They Create Worlds

TCW Podcast Episode 252 - A Guitar Hero   The rise and fall of the Guitar Hero franchise and the rhythm game craze of the mid to late 2000s. Red Octane got its start making Dance Dance Revolution pads, but a partnership with Harmonix Music Systems, a studio building technology that let people interact with music without learning an instrument, led to the creation of Guitar Hero. Major retailers refused to carry it until Best Buy set up in-store demo units that sent sales skyrocketing, and Red Octane could barely keep up with demand. The franchise's success drew corporate attention: Activision acquired Red Octane, MTV Networks acquired Harmonix, and a lingering dispute between Activision and Viacom over the Star Trek license split the partnership in two, giving Activision Guitar Hero and Harmonix Rock Band. Both landed blockbuster bands from Aerosmith to the Beatles, but an endless flood of sequels and add-ons saturated the market, and what once felt like a cultural phenomenon burned out almost as fast as it a

TCW Podcast Episode 251 - Virgin Games   As a companion piece to our Mastertronic episode, we look at the rise and fall of Virgin Games. Beginning with Richard Branson’s mail-order record business and the success of Virgin Records, the company expanded into games under executive Nick Alexander, whose interest in the industry led to the creation of a Virgin gaming subsidiary. Early successes included the Dan Dare series and computer adaptations of board games. In 1987 Virgin took a stake in Mastertronic, and in 1988 fully acquired the company, gaining both its budget software business and its role in the SEGA Master System launch. From there Virgin Games developed into two distinct arms. In Europe, the company focused on distribution, bringing major publishers and licenses into the region. In the United States, Virgin built on Mastertronic’s development studio, centering on strong talent and overlooked licenses, producing titles such as Spot, Cool Spot, Global Gladiators, and later major Disney games including

TCW Podcast Episode 250 - Mastertronic   From budget software publisher to the gateway for SEGA’s entry into Europe, we look at the rise and fall of Mastertronic. Initially shunned by high street retailers, the company found success supplying discount games to chains like Woolworths while importing and reselling titles from other publishers for the European market. A failed attempt to bring budget games to the United States pushed Mastertronic to look toward consoles after seeing the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System, but Nintendo rejected them due to their low-cost reputation. This led to a partnership with SEGA to launch the Master System in the United Kingdom, but a delayed release after Christmas triggered a financial crisis that forced Virgin to buy out the rest of the company. As Virgin Mastertronic, the firm gained a foothold in France and Germany while struggling with limited SEGA supply. The story ends when SEGA acquired the console side of the business and created SEGA Europe, closing the

TCW Podcast Episode 249 - New World Computing   We look at the rise and fall of New World Computing through the career of Jon Van Caneghem. Coming from the era of the lone programmer as the industry shifted toward larger development houses, Jon built Might and Magic into one of the most influential RPG franchises of its time. We trace the evolution of the series from its early focus on quest driven gameplay, early auto mapping, and the introduction of features like quest logs and reactive character portraits. Along the way, New World Computing briefly experimented with board games, returning to video games with King’s Bounty, a title that would later be reimagined as Heroes of Might and Magic after a marketing push to leverage the stronger Might and Magic name. We examine the company’s shifting publishing relationships, struggles with distribution, and eventual acquisition by the 3DO Company. While Heroes of Might and Magic III brought major success, pressure from 3DO led to rushed releases, excessive expansi

TCW Podcast Episode 248 - An Act of Control   We look at Japan’s Act on Control and Improvement of Amusement Business and its impact on the arcade industry in Japan. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, video games became increasingly popular in Japan, drawing public concern over how much time and money players were spending in game centers. With little cultural context for games as entertainment, many assumed there must be some form of gambling or prize element involved, leading to growing moral panic. These concerns culminated in a 1985 amendment to an existing law that brought game centers under strict regulation. We examine the role of industry trade groups during this period, including the NRO, an operators organization that supported regulation under the belief it would disadvantage large arcades while leaving smaller venues such as department store rooftops and grocery stores unaffected. That assumption proved incorrect. At the same time, JAMA, representing manufacturers, organized its own operator segme

