Video Game History Hour

Phil Salvador hosts a discussion with Dr. Wendi Sierra, author of Todd Howard: World Building in Tamriel and Beyond, and Emily Higgs Kopin. Dr. Sierra’s, associate professor of games studies at Texas Christian University, book follows the career history of the Bethesda Game Studios executive producer and his influence on game design throughout the years. Emily Kopin, head of digital collections strategy at the Swarthmore College Libraries, joins us as our guest expert on the Elder Scrolls franchise to make up for Phil’s tragic lack of extended time spent in this expansive universe. Wendi and Emily take Phil through discussions of Howard’s impact on world building through micro narratives, challenges of documenting emergent gameplay, importance of scoping research, and the influence of Howard’s design philosophy on modern gaming.

*This episode has a follow-up bonus episode available to our paid tier Patreon members.

You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify, or on our website.

See more from Dr. Wendi Sierra:

TCU Profile: https://honors.tcu.edu/view/wendi-sierra  

Recent Publication: Gaming for the seventh generation: Indigenous Futurisms in games 

See more from Emily Higgs Kopin:

Bluesky: @ehkopin.bsky.social

Latest Published Work: American Archivist

Swarthmore Profile: swarthmore.edu 

Video Game History Foundation:

Email: [email protected]

Website: gamehistory.org

Support us on Patreon: /gamehistoryorg

At this year’s Portland Retro Gaming Expo, VGHF director Frank Cifaldi had the pleasure of hosting a panel celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System launch. Frank moderated 3 guests who were at Nintendo of America during this time: Gail Tilden, Marketing; Bruce Lowery, Sales; and Lance Barr, Product Design. This event was particularly special as two of these three guests had never before attended a retro convention. The panel discussion includes many visual elements, including many never shown publicly before, and some pre-recorded messages from additional people of note. If you’re able, you may instead prefer to watch the video on the PRGE YouTube channel, which we highly encourage: We Launched the NES 40 Years Ago Today - Gail Tilden, Lance Barr, Bruce Lowry - PRGE 2025 Portland. Either way, please enjoy this momentous event in our collective gaming history.

You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify, or on our website.

Video Game History Foundation:

Email: [email protected]

Website: gamehistory.org

Support us on Patreon: /gamehistoryorg

Let’s all learn what makes our Library Director, Phil Salvador, Phil Salvador! Producer Robin Kunimune sat down with Phil to learn all about his life as a youth, an early path to his passions, creating chaos inside the lines, the mental health struggles many face in early adulthood, finding his community, and making his way to VGHF. And, don’t forget the birds! Phil candidly shares his failures, successes, and everything in-between in this week’s episode. Take a listen.

You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify, or on our website.

See more from Phil Salvador:

Bluesky: @philsalv.bsky.social

Video Game History Foundation:

Email: [email protected]

Website: gamehistory.org

Support us on Patreon: /gamehistoryorg

Phil Salvador introduces the new Andrew Nelson papers collection with guest, you guessed it, Andrew Nelson, himself. Guest-host Alex Greenberg joins to chat with Nelson, co-founder and creative director of CyberFlix, known for its 1996 title Titanic: Adventure Out of Time. Andrew discusses his transition from magazine journalism to game development, the creation of CyberFlix, and the development of Titanic, which included extensive research and character development. Nelson also reflects on the impact of the game and his subsequent career, including work at Britannica and National Geographic.

You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify, or on our website.

Mentioned in the show:

Andrew Nelson Collection: https://archive.gamehistory.org/folder/5dcf7309-5e3f-4609-b264-62f44da8e79f

VGHF Blog post: https://gamehistory.org/andrew-nelson-papers/

See more from Andrew Nelson:

Book: Here Not There: 100 Unexpected Travel Destinations

Instagram: @andrewtyrrellnelson

See more from Alex Greenburg:

Website: alexgreenberg.net

Video Game History Foundation:

Email: [email protected]

Website: gamehistory.org

Support us on Patreon: /gamehistoryorg

It’s another quarterly update! Host Robin Kunimune talks with Frank Cifaldi and Phil Salvador about our recent work. From Chicago travel to launching Computer Entertainer, from our new Booth-in-a-Box to 4,000 magazines archived, from NES’s 40th to building Lego; come find out just how many new collections we've added in the last few months.  

You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify, or on our website.

Video Game History Foundation:

Email: [email protected]

Website: gamehistory.org

Support us on Patreon: /gamehistoryorg

Phil Salvador interviews Dr. Stephanie Harkin, lecturer at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) School of Design Games Program in Australia, about her research on femininity in gaming, particularly in girls' lifestyle magazines. Dr. Harkin discusses her journey from media studies to focusing on feminine games. She highlights her findings on the lack of representation of feminine games in traditional gaming magazines and her discovery of Girl Gamer magazine, which promoted Nintendo games in a lifestyle format. We explore the coverage of games in magazines like Total Girl and the broader cultural context of game representation.

