In August

July has passed, and we enter the last hot month of the year: As we have come to expect, many things in the realm of retrogaming happened in August in the past. A host of people were born in August, beginning in the 18th century with Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, on 30 August […]

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In July

The heat of July brings with it a large number of birthdays and game releases. There was also one death date: Dani Bunten Berry, whom I covered in a longer article, died on 3 July 1998. As for the birthdays: The oldest one on this month’s list is Gary Gygax, the inventor of Dungeons & […]

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In June

With the beginning of Summer, things got a little more laid-back in the history of gaming: I could find fewer relevant dates than for the months before, though some important games were released as well. First of all, we have three birthdays: Jordan Mechner was born on 4 June 1964. He graciously published his diaries […]

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My Zork maps

While I was thinking about where to post my original Zork I maps from the late eighties or early nineties (as a reaction to this post on Reddit), I decided I might as well upload them here so that they will be preserved for interested parties. I might also link to them every now and […]

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In May

My article series about the history of gaming through the months of the year continues with May. Once again, many things happened, some of which shaped the development of computer and video games in unprecedented ways. Like last time, let’s get the sad dates over with: Douglas Adams, the author of many books who often […]

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A Look at Danielle Berry

My last “shorts” video focused on M.U.L.E. by Ozark Softscape on the Atari 8-bit family. The mind behind that game was Danielle Bunten Berry, an outstandingly innovative game designer who pioneered a minimal design with well-constructed game mechanics. Berry, who is often credited as Dani Bunten or Dan Bunten, started her career in 1978 with […]

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In April

My look back at each month in the history of retrogaming will continue throughout the year, but from this instalment onward, in line with the direction Vintrospektiv is taking, it will be in English. Of course, April is no exception as a month of many exciting things that happened over the years. There are a […]

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Im März

In der Geschichte des Retrogaming spielt selbstverständlich auch der März eine wichtige Rolle. Zunächst sind einige Personen zu nennen, die bei Vintrospektiv schon erwähnt wurden: Ralph Baer, der „Vater der Videospiele“, wurde am 8.3.1922 geboren. Tomohiro Nishikado, der Erfinder von Space Invaders, wurde am 31.3.1944 geboren. Und am 27.3.1944 wurde Peter Killworth geboren, der durch […]

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Infocom: Das Ende eines Genres

(Update: There is now also an English translation of this article available.) Über die Geschichte von Infocom ist bereits alles erzählt: von der Gründung 1979 für den Vertrieb von Dungeon, das als Zork-Trilogie zum erfolgreichsten Textadventure aller Zeiten wurde, über eine Führungsriege, die lieber Bürosoftware herausbringen wollte und durch Fehlentscheidungen und mangelndes Verständnis des Marktes […]

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Im Februar

Der Februar in der Retrogaming-Vergangenheit ist ein turbulenter Monat mit mehreren Geburts- und Todestagen und einer ganzen Reihe von Spieleveröffentlichungen. Zunächst sind mehrere Personen zu nennen, die in der Entwicklung von Breakout wichtige Rollen spielen und dementsprechend auch in meinem kürzlich erschienenen Video zum Thema auftreten: Nolan Bushnell, der Gründer von Atari, Initiator von Pong […]

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