Interview: Phil Salvador (The Obscuritory)

I speak to librarian, games critic, and blogger Phil Salvador about his website The Obscuritory and his research and writing on games unplayed and unknown. In a far-reaching interview, conducted in late February, 2020 (and thus before the full brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the West), we explore the challenges, rewards, and lessons we've each found in writing about little-known areas of games history, as well as the importance of being kind and much, much more. This is the third entry in a new series of interviews I'm running alongside the main show — every month(ish) I'll talk to a different person who's exploring games history, in one way or another, to learn about the many ways people are preserving the games industry's past as well as to further our understanding of how this wonderful medium (and the industry that's built around it) has come to be the way it is now. Follow the "games history explorers" tag or the Interviews category on my website to see them all. (Or just search the show feed in your podcast player for episodes that begin with "Interview:".) Links: Carly Kocurek (she's been researching the girl games movement, amongst other things) Control Monger freeware shooter game on Obscuritory Bring on the Old and Obscure at Archive.vg Bad Game Hall of Fame MobyGames user review of Destiny, a game that's like Civilization but terrible Knights of the Crystallion on The Obscuritory The Colony developer memoir; my book, The Secret History of Mac Gaming, tells more of the story behind the game Phil's article on one of Cyberflix's games, Lunicus; my book has some general info and a few insider quotes on the company's rise and fall Phil's interview with Bob Stein of the Voyager Company Millennium Auction article on Obscuritory The CRPG Book Mystery Science Theater on Wikipedia SimHealth article on The Obscuritory Video Game History Foundation co-director Kelsey Lewin's tweet about a pregnancy tracker for Wonderswan Treasure Quest Wikipedia entry Continuum (I also have a video about it and I covered it in my book) Emily Reid's Speculation Jam My talk on the rise and fall of Ambrosia Software Secret Writer's Society article on The Obscuritory Angst: A Tale in Urban Survival download Freedom: Rebels in the Darkness article on The Obscuritory Magfest Mysterium Keeping the Game Alive article/community profile on Eurogamer GTA Secret Hunters article/community profile on Ars Technica Tecmo Super Bowl fan and modding community Hamster Republic RPG engine Phil's Twitter handle is @ItsTheShadsy My book: https://secrethistoryofmacgaming.com/ Life & Times of Games on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lifeandtimesofvideogames Twitter: @LifeandTimesVG Instagram: @lifeandtimesvg Podcast website: https://lifeandtimes.games Please remember to tell other people about the show, and to leave a review by following the links at ratethispodcast.com/ltvg. Thank you to all of my wonderful supporters on Patreon for making this possible, but especially to my $10+ backers Eric Zocher, Seth Robinson, Wade Tregaskis, Simon Moss, and Vivek Mohan. You can help, too — a contribution as little as $1 a month makes a big difference towards ensuring this show has a bright future ahead of it. (And as a Patron you'll get to skip those pesky cross-promotions from other shows on my network, among various other bonuses like transcripts and extra content.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices