Gaming History You Should Know – Sir Clive Sinclair September 26, 2021

It’s Sunday, welcome back to another Gaming History You Should Know, where we highlight some of the best independently produced documentaries across the web about the history of games. If you followed the news this past week, you may have learned that we recently lost one of the original pioneers of home PC gaming, Sir Clive Sinclair. If you are a British visitor to this website the name above may be a bit more familiar. Sir Clive was of a mind that personal computers should be cheap and readily available to everyone. While this philosophy sounds great on paper, anyone with computing background will tell you that if you are sourcing cheaper parts, you will sacrifice either quality or performance. In the case of the Sinclair computer, while it wasn’t as robust as a Commodore 64 or Apple II, nor could it have as good a performance as either, its lower price made it a good choice for young people to use as their first PC.

Before we talk about the man, I want to talk a bit about the machines that bore his name. Here’s a video produced by the 8-Bit Guy, who talked about the Sinclair computers. He mostly highlights the computers that made their way over to the US, but they are fairly comparable to the more common UK units. I honestly had never experienced using these machines back in the 80s, so this is a great video to watch them in action.

Next we are going to talk about the man behind the machine, and also about the impact the man and the machine had on so many people. Here’s the work of Computerphile, a channel I appreciate for their detailed documentaries about computer history. In this special video, they interviewed many people from the classic gaming community to share their thoughts about the Sinclair platform and about their experiences with the man himself. Enjoy.

Rest In Peace, Sir.

Gaming History You Should Know – Making of Jurassic Park Trespasser September 19, 2021

Welcome back to Gaming History You Should Know, where we highlight some of the best independently produced documentaries on the web focused on gaming. Today, we’re going to be talking about one of the most beloved franchises of all time, Jurassic Park.

Most people remember the fact Jurassic Park had several film sequels over the years including The Lost World, Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World. However, those same people probably have no idea that there was an officially canonical sequel to Jurassic Park in the form of a video game, Jurassic Park: Trespasser. Set after the events of The Lost World, the game features the talents of Lord Richard Attenborough and Minnie Driver. The game follows Anne, played by Minnie Driver, as she finds herself marooned on Site B, the same location featured in The Lost World and Jurassic Park III. While there, guided by her memory of John Hammond’s recently published memoirs (which are narrated by the actor himself during gameplay), the player must help Anne escape the island. The game offers a deeper look at Site B and further insight into Jurassic Park’s lore that I still consider canon to this day. Heck, Steven Spielberg himself even contributed to some of the game’s design.

With all that behind it, why doesn’t anyone talk about the game? Valve even admitted it was a huge inspiration for Half-Life 2. The problem was the game was a nearly unplayable mess filled with plenty of game-breaking bugs. Reviews of the game, even at the time it was released, were not kind and the Jurassic Park name alone was only so helpful when it came to actual sales.

I vaguely remember hearing about the game shortly around the time of its release. I remember being intrigued by the demo, but as a High School student with no personal income I was never able to snag a copy. However, after reading the finished game’s negative reviews I lost most of my motivation to get it. Years later, I found an incredible Let’s Play on the internet archive by Research Indicates, and I saw for myself that while the game was clearly wonky with a lot of unresolved technical issues, it’s story, combined with RI’s commentary, absolutely drew me in. Seriously, I ended up staying up all night once because I had to watch him play through every single level.

So what is the history of this game, how was it made and what about it was so groundbreaking? YouTube creator Kim Justice produced this full documentary about the creation of Jurassic Park: Trespasser I can’t recommend enough. Give it a watch below and see for yourself.

Jurassic Park: Trespasser is out now exclusively for the PC.