Love of the worlds created by video game designers and personalities drives Alex Smith & Jeffrey Daum (history, law, CS degrees) to provide a scholarly yet light-hearted discussion of how arcade, home console, and PC games merged into a Video Game Industry. Emphasis is on the combination of business and creative elements needed for financial success. Interviews of Atari, EA, Activision, & other execs with detailed source evaluations produce the insights you hear in these 122+ hours!
All content for They Create Worlds is the property of Alex Smith, and Jeffrey Daum and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Love of the worlds created by video game designers and personalities drives Alex Smith & Jeffrey Daum (history, law, CS degrees) to provide a scholarly yet light-hearted discussion of how arcade, home console, and PC games merged into a Video Game Industry. Emphasis is on the combination of business and creative elements needed for financial success. Interviews of Atari, EA, Activision, & other execs with detailed source evaluations produce the insights you hear in these 122+ hours!
TCW Podcast Episode 245 - The History of Commodore Pt 2
Commodore’s shift from calculators to computers began with the PET, which found success in Europe as a business machine. After seeing the ZX80 in Britain, Jack Tramiel pushed for an affordable home computer, leading to the VIC-20. Guided by marketing manager Michael S. Tomczyk, Commodore promoted the VIC-20 as “the friendly computer” with William Shatner as spokesman. It first launched in Japan before reaching the United States and Europe, becoming a hit worldwide. Building on that success, Commodore released the C64, featuring the powerful SID sound chip and far more memory than its competitors. Marketed again under Tomczyk’s direction at a price under six hundred dollars, the C64 became one of the best-selling computers of all time, driving Commodore’s revenue past a billion dollars and securing its place in computing history.
TCW 2025 Livestream: https://youtu.be/BXXAhEVD4Lk
TCW 165 - Allied Leisure: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/allied-leisure/
TCW 172 - The Computer Price Wars Part 1: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-computer-price-wars-part-1/
TCW 173 - The Computer Price Wars Part 2: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-computer-wars-part-2/
TCW 174 - The Computer Price Wars Part 3: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-computer-wars-part-3/
TCW 130 - Uncle Clive's Radionics: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/uncle-clives-radionics/
TCW 131 - Sir Clive of ZX: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/sir-clive-of-zx/
KIM-1 Computer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMxOWngmy8I
The 8-Bit Guy - Commodore PET: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP9y_7it3ZM
The 8-Bit Guy - Commodore VIC-20: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg04GyhS3ss
The 8-Bit Guy - Commodore C64: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpXFB8ZEH30
Commodore VIC-20 Commercials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak0YU8ymkBc
Wiliam Shatner VIC-20 Commercials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JAU9Ntpoms
Commodore 64 Commercials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd_yiMhu1DM
New episodes are on the 1st and 15th of every month!
TCW Email: feedback@theycreateworlds.com
Twitter: @tcwpodcast
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theycreateworlds
Alex's Video Game History Blog: http://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com
Alex's book, published Dec 2019, is available at CRC Press and at major on-line retailers: http://bit.ly/TCWBOOK1
Intro Music: Josh Woodward - Airplane Mode - Music - "Airplane Mode" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/song/AirplaneMode
Outro Music: RoleMusic - Bacterial Love: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Rolemusic/Pop_Singles_Compilation_2014/01_rolemusic_-_bacterial_love
Copyright: Attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
They Create Worlds
Love of the worlds created by video game designers and personalities drives Alex Smith & Jeffrey Daum (history, law, CS degrees) to provide a scholarly yet light-hearted discussion of how arcade, home console, and PC games merged into a Video Game Industry. Emphasis is on the combination of business and creative elements needed for financial success. Interviews of Atari, EA, Activision, & other execs with detailed source evaluations produce the insights you hear in these 122+ hours!