You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify, or on our website.

Mentioned in the show:

Girl Gamer cover: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/e6beceaa-f36f-46d7-bc2a-f4599773e10e

MCV pink issue: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/39c2181c-d395-44b7-9e64-2f1c8333a922

Pokémon Personality Quiz: https://gamehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pokemon-personality-quiz-1200x847.jpg

Pac-Man Nail Art: https://gamehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Stephanie-Harkin-Pac-man-nail-art.jpg

Big Bowser House (mistakenly referred to as "Donkey Kong Big Brother House"): https://gamehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Big-Bowser-House-cropped.jpg

K-Zone: https://archive.org/details/K-ZoneJanuary2006 

Imagine Magazines: https://archive.gamehistory.org/folder/6187132e-315c-4be5-8498-8c55ac478ebe?sortField=date&sortDir=asc 

See more from Dr. Stephanie Harkin:

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/saharkin.bsky.social

Games Exhibition: https://www.feminineplay.org/ 

Upcoming book: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/isbn/9783111560939/html

Video Game History Foundation:

Email: [email protected]

Website: gamehistory.org

Support us on Patreon: /gamehistoryorg

Host Frank Cifaldi is joined by documentarian, historian, hacker, and all around cool guy SynaMax to talk about their documentary Resurrecting Sinistar: A Cyber-Archaeology Documentary. The 1983 top-down space shooter arcade game’s unique 49-way joystick allowed players to pilot their spaceship to prevent a giant skull, Sinistar, from forming. SynaMax interviewed developers, restored cut content, and emulated the game itself to better explore the challenges the development team faced due to limited storage and to highlight the importance of source code preservation. SynaMax recently hosted a panel with said developers at the annual classic arcade game show California Extreme - a panel Frank, sadly, missed! 

You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify, or on our website.

See more from SynaMax:

YouTube: youtube.com/synamax

Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/synamax.bsky.social

Patreon: patreon.com/synamax

Video Game History Foundation:

Email: [email protected]

Website: gamehistory.org

Support us on Patreon: /gamehistoryorg

We’re joined by pioneer video game historian Leonard Herman, author and publisher of several video game history books including the first comprehensive book chronicling the history of the videogame industry, Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Home Videogames, and its subsequent series. We touch on Leonard’s early career, the challenges of self-publishing, and the evolution of his Phoenix series through various editions, including his most recent Phoenix Five. Leonard also highlights his collaborations with Ralph Baer and his efforts to correct historical misconceptions, particularly those around the co-founders of Atari.

You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify, or on our website.

See more from Leonard Herman:

Website: thegamescholar.com 

Facebook: Leonard Herman

Facebook (book): Phoenix 5 - The History of the Videogame Industry 

Video Game History Foundation:

Email: [email protected]

Website: gamehistory.org

Support us on Patreon: /gamehistoryorg

Host Phil Salvador is joined by Derek Alexander, of the YouTube channel Stop Skeletons From Fighting, and Zarithya, of the YouTube channel Zarithya, to talk about the fan-restored 16-player mode for the 1991 Game Boy game Faceball 2000 as laid out in My 2 Year Journey to Solve the 30-Year Myth of Faceball 2000 | SSFF. In this bit of video game archeology, Derek and Zari take us through the collaborative effort, the technical expertise required to create custom adapters and controllers, and the investigation into historical claims to execute this endeavor. But in the end, did it even work?

You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify, or on our website.

See more from Derek Alexander:

Bluesky: @stopskeletons.bsky.social

YouTube: /StopSkeletonsFromFighting

Twitch: /stop skeletons from fighting

Patreon: /StopSkeletonsFromFighting

See more from Zarithya:

YouTube: @Zarithya

Twitch: /Zarithya

Bluesky: @zarithya.online

Video Game History Foundation:

Email: [email protected]

Website: gamehistory.org

Support us on Patreon: /gamehistoryorg

Frank Cifaldi and guest-host Kate Willaert (of A Critical Hit) are joined by Marylou Badeaux to discuss the history of the vitally important Computer Entertainer, also known as The Video Game Update: a monthly newsletter which covered video game availability information and reviews in the 1980’s. Co-created with Marylou’s sister Celeste Dolan, this publication has helped provide historians with game information found from no other source, especially during the time of the 1983 game crash. Marylou reflects on the challenges they faced running a mail-order video game business as well as how they were able to gather such detailed information at the time. Marylou also touches briefly on her career working closely with Prince.

You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify, or on our website.

See more from Marylou Badeaux:

Website: www.memories4you.com.au

Book: Moments - Remembering Prince

See more from Kate Willaert:

Bluesky: @katewillaert.bsky.social

YouTube: /a critical hit

Website: acriticalhit.com

Patreon: /acriticalhitVideo Game History Foundation:

Email: [email protected]

Website: gamehistory.org

Support us on Patreon: /gamehistoryorg