In part two of our look at the computer price wars, we dive deep into the major players. Commodore with the VIC-20 and Texas Instruments with the TI99/4A were the major players. Other players included Apple, the TRS-80 Color, and even the US version of the ZX Spectrum. As fears mounted that Japanese PC makers would eventually price out the US computer makers, efforts were made to drive the prices of home computers lower and lower. The opening shots of the price war included using celebrity endorsements for the major players. Discover the history of how Commodore and Texas Instruments took down a whole industry!

Part one of our live recording as we cover the Computer Price Wars. We focus on the development of the PC market. The state of computers in the home. The hobbyist computer market, and the major players involved. We see the rapid development of computers and the shift to pre-assembled PCs. We wrap up by looking at the major players of the late 70s and early 80s. The build-up to a price war that would eventually devastate the entire industry.

In part two we look more closely at the evolution of rogue and its descendants. The game Hack which lead to the development of NetHack, and Moria. These games continued down branching paths to have influences on MMOs, Diablo, and others. We then jump ahead to the modern indie scene, and how the random generation aspects were adapted to create Spelunky. Spelunky in turn inspired other creators to create games using random generation elements. The most notable of these being The Binding of Isaac, FTL, and Crypt of the Necrodancer. It is through these four games that we can see that the concept of randomly generated maps and scenarios are not limited to dungeon crawls, or ASCII art. The concepts can be brought into other genres including platforming, real time strategy, and rhythm games.

We start looking into Rogue by looking at the computer systems that helped to spawn its creation. We cover the history of UNIX. The development of UNIX is tied heavily to the development and distribution of Rogue. Rogue was programmed in partnership between Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman. The game featured extensive replayability. The game started to spread through early UseNet and inspired others to create similar games.

In our final part on Activision and Kotick we see how Activision continued to develop and acquire new IPs. With Spycraft they were in on the Siliwood era of games a trend that continued with Zork Grand Inquisitor. Attempts were made to gain further ground with games like Interstate '76, Big Game Hunter, and Apocalypse. However it was not until Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Call of Duty, and the eventual acquisition of Activision by Vivendi that Bobby Kotick was able to realize his goal of becoming the largest 3rd party developer!

In part two of our look at Activision under Bobby Kotick's leadership. We see how Activision's franchises and licensed properties were leveraged for revenue. We look at how Activision had to revive the entire development apparatus from scratch. They used the animation skills of a Disney-trained trained animator for Pitfall the Mayan, Adventure. Finally, Activision was able to firmly gain footing, and regain profitability with the release of MechWarrior 2!

In part one of our look at Activision and Bobby Kotick we look at the early life, and history of the man. We see from an early age how business was always a driving factor in his life. Furthermore, we see some of his early companies and challenges as he transitioned into the technology field. With the help of influential businessman Steve Wynn, Bobby Kotick was able to start a software company. Wynn further helped in financing the eventual buy-in of Mediagenic when the company was floated as a cheap way to get into the game market by Nintendo. We finish by looking at how Kotick and others took control of Mediagenic and renamed it Activision. With the need to file for bankruptcy Kotick has the long task of building up the company from scratch. Promising investors to at least break even over the next four to five years.

We look at the rebirth of Allied Leisure under new management and funding. The company found a niche importing Japanese games from lesser known companies. They also continued to leverage licensing to do cocktail cabinet styles of popular games. Most notably the big four games that made the company rocket to the top were: Eagle, Phoenix, Pleiads, and Vanguard. Later on the company would join into a partnership with Konami to import their games. With Japanese companies opening their own manufacturing in the states the deal with Konami ended. That combined with other issues lead to Centuri going out of business a few years later.

We look at the origins of the coin-op company Allied Leisure! The company came from a coin-op veteran who wanted to help his son establish a company he could call his own. Despite some notable successes Allied Leisure was plagued with quality issues in production. They made some unique games in coin-op with F-114, their pong clone, and pinball with cocktail cabinets. Unfortunately many setbacks including a fire, the death of Robert Braun, the stigma of the company being known as Allied Looser, and the near liquidation of the company when the bankruptcy was declared. Allied Leisure had a fascinating history and would be reborn as Centuri when David Braun sold the company.

History. History is always changing. Greek historians recorded tales in scrolls, and simple books. Historians of the modern era use interviews, micro-film, and court documents to decipher history. In this episode Alex and Jeffrey look at the Fallout of all that historical work. How they can shape and mold it into the continuing narrative of the video game industry. Fallout almost was not a thing and possibly could not be made today. The game faced many challenges in its creation, but ended up being a very influential work affecting not just video games but role playing games as a whole.

We look at the company California Pacific. Founded by Al Remmers the company played a large role in launching the careers of Bill Budge and Richard Garriott. Al Remmers was in a unique position as a publisher. He had contacts with retailers spanning the entire country. In a way California Pacific was both one of the first distributors and used the EA model of programmers as rock stars. Promoting the games made by talented people, and promoting the individuals themselves. Unfortunately California Pacific had a too high royalty to those same programmers, and once dedicated distribution companies started to take over business declined. Al Remmers struggled with delegation, and unfortunately he developed a drug addiction. Though not well known today California Pacific did play a vital role during a crucial stage of the computer video game industry.