Retronauts Pocket 13 Takes the "Retro" Thing a Little Too Far
Apologies, citizens, as we appear to have taken our remit as "retronauts" a little too seriously this time around and set the Wayback Machine so far that we don't even really talk about video games. Instead, in another "Retronauts roots" episode, we talk about the precursors of video games -- the various electromechanical amusements that established arcades as an entity before the idea of using room-sized computers to control the movement of a dot around a tiny phosphor screen ever existed. Think of this as the Silmarillion to episode 13's Lord of the Rings.
As such, the conversation is a bit more dry than would be ideal. Whereas the previous episode featured us talking passionately and at length about things with which we had personal experience in our formative years, the concept of a pre-video arcade exists strictly in a museum sense for us. Because we're not 60 years old, and therefore can't speak about these things with the sort of intimate familiarity with which we went delved into classic video arcade games. Still, there's some learnin' to be had.
And my apologies if the theme sounds a little weird. I was trying to go for a cracklin' 78rpm sound, as if "His Master's Voice" was secretly playing Anamanaguchi, but I'm not sure it quite worked out. Oh well! Put on your carny jacket and bark at passersby as you listen to us poke and prod at video game prehistory.
Incidentally, this episode marks the halfway point of our Kickstarter-funded podcast journey. Crazy.
It's the most retro Retronauts ever as we look at the roots of video games in the form of pre-video arcade games. Ski-ball! Kinetoscopes! Electromechanical target galleries! Even WE aren't this old. Sam Claiborn joins Jeremy, Ray, and Bob.
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