Blood Pressure: The Death and Rebirth of Vampire: Bloodlines
In 2004, Activision released a buggy, broken mess of an RPG. It sold very poorly. That should have been the…
Save State is a collection of articles, videos, and scans related to the history of videogames and its preservation.
Read the introduction.
RenderWare: The Engine that Powered an Era
One of the first reusable game engines came from an unexpected quarter: a group of British software engineers working in…
First Principles
We love to talk about historical firsts, but it's fraught with risk. Games in order of appearance, with links to…
Making Mortal Monday
A look back at the short-notice, high-stakes development of the SNES and Genesis ports of Mortal Kombat; the sacrifices and…
The Essence of Hype
A two-minute video originally made for Micro Essay Mixtape volume 1, an anthology of short video essays from a dozen…
Exile: The 8-Bit Metroidvania You've Never Heard Of
Play the Commodore 64 version of Exile in the browser: https://archive.org/details/Exile_Game_1991_Audiogenic_Software_h_Deadline Media BBC Micro photo from GDG Milton KeynesBBC memory map recreated…
Obscure in the West, Big in Japan
Akito Inoue's site, with downloadable data sets, slide decks and links to surveys: https://www.critiqueofgames.net/local_index/ (still available in 2025) More games big…
The First Game Over
Thanks to Ethan Johnson: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ To Kate Willaert: https://www.acriticalhit.com/ And to others from the Gaming Alexandria Discord: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/ Thanks also to…
