They Create Worlds

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The games we love reveal something true about who we are, and about the world that made them. They Create Worlds is a podcast about the people, technology, and forces that built the video game industry.

Through video game history, the show looks at how culture, business, and technology shaped what we play, tracing the choices and circumstances that led to the games so many people around the world enjoy.

Each episode digs into where games came from, who made them, and why they were made the way they were. Business decisions, technological shifts, and creative choices all shaped what ended up on screen, and the show covers all of it together, not just one piece in isolation.

Hosted by Alex Smith and Jeffrey Daum, They Create Worlds grew out of long conversations about the strange corners of the industry and the patterns that only show up when you look across companies, platforms, and decades. That conversational feel remains, built on careful research, clear structure and editing that makes even the deepest topics easy to listen to.

History turns out to be less settled than it looks. New documents surface, memories conflict, and the clean stories about why things happened the way they did rarely survive contact with the evidence. The show digs into all of that, following the creative and business forces that pushed and pulled on each other, and uncovering the human stories that lie beneath the games so many people around the world enjoy.

New episodes are released twice a month.

Episodes

Saturday Jun 01, 2024

Ramtek

Saturday Jun 01, 2024

TCW Podcast Episode 211 - Ramtek

Ramtek was an unlikely entrant into the video game space. Starting off as employees of Data Disc Corporation, Charles McEwan and John Metzler aimed to use technology to positively impact society. With a focus on high-end displays, money was slow to come in. A local bar, Andy Capp's Tavern, frequented by company's engineers, served as a test site for the new Atari Pong arcade game. Fascinated by Pong, Ramtek's engineers decided to create their own version, marking the beginning of their foray into video games and later electro-mechanical games. One of their top engineers, Pete Kauffman, left to found Exidy to focus solely on video games. For many years, Ramtek's coin-op division sustained the company, ensuring cash flow and becoming the core of their business. Despite setbacks, including a poorly designed baseball game, a failed pinball transition, and a devastating fire at their uninsured Sunnyvale facility, Ramtek recovered and went public in 1978. By then, their high-end display busines had succeeded, reducing the coin-op division's importance. The coin-op business was eventually sold to Charles's brother, Mel McEwan, and continued as Meltec until its sale in 2003.

How do Hard Drives Work?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wteUW2sL7bc

Systtem 370 & 3330 Hard Drive: https://youtu.be/oLnvvOoWnzU?t=430

Fujitsu 14" Winchester HDD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCtlcmzGCTk

IBM 350 RAMAC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTkL4FQL2FI

VHS Tapes - Were they as bad as we remember?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P00QS3lXJeI

How X-Rays see through your skin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsV7SJDDCY4

Gama Camera Overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q8MPBrGRqs

Gamma (or Scintillation) Cameras Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEtYQaEwNwk

Pong Prototype: https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=891

More Pong Prototype: https://www.flickr.com/photos/naotoj/15391150690

TCW 051 - Sons of Pong: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/sons-of-pong/

Ramtek Volly: https://www.arcade-museum.com/Videogame/volly