In light of the recent announcement of The Gaming Historian retiring from working on his YouTube channel full-time I thought I would do a little tribute to the man who’s videos helped shine some light on some very memorable – and not so well-known moments – in video game history.
When the 2000s came around we as Video Gamers/Arcaders who grew up during the Golden age of Arcades, the Atari/Intellivision/Colecovision era, the ’83 Crash, and then the revival brought about by Nintendo – we didn’t have much to go on in terms of Video Game History. Granted there was the book “Game Over” by David Sheff, and a few other books, but nothing truly comprehensive until the dawn of the new millennium with Steven Kent’s book, “The Ultimate History of Video Games”. Of course, as time has gone by even some parts of the book have been shown to be incomplete, and that there were more details not fully known, which later titles like “Console Wars” helped fill in, but even then, as most historians know – there’s always new information coming to light, which is something that many other Arcaders/journalists have tried to put together as podcast shows like “Retronauts” and “They Create Worlds” reveal. And Gaming historian Norman Caruso is another of those individuals who deserves to be right up there with those talented folks.
Just one look at the videos he has and you see how much detail goes into these projects. And just as important, Caruso does so in a way that is entertaining as much as it’s informative.
Here’s some of my personal favorites:
Obviously this isn’t all of his videos, but the man’s channel is one worth checking out if you are interested in Video Game History. Like movies and TV Shows, the story behind the scenes is always an interesting one. While it’s an industry that s young compared to Hollywood, it is still one that stands out, and those who helped build – and in some cases, rebuilt – it deserve just as much recognition. Especially since the systems and games that came out of the industry helped shape many a childhood, and to many extents, adulthood to be better versions of ourselves.
So thank you Norman Caruso for all these years of great video content, and all the best in your future endeavors!
The Arcade Archives! 