Show Notes
After a long, unintended hiatus, we’re back and off to an auspicious start: the end of the video game industry. What actually caused the industry to crash back in 1983? Was it really as simple as a bunch of games being so bad that they destroyed the companies that created them? And was the crash so calamitous that people just… stopped liking games? (Hint in both cases: no!) Moreover, the video game industry now once again finds itself in a period of existential turmoil, with AI, layoffs, studio closures, and an endless barrage of competing media threatening to crash the traditional games industry as we know it—or at least transform it into something unrecognizable. Does the video game crash of the ‘80s provide us with useful parallels? Can we learn from the cultural and economic realities of that moment, even though the games themselves were far more primitive? Alexander Smith, host of video game history podcast They Create Worlds and author of what is perhaps the definitive book on early video game console history, “They Create Worlds: The Story Of The People And Companies That Shaped Video Game History,” joins us to answer all those questions and more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
More from You Are Error
And now for something kinda different: As those of you who follow me, Nathan, probably know – because I will not shut up about it – I wrote a book! It's called Stream Big: The Triumphs And Turmoils Of Twitch And The Stars Behind The Screen, and by the time you read this, it will be out! Stream Big was partially born of a desire to clear up misconceptions surrounding Twitch, livestreaming, and content creators, so a discussion of the book seemed like a natural fit for this show.
With the triple-A portion of the video game industry reeling from layoffs, a lack of funding, and a series of high-profile flops, some fans, pundits, and even developers have begun looking to indies to save the day. But we've also arrived at a point in time where, more so than ever, "indie" means a lot of different things to different people. As it turns out, many games we refer to as "indie" now cost hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to make. And as big companies struggle to find funding, it's not like small developers are suddenly flush with cash. Where does this disconnect come from? Why do so many fans – knowledgeable and engaged ones, no less – still view indies as solo operations running on passion, a pocketful of pennies, and a dream? And did independent game development ever truly work that way? Thomas Was Alone creator Mike Bithell, one of the original "solo" indie devs (who has for quite some time run an entire studio), joins us to demystify the time, resources, and manpower it takes to make even a small commercial game these days.
After a first episode that delved into the darkest recesses of men's hearts, it's time for something a little lighter: horses, aka man's best friend if we're not counting dogs. They're everywhere – in society and in media. We can all at least sort of draw one. And yet, some major games still fail to stick the landing when it comes to basics like legs. Legs! That's the first thing you notice about a horse. How and why is this happening? And what are game makers choosing to focus on instead? In this episode, video game horse consultant Alice Ruppert answers those questions and more. And don't worry: We spend plenty of time talking about the hyperrealistic horse testicles in Red Dead Redemption 2 – although, spoiler alert, it turns out that even those are not as accurate as originally advertised!
For You Are Error's inaugural episode, Nathan speaks to indie developer, speaker, and consultant Rami Ismail about video games' long history of screwing up Arabic. Why is it such a pervasive issue, and did games inherit it from Hollywood, or did they take their own, equally fraught path to this point? How are mistakes like this symptomatic of a wider Islamophobic culture, and how do they, in turn, help shape that culture? And are things slowly but surely getting better? We discuss all that and more, including a Palestinian game project Rami is helping produce that has a contingency plan in case its creative director gets massacred before the end of development. Needless to say, content warning: violence.