TCW Podcast Episode 247 - The History of Commodore Pt 4 The final chapter of our Commodore series covers the company’s chaotic decline. After early success with the Amiga line, internal conflict grew under President Tom Rattigan, who wanted to focus on the low end with the Amiga 500 while Irving Gould pushed for high end systems like the Amiga 2000. Missed deadlines and a failed boardroom challenge led to Rattigan’s firing and Gould taking direct control. When IRS tax issues forced Gould to step back, Mahdi Ali became President and began reorganizing engineering. Ali hired Bill Sydnes from the IBM PC team, who also had a hand in the failure of the PC Jr, to evaluate and streamline development. Gould continued to cycle executives in pursuit of short term stock gains, which weakened Commodore as it chased conflicting markets. Cost cutting turned the popular Amiga 500 into the poorly received A600, though the later A1200 fared better. Ali moved manufacturing to the Philippines after shutting down facilities in

TCW Podcast Episode 246 - The History of Commodore Pt 3 After Jack Tramiel left Commodore and founded Tramel Technology, the company pressed on with mixed results. Systems like the SX 64, the C900, the Plus/4, the C16, and the C116 failed to gain traction, which led to the development of the C128. It improved on the C64 in many ways, but because so many games relied on C64 quirks, Commodore included a full C64 mode to preserve compatibility, so software support was poor. During this period Amiga was shopping its advanced chipset and entered a tentative agreement with Atari, but Jack’s impending purchase of Atari from Warner disrupted the arrangement. Commodore stepped in to pay off the outstanding note, which led to Commodore acquiring Amiga outright. This set the stage for the Amiga 1000, its famous bouncing ball demo, and a new chapter in Commodore’s history as the company entered the sixteen bit era   TCW 2025 Livestream: https://youtu.be/BXXAhEVD4Lk   Computer Chronicles Revisited - SMOliva: https://comp

TCW Podcast Episode 245 - The History of Commodore Pt 2   Commodore’s shift from calculators to computers began with the PET, which found success in Europe as a business machine. After seeing the ZX80 in Britain, Jack Tramiel pushed for an affordable home computer, leading to the VIC-20. Guided by marketing manager Michael S. Tomczyk, Commodore promoted the VIC-20 as “the friendly computer” with William Shatner as spokesman. It first launched in Japan before reaching the United States and Europe, becoming a hit worldwide. Building on that success, Commodore released the C64, featuring the powerful SID sound chip and far more memory than its competitors. Marketed again under Tomczyk’s direction at a price under six hundred dollars, the C64 became one of the best-selling computers of all time, driving Commodore’s revenue past a billion dollars and securing its place in computing history.   TCW 2025 Livestream: https://youtu.be/BXXAhEVD4Lk   TCW 165 - Allied Leisure: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/allied

TCW Podcast Episode 244 - The History of Commodore Pt 1   We kick off our look at Commodore with the story of its founder, Jack Tramiel. A Holocaust survivor who emigrated to the United States, Tramiel began repairing lamps and typewriters before founding a typewriter import business in Toronto. His early success was nearly undone by the Atlantic Acceptance financial scandal, which forced him into partnership with investor Irving Gould. Commodore’s venture into calculators nearly bankrupted the company, but the acquisition of MOS Technology set the stage for its move into computers. This episode explores the corporate maneuvering, twists of fate, and personal drive that shaped Commodore’s early years. Featuring audience input, it’s the start of a lively three-part (and possibly four-part) deep dive into one of computing’s most fascinating companies.   TCW 2025 Livestream: https://youtu.be/BXXAhEVD4Lk   Jack Tramiel 1983 Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5skpKlVOqc Commodore - A Company On The Edge b

TCW Podcast Episode 243 - RCA Studio II   The RCA Studio II emerged from the company’s faltering computer division and the vision of engineer Joseph Weisbecker, who had long dreamed of personal computing after reading "Giant Brains or Machines That Think". He developed FRED at home, a TTL-based hobby computer. A later iteration using the COSMAC microprocessor inspired his daughter Joyce, who went onto program Studio II games, and RCA’s forays into coin-op experiments like the Fredotronic. With the development of the CMOS-based COSMAC chip, RCA built trainers like the MicroTutor and kits like the COSMAC ELF, but the Studio II became their entry into the console market. Innovative in concept but hampered by primitive graphics, the system faced FCC challenges delaying release. The console launched in 1977 against the Channel F and Atari VCS, it struggled to find success, though its technology lived on in Taiwan and European licensed systems. Much of its history was later uncovered by researcher Kevin Bunch, whic

