Raijin Z Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Well, 11:30PM now, hasn't come on here. Fuck you, WNEO. Even if it sucks, I would have liked to judge it for myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dones Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 I have a mixed reaction to the show. I think they did a great job touching all the major points on the industry, the people, the games and the history but at the same time they made subtle mockery about the same subjects they were so seriously talking about. Things I did like: Having Steven L. Kent does put some credibility to the documentary (as he is probably the most credible publicly known videogame historian). They also showed the usual major game designer celebrities, like Miyamoto, Sid Meier (spelling?), and ex-Microsoft Xbox celebrity Mr. Blackey. I specially liked the part when they show actual C-SPAN video footage of the 1994 congressional hearings on video game violence. They really made a good job of mentioning the different major/interesting social occurences like the videogame violence, professional gamers, MMORPGs, people getting married online, female gamers, beta testers, and the military. The part about Lily the blind girl seemed forced. I think I am gonna have to watch it again to really understand the point there were trying to make. On the other hand there were many inaccuracies, specially when displaying game footage and hardware. On many occasions they would mention an old game or console while at the same time displaying a modern game or different picture (or vice versa). Eg, they would talk about Nintento 64 and show footage of NES Zelda 2. They also mentioned the infamous cart dumping of atari carts as a true fact (I was under the impression this is a rumor). I can imagine the threads going at the 2600 forum Also there was a lot of Microsoft related game footage and participation (asheron's call, dungeon siege II). Not to insinuate any bias in the show, though. This show is after all american made. The shows direction was unclear during the first half. It's like the writers couldn't decide wether to make it a historical retelling or a social commentary. It certainly tipped off in the latter after about two thirds of the show. The show was mostly informative and entertaining, but I couldn't help but notice a certain tone of mockery that popped up sporadically during the show. It's like they couldn't resist the temptation of taking "cheap shots" at the same subjects they were so seriously talking about. The conclusion of the program shows this very well. The host talked about how the future of videogames would resemble the "holodeck" technology of Star Trek. The guy spends quite a bit of time explaining it to the laymen audience, yet finishes it off by making a subtle pun about the 10-year old girl pretending to be a virtual thug. I don't know, on one side they seem serious about making their point yet they feel the need to make a joke about it. I felt this ambiguity during the whole show. Overall I think it was good with some innacuracies. I think the show would have been better off by centering on the social angle exclusively and avoiding the sporadical subtle mockery. Then again perhaps I took it too seriously, lol Does anyone else though about this too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Hey... just watching this now and one of the first things I see is "Bellevue WA" (which is where I'm at) and that place where they're gathering is 2 blocks away from me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Holy shit! Still watching it.. and the part where that arcade operator repossesed his machines.. that's one of the friggin classic arcades (Playland) that I used to go to in Seattle!! So THAT'S what happened to those machines! I went there one day and it was frigging cleared out so I was always wondering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpddytim Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 According to the show the SNES shipped with Zelda II Thats what they said and what they showed a picture of anyways. They kept mixing up images with what they were talking about. Talk about this and show that. Man, that would be confusing for those who dont know games. Overall I give it a : Confusing/Yawn. -Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElephantStyle Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 That "mothers against violence" bitty... she needs to get laid or something. And whats with the 10 year old that doesn't listen to his father. His father is such a wuss... i'd be slapping both of them and taking their computer away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mitchell Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 The first five minutes were warped! The guy who introduced the program built it up as a big thing .. then talked about how many of today's adults have grown up with them .. well let's start at the beginning .. Nolan appears for one sound bite, Pong, Now some screen shots of Lee's stuff: Atari 2600, Bally Astrocade .. now let's show a bunch of modern stuff .. Also a bunch of talking heads giving one sentence each .. and no one was identified as who was who. Then the psychologists get to speak at length about violence. Who wants to hear them again and again .. they've been talking like that for almost 30 years! (Ever since 1976 Death Race). That's when I turned it off and went to sleep. I'll check it out when I record it on rebroadcast and I can skip all the stupid talking heads. You know .. the funny thing is that any of us could do a better job. Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-T Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 I caught nearly all of the PBS program, and while I did find it entertaining enough to keep watching, I was a little disappointed with the direction of the show. I had visited PBS's web site for the show, which had a decent (if basic) timeline of video games, and a cool audio quiz of classic game sounds. I had expected more of a historical and technological perspective, whereas I left with the impression that the producers were more intent on making a program that dealt with societal issues -- which is fine -- just not what I had gone in expecting. But in any case, it's always nice when classic gaming gets any sort of public acknowledgement. I'd love to see more shows soon with in-depth interviews from the titans of the early gaming industry while they're still able... