videogame history

a man comes home from work, horrified, to find his wife and his best friend, naked, in bed, playing his colecovision. "my wife! my best friend! my colecovision!"

comic (1983) archive.org/details/elec...

long haired, bearded, caped, loin clothed (purple), green booted, bare chested wizard dude is holding a vial/tube of green magic liquid in one hand and a magical staff with a blue orb on the top in the other, arms spread wide, mouth open.

long haired, bearded, caped (purple), loin clothed (lighter purple), green booted, bare chested, blue panted wizard dude is holding a vial/tube of green magic liquid in one hand and a magical staff with a blue orb on the top (sparking electric magic) in the other, arms spread wide, mouth open. castle and large full moon are in the background.

solstice: the quest for the staff of demnos, print ad, imagery (recreating the cover art imagery w/ a real person) (print ad, 1991, cover art, 1990) www.mobygames.com/game/7584/so...

magazine screenshot essentially shows a version of hangman except it features a creepy as skeleton, hanging from the rope. to the right, the user interface gives you the option to pick a letter and shows how many moves you've used. the game is called deadman and the caption description reads: the time honoured game of suspense - but with some novel endings. guess the hidden letters or something nasty could happen to you.

magazine screenshot & caption (1985) archive.org/details/comp...

one eyed green creature with light brown hair, wearing white rags and lipstick, puffing air or smoke or something.

one horned yellowish creature with sharp teeth and a bone in its mouth, sharp claws on hands and feet. wide mouth.

a skeleton with red in eye sockets, wielding two swords.

one eyed (bloodshot) creature with green mossy legs, sharp feet claws (x3 each foot), no arms, upper body/face is red and bubbly, almost looks like a cutesy brain. sharp teeth in mouth.

gandhara: buddha no seisen, print ad, creature illustrations (1987) archive.org/details/mico...

a mockup illustration made to look like a screen from pitfall! with the protagonist using a rope to swing over a pool full of alligators. a snake is on the left as is a ladder leading down into a cavern. a scorpion is down in the cavern. on the right is a bar of gold(?). background is green and trees. score and time are shown in the upper left hand corner. upper right hand corner had some diagonal white text that says: pitfall! game of the month activion's jungle adventure game combines superb color graphics and excellent game play.

pitfall!, game of the month, electronic fun with computers & games, magazine (1983) archive.org/details/elec...

blue headed alien with a head that looks like three pyramid shapes stuck together, large triangular yellow, bloodshot eyes, an open triangulat mouth with jagged teeth. background is mountains and starry space sky.

magazine screenshot (1985) archive.org/details/1985...

a tiny mouse is holding onto a joystick, plugged into an atari. the game on screen (screen sitting on floor) is a mouse running through a maze to get to cheese.

illustration (1983) archive.org/details/elec...

various example graphics that can be created with artist unleashed: a duck (shown multiple times, facing left, right and widened), fonts that read: duck, an american football player, a gymnast, the upper section of a skyscraper, a charging horned goat(?).

artist unleashed, print ad, imagery (1985) archive.org/details/1985...

two women in skimpy outfits (red and yellow), one with dark hair, the other blonde, are kinda floating in the air with space pistols. their hair is twisty, almost snake-like. futuristic buildings are below and shooting space craft are flying in the air. explosions can be seen in the background.

trouble shooter, genesis (1991) gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/games/images...

website imagery is ash from evil dead, holding his iconic boomstick and chainsaw attached to wrist stump, torn clothes, chainsaw raised in the air, the clouded moon behind him. to his right, a large mutated, sharp toothed mouth. various hyperlinks in white text on the site including info, characters, weapons/spells, eras, gallery, press, buy, support. there is also a 'news' section with more hyperlinks for a trailer to the game and the option to send an e-card. below all this is playstation 2, psx, xbox and thq symbols.

evil dead: a fistful of boomstick, official website (2003) web.archive.org/web/20030205...

short cute chubby protagonist, wearing yellow, standing in a power-up/weapon shop. the bald bearded shopkeeper stands behind the counter with item pictures on the wall. text: welcome. we close in 1 minute but take your time and choose wisely. bottom of the screen shows lives, the shop timer and your gold count.

wardner, shop, genesis (1991) www.mobygames.com/game/35873/p...

crazy

two black xbox branded semi's.

an massive inflated dome with an xbox branded entrance.

the dark inside of the doom with xbox kiosks setup in various places, a large xbox screen high up.

a closer view of the xbox kiosks (a row of at least 4 of them), each with a large screen and xboxes set-up below.

