Rise of the Video game (documentary type show)

[Lemmi]

i dont think ive seen this special before (unless it was named something else at one time)

 

but i saw it listed at 8pm est on the Discovery channel tonight

 

 

the description says

Pong and Pac-man usher in the videogame revolution

 

 

there is that more descriptive?

Edited November 29, 2007 by Lemmi

[Krytol]

I'm going to try and catch it tonight.

 

Here's some more info:

 

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/video-game/about/about.html

[+Random Terrain]

It says it's new.

[SRGilbert]

I just rushed over to post about this! You might want to make the topic title more descriptive though so people will watch it.

 

A Pop Culture Revolution

 

The video game revolution has been under way for decades, progressing from simple amusements created in the 1950s to an all-pervasive force in today's popular culture that rivals — and will perhaps soon surpass — film and television. What began as a subculture pastime has evolved and transcended genres to become a unique form of expression impacting everything from modern warfare to interpersonal relationships.

 

Rise of the Video Game is a comprehensive and progressive exploration of the past, present and future of video games and video gamers. From the early days of Pong to today's ever-popular Halo 2, and from Atari 2600 to Nintendo to PlayStation, Rise of the Video Game tells the story of the people, the ideologies and the technology behind video games and how they have exploded into a cultural phenomenon. The evolution of gaming has seen the pendulum move from the days of games replicating society, to society replicating games. Featuring interviews with giants in the gaming industry of yesterday and today, this five-part series examines the evolution of the video game and its cultural impact on the world of entertainment today.

 

 

Don't forget to support the classic games in the quiz, right now Mario is beating Pacman!

[Technosis]

Hopefully it ends up being more than just recycled stock footage, and is written by and for people who actually play video games.........

[+Random Terrain]

I'd like to know if this is the series that I spent over a month rescanning and cleaning up ads for. If there is an episode that shows a few Atari ads and a couple of pages from Atari Age magazine, I'm going to look for a mention of my name or web site in the credits.

[SRGilbert]

Well, I just watched it, and overall I guess it was ok. This was part 1 of a 5 part series, and they already covered the 1983 crash, so anything Atari related is probably done with. There was absolutely no mention of any other home systems either. No Colecovision, Intellivision, or anything besides the VCS for that matter.

 

This seems to focused squarely on video games place in history rather than the history of video games. I have a feeling there is going to be a lot more introspective analysis of violence in games and why we play them, blah, blah, blah......

 

Some familier faces, but also a lot of talking heads I've never heard of.

 

Still worth the time to watch it though.

Edited November 22, 2007 by SRGilbert

[raindog151]

I'll bet anyone here a combat cart they don't even touch SNK.

[jboypacman]

Just watched it tonight and it was good there was footage of stuff i had seen before.Next part will be about Nintendo it looks like.

[DragonmasterDan]

Just watched it tonight and it was good there was footage of stuff i had seen before.Next part will be about Nintendo it looks like.

 

Is it going to air again today?

[+Random Terrain]

Is it going to air again today?

Here's the schedule:

 

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/seri...1.30525.30716.1

 

It's on at 11 tonight and at midnight.

[+Random Terrain]

I haven't watched the show yet, but I did fast-forward through it and I've seen a lot of that on YouTube already. How can this be called a new show?

[DragonmasterDan]

I haven't watched the show yet, but I did fast-forward through it and I've seen a lot of that on YouTube already. How can this be called a new show?

 

Is it like already produced content or is the actual edit you've seen on YouTube?

[Krytol]

Discovery had a documentary a few years ago called Gameheadz. Does it have anything to do with that?

 

I guess I'll find out in about 30 minutes.

[+Random Terrain]

I haven't watched the show yet, but I did fast-forward through it and I've seen a lot of that on YouTube already. How can this be called a new show?

Is it like already produced content or is the actual edit you've seen on YouTube?

Take a look:

 

 

Looks like they just replayed [but Americanized] a show from the UK.

Edited November 22, 2007 by Random Terrain

[jboypacman]

Thats where i had seen some of that footage before.

[+Psionic]

Looks like they just replayed [but Americanized] a show from the UK.

Wankers.

[DragonmasterDan]

Looks like they just replayed [but Americanized] a show from the UK.

Wankers.

 

Even the official website seems very European. it refers to the Genesis to us as the Mega Drive for example. I'm guessing this was a BBC produced series Discovery bought the rights to and brought over here.

[Phantom]

It is coming up on the best channel on TV, The Discovery Times Channel on Dec the 14th, the entire history of video games. And DTC does their shows right. I cant get enough of that channel. its the 1st thing I turn to with great new shows every week. "What Happened When" is one of my favs. There are soooooo many ggod shows on that channel I cant change the channel most of the time unless something comes on Ive seen. Anyhow, Dec 14th its on DTC if you missed it!

Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving all.

[peteym5]

I think it was a very good in depth history about Atari and the video game history. I do agree Atari messed things up in the early 1980's causing the 1983 crash and someone said Atari started to die a few years earlier. They over saturated the marked with 2600 games and not sure where their heads were in putting together the 5200. You can say it was an 800 without a keyboard, but it also didn't have the OS and the hardware memory map was re-arranged. Also had different cartridges. The 8-bit computer technology was superior to the 2600 and should have been utilized better. They made way too many cartridges for the 2600 that ended up in landfills.

 

I also agree they should have mentioned Coleco Vision and Intellivision and how people started to become interested in home computers from Commodore in 82'-'83. The Atari XL series might have been better, but Atari could not get them onto the market fast enough at a competitive price against the Commodore VIC-20 and 64.

 

What do you think Atari could have done differently. Some say the XEGS is what the 5200 should have been. Should they have built something that was compatible with the 2600 and 800? Should they have avoided the 5200 counsel systems entirely and got the 800XL out sooner?

[Gregory DG]

Saw Part 1 last week and recorded it. I thought I might have missed the other episodes, so I'm glad they're spreading them out a bit.

 

Thought it was pretty good. I'll probably make a DVD once the whole thing is done.

[SRGilbert]

Saw Part 1 last week and recorded it. I thought I might have missed the other episodes, so I'm glad they're spreading them out a bit.

 

Thought it was pretty good. I'll probably make a DVD once the whole thing is done.

I'm doing the same thing!

[+Random Terrain]

I was thinking out about putting them on DVD too, but I'm starting to lose interest in these types of shows. Just give me plain old interviews with people who were there who know about true behind the scenes stuff and leave out all of the other people who only have opinions instead of real info.

[Heaven/TQA]

is it available for watching on the net? f.e. youtube?

[mimo]

I found it on a torrent