This Week on The Analog Antiquarian
Richard Goes to the Movies
The Digital Antiquarian
A history of computer entertainment and digital culture by Jimmy Maher
Latest posts
The Life and Times of Maxis, Part 3: The Sims
This article tells part of the story of Maxis Software. I don t think people realize how much tactical and strategic forethought goes into their daily lives. There s a whole subconscious time-efficiency layer in our lives. In essence, real-time strategy is our lives. Will Wright On the morning of October 19, 1991, two weeks after [ ]
Y2K Will Be Quite Okay
Hi, folks I ll have the last article in the series on Maxis Software for you next week. Today, I m happy to say that the new ebook, covering the historical year 1999, is available, and on a far more timely basis than the last one at that. My thanks go to Richard Lindner, for developing the [ ]
The Life and Times of Maxis, Part 2: SimWorld
This article tells part of the story of Maxis Software. Maxis came into 1994 riding high on the wings of SimCity 2000, the hit of the previous holiday season. They followed up that success with SimHealth: The National Health Care Simulation. This may sound like satire, but it was all too real. To be clear, SimHealth was [ ]
The Life and Times of Maxis, Part 1: SimEverything
This article tells part of the story of Maxis Software. I m still to this day just blown away by continental drift and things like that, stuff that most people think sounds pretty boring. Will Wright Gamers are both extremely dedicated to and really good at preserving the history of their hobby. Seldom has a [ ]
The Goldilocks Principle in Fantasy Strategy
Although I ve played way too many games for way too many hours over the way too many years I ve been writing these histories, it s safe to say that I haven t spent more time with any one game than Heroes of Might and Magic II. Partly this was down to circumstance. Heroes II showed up on the [ ]
Planescape: Torment, Part 2: …to the Desktop
This article tells part of the story of Dungeons Dragons on the tabletop and on computers. Usually if you choose the longest dialog option, that s the best option. Chris Avellone Quite some years ago now, I briefly interviewed Brian Fargo about Interplay s 1988 adaptation of the William Gibson novel Neuromancer. He was plainly busy [ ]
Planescape: Torment, Part 1: From the Tabletop…
This article tells part of the general story of Dungeons Dragons on the tabletop and on computers, which includes the more specific one of the Infinity Engine games. My power fantasy when playing a role-playing game is to confront a villain, explain point by point why his master plan is flawed, and then get [ ]
The Mystery of Rennes-le-Château, Part 5: The Man Behind the Curtain
This series of articles chronicles the history, both real and pseudo, behind Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned. It is possible to trace the Plantard family tree a fair ways back without relying on the Lobineau dossier, but not as far back as the time when the Merovingian kings ruled [ ]
The Mystery of Rennes-le-Château, Part 4: Non-Fiction Meets Fiction
This series of articles chronicles the history, both real and pseudo, behind Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned. The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was published by Jonathan Cape in Britain on January 18, 1982. Delacorte released an American edition five weeks later, under the punchier title of simply [ ]