xbox odyssey tour, us (november, 2001) 'two 53-foot semi's pull into your town, setting up a humongous inflated dome. you enter the dome to the sound of cool tunes cranking. you see 52 game stations, a dj stand, overhead video screens for game play, and a vip lounge.' web.archive.org/web/20011102...

it does?

top of ad: life in the zones (to the right): a pixelized being, purple head with antennae, white top, blue pants. main imagery: close-up photo of a man's face, wearing glasses, shortish hair, bottom cut off. white text box: people were wrong. jim knew he had a sense of humour, his avatar was proof of that. down the bottom of the ad: a string of what looks like in game 2d screenshots of in game online world with users. printed web address: www.virtualzones.co.uk below this in small caps text: the net just got personal - the ultimate avatar community

print ad (2000) archive.org/details/inte...

neon blue outline of a bald human head. inside the human head is a reflective crystal? ball on a stand. tagline: a simple yet versatile approach to prediction below imagery: brainpower applicationthroughlearning

forecaster, bbc micro (1984) www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/26669/Fo...

displayed down the right hand side of an online shop screen is this poll. it has a circle with a photo of bill gate's smiling head in there and polling question below: would you buy a console from this man? mo yes dunno buttons: vote, results

gameplay, website, excerpt (2000) web.archive.org/web/20000815...

silver handheld pda (one large button on the bottom left and three smaller button in a triagnular formation on the bottom right). the screen is displaying windows ce with menus open where you can find games. the pda pen is lying next to the device.

casio cassiopeia e-105 (2000) archive.org/details/inte...

3d computer graphics, featuring stairways that head in multiple directions, including sideways kinda like in optical illusion pictures or abstract paintings with chairs also sitting upright but also on vertical walls.

computer graphics (1992) archive.org/details/popc...

a slanted very neat sketch of a x68000 compact (upstanding bits designed to stand up and look thin, two disk drives, black) and the word 'downsizing' in large font to the right.

sharp x68000 compact, print ad, imagery & sales pitch (1992) archive.org/details/popc...

boy with wide eyes, love hearts in the middle of each eye, drooling(?) mouth, wearing a light reddish cap with the letter 'p' on it and a brown top is saying 'wow' downwards in his speech bubble.

illustration, popcom, magazine (1987) archive.org/details/popc...

blood splattered room, a disembodied face lying in in the middle of the floor.

magazine screenshot (1992) archive.org/details/tech...

the label of the floppy disk has an imposed photo of elvira, puffed up long black hair, revealing dress, half laying in a provocative pose.

elvira: mistress of the dark, floppy disk, commodore 64 (1991) www.mobygames.com/game/4050/el...

header: cdi is the best 3d screenshot of a woman reaching out and sticking her hand through the body of a man (spread fingers and partial hand can be seen out of the back of his top). he is looking down. she is looking concerned. caption: you won't see graphics like this on many other systems, for sure!

magazine screenshot & caption (1995) archive.org/details/Uned...

a boy or young man with black hair using a computer with a hand device above attached to a circle that has hanging floppy disk covers with floppy disks in them. it can be spun around, as demonstrated by the illustration.

illustration, login, magazine (1986) archive.org/details/logi...

sleek red sports car has a yellow 'sale' sign attached to the front windscreen. dark text: you've gone broke! your finances are exhausted you'll have to sell the car!

crazy cars III, game over screen, amiga (1992) www.mobygames.com/game/783/lam...

darkly lit room with game development set-ups (x3?), 2 devs at one ste-up, one dev at another, concept art and cover art stuck to the wall. the studio is tripmedia. a small circular photo at the top right shows someone from the studio with some gear on his head and hands.

burn:cycle, in development, cd-i (circa 1994) archive.org/details/Uned...

imagery: pixelized image of a mouse, holding a paint brush and palette, blue head wear, blue on paint brush tip. in program screenshots show the development of a pixelized picture of the mouse painting a picture of a black cat's head.

art master 88, print ad (1986) archive.org/details/logi...

two masked, suited up (dark) bushido fighters, kneeling toward each other, blades at their sides. text: it's about courage, pride, and honour. and the ability to chop the other guy's legs off. (2 in game screenshots at the bottom of the imagery) below: do not underestimate the power of playstation (playstation symbol to the right).

bushido blade, print ad, playstation (1998) archive.org/details/tota...

an old styled illustration of a computer on an old style desk, propped up by two naked winged baby angels. on the desk along with the computer is a telescope, a spinning globe, books, a quill, a little standing cat toy. a moon and clouds is floating either side above the desk. a computer chip is illustrated either side at the bottom.

illustration, ahski!, magazine (1984) archive.org/details/AhSK...