The Video Game Revolution
I finally got around to watching my DVR’d copy of The Video Game Revolution, a documentary of the history of video games on PBS. The piece is a a fun two-hour walk through the history of video games with commentary on their impact on culture. The show revealed a few tidbits I didn’t know, such as the fact that Apple Computer founders Steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak first collaborated at Atari on the game, Breakout. Also interesting was the mention of the pre-pong patent that Magnavox owned over putting gaming images on a Television screen. Apparently they were granted this patent and spent several years suing the pants off of the competition to their failed game console. Unfortunately, the documentary failed to discuss how this patent was logically overturned and when.
My only other criticism of this entertaining show was the annoying practice of showing too many clips of games unrelated to the narration. For example, showing footage of the latest, and arguably poorest, title in the Tomb Raider series as the narrative discusses how ground-breaking the original was. The various installments of Doom and Quake were used equally interchangeably. For a documentary on history, the looseness of these clips seems sloppy. Check out the mini site for the series for some good complimentary articles. Much like their recent music special, The Way the Music Died, PBS has done a fantastic job of building a strong online resource to accompany the piece. I wish that other television shows and movies were equally supported.