Current Events > High Score on Netflix.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Anyone check this out? It's a documentary mini-series about the birth and development of video games through the years. It seems interesting.
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On episode 2 atm. Loving it.

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I intend on trying it, it looks interesting

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Have it on my watch list
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Just finished the first episode and I enjoyed it. Going to check out the next.

Also, it says Season 1 so I guess it's not a mini-series. Sorry for lying.
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Do they interview any developers or people in the industry that worked on the games they are talking about?
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Smashingpmkns posted...

Have it on my watch list

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Smashingpmkns posted...

Do they interview any developers or people in the industry that worked on the games they are talking about?

Yup, at least in the first episode. Thats almost exclusively what it was
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At this point, can they really tell us anything we dont already know? It seems like this documentary might be more interesting to people who dont spend all day on GameFAQs.

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Cornmuffins posted...

Yup, at least in the first episode. Thats almost exclusively what it was

I feel like they're talking more to people who won competitions back in the day than actual developers.

Finished it a bit after midnight, great series, can't wait for the next season.

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BeyondWalls posted...

At this point, can they really tell us anything we dont already know? It seems like this documentary might be more interesting to people who dont spend all day on GameFAQs.

teah thats what Ive stayed away from it, this isnt for me i already know all those stories

It is interesting but based on episode 1, it really isn't a comprehensive history of the video games. It is more of here are a bunch of anecdotal, mostly unrelated stories of varying degrees of importance.

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YellowSUV posted...

It is interesting but based on episode 1, it really isn't a comprehensive history of the video games. It is more of here are a bunch of anecdotal, mostly unrelated stories of varying degrees of importance.

Yeah I'm watching it now and I like it but it's really not that well put together as far as that goes

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I watched the RPG episode last night. Good, but it was kind of annoying how pretty much EVERYTHING about Final Fantasy was talked about through the lens of Nomura, as critically important as he was.

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I plan on watching soon

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It has some interesting interviews but I thought it was badly organized and outright wrong about many of the things they said. There are some good in-depth documentaries on YouTube for people who want an accurate and complete history, but this show has some fun interviews so it has some value. The people who made it clearly don't play many games though, some errors include showing a Sonic ROM hack in place of actual footage. Calling Final Fantasy IV footage, footage from FFI. Suggesting first person games didn't exist before DooM/Wolfenstein 3D, and suggesting those games used polygons. Calling the Super FX chip the first in cartridge add-on chip when those existed since the NES era. Crediting Atari with inventing cartridges. Not mentioning RPGs like Dragon Quest and Wizardry and instead suggesting Final Fantasy was an originator.

Those are just off the top of my head.

Oh and one of my favorites, calling fighting games "fight games". That one is great because they say it so many times and you just assume it was an error the first time and then it keeps happening. "A Japanese fight game".

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ssjevot posted...

Crediting Atari with inventing cartridges.

Just want to point out that they specifically stated quite the opposite, that Atari did not invent cartridges but their popularity overshadowed the company that did.

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Zanzenburger posted...

Just want to point out that they specifically stated quite the opposite, that Atari did not invent cartridges but their popularity overshadowed the company that did.

I don't want to rewatch it, but did they really mention the Fairchild Channel F? I feel I would have recalled that.

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ssjevot posted...

I don't want to rewatch it, but did they really mention the Fairchild Channel F? I feel I would have recalled that.

100% very first episode, towards the end

They also talk about ultima and other predecessors to console RPGs, though I dunno how I feel about omitting DQ specifically

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How much does it get wrong? Makes you wonder if it was made by someone who's spent 30+ years of gaming or at least has legit knowledge or it was made by someone who has no idea what they're talking about.

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Mr_Karate_II posted...

How much does it get wrong? Makes you wonder if it was made by someone who's spent 30+ years of gaming or at least has legit knowledge or it was made by someone who has no idea what they're talking about.

I didn't notice any of those inaccuracies and I would normally say I just didn't pay enough attention (I didn't like the Romero episode so I did kinda tune out from that) but in this case ssjevot misrepresented something that was made pretty obvious which kind of undercut his credibility imo

It gets the general story behind Atari, Sega and Nintendo basically right at least as far as America goes

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Like I don't even understand how you can watch it and remember it talking about the origin of cartridges at all and not remember they bring up the channel f. The way they bring up cartridges at all is this kid wins an Atari competition and mentions cartridges in his interview and they go right to an interview with the Fairchild channel f creators family to talk about how he made cartridges and it was tough being a 6'6" black engineer in silicon valley at the time

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Balrog0 posted...

100% very first episode, towards the end

They also talk about ultima and other predecessors to console RPGs, though I dunno how I feel about omitting DQ specifically

They do not talk about Wizardry or Rogue. Ultima is important, never said it wasn't. Since Final Fantasy didn't innovate anything and was inspired by Dragon Quest and other Western RPGs not mentioning them is an oversight.

The best parts were easily interviews with old tournament players and obscure indie game makers so I don't want to say those should have been omitted. They just clashed with the narrative of trying to present video game history. It felt instead like a mish mash of interviews.

Yeah I checked the first episode and you are right they mention it near the end.

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ssjevot posted...

They do not talk about Wizardry or Rogue. Ultima is important, never said it wasn't. Since Final Fantasy didn't innovate anything and was inspired by Dragon Quest and other Western RPGs not mentioning them is an oversight.

