They Create Worlds

https://feed.theycreateworlds.com/feed.xml

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The games we love reveal something true about who we are, and about the world that made them. They Create Worlds is a podcast about the people, technology, and forces that built the video game industry.

Through video game history, the show looks at how culture, business, and technology shaped what we play, tracing the choices and circumstances that led to the games so many people around the world enjoy.

Each episode digs into where games came from, who made them, and why they were made the way they were. Business decisions, technological shifts, and creative choices all shaped what ended up on screen, and the show covers all of it together, not just one piece in isolation.

Hosted by Alex Smith and Jeffrey Daum, They Create Worlds grew out of long conversations about the strange corners of the industry and the patterns that only show up when you look across companies, platforms, and decades. That conversational feel remains, built on careful research, clear structure and editing that makes even the deepest topics easy to listen to.

History turns out to be less settled than it looks. New documents surface, memories conflict, and the clean stories about why things happened the way they did rarely survive contact with the evidence. The show digs into all of that, following the creative and business forces that pushed and pulled on each other, and uncovering the human stories that lie beneath the games so many people around the world enjoy.

New episodes are released twice a month.

Episodes

Monday Nov 15, 2021

Gottlieb Part 2

Monday Nov 15, 2021

TCW Podcast Episode 150 - Gottlieb Part 2

In part two we look at the further development of Gottlieb as a coin-op company, and how they established themselves during the 50s through the 70's. Eventually acquired by Columbia Pictures. Gottlieb would start making small steps into the video game space. Though many inside the company still viewed themselves as a pinball company, the shrinking pinball market necessitated a change. When Columbia was purchased by Coca-Cola the shift into video games was made more of a priority. One of the notable hits of this time was the game Q*bert. A character that would even get a short run cartoon. Unfortunately with other failures in the video game space, and the collapse of the industry as a whole Gottlieb ceased to be in the mid 80's.

How bowling Pinsetters work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iod6uwUGM2E

Shuffleboard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpNTY-0fhps

Shuffle Alley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfHe6HKFrY8

Gittlieb Duette: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmBYrGOYx3M

Flipper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn-AMpfQ-xE

Spirit of 76: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkTJweVDOR8

Royal Flush: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU4XEwO0-jI

Close Encounters of the Third Kind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW-mC01af_8

Charlie's Angels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jtamJzTPPU

Amazing Spiderman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM02icGtUBI

No Man's Land: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roDcKaYrid4

New York New York: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xbiQ3Zc4b0