14th April 2003, 1:55 PM
Quote:TLC will air a documentary called Gameheadz about the people and systems that most formed what we know as the videogame industry today. It chronicles the visionaries, inventors, and the story of computer games. The premier will be on Wednesday April 16th at 10 PM EST/PST. Atari's founder Nolan Bushnell and Pong's creator Al Alcorn tell their story, and Activision's founder explains the industry collapse in 1983. Ralph Baer explains the Odyssey system and what really began videogaming.
After the downfall of Atari, Nintendo came in and built the industry back up again. Shigeru Miyamoto gets the nod for being the main contibutor behind the resurgance of videogames and famous franchise characters. Miyamoto tells an intriguing story of how he was asked to design his first game - Donkey Kong and talks about his childhood spent exploring the Japanese countryside and how it inspired his magical thinking.
Miyamoto will also perform the theme tune to Super Mario Bros. on his guitar. He then reveals how he came up with the formula of Zelda, which game critics at the time said was doomed for failure. Nintendo's dominance in the game industry was assured by Nintendo's picking up of the world rights for Tetris. Henk Rogers tells how he went to Communist Russia and befriended the games creator Alexey Pajitnov. Lastly, Pajitnov speaks on how he came up with the idea of Tetris.
I am definitely watching this.
Nintendophiles
Sometimes you get the scorpion.