The Video Game Critic

New video games series on Netflix. Got ET designer on it. Space invaders designer also.

Watched the first episode this afternoon. Learned a few things about the 70's-early 80's era of gaming that I didn't know about. So far, so good.

Though the person who developed the very first video game system with interchangeable games was Ralph Baer. A Jewish chap who escaped Nazi oppression and moved over to America with his family.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_H._Baer
Although the Magnavox Odyssey was primitive by today's standards, it did have games that were sold separately. Also it has a light gun peripheral. It was a very basic system by all accounts but what Ralph did do was copyright his idea. Only selling about 350 000 units in 3 years may seem not to be a success but he made his money off the copyrights. About £100 million was made.

So the Channel F (F for fun) came out. It was the first console to have ROM cartridges but they were just a way of making good on Ralph's earlier ideas. Again although this was a second gen console it was again extremely limited. So it did innovate Ralph's ideas but he is the progenitor (it is a shame that they could not just give some credence to someone I admire so much)

You can see why the Atari 2600 sank it.

Credit where credit is due.

I watched the whole series last night. It's one of those kind of things where you start watching and can't stop.

I like how they told stories from unique points of view. The game counselor. The Nintendo tournament winner. The guys who made "upgrade" kits for arcade machines. The episodes were entertaining.

Then there was the LGTB/racial angle that seemed to be present in EVERY episode. It's like Netflix had a list of goals, with the top of the list being social justice. How else would you explain this game list of games they focused on: Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Gay Blade? Like it or leave it, Netflix has a clear agenda.

VideoGameCritic wrote:I watched the whole series last night. It's one of those kind of things where you start watching and can't stop.

I like how they told stories from unique points of view. The game counselor. The Nintendo tournament winner. The guys who made "upgrade" kits for arcade machines. The episodes were entertaining.

Then there was the LGTB/racial angle that seemed to be present in EVERY episode. It's like Netflix had a list of goals, with the top of the list being social justice. How else would you explain this game list of games they focused on: Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Gay Blade? Like it or leave it, Netflix has a clear agenda.

Thanks, I just thought it was me.

BlasteroidAli wrote:Though the person who developed the very first video game system with interchangeable games was Ralph Baer. A Jewish chap who escaped Nazi oppression and moved over to America with his family.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_H._Baer
Although the Magnavox Odyssey was primitive by today's standards, it did have games that were sold separately. Also it has a light gun peripheral. It was a very basic system by all accounts but what Ralph did do was copyright his idea. Only selling about 350 000 units in 3 years may seem not to be a success but he made his money off the copyrights. About £100 million was made.

Patented, not copyrighted.

Then there was the LGTB/racial angle that seemed to be present in EVERY episode. It's like Netflix had a list of goals, with the top of the list being social justice. How else would you explain this game list of games they focused on: Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Gay Blade? Like it or leave it, Netflix has a clear agenda.

Unfortunately, this nonsense is here to stay. I don't mind that type of content when it is organic but is always so obviously shoehorned into everything now a days. All you need to do is watch tv commercials. Now I don't want to watch it.

Well I watched the first two episodes and it pretty good. I love "Shaun", the video game counselor (or whatever they were called) that worked for Nintendo's game hotline...very funny. Of course, being a child of the 80's it's very nostalgic as well. My only complaint is that it jumps around a bit but not too bad. Looking forward to the remaining episodes.

I've watched 3 episodes so far. I think it's great that Netflix did this.. Video game documentaries have become a lot more popular in the past 5 years or so, but they're mostly by small indie studios. By Netflix commissioning this, it means (#1) it actually gets a budget behind it and it shows, and (#2) it'll actually reach a good sized audience. I think the target audience is teenagers and young adults, which is a good thing - even if the doc isn't perfect, it's still teaching the current generation of gamers about the past generations. Most adult gamers, let alone teenagers, know surprisingly little (or nothing) about gaming in the 70s and 80s.

Like BlasteroidAli said, my biggest complaint is the exclusion of Ralph Baer. The first episode just jumps into Arcades/Atari/Channel F.. how hard is it to throw in 5 minutes mentioning Ralph Baer and the other early milestones, like Space War, Tennis for Two, and Pong? Or gloss over them for 90 seconds - but at least mention them. I liked the Channel F bit, but honestly Magnavox Odyssey and early games should have taken that spot. It feels criminal to leave Ralph Baer out of the conversation for a gaming history documentary.

Yeah Netflix is the worst about being “inclusive”. I not offended by that stuff, but man, they really go out of their way to throw it in