It is no longer a secret as to who are the fathers of the Gaming Industry. Legendary game designers such as: Sid Meier, Shigeru Miyamoto, Yuji Naka and more are responsible for some of the world’s most memorable games that have defined and have given legitimacy to the foundation of the video game industry. However even before them, are the forefathers of the industry; the men who laid the first bricks to which gave birth to the video game industry with their video game development companies and video game systems. Considered by many as the official father of video games: Ralph H. Baer along with Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney all pioneered the video game industry through their ownership of video game companies, consoles and arcades.

Many would believe that the culture of gaming started in the mid 1990’s but to find the people responsible for the foundation of our culture as gamers, we must first look back to the beginning; back to the 1970’s where Walter Day, Robert Mruczek and Billy Mitchell administrated “Twin Galaxies”. It was at that time in the official state of video games; Ottumwa Iowa, Walter Day became the first official King of the Gamers. Walter is the founder and owner of Twin Galaxies and is the official score keeper of electronic game records on the planet. His work spans across 3 decades laying the ground work for competitive gaming as we know it today. His supporters are some of the most prolific gamers ever. In fact, Billy Mitchell a professional gamer and referee of Twin Galaxies was given the title “Gamer of the Century” for his mastery in Pac Man and his 20 plus year reign as the “Donkey Kong” champion even till this day. Creating the first “Gamer Empire”, an organization supported fully by the will of the gamers.

Twin Galaxies ruled throughout the pioneering age of gaming from the 1970’s through the 1980’s, which is considered by many as the “Classic Age in Gaming”. With players such as: Todd Rogers, Robert Mruczek, Brian Kuh, Mark Alpiger and more, the Twin Galaxies Dynasty still exist till this day.

The First and True King of Games.

The King's Greatest Knight!

Recently the Twin Galaxies organization released a video game reality documentary called “The King of Kong” which serves as an entertaining look back at their gaming greatness.

After the first crash of the video game industry during the 1980’s, the video game scene dwindled as well as the Arcades. Gaming resurged when Nintendo brought it back in the United States from the brink of oblivion with the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was not long before competition took root and Sega created the rival that Nintendo needed to re-forge the great gaming industry. As the 1990’s came into play the culture took a different turn to a more anti-social style of play. Gamers became more isolated to console play rather than the social play of the arcades. The power of the consoles at that time was enough to surpass the technology of arcades and now could be brought home for gamers to play; reducing the reason to play outside the home. It wasn't long before mismanagement of the arcades also became an issue in the reduction of arcades future survival..

Years later Sony became a serious competitor in the video game industry and seized the throne from Nintendo. With the power of the Consumer Electronic giant, Sony was able to commercialize the video game industry. Throughout the mid 90’s Sony’s reign helped bring world acceptance to gaming as a legitimate means of constructive social entertainment.

As the industry was being reconstructed so to was the culture. In 1991, one of the first gaming online communities was formed. (R.G.V.A.) “Rec.Games.Video.Arcade.” was a site that was developed for gamers who were addicted to Street Fighter 2. Many arguments about what strategy was best for the game ensued on the site. It eventually led to the banishment of two members, Tom Cannon and Seth Killian. Relocating to a new site named “Alt.Games.Sf2” the two rejoined in their argument but it was not long before they joined forces.

Throughout the early 1990’s other sites were developed such as: “Brawl.mindlink.net” ftp which was controlled by David “Zoid” Kirsch. At the time these sites could be compared to sites such as: GameFAQS and Shoryuken.com.

SK Gaming has gaming in their crosshairs

Sites such as these were the place where gamers could connect to each other in a “Virtual Social Network” and get all their Street Fighter knowledge. During the middle of the 90’s around 1995, Allen “Lord Void” Hackley created a channel for a select set of gamers. Inkblot and Ponder (aka Tom and Tony Cannon), Ben “Tragic” Cureton, Bob “Kuroyume” Painter, Marwan and Derek “Omni” Daniels were the selected few that populated the site. In a few years the site changed several times from #sf2 on EFNet to #sf3 in anticipation of Street Fighter 3. #sf3 was then changed to #capcom which reflected the interest of the virtual community. The population of the site grew in time as conversations became more frequent along with the drama attached to it with public spats and issues.

The fighting game community was not the only gamer community developed in the 1990’s. The PC (Personal Computer) community was officially recognized in 1997 by: “SK Gaming” using “Quake” as its flagship game much like how Shoryuken.com used Street Fighter. The FPS community was in development for many years before its official conception through SK Gaming. The E-Sport gaming team from Germany competes in a variety of games such as: Counter Strike, Warcraft III, Quake 4, FIFA and Call of Duty throughout its years.

TriForce and Reggie usher in a new age.

Of the two Empire’s created throughout the 30 years of cultured gaming, a third Empire was born after the turn of the century. It all began back in 1984 where a young child by the name of Isaiah Johnson, played video games with a community of arcade gamers in New York City. Isaiah was raised in the Bronx with his father and his two brothers as he traveled his local area of White Plains Road which held a series of arcades in many corner grocery stores and pizza shops. Isaiah named the area “Land of Videogames” or “Video Land” for short. Throughout the years Isaiah played a series of late 80’s arcade games like: Strider, Black Tiger, Double Dragon and other classic 80's games. It was in the arcades that Isaiah developed the social skill to then become the leader of his local game community. He was then given the title “GameMaster” by his own friends based upon his skills and leadership in the games that he mastered.

In 1997 the young Game Master returned from his schooling in upstate New York in Marist College. Isaiah continued his gaming community during and after his schooling. It was during this time his friends gave him the name “TriForce”, in commemoration of his love for the Legend of Zelda since the launch of Ocarina of Time. It was then he decided that his video game handle would be TGM or TFGM which was the acronym for “TriForceGameMaster” In 2002, TriForce became an entrepreneur and decided to change his middle name legally to "TriForce". This new alter ego would serve his organization well as a gamer figure. TriForce sought to evolve his local gaming community into a company for gamers and thus “Empire Arcadia Inc.” was born. At first TriForce wanted to carry over the traditional name of his community "Videoland" as the company’s name however, Nintendo, along with several other companies had already registered the name. The purpose of his company Empire Arcadia Inc. was to further develop all the elements in gaming such as: fashion, art, media, health, education, music, social and competition in gaming.

The task was arduous and would require a huge administration and some of the greatest gamers TriForce would ever know to help him. His friends along with his beloved wife all supported him from that time and has aided to give great legitimacy to the company throughout the years. Whether it would be in competition, video game conventions, Expos, gaming concerts, gaming fashion shows, arcade socialism; TriForce’s efforts through his company were brought to life through himself and his gamers.