Gaming History You Should Know – The History of Rogers: The Musical April 1, 2022

Happy April Fool’s Day! No one could ever forget where they were during the events of the Battle of New York, where the Earth survived its first-ever alien invasion due to the heroic intervention of a Billionaire, a Norse God, The World’s Greatest Archer, The World’s Greatest Assassin, a gamma-irradiated supergenius, and a WWII-era super soldier. We’ve come to know them as The Avengers and for the past decade they’ve been Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, capable of fighting the battles we never could. Personally, I’ve lost track of the amount of times they’ve saved the world, either individually or as a group, so you’ll forgive me for glossing over their reputation. I for one am just grateful for their service.

Following the events of The Blip and The Battle of Earth, which saw the tragic deaths of Iron Man, Black Widow and Captain America, The Avengers have all but dissolved. In the time since the Battle of Earth, video game adaptations of The Avengers’ exploits continue to live on with the phenomenal Ultimate Alliance series, and the upcoming Spider-Man and Wolverine games by Insomniac. But recently, there has been a different kind of adaptation over the past year, the Tony-Award Winning Megablockbuster, Rogers: The Musical. Based on the life of the late Steve Rogers, who we know as Captain America, the musical has been a tremendous success setting ticket records Broadway hadn’t seen in years.

YouTube Channel Wait in the Wings, which we’ve featured before on this website, did a phenomenal history video on one of the greatest musicals ever made. How do you create such a masterpiece when half your production staff disappear for five years? To say it was an Avengers-Level challenge would be an understatement.

Gaming History You Should Know – History of Computer Smartwatches March 27, 2022

It’s Sunday and what better day to kick off the restart of GameXcess.net than to celebrate with another look back at the history of gaming! This is Gaming History You Should Know, where we highlight and share some of the best independently produced content on the history of gaming.

Nowadays, everyone is rocking some type of computer watch, be it an Apple Watch or Gear device. Most of these have full color displays, are capable of wireless data transmission, and keep track of time, alarms, appointments, and even health biometrics. Some of them are even able to play games! (Apple Watch gamers, I recommend Lifeline, Lifeline: Silent Night, and Cosmos Rings as must-play games!)

However, before the Apple Watch found its way on nearly everyone’s wrist, there were many other attempts, some by major companies, to sell computer watches to consumers’. So where did all of this begin, at least as far as consumers are concerned? Fear not, YouTube Legend Techmoan has us covered with a look at what I’m pretty sure is the first consumer level computer watch. It was not cheap, and it was likely meant to be used by wealthy pilots, lawyers and other businessmen, but it had incredible features and the ability to do time-based calculations that I haven’t even seen modern smartphones capable of doing! I present…the HP-01!

Unfortunately the HP-01 was way before my time. When I was growing up, I fondly remembered the classic CASIO wrist calculator watches my father would never go anywhere without. In the days before I got my first Game Boy, the fact my dad could do calculations on his wrist was something incredible. While I did eventually get a CASIO of my own, I had no idea CASIO and other companies like them released several revisions of LCD watches with a bit more of a gaming focus. Seriously.

YouTube channel Nostalgia Nerd, who I remember fondly for his knowledge of British Microcomputers, produced this great look at some of the more obscure calculator watches. Some of these just blew my mind with how they were able to innovate with the tech of the time. Heck, some of these used infrared transmitters to not just swap information, but to play multiplayer games against each other. Check it out!

Finally, I wanted to talk about one of the most obscure designs for a watch that harkened back to the days of Palm. Now that Palm figured out the most basic functions a tech enthusiast needed on the go (calendar, address book, clock, alarms), the watch maker TIMEX made the evolutionary step to put a PDA in a high-end watch. To sync, you merely needed some software that could transmit your settings and features through your CRT’s blanking signal (or a separate transmitter if you used a laptop). Sound insane? YouTube channel LGR has that part covered.

Gaming History You Should Know – Video Game Lost Media January 9, 2022

It’s Sunday, and that means it’s time for us to once again discuss Gaming History You Should Know. Recently, I’ve been impressed by the deep documentaries produced by YouTube Channels like BlameitonJorge and All Things Lost, where they have gone into deep searches for obscure media. In fact, we even did our own lost media search last week. However, I’m sure you’ve seen that there have been much more of video game related content that is considered lost. This title can be bestowed on content that has either been finished and withheld from release or released before the opportunity for archiving

First off, we’re going to highlight one of the biggest franchises in the world, Pokémon. Due to the fact it has been releasing games, movies, toys, television shows and spin-off games for twenty-five years. YouTube Channel PaPaSec has created what is probably one of the tightest videos I’ve seen about the most well-known Pokémon lost media. Check it out!

Next up, we’re going to highlight the work of the adorable YouTube Channel Sakura Stardust. In this video, she talks about some of the most obscure lost Pokémon media. How obscure is some of this? I’ve been following Pokémon for years and I hadn’t even HEARD of some of this stuff. Enjoy.

Moving on from Pokémon, let’s talk about another classic game franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog. YouTube Channel All Things Lost, one of the best Lost Media channels on the web, has us covered. He highlights some of the lost media and incomplete Sonic games that have not been archived. Sonic X-Treme is not featured, as it has been found.

So that was just the tip of the iceberg for some video game content that is currently considered lost. I’m sure in the future we will have another article like this, so until next time, Happy New Year!

Gaming History You Should Know – Springboard: The First Smartphone December 19, 2021

I know what you’re thinking, we already had a Gaming History You Should Know earlier in the week. Merry Christmas, here’s a bonus article that was too good to save for later!

Back in the late 90s and early 00s, Portable Digital Assistants (PDAs) were the go-to option for people who needed a digital device on their person. A PDA, like the famous Palm Pilot, could keep digital notes, addresses, schedule, and some of the later models were even capable of mobile e-mail. However, unlike today’s smartphones (which can also do all of that) you couldn’t make a call with a PDA. If you wanted to make a call on the go, you’d need to pull your cell phone out of a different pocket to make that call.

The original founders of Palm knew that the future of PDAs would require the ability to make calls. However, Palm’s owners and the cell phone providers at the time disagreed, preferring to keep business as usual until time itself ended. So, Palm’s owners left the company and formed a new one, Handspring. The rest of that story is the subject of today’s history lesson.

The guys over at The Verge just produced this fantastic documentary on the history of Handspring. In it, they interview some of the company founders, dig deep into the products the company released, and talk about the enduring legacy of the smartphone. Check it out!