.00:00 -- Teaser01:46 -- Intro03:09 -- Among Us (June 15, 2018)04:36 -- Wrecking Crew (June 18, 1985)06:21 -- Baku Baku Animal07:48 -- Final Fantasy Tactics09:49 -- Shadows of the Damned11:31 -- Don Bluth and Dragon's Lair13:07 -- Ghostbusters: The Cursed Movie Tie-In14:54 -- Microsoft Buys Bungie16:54 -- OutroVideo Credits:1 Hour of Among Us Impostor Gameplay #1 - No Commentary [1080p60FPS] -  @mausser993  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCeY21o4hMDDh553E0kvdaZA]NES Longplay [206] Wrecking Crew -  @worldoflongplays  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCVi6ofFy7QyJJrZ9l0-fwbQ]Baku Baku Animal (Saturn) Playthrough -  @NintendoComplete  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC1hYTBZ0dFjntk9PQf0ld6g]Final Fantasy Tactics ... (PS1) Gameplay -  @10minGameplay1  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCzjc5u-yPodS9U9E4tpNRUw]Xbox 360 Longplay [109] Shadows of the Damned (Part 1 of 8) -  @worldoflongplays  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCVi6ofFy7QyJJrZ9l0-fwbQ]Dragons Lair (1983) [Arcade] --  @sharkyssharkade4050  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCcUTu5NRWyjAaeQ92Suef4w]Ghostbusters the game Xbox 360 walkthrough part 1 training HD --  @MrJTJP  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCSBwMBC32hu-Ek0pAPkJofA]Halo - Macworld Unveiling -  @Bungie  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCxidp0WgNPBdIXpHZKQcoMw]Evolution Of HALO [Beta Pre-XBOX] RTS & 3rd Person version --  @unseen64archive  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCjt4zRCKnJpdEM3N6KDFhGg]#gaminghistory #videogamehistory #retrogaming #gamingpodcast #AmongUs #Mario #Nintendo #FinalFantasyTactics #Halo #DragonsLair #Suda51 #SegaSaturn

Ep 21 — The Last of Us & Metal Gear Solid 4: One Week, Two Goodbyes.

This week on This Week in Video Game History, we cover June 8th through June 14th — a single week that gave us two of the most acclaimed games ever made and the strangest lucky streak on Nintendo's entire calendar. We run the timeline day by day: Torn Banner's gloriously chaotic medieval brawler Chivalry 2 (2021); Radical Entertainment and Activision's open-world monster Prototype (2009); Hideo Kojima's farewell to Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PlayStation 3, 2008); HAL Laboratory's stylus-only Kirby: Canvas Curse (Nintendo DS, 2005); the Japan-only Famicom Golf: U.S. Course on the Famicom Disk System (1987), which ran a national high-score leaderboard over the Disk Fax decades before "online" meant anything; and Naughty Dog's The Last of Us (2013), released exactly twenty-six years to the day after that Mario golf disk. Then three deep dives: the June 11 phenomenon (Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS Lite, Big Brain Academy, Rhythm Heaven Megamix, Game Builder Garage), the week Interplay almost died (the studio behind Fallout and Baldur's Gate), and the rise and fall of E3.