Tivo Alert - "Rise of the Video Game" Documentary Begins Tonight

Tivo Alert - "Rise of the Video Game" Documentary Begins Tonight

November 20, 2007
Up front, I must confess that I no longer possess the famed GamePolitics Tivo which has spawned so many game-related program alerts over the last few years.

When I switched my service to Verizon's FIOS a few months back I found that my Tivo unit and the FIOS set-top box didn't play nicely together, so I've opted for the plain-vanilla DVR boxes FIOS offers. I thought about changing the title of articles like this one to "DVR Alert," but it just doesn't have the same ring, so...

The Rise of the Video Game, a new five-part documentary begins tonight on Discovery Channel. From the press release:
Long before the coming of "Halo 3," there was "Pong," and your parents really dug it.  is a five-part documentary series that traces the history of the medium from its crude beginnings to the mind-blowing, eye-popping phenomenon of today. 8 p.m., Discovery Channel.

This 5-part series is a comprehensive, pixel-by-pixel exploration of videogames and entertainment systems, from their beginning in the early 1970s to today. From Pong to Playstation 3, this series goes from evolution to revolution, playtime to primetime – following the amazing business that’s changing how entertainment is created, produced, marketed and distributed.

The games & systems featured in tonight's opening episode are enough to make an old-school gamer weep with nostalgia:

Tennis for Two, Spacewar!, Magnavox Odyssey, Pong, Space Invaders, Pac Man, Atari 2600, E.T. the game, Tetris...

We're not sure if this appears in the documentary, but the Discovery Channel PR rep alerted GP to this classic commercial:

Comments

I looked, but it didn't air over here in Canada for some odd reason :/ .
Thank you for all of the help that are! I am 14, and I'm doing a 2500 word paper on Violence In Video Games, and I love this place. Keep it up!

Ryan out.
May your Tivo rest in piece.
i was confused and scared after the giant arm came from the sky
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oops, sorry that didn't work. Never mind. It was supposed to be a grave for poor Tivo. Oh well.
[...] Up front, I must confess that I no longer possess the famed GamePolitics Tivo which has spawned so many game-related program alerts over the last few years. When I switched my service to Verizon’s FIOS a few months back I found that my Tivo unit and the FIOS set-top box didn’t play nicely together, so I’ve opted for the […] (more game news…) [...]
@ Ryan L

It's funny because I just saw some guy talking to his teacher about writing a 2500 word essay on video game violence yesterday at my high school.
I actually mentioned this a little while back in the forums but didn't email you about it because I figured you already knew. :)

Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
OOOO! Game documentary! GottawatchGottawatchGottawatch. :D
@ Geno

I doubt it was me. I'm homeschooled!
Thank you for the notice - this blog is great ;)
IT'LL LEAVE SKID MARKS ON YOUR SOUL!

That commercial makes me smile.
I watched the first two episodes of this series, and could not watch any more. It is horrible. I mean, it's slick and well-produced, but they play games with the information to manufacture a dramatic narrative. They have HUGE blindspots when it is convenient for them, and then will later have to contradict themselves. Hey, did you know Sierra Online invented the adventure genre? I nearly ate my TV.
Hey I just got FIOS and plan on hooking up my TiVo as soon as a new set of IR control cables comes in the mail (I apparently threw mine out but TiVo was nice enough to send me a new cable free of charge). What problems did you have? I'd be really sad if I couldn't keep my beloved TiVo.
Does anyone know what time this airs?
LOL This makes me feel old, when I owned an Atari 2600, I don't think it even had a number in it's name, it was just 'The Atari' because the only other real console on the market was 'The Binatone', with Colecovision popping up a few years later iirc.

But then, admittedly, my first computer was a ZX81, bought in '81...
Well. IT was certainly informative, but nothing I didn't already know. I doubt this mini-series will get the kind of depth I want. :/ It's like reading Kent's "Ultimate History of Video Games" again. Still worth a watch. how often do we get documentaries about games?
Agnosto,

But, then again, you've read the ultimate history of video games! This documentary is mainstream (cable) on a respected channel (Discovery). It's made for people who don't know video games, and does go a ways toward dispelling the 'just for kids' myth. I just hope they treat the violence angle fairly. When's the next installment? GP, tivo alert me up!
It was the one about narratives in games that really pissed me off. They credit the cheap rip offs and late comers as the innovators. They come up with ridiculous thesis that they have to warp the facts to fit, and then it just gets awful when they try to use EA sporting games to support the idea that a good narrative is essential to a good game. I think that was the second (and for me, final) episode.
Well this bodes well ...

"Long before the coming of “Halo 3,” there was “Pong,” and your parents really dug it." No they didn't, & neither did most gamers parents. idiots.
The second episode effectively said. GTA is the video game market. There is no .jp game in America.

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:36am
Austin_Lewis: Or, maybe he or someone else at the base ordered the SS190 from FN Herstal.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:32am
Austin_Lewis: the hands of private owners. They run about 300 dollars minimum for a box of 50, and boxes of AP 5.7 are extremely scarce, mainly residing in the hands of Class III stores or individuals who for one reason or another got a demo box of it.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:30am
Austin_Lewis: There are other firearms that fire the 5.7. However, I too would like to know where he got the ammo and what kind was used. Maybe Hasan, planning not to live through this, went out and bought one the boxes of SS190 that are floating around in
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:44am
JDKJ: And it isn't yet clear what type of ammunition Hasan used. It's strange that he purchased a gun but didn't purchase ammunition for it at the same place and time. Especially because the calibre required is peculiar to the actual gun.
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:40am
JDKJ: We can sit here all day and debate the relative merits. However, I think the events of recent days suggest that an FN Five-Seven ain't exactly the same as that Daisy BB gun you got for Christmas when you were a kid.
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:38am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: tumbling can be quite dangerous. However, the rounds that commonly tumbled were variants of the SS90. Civilian ammo tends to tumble far less commonly.
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:33am
JDKJ: I understand that while they don't have much expansion effect, they tend to "yaw" on impact. Yaw can be almost just as damaging as mushrooming.
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:30am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: Except when one considers the lack of expansion for the 5.7, it basically ends up leaving a far smaller hole.
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:29am
JDKJ: But if the latter's travelling at close to twice the speed of the former, there's a compensatory effect on the weight difference.
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