Video Games: The Movie (2014)

Simply A Masterpiece

A Masterpiece!

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

I have to agree with some of the other reviewer, the whole documentary is very much biased towards the view of certain industry leaders. So starting with Pong somehow appeals to all, but from there, there are really gaping holes in the story, using a flashy timeline or not. Would have expected that the gaming started with text based games like Startrek or Zork. None of that. Early network games like Snipe. ? Role and development of AI and how it affects the games. Why do the ghosts in pacman move the way they do? It only mentions some detail about graphics, which are important, but game-play and AI being much more important to get just that brittle mix of defeat and victory that makes games addictive. What about the rise and fall of the home computers? Commodore 64 / ZX Spectrum / Acorn. Dare I say Amiga which at the time was ahead of all consoles. Also, their influence on the game industry. I think that most of the current game designers spent their youth with one of those. PC gaming: Leisure Suite Larry / and Kings/Police Quest, Tetris, Rayman, Prince of Persia and so on. All in all I found it to be disappointing and a waste of time. Kept viewing till the end in the hope that it would somehow get better... it didn't. Not sure for which audience it was made. It's omissions are too obvious and irritating for old-skool gamers like me, and people who know nothing about video-games ( aliens?) are presented with very incomplete and biased story.

First, the good news. If you enjoy your Video Game history books & documentaries, you will more than likely enjoy this. It's a fun overview of gaming, with plenty of enjoyable parts to make you nostalgic and entertained, done in that very slick, polished US Hollywood kind of way. A few celebrities pop through and talk about the effect gaming has had on their lives as well. Yes, I enjoyed it, and will purchase the DVD when it comes out next month as I love documentaries on the gaming industry. Now the bad news. It's very lightweight. It omits far too much to be considered a decent documentary on gaming history- And the earlier Documentary "Game Invasion"- which still made too many omissions- is still superior in that regard of better fuller coverage of the industry. If you are looking for a fun overview of gaming to watch, and can forgive many, MANY, omissions- and can forgive a bit of industry Cheerleading- you will still be entertained by this. Perhaps adding an extra 30-45mins and adding more detail may have sorted some of the issues. I think the reason there are quite a few exceptionally poor reviews for this, is because many feel this movie could have and should have been so much more, was hyped to be more, so left many disappointed. We still wait for the definitive Video Game History documentary. The recently released 'From Bedrooms to Billions' is a brilliant example of how it can be done- Which covers the early UK gaming industry. We need a similar thing done for the industry in general.

A video game's basis goes back to technology. Technology is what got us to this point today. The internet and several other mediums are the very things that allow billions of people around the world to communicate the way we currently do. Just imagine how much slower the world would move without it. Not only this, but there would also be various other things missing as well. In this documentary, first time feature writer/director Jeremy Snead, gives us this intriguing movie about the history of video games, how they came to be, evolved and continue to endure today.Best known for playing Samwise 'Sam' Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings franchise, Sean Astin narrates the documentary through assorted lenses. Initially to brief their audience, Astin and Snead chuck out a bunch of statistical information about video games. Topics like what percentages of age groups play them, how many play between each gender and how many roughly per home. It's an efficient ice breaker to help their viewers understand just how significant video games are right now (of course those numbers will change over time). After this, the real captivating information begins to unfold starting from the beginning. Who invented the video game? It's interesting to know because for those who are in engineering, probably would not have much of a clue because video games are a marriage between science and art. Most of the time, engineering schools stick to the science and do not include the art.The other subjects discussed are the types of roadblocks the gaming industry came across. One of the biggest issues mentioned was the video game crash after the release of Atari's E.T. in 1983, which also was covered by The Angry Video Game Nerd for anyone who follows cinemassacre.com. Other problems such as the affects of simulated violence on children and the whole universal perspective of gamers as a community are also talked about; along with the possibility of future gaming in general. Plus, gaming as a culture has had a massive effect on how people live today as well. It may seem like there's not many, but there's more to it. The fact that there's an underground society that only casual gamers might not have even considered. Gaming has a big following - no doubt about that. These are just a few of several subtopics examined throughout the film's running time.As an actual documentary, it's largely solid. The crew was able to get multiple interview snippets of various people who either worked on video games, actors or even the creators themselves. To name a few; Zach Braff, Cliff Bleszinski, Chloe Dykstra, Donald Faison, Chris Hardwick, Wil Wheaton, Max Landis (story writer to the cult film Chronicle (2012)) and Nolan Bushnell (creator of Atari). When it came to visuals, the majority of the film cuts to a time line with numerous icons that showcase the particular year, thus segueing into the next topic of discussion. That's not all though. The crew also likes to insert a diverse amount of video game clips from different eras and even home videos of people playing games or news anchors of different broadcasting stations. It gives it a very nostalgic feel.The cinematography, also provided by writer/director Jeremy Snead, has the ability to show the culture of video games today. Examples like this are the conventions people attend, the massive competitions that take place in super stadiums and the atmosphere of which the culture has grown from. It's actually somewhat overwhelming because of how passionate these people really are. The only minor flaw to this documentary is Craig Richey's score. Viewers should be able to hear from time to time with its soft piano and occasional nostalgic 8-bit songs, but it gets overshadowed frequently. This is either due to the inclusion of contemporary music or just because it wasn't emphasized at the right time. This also isn't Richey's first composition so I wonder if he didn't think all that much effort was needed. Oh well, it's still very cool to watch.This documentary pretty much covers all bases here on video games. Even though it's musical score isn't as effective as it could; the writer/director is able to give its viewers and fans the best information available about why gaming is so popular and how it became that popular.

I really loved the documentary. I feel like its something which people who do have a very negative opinion on not only video games but, also technology in general should watch and they might alter their original views. As someone who loves technology, watching the history and cultural aspects of the gaming world was intriguing and inspiring. The way they incorporated the fact that some people believe that video games make murders and cause violence I think was done really well. It shows how much more accepting the gaming industry is compared to mainstream media, who always seem to twist things and show the bad in everything without really looking at the bigger picture. Maybe I'm biased because I do love technology but for me at least I really enjoyed it, far more than most documentaries which a lot of the time is outdated and I find frustrating.