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdie3 Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 The first 45 minutes or so was quite interesting and captivating. I thought that they should have interviewed more rellevant spokespeople as opposed to those ones who were interviewed. It would have been nice to at least see Ralph Baer say that games are seriously lacking gameplay these days. I guess what I am saying is that it would have been more interesting if it were a more indepth study/documentary covering video games pre-1986. As soon as they started talking about the violence and virtual reality/16/32/62 bit stuff, I was totally not interested. The last hour and fifteen minutes was complete crap. Especially the mother against violence lady. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmi Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 i didnt care for it, the show jumps all over the place now i remember why i stopped watching pbs and the guy at the beginning looked like he was pissed off when talking, he has some very odd eyebrows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Well, I wasted 2 hours of my life watching that show last night. I was expecting a much more informative documentary. They barely covered the early history of games, then skipped right through to the stupid violence debate and brought everything back to the blind girl Lily and her Pokemon obsession as they talked about the future of games. I got the feeling that the person shooting this was trying to scare people into thinking that the next generation will be completely lost to cyber space and dependant on RPGs. That segment about how a heroine user and crack user can survive in the real world for years where someone addicted to games can collapse in a few weeks was laughable. I thought Gameheadz, which aired last year was a much better documentary than this one as it covered just about everything related to video games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeybastard Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 You said it sku, that show was complete crap. Doesn't it seem like all of these various game documentaries are made by people who know absolutely nothing about the subject? I haven't seen one that captures the vibe of being a kid in the 70's and discovering videogames. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrizzLee Posted September 9, 2004 Author Share Posted September 9, 2004 I was a bit dissapointed about PBS concentrating too much on social aspects and impacts of videogames. I think we would have all preferred a historical development of the games and the history of them. They touched on alot of things in this regard but never dove deeply into some of these subjects. I was surprised at how much footage they used from my house. Alot of the footage from the first hour was filmed at the last minute from pieces at my place, including the non-mentioned Vectrex If they had not come by and consulted us (Hans and myself) I am afraid they would have had alot less to show and say about the start of the industry. Sadly, they didn't interview Joe Decuir who lives near by. Being the co-designer of the Atari 2600, Amiga and Atari 8 bits he has alot of insight on the industry from an insiders perspective. The bit about the guy repossesing games form the Playland Arcade in Seattle was funny. I used to go to that place ocassionally. I didn't know they were shut down so abruptly. The little 10 year, Alexander, needs to have his ass kicked. His parents seem to take the kinder gentler approach to discipline with their kids.. counting 1,2,3 , etc.... Alexander is going to be a problem teen when he gets older and will not respect his parents, nor anyone else in authority. His parents are to blame. It is these same parents that complain about violence in videogames and what a waste of time they are. This is exemplified by the "bitty" (as someone mentioned) who looks as if she has a stick up her ass. All in all, it was better than I expected based upon my dialog with the producers at PBS and all the production problems they had along the way. The biggest being the original producer quit midway through filiming (as I understand it, he was using the interviews as an in to getting a job in the game industry and not really "producing" the show as he should have). The staff at PBS really didn't have a clue about the culture of early videogames when they began in the early days. -Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdie3 Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 When is somebody finally going to get it right a produce a film that truely captures the spirit of this whole phenominon? ..and I ain't talkin' bout' this new-school crap either!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 I think the show was pure television, I mean eventhough you know there are inconsistencies you overlook them to focus on what is being discussed. its like making a movie based on a book, the book is always better. The title wasnt "The History of Video Games" the PBS program description stated the show starts by "examining" the history, business and something about social impact. Do real doctors watch ER and not find errors in the shows content. I reread the program description and it describes just what was in the show. I would definatey lay a whopping on that kid Alexander and bitch slap his stupid, psycho-babble, sissy dad. I loved that SEGA commercial, I remember the ones for Saturn were really twisted at first and then they cleaned em up a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dones Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 Yes but part of the fun is pointing out the mistakes, he he. You know at one point in the show, they said something about Alex being his dad's guinea p..., erm, study project on videogame use. Was that a mac he was playing with? * jokingly * If so we should take pity on the kid. * jokingly * Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ussexplorer Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 Um, did I catch it rigth when they said the genesis came out and the super nintendo followed a year later? I thought it was longer than that and in this area until sonic came along. The genesis was really not to be found. What was this Odyssey patent on video games being shown on tv? If that is the case wouldn't odyssey still be destorting that patent today in some form or another? I loved all the different game footage and thought the repo of the games was great. It does show in some area and probably most. The arcade needs to be backed up with some other type of business. Like in boise the arcade is backed up with other rides, pizza, tickets, and what nots besides just quarter machines. Yea, I noticed it did jump around a bit and some of the images was never matched to anything. The blind girl thing was strange but not unheard of. They should have stuck all the educational stuff in one educational section. They didn't get into