Investigating the history of videogames, an in-depth look into their obscure, untold and often troubled development story, trivia and everything else interesting.
In 1986 the Friday the 13th movie series was already old news, having joined the ranks of classic Summer horror releases (even though some were released in April). Paramount Pictures had gone through the first reboot already: the original arc of classic masked killer Jason Vorhees was supposed to end with the fourth entry into…
After its first steps in a difficult industry plagued by piracy, as observed in the second part of the retrospective, Trecision managed to release two titles internationally, Nightlong and The Watchmaker, but crisis seemed to strike the studio between 1999 and 2000. In the history of Trecision part III we will see how, with making a fully…
Sega was having a weird 1993. It was a moment in the Japanese company’s history where the shift towards the West had never been stronger, since the smash-hit sequel to their strongest franchise was developed by designer Yuji Naka, working with a team that mixed American and Japanese devs: the Mark Cerny-led Sega Technical Institute.…
In the first part of the retrospective for Trecision, the software house tested the water of the Italian gaming market of the early 90s by releasing two titles for Amiga, then moving on to PC. In the history of Trecision Part II we will see how the decision to branch out internationally was indeed the…
Liguria, on the western part of Italy and resting close to France, is home to several immensely popular culinary specialties, like pesto, and wordly-celebrated landmarks the likes of Cinque Terre and, naturally, Portofino. Along with being home to Dynabyte software and, years later, Artematica, the coastal region was also part of the history of Trecision,…
Interview with Larry Ahern – Part 1 of 2 – From The Dig to The Curse of Monkey Island In December of 2020 I had the opportunity to talk with Larry Ahern via Skype, we made time for a lengthy conversation on his overall career, from his first interview at Skywalker Ranch all the way…
From its humble beginnings in Francesco Carlà’s private home, seen in Part I, Simulmondo managed to merge talent and business into a successful company which grew almost bigger than the size of a developer like Electronic Arts at the time. From 1992 on, because of the CEO’s stubbornness in continuing to pursue the selling on…
Throughout 2000 years of human history, since mankind understood it was possible to package and sell a work of art, a single struggle has resisted, immortal, rearing its ugly head time and time again: the artist against the system. It’s a timeless tale, used in books and screenplays, that of the desperate toil of artists…
In the history of Italian videogame development, point’n’click adventure games could be considered, perhaps, the quintessential genre. The love for solving riddles and laughing at fourth wall breaking jokes might indeed be stronger than that for soccer and wine and this is where Dynabyte Software comes in. While Sierra Entertainment adventures struggled to find a…
It is fascinating how the history of video games tends to be skewed towards a USA-centric narrative. Still, to this day, it is relatively easy to come across articles – written by Italians of all people – that keep on mentioning the “console wars” in the 90s or the “great video game crash of 1983”,…