Did anyone see the "VIDEO GAME REVOLUTION" documentary on PBS?

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Did anyone see the 2 hour "VIDEO GAME REVOLUTION" documentary on PBS? What did you guys think about it? For those of you who didn't see it....It was a great 2 hour documentary on the history of video games all the way up to very recently with alot of great footage and interviews. It will probably air again so go to this link and check the schedule for your local listings

http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/
 
i saw the last hour. my friend watched the whole thing and thought it was pretty good. i thought it was pretty good from what i saw and they gave a pretty good synopsis of the industry and the many issues that surround(ed) it. they discussed video game violence, the MMORPG phenomenon (and the obsessive behavior that can result from it), new technology, and the console wars. very good programming. people shouldn't knowck PBS - they got good stuff.
 
The first hour covered alot of the history of video games and showed alot of good footage about early home consoles. I liked the whole first hour the best, but the second hour was more about now and the future which I found very good as well. It was great to see all those old home systems and game history.
 
I caught most of it two days ago and while as a whole it was OK, there were a LOT of mistakes, as there often are in these types of shows. For instance, they claimed the SNES came out in the US in 1990 ("a year after the Genesis"), launched with (and they showed footage of) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. C'mon guys, do five minutes of research. The SNES came out here in 1991, but at least they got the year the Genesis came out right, heh. Of course, A Link to the Past was the SNES Zelda title and wasn't a launch title.

It just bugs me that every single documentary I've seen on gaming can't get the most basic of facts straight. I mean, the 16-bit console era only began 15 years ago, it's not like this stuff happened in the 1800s.

I also found it mighty strange that the show focused so sharply on American developers, with hardly any intereviews with the big Japanese devs. On the plus side, the developer interviews were good at least, since unlike the people who did the research for the show, the developers knew what they were talking about :)
 
I enjoyed it, although i didnt like how they would constantly change topics just from mentioning something. The fact that the show didnt always stay consistant really bugged me. Also the ending was annoying. The whole "the future of gaming is Lily" or whatever was really just dumb sentimental crap that i still don't get. The "future of gaming" thing about the holodeck seemed like a dumb joke... or just an excuse to show off PBS's green screen. I did like the maker's interviews. Peter Molyneux and Sid Meyer were both really interesting.
 
nicely said Vyse2k3.

i watched about half of it. got pretty lucky to flip onto PBS and saw video games. i too thought they were doing a program for people who knew basically nothing about video games, except the interviews. and i liked the footage of games yet to be released. they showed them as if they were no big thing, but to a gamer some of that footage was worth the whole show. i'd say the interviews made it worth it, as did the laughs about Mortal Kombat corrupts youth. it was nice to see some of the old FATALITY!!!ies again. parents will blame anything but themselves it seems.
 
[quote name='Goodtone']Did anyone see the 2 hour "VIDEO GAME REVOLUTION" documentary on PBS? What did you guys think about it? For those of you who didn't see it....It was a great 2 hour documentary on the history of video games all the way up to very recently with alot of great footage and interviews. It will probably air again so go to this link and check the schedule for your local listings

http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/[/quote]

http://cheapassgamer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29653&highlight=video+game+revolution

http://cheapassgamer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29981&highlight=video+game+revolution

http://cheapassgamer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30088&highlight=video+game+revolution
 
[quote name='epobirs']So far they don't have it scheduled to play on the local PBS station, KCET inLos Angeles. Odd.[/quote]

I always seem to miss these kind of things, but if it hasn't aired on KCET yet (which we get, as well as KVCR, our local PBS for Riverside county), then maybe I can still catch it. Our Riverside PBS affiliate seems to get things a week later than KCET, so I'll have to check to see if and when it airs.
 
It would be awesome if someone could rip it and put it up for download, because I dont think its going to show here in Phoenix where I am. I looked on the website, and its not even scheduled. If anyone does put it up for download, use Bit Torrent.
 
If people would like to see it, and support the worthy cause of public television, you can purchase a VHS or DVD copy from PBS.

I can't seem to find it on their website, but I remember promos airing during commercial breaks.

As for the show, I thought it was interesting and fairly informative. They did a good job of balancing the various views (anti-violence and pro-freedom of expression, for example). One segment i particularly enjoyed was listening to the developers who now had kids express concern about the content of their games now.
 
I have to agree they took a bunch of short cuts on the timeline of the systems and what they launched with. they didnt even mention the TurboGraphx16 nor the Sony/Nintendo connection that led to the Playstation.
 
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