some facts like why the video industry crashed except for third party vendors. They did a okay job about the computers and games. That is about all I remeber about it. Geez I wish I had some of those games though. mmmm laters, ussexplorer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisbid Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 i have to agree that it was pretty jumpy, they talked about the intellivision before the 2600 for example i fell asleep sometime in the second hour (i was watching the 1am replay), so i didnt see the 10 year old brat one image i think they did a great job of showing was the LAN geeks with their customized cases, and overlapping that footage with 50's car buffs footage. that is a spot on comparison but with only 2 hours, there was no way you would ever get a show that would include everything. the subject does not yet warrant a history like a multipart history or rock n roll. gaming is still growing up, in another 20 years perhaps we will get a better history of the subject put to film (in multiple parts), and the paranoid moms will be seen as the enemy, just as over-concerened parents are seen as dolts when the history of rock music is examined today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasoco Posted September 12, 2004 Share Posted September 12, 2004 I have bumped this thread because that is what I do. I am Jasoco, Thread Bumper. Anyways. I just watched this and I did enjoy it. It was very well done, and aside from the few stupid mistakes like the aforementioned Zelda II on SNES, (Which was probably some dumbass getting his Nintendo franchises mixed up. Both were sequels, he just typed "Zelda" into the script instead of "Mario".) it was fine. And not completely full of "Games are evil" talk like some people said. I'm looking at Kevin, who probably only watched for 30 minutes. I too wanted to smack that kids father in the head. I mean hello? You are raising your child wrong if it won't listen to you! And when you tell him to turn the game off, TURN IT OFF! If he doesn't listen, do what that guy at the "iD" school thing did. That kid didn't even listen to his TEACHER! Turn it off for him! That'll teach him to listen.. well, either listen, or hate you even more. Whatever. I hate families that can't control their kids. I have to put up with them every day. Some parts brought back some very welcomed memories. I have not seen that Tetris commercial since it was on TV! I mean, it was so cool to see again! And the one for the Sega Genesis (Shown in the court preceding).. I remember it. Now I remember it. I had forgotten about it, but now I remember it. And it was cool. And it was NICE to see a Video Game show that didn't focus only on the PlayStation. It talked equally about the Xbox and the GameCube. THAT was a nice welcomed change. Especially with the 2nd Annual SpikeTV VGA's coming up.. *shudder* I liked the part at the end. When he's sitting in the chair talking about so called "Game Rooms" of the future and he has the scene of the alleyway with the baseball bat wielding thug and refers to it as a 10-year old girl who carefully selected the avatar of a mean thug. And he turns it off just in time then the girl comes out. She looked creepy. But what bothered me is how he said "10 years" then mentioned the "PlayStation 12" and the "Xbox 6". I DOUBT we'll be that high up by then. The highest they'll be by 2014 is PlayStation 4 and Xbox 3 if at all. All in all, I liked it. I liked it more than GameHeadz. * jokingly * If so we should take pity on the kid. * jokingly ** jokingly * I'm gonna kick your ass. * jokingly * Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sigma Posted September 12, 2004 Share Posted September 12, 2004 name that game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dones Posted September 12, 2004 Share Posted September 12, 2004 I have bumped this thread because that is what I do. I am Jasoco, Thread Bumper. ...and let's not forget the resident forum know-it-all. lol All in all, I liked it. I liked it more than GameHeadz. Actually I think Gameheadz was a better show than this one. Unlike the PBS one, gameheadz had a clear direction (the history of the first 25 years of the industry), had correct footage of games (no mixups), and interviewed more videogame-related celebrities, like Ralph Baer. It also kept a tone of objectivity without making fun of the subject matter or the interviewees. * jokingly * If so we should take pity on the kid. * jokingly ** jokingly * I'm gonna kick your ass. * jokingly * * jokingly * Maybe you are the one who needs the smacking * jokingly * Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasoco Posted September 12, 2004 Share Posted September 12, 2004 I have bumped this thread because that is what I do. I am Jasoco' date=' Thread Bumper.[/quote'] ...and let's not forget the resident forum know-it-all. lol All in all' date=' I liked it. I liked it more than GameHeadz.[/quote'] Actually I think Gameheadz was a better show than this one. Unlike the PBS one' date=' gameheadz had a clear direction (the history of the first 25 years of the industry), had correct footage of games (no mixups), and interviewed more videogame-related celebrities, like Ralph Baer. It also kept a tone of objectivity without making fun of the subject matter or the interviewees.[/quote']I dunno. Maybe I just haven't watched GH in a while, but I liked this one because it kept going and described most of the entire history up until now. Not just the first 15 boring years. And it wasn't saturated with all new stuff either. It was a good ballance. I don't care for the direction, I just want some history and pretty eye candy. * jokingly * If so we should take pity on the kid. * jokingly ** jokingly * I'm gonna kick your ass. * jokingly * * jokingly * Maybe you are the one who needs the smacking * jokingly * * jokingly * Bring it on, biznatch. * jokingly * Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spongebue Posted September 19, 2004 Share Posted September 19, 2004 it's on tonight for me. My Video capture card w/ big hard drive is ready to go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasoco Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 it's on tonight for me. My Video capture card w/ big hard drive is ready to go One tip. NO AVI or WMV, please. Thanks... or Real. Something more versatile and small. Convert it to MPEG-4. At least 320x240. 640x480 if possible. Ok.. that's all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raijin Z Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 There's been a torrent for it for a while now. pbs_video_game_documentary_avi.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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