The original streamer, who ran his own public access gaming show in 1993

https://www.pcgamer.com/meet-the-original-streamer-who-ran-his-own-public-access-gaming-show-in-1993/

by danso • 5 years ago

123 22 5 years ago

His setup is pretty good even for 2021 standards.

em-bee2• 5 years ago

the equipment was provided by public access tv which the cable companies were required to offer, so it was a professional setup that anyone who wanted to make a show could use after some training.

a great opportunity to get experience without needing to find a job/internship with a tv studio

jfax• 5 years ago

Quite impressive. Though for me when it comes to veteran video game personalities, there's Larry Bundy Jr who I fondly watched on an obscure and short-lived satellite TV network early this century that was dedicated to video games,[1] and have recently discovered still at it and well established on YouTube.[2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Network

[2] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJVdNvvuvOnthuWVQjYff2w

mrslave• 5 years ago

The Wayback Machine did capture his URL (http://azstarnet.com/~zot) in 1999 which unfortunately was too late and is just a file-not-found page. According to the article his show - Video Games and More - ran from 1993 to 1997.

How widespread is enjoyment of these old games (Genesis era or thereabouts) on emulators or hardware? My gaming is limited to about 15 minutes per month which means anything short - usually indie or retro.

jowsie• 5 years ago

Huge. A look through RetroRGB.com or Speedrun.com's most played games list will give a glimpse into the modern retro gaming community.

gota• 5 years ago

Strategy games from that era are surprisingly neat, too.

I figured that particular genre matured game design "techniques" for itself a bit faster than others (maybe except for platformers) because of the inherent hard problem of devising adequate user interfaces for (relatively) more complex systems.

I mean, Civ II holds up really well and its from the mid 90s!

adreamingsoul• 5 years ago

I don’t remember the year, but I was young. A local (to me) hacking group had a short format live show on public TV.

The show was basically answering questions while several people played a lan game of counter-strike. I was invited once to participate as a player. Surprisingly, a lot of people called the show to ask how they could obtain access to their SO’s email account.

That experience and the interactions before/after provided me a glimpse of a part of society that had a lasting impact.

In hindsight, I was too young to be around whatever that was.

bitwize3• 5 years ago

A local (to me) hacking group had a short format live show on public TV.

First thing I thought was HACK THE PLANET!!!

shortlived• 5 years ago

Super rad! Where is he now?

em-bee2• 5 years ago

check out his twitter feed: https://twitter.com/jjstyles0001 or his youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvC2V9ixUHwJLnCEoOZgItg

wildpeaks• 5 years ago

In France, Marcus/Level One in 1998 was the cornerstone of gaming livestreams:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_One

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_P1s5uAzWA

ekianjo• 5 years ago

Television shows are nothing like streaming though..

fortran77• 5 years ago

-nothing- like it? Live and one audience sees the show at the same time? Surely it’s a little bit like it.

LocalH2• 5 years ago

The games are projected on a screen behind him, including the telltale blur of a camera being pointed at a CRT TV.

That's funny, because the video embedded directly above that sentence demonstrates that they in fact used chroma key and directly used the console video signal, no cameras pointing at CRTs here.

phire• 5 years ago

The video at the top is a later episode, from about 1996 (they are talking about the N64 being on display in stores)

If you scroll down, there is a another video which chroma keys in a camera pointing at a CRT.

LocalH2• 5 years ago

That's fair, I just thought the proximity of the words to the video was mildly humorous

bitwize3• 5 years ago

Most of the ideas behind the "YouTuber" phenomenon were present in Wayne's World, the Saturday Night Live skit/movie series about two metalheads shooting a public-access show from their basement. Doubtless Wayne's World inspired this kid, and many others like him, to do his own public-access show for real.

It also appears he's using a Video Toaster to do the titling, transitions, chroma keying, and artwork. The Video Toaster was the first device within consumer/prosumer reach to be able to do that kind of graphical effects in real time on analog video.

The early 90s were an exciting time. The seeds of "user generated" video content were being planted, and amateur video was making the jump from "home movies" to actual productions.

Keyframe• 5 years ago

Did you know Dana Carvey, one of two main actors in Wayne's World, is a brother of Brad Carvey an engineer of Video Toaster? It might be all related somehow.

bitwize3• 5 years ago

I did know that, yes. And -- Brad Carvey was the inspiration for Garth!

Just goes to show what an intense time it was to be an A/V geek.

m4632• 5 years ago

I really never watched game streaming shows (I don't watch sports either)

But then I discovered "Let's Game It Out" with Josh and it has really made me laugh.

bpcpdx• 5 years ago

You might like the spiffing brit also. I discovered him after finding lets game it out.

m4632• 5 years ago

It looks interesting.

Hmm, except Josh reviews games I would never play, or does things that I would never do (100 giraffes in one zoo pen)

The spiffing brit has for example "skyrim infinite money". some videos seem to play with the balance of things that might hit too close to home. I like to become the invulnerable god of a game taking the roundabout way :)

The original streamer, who ran his own public access gaming show in 1993

Related Stories