I’m doing research on the history of commercial online services such as Prodigy, Compuserve, AOL, GEnie, Delphi, Q-Link, The Source, Dow Jones News/Retrieval Service, any videotex or teletext service, and many others for an upcoming project of mine. I would like to talk to, and perhaps interview, former employees of any of these online services if possible. If anyone out there knows how to contact former employees of these services (especially Compuserve and Prodigy), please send me an email. Of course, if you’re reading this and you’re a former employee yourself and wouldn’t mind sharing some history with me, please email me as well.

Thanks so much for your help.

[ Eric Lambert is the owner of an impressively large collection of PC software. I’m happy to welcome him to VC&G with his first contribution. — RW ]

Imagine my delight this week when a job lot of vintage games I won on eBay came with seven — count ’em, s-e-v-e-n — Softkey Titanium Seal shareware games still in their original packaging. Such forgettable classics as VGA Slots and Stellar Defense II and… hold on a sec, what’s this? Wolfenstein 3-D? The great-granddaddy of the FPS? Sure enough, my eyes did not deceive me, Wolfenstein 3D Shareware, complete with the laughably generic subtitle “Escape from Multilevel Castle Maze.” Reading the description on the back of the package, I try to remember that when this was hanging on a hook at Babbage’s, people probably had no idea what to expect from it. The genre was, for the most part, still in its infancy, and the technology was cutting-edge. The warning at the end is classic: “This game is not for the faint of heart.” I wonder if the guy who wrote that copy ever went on to play Carmageddon, Postal, or GTA 3.

Now look at all the hit games also available from Titanium Seal. There’s…um…I guess Duke Nukem II kind of led into Duke Nukem 3D and the whole Quake revolution in shooters, but really, Wolfenstein was the big hit of the bunch, propelling id Software into its Doom phase. How many of the folks at SoftKey do you suppose gave Wolfenstein a second glance at the time? How many people involved in its publication had any idea of the impact it would have on gaming? How many careers do you think that one title launched? More than enough to make up for all the lost bets on the other titles? I remember playing some of them, and they were great games, but they never took off like Wolfenstein did. This Multilevel Castle Maze did what nobody really could have predicted — it revolutionized not only the way we play games, but the industry as a whole. It opened up new technologies, new styles of play, and a whole new level of marketing, an influence we can see in the online distribution models (like Steam) that are currently increasing in popularity.

And all for $5.99 (US). What a bargain!

WANTED: People of ethnicity to fill out pandering, tangentially video-game-related comic book “superhero” team. Must be comfortable wearing skin-tight crotch-grabbing uniforms and fixing ridiculously unrealistic spaceships. Extremely perky breasts and indelible toothy smiles a big plus.

Today we’ll be looking at Atari Force #1, which is a mini comic book (5″x7″) that came as a free pack-in with the game Defender for the Atari 2600 in 1982. Much more after the jump!

[ Continue reading Retro Scan Special Edition: Atari Force #1 In-Depth Extravaganza! » ]

It’s official: Brett Martin has a metric buttload of video game memorabilia. By Mr. Martin’s own estimation, his collection clocks in at about ten to fifteen thousand individual pieces. But not all of those trinkets of molded plastic, cast metal, and fluffed polyester are depictions of Nintendo’s famous Italian plumber. His gaming nicknack collection actually spans a diverse range of characters from different franchises, companies, and eras.

Martin is married to a loving wife that is tolerant of his collection. But in the process of settling down and moving on to a new phase of his life, he recently realized that some things have to go. So Brett set up a new website to help him thin out his massive collection, while also sharing it with the world. The site, called the “Video Game Memorabilia Museum,” is a virtual museum of Martin’s pieces, which he is always updating with new photos and entries when he gets the chance.

The main gallery area of the VGMM site is divided into sections dedicated to specific video game franchises like Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog, Kirby, Mega Man, and Crash Bandicoot. Each main franchise section has sub-categories based on characters from within the franchise. Within those are further sub-categories based on the type of item (keychains, plushies, figures, and pins usually among them). Further probing reveals individual items from his collection, complete with pictures. He also has a section with a number of items for sale, as well as a community forum. It’s a lot of fun looking through all the stuff he has up there — I definitely recommend taking a stroll through the museum at least once yourself.

Brett recently sent me a new batch of photos his collection, which are splashed throughout this article, and agreed to an email interview, which is reproduced below.

[ Continue reading The Land of 10,000 Plastic Marios » ]

Well, the auction ended last night, and “bunikmonkey” is the winner. The final price? $282.73 (US). Not bad at all! This will definitely help take care of the kittens. I’d like to thank everyone who bid in the auction, and everyone who helped spread the word.

Before you start thinking “Wow, that’s a great price! I should go into business selling NES DVD players,” remember this: eBay is a strange market that sells to the highest bidder. Usually only a couple people on earth are willing to pay eBay prices for high profile items. I believe much of my NES DVD player’s value is seated in the fact that it’s a one-of-a-kind item. Once you start churning them out, the value per unit goes waay down. And I’m not going to make any more.

Anyway, I hope you don’t mind, but I might post an entry about some more VC&G-related items for sale soon. I won’t litter the blog with eBay crap, of course, but I might just do one more post to announce another round of VC&G fundraising / housecleaning in the future.

Thanks again, everybody, for your help.