In my third and final installment with Stewart Cheifet, host and producer of Computer Chroncles, we chat about the impact of games on the computer industry, hilarious antics behind the scenes, and Stewart’s thoughts on piracy, net neutrality, and more.
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Download the mp4 here.
Stewart Cheifet, host and producer of Computer Chronicles, is back this week to talk about his experiences with the landmark television program. We chat about Commodore, Atari, Apple, IBM, and Microsoft. We also get more behind-the-scenes stories, such as how Steve Jobs told off Stewart in a board meeting, and how Jack Tramiel didn’t know jack about computers!
You can watch classic episodes of Computer Chronicles at archive.org.
Support Matt Chat with Patreon–it’s the best way to support the YouTubers you love.
Download the mp4.
This is the first part of my interview with the great Stewart Cheifet of Computer Chronicles. In this installment, we talk about the history of the show, the sad story of his co-host Gary Kildall, and much, much more.
Download the mp4 here.
Watch episodes of Computer Chronicles for free at Archive.org.
Okay, I’m deliberately raking the coals with this title. What does it mean to say that “all games are political” or “unethical?” Obviously, some games are concerned with politics (such as Democracy), and some that are clearly unethical (Ethnic Cleansing–no way I’m going to link that). But what about games like Halo 4, Gears of War, or Skyrim? Clearly, there’s nothing “political” or “unethical” about them, right? They’re just “games,” you say, with no connection whatsoever to reality. But, hold on a minute–what if we’re wrong about that? What if all games, no matter what their content, are expressing a political and ethical perspective that we–as gamers, unconsciously embrace (or consciously reject) when we play them?
This episode is a review of the new Might & Magic game from Limbic Entertainment. Check it out here. I’ve been playing the game steadily since this review, but have still not managed to beat it–and thankful for it. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a game this fun to look forward to coming home and playing.
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Are CRPGs good for nothing but reinforcing capitalist values? Is there nothing else for us but looting, slaying anything that isn’t “one of us,” and romanticizing that bloody climb up the social and corporate ladder?
I know I’m probably driving some of you guys and gals batty with all of this academic stuff, but the truth is, I’ve so immersed in it these days (I am a prof, after all) that it’s about all I have time to think about. Fortunately, most of the theoretical stuff I teach (or, at least, attempt to teach) to students is nicely applicable to videogames.
Glenn is back one final time (at least for now!) to talk about Rogue, Zynga, and supporting a family on a game dev’s salary.
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There’s a special feeling you get when you first see and hold a book you wrote for the first time. Usually, it’s bittersweet–you always feel that there was more work to do, and plenty of parts you aren’t happy with. You brace yourself for the inevitable scathing reviews, and just hope that those are balanced out by people who appreciate what you tried so hard to accomplish. Above it all, though, is the simple fact that you’re now holding something in your hand that was all just thoughts in your head and bits floating around in cyberspace just a few days before.
Hi, all. I’m interviewing two awesome people tomorrow: Brenda Romero and Richard Garriott. Brenda (formerly Brenda Brathwaite) is probably best known for her work on the Wizardry series, though she’s also done some work on sex in games (yeah, thought that might get your attention). She’s also the wife of the most popular Matt Chat guest of all time, Mr. John Romero.
I interviewed Richard (aka Lord British) for Matt Chat already, but now I’m chatting with him for an upcoming issue of Retro magazine. I don’t want to rehash the same old stories, so let me know what thoughts you have for questions.
I just read a great article called Fantasy and Rhetorical Vision: The Rhetorical Criticism of Social Reality by Ernest G. Bormann. Bormann is well known for his Symbolic Convergence Theory. It’s not as technical as it sounds. Basically, he’s interested in seeing how the stories we listen to and tell each other “create a sense of us and them” (Sellnow 97). His research comes out of analyses of small group discussions, where people tell stories to relieve tension. These stories could be quite simple–you just need some characters (real or imaginary) “playing out a dramatic situation in a setting removed in time and space from the here-and-now transactions of the group” (397). The story in question could simply be about what happened at the office last week, or it could be about what happened on a recent episode of Dexter. The key part for Bormann is that the other folks there have to help “chain out” the story, legitimizing it by adding something or making an appropriate response, such as laughing at a joke. If you mention something that happened on Dexter and everyone just scratches their heads because they haven’t ever heard of the show, they don’t share that part of your symbolic reality.