On 'Videogame' Versus 'Video Game'

Bill Kunkel, former editor of Electronic Games and Tips and Tricks and tied for first place as The First Ever Video Game Journalist, weighs in on the great "videogame" versus "video game" debate with an interesting anecdote.

Apparently, when Kunkel (pictured right on a panel at CGE with some random guy) and Arnie Katz started up Electronic Games, the accepted industry standard was videogame, one word:

It doesn't make sense grammatically, but that's how the industry spelled it and I always felt it reflected the unique nature of the medium. We spelled it that way in '78 and I never stopped. What I did not realize was that, over the years, a schism developed over the spelling. I didn't realize how deeply people felt about it until I suggested that we would adopt that one-word spelling.

And that's what Kunkel and crew ended up calling the next game magazine they worked on: Videogames And Computer Entertainment, edited by Andy Eddy. But eventually, Eddy decided that it should be two words, because Google searches were turning up far more results for "video game" than "videogame."

So, says Kunkel, he's backed off and now calls 'em "video games."

As for Wired? We use videogame. As they say in Wired Style: when it doubt, close it up.

Is It "Videogame" Or "Video Game"? [J2 Games]