Interview with Owe Bergsten(co-founder of Bergsala)[video]

Started by Gazimaluke, January 03, 2017, 01:24:07 pm

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Gazimaluke

January 03, 2017, 01:24:07 pm Last Edit: January 04, 2017, 01:29:28 pm by Gazimaluke
I posted this video interview with Owe Bergsten on VGArc.org today.
This interview is from 2013 and conducted in Swedish. I have added subtitles to it. Enjoy.

http://www.vgarc.org/vgarc-originals/vgdoc-interview-with-owe-bergsten-2013/

P

Thanks a lot for this! Going to watch it later.

Maybe not too interesting for non-Swedish I guess though.

Gazimaluke

No I think it's interesting if you are into the history of video games in general. Regional stuff can be very interesting.

I have translated a interview with a man named Jan Malmsjö as well that I will be posting soon. It may be less interesting buy also highlights some interesting stuff and how the process of transiting a NES game could be baked then.

famifan

awesome stuff and great vid! totally enjoyable!

you're such a lucky guys, you got NES an year before the rest of europe. You even have Mario's street in Sweden. Statues too!  :)

P

The NES boomed in Sweden during this time, almost everyone I knew had a NES. I remember one friend having a Sega Master System, but I never got to play it.

I still have that membership card with Mario Bros characters holding a rope around the TV on. :)

Gazimaluke

I knew one guy who had Master System as well. Everyone else had a NES.
I still have my card too, it's broken in half though :p

macbee

Fantastic! Thanks for posting (and for the subtitles!). =D

P

Looks like IGN also made a video of Bergsala. Although much of the story is the same, it's an interesting watch. I remember that Game & Watch and NES were both highly popular back in the day, but I had no idea that Bergsala performed so well compared to Nintendo in the rest of Europe, and the effect it had on the rest of the world.
We where very close to getting a PAL version of the Famicom (the red & white one) in Scandinavia, but then the NES was released in North America, and Nintendo decided to make a PAL version of NES instead.

Another interesting point is that Bergsala's Nintendo Videospelklubb (later renamed to Club Nintendo) was apparently the inspiration for the later worldwide Club Nintendo and also magazines like the American Nintendo Power. The magazine called Nintendo Magasinet replaced the Club Nintendo magazine, and it was basically the Swedish version of Nintendo Power (whom which they also collaborated with). It later split into a separate Club Nintendo magazine again and another highly popular magazine called Super Power (later renamed to Super Play). Super Power/Play had no relation to Nintendo or Bergsala except for the staff who had worked on Nintendo Magasinet earlier, and although they only covered Nintendo games at first they later included Sega and other consoles and arcade games as well (this was around the time of Playstation coming out).

I didn't know about this relationship between Club Nintendo, Nintendo Magasinet, Nintendo Power and Super Power/Play.