TCW Podcast Episode 242- Fumito Ueda   Fumito Ueda entered game design through art rather than a love of traditional play. Influenced by titles like Flashback and Another World, he sought to tell stories with minimal interfaces and expansive environments rich in mood. After early work on D and Enemy Zero, Sony gave him a trial period that led to ICO, a game shaped by surreal landscapes inspired by Giorgio de Chirico and a hand-holding mechanic to convey emotional connection. ICO struggled in Japan but became a critical hit abroad, influencing games from Uncharted 3, The Last of Us, Dark Souls, and Journey. Ueda expanded his ideas in Shadow of the Colossus, a meditation on cruelty and consequence that inspired epic boss battles in other franchises such as God of War. His long-delayed The Last Guardian explored companionship through a giant creature, though with mixed reception. Now independent, Ueda continues to shape gaming with projects yet to be revealed.   Punch Out (Arcade): https://www.youtube.com/watch?

TCW Podcast Episode 241 - The First 10 Years of European Consoles   The first decade of European consoles began with imports of the Magnavox Odyssey, but soon local experiments took shape. In Spain, the Overkal may have been tied to a possible attempt to bring the Odyssey into the country, though no hard evidence survives, and it is generally treated as a local product. Across Europe, companies like Videomaster in the UK, Zanussi in Italy, and Interton and Grundig in Germany built dedicated ball-and-paddle systems. Many went beyond Pong using discrete logic hardware to support more advanced play, a technical achievement later supplanted by programmable consoles. A key shift came when General Instrument’s Scottish branch developed the “Pong on a Chip,” enabling mass-produced systems like Videomaster’s Superscore and Zanussi’s Play-O-Tronic. By the late 1970s, firms such as Philips, Radofin, and Hanimex moved into programmable systems like the Videopac. The arrival of Atari, Mattel, and other American companies

TCW Podcast Episode 240 - Nintendo: Playing with Mii & Wii   From DS touch-and-stylus play to living-room motion, we trace Nintendo's road to Wii. Nintendogs and Brain Age broadened the audience to parents and grandparents. After cold receptions at Microsoft and Sony, inventor Tom Quinn's Gyration motion tech found a home at Nintendo, and internal prototypes were so fun they became Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Wii Fit. The reveal timeline runs from Reggie Fils-Aime's 2004 E3 DS debut and "Revolution" tease, to a controller-free console showing at E3 2005, to the surprise Wii Remote reveal during Iwata's Tokyo Game Show keynote, and the full unveiling at E3 2006. Built on refined GameCube internals, the Wii favored low cost, low noise, and always-on convenience, with Miis inspired by Japanese wooden dolls (Kokeshi) and a channel interface modeled on a TV wall to invite quick, family-friendly play.   Iwata Asks: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/ Nintendogs (DS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb5j2v10eYs Ninten

TCW Podcast Episode 239 - Nintendo: Wii Were Struggling   Nintendo’s struggle for cultural relevance in the lead-up to the Wii was marked by the N64’s poor fit for Japanese homes and the GameCube’s failure to outsell even the fledgling Xbox globally. Internally, a power struggle unfolded as Hiroshi Yamauchi prepared to retire. Former Sharp executive Atsushi Asada was brought in and became Executive Vice President and later Chairman of the Board. Satoru Iwata, whom Yamauchi saw great potential in, was appointed president of HAL Laboratory as part of a Yamauchi-backed bailout and ultimately succeeded Yamauchi as president of Nintendo. Minoru Arakawa was passed over, removed from the board, and after his retirement, replaced at Nintendo of America by Tatsumi Kimishima, who was later placed on the board himself, giving credence to the idea that Arakawa was pushed aside in favor of Iwata. We explore how, despite not facing financial collapse, Nintendo risked losing its creative identity after two struggling consol

TCW Podcast Episode 238 - Quake   We dive into the development of Quake, the ambitious and turbulent follow-up to Doom from ID Software. John Carmack set out to build a groundbreaking engine featuring full 3D rendering, dynamic lighting, and client-server multiplayer. This pushed the technical boundaries in a pre-GPU world. To achieve this, he brought in legendary programmer Michael Abrash from Microsoft, selling him on the vision of Quake as a step toward the metaverse as imagined in Snow Crash. Meanwhile, John Romero envisioned Quake as a fantasy RPG inspired by a character from his D&D campaign, but lack of direction and his growing obsession with Deathmatch led to team frustration and eventual fallout. The result was a game that redefined first-person shooters and laid the groundwork for decades of engine development. It also marked the end of an era at ID with the ouster of John Romero.   TCW 030 - DOOM!: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/doom-1479057917/ TCW 197 - The ID of Game Development: ht

