Phil Adam - Spectrum Holobyte, SPA, Interplay, Amico
Video Game Newsroom Time Machine
Release Date: 03/12/2026
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:...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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:...
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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 ...
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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...
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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:...
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Jeff Johannigman - Part 2 - Origin, Dynamix, Microprose
Video Game Newsroom Time Machine
From a bedroom coder to Game Developer's Conference OG to the creator of one of the greatest one-on-one action strategy games of the 8 bit era, Jeff Johannigman worked for some of the most legendary companies of the 80s, Epyx, Electronic Arts, and Origin and beyond. In Part 2, we talk about working on Ultima for the Gameboy, porting Dynamix titles to the Amiga, rediscovering his strategy roots at Microprose and finally deciding to exit the industry on moral and personal grounds. Jeff's insight and storytelling skill make this a wonderful chat. Recorded: September 2024 Watch the...
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Jeff Johannigman - Part 1 - Atari PE, Synapse, Epyx, Electronic Arts, Origin, GDC
Video Game Newsroom Time Machine
From a bedroom coder to Game Developer's Conference OG to the creator of one of the greatest one-on-one action strategy games of the 8 bit era, Jeff Johannigman worked for some of the most legendary companies of the 80s, Epyx, Electronic Arts, and Origin. In Part 1, we talk about those early days, including the making of games such as G.I. Joe and Savage Empire and working with important figures like Ihor Wolosenko, Dani Bunten, Chris Crawford, Warren Spector, and Richard Garriot. Jeff's insight and storytelling skill make this a wonderful chat. Recorded: September 2024 Video version:...
info_outlinePhil 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: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/video-game-newsroom-time-machine
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Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Ward
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Lisa
https://www.mobygames.com/game/224/gato/
https://www.mobygames.com/company/689/sphere-inc/
https://www.mobygames.com/person/3490/gilman-louie/
https://www.mobygames.com/company/151/microprose-alameda/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Maxwell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP/M
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP/M
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_and_Information_Industry_Association
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-chip
https://celestialseasonings.com
BBC Tetris documentary - https://youtu.be/6ohCy4ktA5w?si=ntZ50BWV2gAQFQu4
https://www.mobygames.com/game/1655/red-storm-rising/
https://www.mobygames.com/game/2637/flight-of-the-intruder/
https://www.mobygames.com/game/1222/simcity-enhanced-cd-rom/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Pajitnov
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing_Gordon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplay_Entertainment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzard_Entertainment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davidson_%26_Associates
https://www.interplay.com/
https://www.indiedb.com/company/big-world-technology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chameleon_(console)
https://amicoentertainment.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-chip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bhMdhcdfMY&pp=ygUVYW1pY28gY29uc29sZSBoYW5kc29u
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RalliSport_Challenge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Pool_(video_game)
Copyright Karl Kuras 2026