So I found that the majority of documentaries about the world gaming I've ever watched have been rather dull, lacklustre or just plain terrible, but this one I found to be a very fun and excellently done show that's all about video games and the gaming systems from their earliest beginnings all the way through the 80s in a year-by-year basis with the episodes consisting of about three for one year, starting with 1977 and going on from there. They talk about stuff like what the most popular games were at the time and how they were culturally received, as well as the wonderful arcade machines and then moving on to the consoles as they came out and how the technology began to improve as the years passed by, as well as some of the politics and scandals that went along with the business and more political side of the industry. I really found all the episodes, even much the longer ones, to be quite interesting and engrossing to watch, I would recommend this show if you're into video games in general or even if you only were years ago with consoles like the Atari or Nintendo because it's a very well done series, it's episodic but if put it all together it really makes for one of the most thorough and satisfying well-written and presented documentaries about the world of video games that's ever been done, and it very much deserves its high rating on here. And the people talking are guys that are old enough to have lived through most of those gaming innovations and remember when they came out, so they definitely know what they're talking about and they speak of their own personal memories of playing the games, and a lot of them are pretty well known internet game-related personalities that you've probably seen on youtube if you're into all that, like Pat Conti who did "Pat the NES Punk" and many many podcasts since on his channel, and Joe Redifer and David White of "Game Sack", a well made gamer show with a lot of research put into its episodes even if Dave and Joe certainly are not the most sparkling of presenters ever. There's Jay and Daryl Hatfield, two of the three brothers that feature in "The Game Chasers", a down to earth excellent little series about tracking down rare games and toys on the road. James Rolfe and Mike Matei put in an appearance, do I even need to really say as to what certain agitated game playing nerd character they're associated with? There also Norman Caruso who does a much more seriously-toned factual series in the history of gaming of his own, and there's quite a few others besides, it is a gamer experience type of a series not a technological one about how the games were made and stuff like that, I've seen that kind of doc before, no thanks, I much prefer the more personal approach to this what's supposed to be a fun subject! It's a fan campaign funded series, so among things, I think that makes it hard for them to produce new episodes, and that's a real shame because there's a lot of content that they haven't covered as of yet and I don't know if they ever will, they never reached the 90s, and that would've been so awesome to hear everyone's thoughts on my favourite console the Super Nintendo, as well as all of the cool computer game innovations that emerged throughout that very special decade. It's a show that could easily continue and I hope it does someday, but even if it doesn't it's still a brilliant hidden gem of a show about consoles and games that's very much worth checking out if you have an interest in the medium. Have a good one and always happy gaming 🕹
