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Quality 'documentaries' on videogaming

jozerojozero Registered User regular
edited March 2009 in Games and Technology
I enjoy quality retrospectives on movements in culture, and finally a few on gaming are starting to appear.

I recently stumbled across 'A Life Well Wasted' podcast. An incredibly well produced podcast that so far has had two episodes.
http://alifewellwasted.com/blog/

Less likely now but 1up had 'filler' episodes for the 1up Show that were just round tables with well known game makers shooting the breeze.

A little more hipster but not bad are the Play Value video podcasts
http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/play-value

Any others? This is less this weeks episode of Law and Order (rebelFM, bombcast, geekbox, 1up, etc) and more PBS Frontline retrospectives.

jozero on

Posts

  • Mr_GrinchMr_Grinch Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    As far as documentaries on videogames go, you can't go far wrong with "King of Kong".

    Fantastic.

    Mr_Grinch on
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  • RyakStormRyakStorm Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    If you were playing Spectrum games in the UK in 1983 then this documentary should be very interesting: Commerical Breaks - Imagine & Ocean software

    I you didn't... then probably not.

    RyakStorm on
  • solsovlysolsovly Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Mr_Grinch wrote: »
    As far as documentaries on videogames go, you can't go far wrong with "King of Kong".

    Fantastic.

    A really entertaining film. Even my non-gamer friends enjoyed it.

    solsovly on
  • ZxerolZxerol for the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't do so i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    jozero wrote: »
    Any others? This is less this weeks episode of Law and Order (rebelFM, bombcast, geekbox, 1up, etc) and more PBS Frontline retrospectives.

    Funny enough, PBS did air a videogame documentary called The Video Game Revolution a while back. It was pretty good, if I remember.

    Zxerol on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    This is an interesting one, relating to all the (silly) controversy over Sega CD's Night Trap

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIUliuDygHk

    cj iwakura on
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  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    From Russia with Love, a great documentary on the creation of Tetris and its many legal battles.

    This is just part one, the rest are on Youtube, but it is very good:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcBIpn6a4yU

    UncleSporky on
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  • Mad_Scientist_WorkingMad_Scientist_Working Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Can we make this a thread on documentaries and books? I actually have a book with a few more probably lying around.

    Mad_Scientist_Working on
  • spacepotatospacepotato Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    http://media.video.ign.com/articles/922/922190/vids_1.html

    A couple months ago, I watched through this series on the life of an Atari employee back in Atari's heyday. Pretty fascinating stuff. There are a ton of parts, but they're each only about 5 minutes (and are all very entertaining).

    spacepotato on
  • BubbaTBubbaT Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Chasing Ghosts is sort of the Antz to King of Kong's A Bug's Life. It focuses on the same era but looks more at the larger arcade craze, while KoK focuses more on the specific Mitchell/Wiebe rivalry.

    Rise of the Videogames is a 5 hour Discovery Channel documentary that isn't bad at the beginning, but bogs down at the end where it talks too much about politically-oriented games like Burnt Ash and professional grinding in MMOs.

    BubbaT on
  • firewaterwordfirewaterword Satchitananda Pais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Not sure if you're interested, as it's a book not a movie, but Smartbomb is a great read. Here's the link to the Amazon page if you care to check it out - it's dirt cheap at the moment and worth the read for sure... (I should say it's somewhat older at this point, but still very worth checking out).

    http://www.amazon.com/Smartbomb-Quest-Entertainment-Videogame-Revolution/dp/B001QCXDG4/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236983107&sr=8-1

    firewaterword on
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  • chasehatesbearschasehatesbears Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Mr_Grinch wrote: »
    As far as documentaries on videogames go, you can't go far wrong with "King of Kong".

    Fantastic.

    I recommend this movie to anyone that I don't hate.

    It will enrich your life.

    be high.

    chasehatesbears on
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