While it is universally recognized that games are not a “boys only” club, especially nowadays, it is difficult to deny an originally predominant male presence. Today, the situation is – fortunately – quite different, so much so that in certain countries, female gamers are quite more numerous than their male counterpart. Thus, it is important…
It’s come to this, apparently. It is the third anniversary of the Genesis Temple. Three years since I opened this new version of a blog I originally created in 1997 (so it is its 25th anniversary? Woof). After fumbling around a bit, I think the Temple has definitely found its rightful place in the world:…
Ever since the dawn of time, with money becoming the main medium which we use to access goods and services, getting things for free has always been the dream. Still that straw man argument of “stealing what you need” would apply to necessary goods, like food or clothing. In the case of videogames (or, well,…
Cheating death has always been one of mankind’s biggest dreams. As a way to exorcise our collective fear of dying, we have tried to imagine, again and again, what happens after we shuffle off the mortal coil. Leave it to horror literature to turn our fear on its head, by making “the returned” one of…
If there is one thing to be learned from many of the stories of Italian software houses is that developing games in the 80s was quite difficult. But even harder was finding a publisher, as there was no way anybody could find a public with DIY. In researching the history of Idea Software and the…
Something about parody games has always intrigued me. Perhaps it’s that much present fourth wall breaking quality to them or, maybe, the jokes, usually reserved for a restricted circle of people. Going back a few decades (let’s say, to a time before PYST), parody video games seemed to be few and far between. Nightshade is…
Ah the good ol’ times of the beat ’em up, how I miss thee. Pump in your quarters and immediately get compensated with violent, in-your-face, stress relieving all-around good time. The 2D sidescrolling beat ’em up genre had its golden age in the early 90s, with smashing titles by Sega and Capcom, among others. But,…
Post apocalyptic ultra violent 80s manga and anime series Fist of the North Star, created by Buronson (yes that is a Charles Bronson reference) and Tetsuo Hara became hugely successful in Japan short after its first volumes hit the shelves. Centered around the post apocalyptic adventures of seemingly unstoppable martial artist Kenshiro, it took a…
The European gaming market in the 80s, or rather, the global market was very much different to that of today. While perhaps stating the obvious, it is important to keep mind considering this article will analyze an era which we could define, generally, as “pre-globalization”. Indeed, forty years ago, well before the digital revolution and…
