Libsyn Directory

Graeme Bayless - Part 4 - Crystal Dynamics, SCi, Namco, Fierce Wombat

Release Date: 02/05/2025

Gary Bracey - Part 2 - Ocean, Telstar, Digimask

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

For computer gamers in the 1980s and 90s, few companies were more ever-present than Ocean, a powerhouse in publishing, through their massive ad campaigns and amazing film licenses and coin-op conversions. Our guest today, Gary Bracey, was the VP of Development at Ocean and oversaw the production of many a classic, such as Batman, Green Beret and Robocop, to say nothing of being their in-house go-to guy for judging film licenses. Gary tells us about life in the Ocean dungeon, the amazing youngsters that coded the titles and what it took to get them to market and life after Ocean at...

Gary Bracey - Part 1 - Ocean

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Phil Adam - Spectrum Holobyte, SPA, Interplay, Amico

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Phil Adam's career has spanned more than 40 years, from pioneering work marketing titles for Spectrum Holobyte, playing a pivotal role in bringing Tetris to the West, working at Interplay during the RPG renaisance and his current work as head of Amico. Highs and lows in a career that has seen gaming grow up and maybe, find its youthful core once again. Recorded May-July 2025 Video Version: https://youtu.be/iK3wUGg213s Get us on your mobile device: Android: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly92aWRlb2dhbWVuZXdzcm9vbXRpbWVtYWNoaW5lLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz iOS:...

October 1994

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Japan goes after arcades, Nintendo's Famicon gets its first licensee & Gamers come together online These stories and many more on this episode of the VGNRTM! This episode we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in October 1994. As always, we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events. Alex Smith of They Create Worlds is our cohost. Check out his podcast here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/ and order his book here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/book Get us on your mobile...

Tom Kalinske - Mattel, Sega, Leap Frog

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Few events in video game history are more legendary than the Console War between Sega and Nintendo. Our guest today was one of the generals of that war, the head of Sega of America, Tom Kalinske. Tom's story is not just a story of Sega though, he started out in advertising, helping create the still iconic Flintstone's vitamins, he redefined Barbie's image, helped save Mattel from bankruptcy after the video game crash and lead one of the most important educational tech companies of our time, Leap Frog. Tom's insight into the world of toys, games and education over a career spanning...

October 1984

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Japan goes after arcades, Nintendo's Famicon gets its first licensee & Gamers come together online These stories and many more on this episode of the VGNRTM! This episode we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in October 1984. As always, we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events. Alex Smith of They Create Worlds is our cohost. Check out his podcast here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/ and order his book here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/book Get us on your mobile...

Richard Bartle - Part 2 - Designing Virtual Worlds

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

After spending almost 2 decades trying to make MUD a viable commercial project, Richard returns to academia after publishing his seminal book, Designing Virtual Worlds, and begins teaching and researching game worlds and player behavior. We delve deep into the study of games, talk about why it's important and the future of virtual worlds, the morality of being a god, both as a designer and a gamer, and where the industry can go from here. Recorded: February 2025 Get us on your mobile device: Android:...

Richard Bartle - Part 1 - MUD (Multi User Dungeon)

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

While there are many founders of the video game industry writ large, the dawn of multiplayer gaming is a much more select group of luminaries and our guest today, Richard Bartle is most definitely one of them. He cocreated MUD1, the first Multi User Dungeon game as a college student and has gone on to help shape the academic view of gaming ever since. Recorded: January 2025 Video version: https://www.patreon.com/posts/135579198 Get us on your mobile device: Android: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly92aWRlb2dhbWVuZXdzcm9vbXRpbWVtYWNoaW5lLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz ...

John Wood - Sally Dark Ride

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Mechanical amusements have long been a mainstay of theme parks and travelling fairs. In the 1980s, this technology entered the realm of the arcade, most notably through Chuck E. Cheese and since then, has merged with the traditional dark ride to become the interactive dark ride, a mixture of animatronics, motion, lightguns and video games. Our guest today, John Wood is the head of Sally Corporation, a pioneer of animatronic entertainment and especially the interactive darkride. John tells us how this industry leader got its start Recorded: September 2024 Video version: Get...

September 1994

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Nintendo owns CES, The future belongs to the internet & EA disses Sega These stories and many more on this episode of the VGNRTM! This episode we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in September 1994. As always, we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events. Alex Smith of They Create Worlds is our cohost. Check out his podcast here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/ and order his book here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/book Get us on your mobile device: Android:...

More Episodes

Few developers have had as long and prolific a career as our guest, Graeme Bayless. From working on mainframes, to selling Kaypros, to playtesting Accolade's launch titles, to producing games for SSI, Sega Technical Institute, Hyperbole Studios, Dynamix, EA, Eidos, and NetherRealm Studios.

In Part 4, we talk about the decade that Graeme spent in the wilderness of the game's industry, during which he worked on titles such as Tomb Raider Legend and Anniversary at Crystal Dynamics, tried to salvage projects like Enslaved, Dead to Rights Retribution and Splatterhouse at Namco, returned to sports titles at 2K Games before getting the chance to start his own studio, Fierce Wombat.

Graeme gives us amazing insights into the life of a game dev like few others can or would.

Recorded: January 2024

Video Version:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/graeme-bayless-4-116996485

Check out parts 1-3 here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/graeme-bayless-1-111627155

https://www.patreon.com/posts/graeme-bayless-2-112571388

https://www.patreon.com/posts/graeme-bayless-3-114736184

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Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Dynamics

https://www.mobygames.com/game/21999/lara-croft-tomb-raider-legend/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidos_Interactive

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevation_Partners

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCi_Games