Rise of the Videogame on Discovery

[EvilIdler]

I just watched the first episode. Interesting stuff, especially the Nolan Bushnell bits.

TV schedule here (http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=1.14981.30525.30716.x)

Brush up on your videogame history, y'all! </vm>

[Mr_PeaCH]

I agree; and for a 40 yr old like myself, a nice trip down memory lane.

Was getting John Romero's opinion on things really necessary however. God man, Slingblade much?

[EvilIdler]

I was thinking "Why are they talking to these losers?" a lot ;)
Then Bushnell spoke, and sounded smart. And Heather Chaplin isn't unpleasant.

[Enduro_Man]

EvilIdler: There's a colon missing from your link.

Maybe it's beyond the scope of the show, but was there any mention of Jack Tramiel? Atari seemed to be treading water until the old man cashed in. A cocky guy, but not a great track record to back him up, post-Commodore.

[EvilIdler]

Bushnell got a few stabs in at "the suits" in general, but I don't recall Tramiel being mentioned at all.

[Mind Elemental]

Ah, I saw that a few months ago when it aired under the title, "I, Videogame". I enjoyed it at the time, but now I remember barely a thing.

[Anti-Bunny]

Was getting John Romero's opinion on things really necessary however. God man, Slingblade much?
John Romero AND Paul Steed..

[stusser]

I always feel bad whenever I see Aleksey Pajitnov, the guy that invented Tetris. This dude invented the most popular and widely enjoyed videogame ever made over 22 years ago, the game is still played today, and he never made a penny off it because the USSR owned his soul. Then perestroika, he moved to the USA, and spent the rest of his entire frickin' life trying to think up just one more good idea, infinite iterations on the original Tetris that nobody loved like Welltris, Hatris, etc. It's just sad, you know?

Anyway, good show.

[Enduro_Man]

I always feel bad whenever I see Aleksey Pajitnov, the guy that invented Tetris. This dude invented the most popular and widely enjoyed videogame ever made over 22 years ago, the game is still played today, and he never made a penny off it because the USSR owned his soul.
The one chapter about the Tetris rights battle makes David Sheff's "Game Over" worth every cent of the dollar I paid for it. Tellingly, Pajitnov is a very minor character in the story, playing no role whatsoever in the negotiations.

"In Soviet Russia... &c. &c."

[ducker]

another new episode... very cool. Although they didn't even give a nod to the Ultima series!!

[Matt Bowyer]

I was a little confused at all of the shots they kept giving the PS3 version of Genji. It's not like the game was THAT good, and it popped up in more little montages than, say, Halo, a much more important game in the grand scheme of things to say the least.

And then they showed it again while talking about the "uncanny valley," and all was forgiven.

I'm really enjoying watching the show, and have added it to my DVR rotation.

[Anti-Bunny]

Did anyone else notice that they kinda passed right over the Odyssey, which was a predecessor to pong by a few months, without a mention? Maybe they just couldn't get an interview with anyone from Magnavox, but had all this OMG STAR POWER from Atari?

[Guido Jones]

They seem to be skipping around a lot, omiting or missing a number of important things. Like Nintendo originally approaching Atari to distribute the Famicom in the US, or their use of R.O.B. to fool retailers into selling another video game system after the crash.

[caesarbear]

Did anyone else notice that they kinda passed right over the Odyssey, which was a predecessor to pong by a few months, without a mention? Maybe they just couldn't get an interview with anyone from Magnavox, but had all this OMG STAR POWER from Atari?
Did you sleep through the interview with Ralph Baer? They had a lot about him coming from a defense background. Although there was interestingly no mention of the first lightgun.

[caesarbear]

ug, Black & White as the centerpiece and Wagner James Au praising it. This show has jumped the shark.

[Anti-Bunny]

Did you sleep through the interview with Ralph Baer? They had a lot about him coming from a defense background. Although there was interestingly no mention of the first lightgun.I guess I missed them mentioning the Odyssey. Side note, a few days after I watched this, History Channel had their own documentary on about Video Games, including an interview with him and specifically showcased his light gun game as part of it.

[caesarbear]

What is with History and Discovery trying to copy each others shows?

[Aeon221]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling%27s_law

Basically, they've got every incentive to make themselves as similar as possible in order to ensure that they have equal access to all consumers.