History Of Video Games

Home of Tetris

2006-12-13 16:57:59.222475+00:00

Alexey Pazhitnov made Tetris at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow in 1984, behind the Iron Curtain. Back then the KGB was watching any activity in the USSR that was attracting foreign visitors. Alexey's video interpretation of the traditional game 'pentominoes,' led to a secret battle to secure the rights to publish the game and distribute it around the world. Eventually, the game was bundled with Nintendo's Game Boy and became one of the biggest games of all time. While the game went on to fame, the humble creator was stuck in Moscow without seeing royalties for his work, until the late 90's when he moved to Seattle, WA. First video taken of Alexey by Henk Rogers, in USSR. Tetris Commercial, US Tetris Master Player(?)

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Early Atari HQ

2006-10-22 01:40:22.877687+00:00

Nolan Bushnell's home of Pong, the Atari 2600 VCS and countless great titles (such as Pac Man, Gauntlet and Combat) and core engineers (such as Al Alcorn and David Crane, who later went on to create Activision) in video games.

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Home of Code Masters

2006-10-22 02:35:28.861589+00:00

Started in 1985 by teenage brothers Richard and David Darling, they are responsible for creating countless hit titles for the early home PC game crowd (Commodore Amstrad, and Spectrum), especially in the UK. They also hired the Oliver Tiwns, who wrote many of the hit titles. They were part of a teenage millionaire club of geeks that created games beyond the coinops and console games and proved that DIY games (by gamers and for gamers) could be profitable.

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Home of Shigeru Miyamoto

2006-10-27 02:29:14.813095+00:00

Sonobe (now Nantan), Kyoto, Japan: the hometown and environment of influence for Shigeru Miyamoto. Often called the "Disney" of Video Games, Shigeru Miyamoto is the humble artist-producer of most of the world's most recognized games. Donkey Kong, Mario Brothers, Kirby, Legend of Zelda and more... his games have become a franchise-empire that helped launch Nintendo and even Japanese culture into America's homes. In interviews he talks about how his hometown and early childhood memories have been a great influence on several of his games, especially Zelda. Despite his influence and cult fame (see the t-shirts), Miyamoto insists on living a modest life and shys away from attention, focusing more on his ceative endeavors.

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Nintendo of America

2006-10-27 02:20:47.765387+00:00

Here's where the fun started. While floundering to get a hit game in the arcade, they recruited young designer Shirgeru Miyamoto from Japan, who then created Donkey Kong. This saved the company and helped them to develop other popular games and eventually break into an dominate the home console and portable market. Prior to video games, Nintendo created a handmade card game (hanafuda) company in Kyoto, Japan. The rise of Space Invaders inspired them to think outside the deck and get into video games.

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