The best parts were easily interviews with old tournament players and obscure indie game makers so I don't want to say those should have been omitted. They just clashed with the narrative of trying to present video game history. It felt instead like a mish mash of interviews.

I agree with that. There were a lot of issues with the format, it ultimately just felt like disconnected interviews. But still interesting ones mostly

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I remember the Nintendo game counselors LOL

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They also suggested Amano designed the monsters for Final Fantasy when he just designed the characters. The monsters were lifted from D&D and they were forced to remove the Beholder from later releases (but got to keep the Mindflayer for some reason). Dragon Quest actually used all original monster designs by Akira Toriyama.

For Final Fantasy the most interesting story would have been Nasir Gebelli programming the first three. Interviews with him are worth checking out because he didn't just not know Japanese, he didn't know what an RPG was, and yet he programmed it.

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SaltyWet posted...

I remember the Nintendo game counselors LOL

I never knew about that. The hand drawn maps was quite impressive.

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Balrog0 posted...

I didn't notice any of those inaccuracies and I would normally say I just didn't pay enough attention (I didn't like the Romero episode so I did kinda tune out from that) but in this case ssjevot misrepresented something that was made pretty obvious which kind of undercut his credibility imo

It gets the general story behind Atari, Sega and Nintendo basically right at least as far as America goes

1 thing out of the inaccuracies he listed was wrong.

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Mr_Karate_II posted...

1 thing out of the inaccuracies he listed was wrong.

1) at least one
2) it wasnt incidentally wrong, it was the exact opposite of what the doc said
3) just don't watch it

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I'm sure it wouldn't tell me anything I don't already know about the games I actually care about.
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im on the episode about adventure games and RPGs

its not too bad but i dont like getting the people to act

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Not a fan of starting out the series with that damn ET video game designer. He's seriously made sure to put himself out there on almost any retrospective video game documentary, including plenty of independent stuff out on YouTube.

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ssjevot posted...

I don't want to rewatch it, but did they really mention the Fairchild Channel F? I feel I would have recalled that.

It was the part about how the developer was an early African-American game developer, they were telling his grandson about him

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masticatingman posted...

Not a fan of starting out the series with that damn ET video game designer. He's seriously made sure to put himself out there on almost any retrospective video game documentary, including plenty of independent stuff out on YouTube.

That guy must really want attention, even if it means being known as the creator of the so called "worst game of all time".

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its good, wouldnt say its great or anything tho.

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Richard Garriott is still just a big kid, huh?

masticatingman posted...

Not a fan of starting out the series with that damn ET video game designer. He's seriously made sure to put himself out there on almost any retrospective video game documentary, including plenty of independent stuff out on YouTube.

Here's him dancing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeZ_I8qhjWw

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haven't watched it yet but looks interesting so i definitely will at sme point

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I was kinda annoyed by the Nintendo World Championship tbh. Here you have these 40-50 year olds firmly believing they were among the top of the world's gaming community ...seemingly after 3 decades still unaware that the "World" Championship had participants from a single country. It must have been absolutely mind blowing as a small child, but as an adult you should probably realize that if it had been an actual global thing you're very likely not "the best". Hell, Japanese kids would've likely wiped the floor with 99% of Western participants.

Cornmuffins posted...

Anyone check this out? It's a documentary mini-series about the birth and development of video games through the years. It seems interesting.

I hate netflix price

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I watched the first few episodes. It's worth watching if your interested in gaming history.

They do awkwardly shoehorn in some LGBT stuff for no particular reason, but whatever

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Watched the first ep last night. I did not know about Channel F. Best part of the episode imo. That was a pretty heart warming and also kinda sad segment. Never really thought about the creation of cartridges.
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Solid Snake07 posted...

I watched the first few episodes. It's worth watching if your interested in gaming history.

They do awkwardly shoehorn in some LGBT stuff for no particular reason, but whatever

The woke stuff just comes off as so random and not needed.
Like the Madden Ep, the ONLY thing people were stoked about with Madden 95 was that the passing windows were gone, and that you could see who you're passing to down the field with the buttons underneath the player.
And some of the others one they talked about farrrrr too long.

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DystopiaMan posted...

The woke stuff just comes off as so random and not needed.
Like the Madden Ep, the ONLY thing people were stoked about with Madden 95 was that the passing windows were gone, and that you could see who you're passing to down the field with the buttons underneath the player.
And some of the others one they talked about farrrrr too long.

What do passing windows and buttons over players have to do with woke stuff?

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ssjevot posted...

They also suggested Amano designed the monsters for Final Fantasy when he just designed the characters. The monsters were lifted from D&D and they were forced to remove the Beholder from later releases (but got to keep the Mindflayer for some reason). Dragon Quest actually used all original monster designs by Akira Toriyama.

For Final Fantasy the most interesting story would have been Nasir Gebelli programming the first three. Interviews with him are worth checking out because he didn't just not know Japanese, he didn't know what an RPG was, and yet he programmed it.

that is amazing.

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YellowSUV posted...

What do passing windows and buttons over players have to do with woke stuff?

They don't mention what I said in the episode, instead they focus on a guy that got them to change the skin color of every player to black for the game (And he randomlly goes "I'm black & gay")
I never noticed the teams went from all white to all black players (apparentoly you could only have the whole team be one color in football games).

And they acted like this was revolutionary, I never even noticed that difference.

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Tecmo Superbowl had black (and white) players despite being an NES game. I don't think those companies have any excuse for not including black players on a Genesis game.

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