TCW Podcast Episode 237 - Jordan Mechner and Price of  Persia   We continue our look at Jordan Mechner with the development of Prince of Persia. Its cinematic inspirations include Castles of Dr. Creep, the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the 1938 Robin Hood. To animate the prince, Mechner filmed his brother performing stunts, then manually painted key frames, painting his brother white and the background black to make the footage compatible with a limited digitizer. Memory constraints forced creative solutions, like XORing the prince and bit shifting him to create Shadow Man. A promising film project delayed the game’s release, but Prince of Persia launched on the Apple II with groundbreaking animation. A strong Macintosh port and renewed interest following Disney’s Aladdin helped turn the game into a hit across the early 1990s.   The Making of Prince of Persia: https://www.jordanmechner.com/en/books/journals/ TCW 172 - The Computer Price Wars Part 1: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-compute

TCW Podcast Episode 236 - Jordan Mechner and Karateka   This episode explores the early life of Jordan Mechner and the making of Karateka. We cover his Jewish family’s escape from Nazi Europe, his years at Yale, and his struggle to choose between careers in film, art, and game design. Drawing on lessons from arcade games, Mechner formed core design principles that shaped his approach. He also worked closely with his father, Francis Mechner—best known for composing the game's music—who served as a creative sounding board, contributed gameplay ideas, and performed movements used in the game's rotoscoped animations.   Francis Mechner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Mechner Replay - Memoir of an Uprooted Family: https://www.jordanmechner.com/en/books/replay/ Jordan Mechner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Mechner Jordan Mechner Website: https://www.jordanmechner.com/ TCW 071 - A Story of Brøderbund! :https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/a-story-of%C2%A0br%C3%B8derbund/ TCW 072 - The MYSTeries of Brø

TCW Podcast Episode 235- Coin-op Legends of Japan   Long before they entered the world of video games, a generation of Japanese entrepreneurs built their fortunes in the coin-operated amusement business. In this episode, we trace the early lives and business ventures of five pioneering founders who helped lay the groundwork for companies like Tehkan (later Tecmo), Sammy, and IPM (later IREM). These are personal stories rarely told in English — tales of hustle, reinvention, and the road from postwar struggle to arcade success.   TCW 052 - The Many Faces of Konami: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-many-faces-of-konami/ TCW 153 - Nintendo Playing With Cards: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/nintendo-playing-with-cards/ TCW 154 - Nintendo Playing with Controversy: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/nintendo-playing-with-controversy/ TCW 155 - Nintendo Playing With Toys: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/nintendo-playing-with-toys/ TCW  008 - Birth of the Japanese Game Center: https://podc

TCW Podcast Episode 234 - Yu Suzuki   Often called SEGA’s Shigeru Miyamoto, Yu Suzuki redefined arcade gaming through innovation and ambition. He pioneered immersive cabinets like Hang-On's rideable motorcycle and After Burner’s flight sim, and used sprite scaling to simulate 3D in hits like Space Harrier and OutRun. His work culminated in the R360 G-LOC—a gyroscopic cabinet offering full 360° motion. Suzuki later led SEGA into 3D with Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter, and pushed console design forward with Shenmue. Though he didn’t invent Quick Time Events, he coined the term—and created a living, interactive world filled with dynamic conversations, a fully explorable city, and unprecedented detail for 1999. His vision helped shape what players now expect from immersive game worlds.   Champion Boxing (SC 1000): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkDpaSXTGwE Hang On (Arcade): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TopLKeDqYhw Hang On (Bike Cabinet): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KV6gWzBnJw Space Harrier (Arcade): ht

TCW Podcast Episode 233 - Baldur's Gate   When three doctors, a prolific dungeon master, a database programmer, and a writer come together to make video games, you get Baldur’s Gate! Often credited with saving the Western RPG, Baldur’s Gate became a phenomenal hit, taking full advantage of Microsoft’s new DirectX API and Windows 95. With this technology, the team created massive, beautiful maps for players to explore. They began shopping their new Infinity Engine around—drawing attention from top figures at Virgin Interactive—but ultimately secured a deal with Interplay, after an initial rejection. This partnership allowed them to shift from an original pantheon-based RPG to using the Dungeons & Dragons license that Interplay had acquired from TSR. They focused on the Sword Coast and the city of Baldur’s Gate—an underdeveloped region of the Forgotten Realms that stayed true to the classic swords-and-sorcery motif. The result was a game that captured the spirit of D&D while delivering the fast-paced ac