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The History of Videogame Genres

Posted by Zonk on from the long-long-time-ago dept.

TobyToadstool writes "Over the last few months, CNET have been quietly running a series of free video documentaries that take a look back at the history of different videogame genres. The Space Bubble show has covered everything from the history of Platformers to the origins of the Beat em up. The gaming sections are interspersed with other tech-related information, but almost every show covers one of the major genres. There's loads of footage from ancient arcade machines, and bizarre trivia, like the fact that some schools are using the Dance Dance Revolution videogame in place of traditional physical education. It's presented by an eccentric British guy floating in a little bubbleship in Space — odd but good."

3 of 51 comments (clear)

  1. Re:History of RPGs by Bazar · · Score: 3, Informative

    The History of Computer Role-Playing Games Part 1: The Early Years (1980-1983)

    The History of Computer Role-Playing Games Part 2: The Golden Age (1985-1993)

    --
    To avoid criticism; Say nothing, Do nothing, Be nothing.
  2. Re:Welcome to the medieval time in game media by Novus · · Score: 2, Informative

    That experience isn't as easy to capture with PC games I may have played because ironically there's been less of an effort to preserve them. It's not hard to find MAME ROMs for every coin-op game ever made and even the old Apple, Commidore and Texas Instruments games (Parsec FTW!) are still available. But you're probably out of luck if you want to fire up an old Wing Commander, Inherit the Earth or Ultima game.
    Actually, most of the time, late DOS era retrogaming is not too hard. Assuming you already have the game and can read the media (you did archive those old floppies to CD, didn't you?), DOSBox does a good job of getting old PC games to run on modern systems. While getting hold of older Wing Commander or Ultima games could be a bit tricky (read: not much harder than the MAME roms you mention), Inherit the Earth is still being sold and supported on a ridiculous amount of current platforms (partly thanks to ScummVM).
  3. Re:History of RPGs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    The History of Computer Role-Playing Games Part III: The Platinum and Modern Ages (1994-2004)