Netflix - High Score - video game history documentary

The Dollop had an episode on Atari, ET part starts after 34 mins -

Enjoyed the first episode. Reviews appear to be split between people who enjoyed it because it offers a few insights into gaming history in a not-overly-wordy fashion, and those who dislike it because it's not a thirty hour deep dive into absolutely everything.

Jordan UK wrote:

GrinWithoutaKat wrote:

Jordan UK wrote:I watched the first two episodes yesterday. Quite enjoyed it. There were a lot things I didn't know. I didn't know how close Nintendo came to being sued out of existence for their use of (Donkey) Kong. I always found Donkey Kong to be a clear riff on King Kong. Quite surprised they got away with it.

Not watched it yet, but I seem to remember from the Game Over book that they didn't really deny it was a rip-off, but it would found that King Kong was actually public domain?

They kind of alluded to that in the show. They had John Kirby state that they argued that it was widely used term (Kong) in Japan so wasn't really an infringement. They also emphasised that, had they lost, Nintendo would have been nixed. Seems so blatant a rip off to me.

I think I've seen docs about that court case and IIRC the key thing wasn't Nintendo arguing that Kong was public domain but that Universal themselves had argued (successfully) that he was public domain in court in order to avoid paying royalties the past. So Universal themselves had set the legal precedent that Kong was public domain, Nintendo just helped 'remind them'.

Cheeky Devlin wrote:

Mafro wrote:Does this spend any time on the history of the UK gaming scene or does it just skip it and act like it never happened like a lot of US-made video game history documentaries do?

I've not watched it yet but I would assume it ignores it.

I'm also assuming it goes into detail on the "Crash" and how "Nintendo saved video games" despite the rest of the world continuing on quite nicely.

Might watch some today.

I've watched the first two (anf a bit of the third) episodes and it seems to be very US centric so far, seems to completely ignore that Sega existed in the 70's and 80's so nothing about the Master System

I really really enjoyed it, I agree it is ignores the European side of things but it does offer info on things other documentaries and youtube videos have not touched on, Id recommend watching it but theres lots of other things online worth watching as well gaming is a massive massive thing and no 6 part documentary was going to cover it all.

Skarjo wrote:

Jordan UK wrote:

GrinWithoutaKat wrote:

Jordan UK wrote:I watched the first two episodes yesterday. Quite enjoyed it. There were a lot things I didn't know. I didn't know how close Nintendo came to being sued out of existence for their use of (Donkey) Kong. I always found Donkey Kong to be a clear riff on King Kong. Quite surprised they got away with it.

Not watched it yet, but I seem to remember from the Game Over book that they didn't really deny it was a rip-off, but it would found that King Kong was actually public domain?

They kind of alluded to that in the show. They had John Kirby state that they argued that it was widely used term (Kong) in Japan so wasn't really an infringement. They also emphasised that, had they lost, Nintendo would have been nixed. Seems so blatant a rip off to me.

I think I've seen docs about that court case and IIRC the key thing wasn't Nintendo arguing that Kong was public domain but that Universal themselves had argued (successfully) that he was public domain in court in order to avoid paying royalties the past. So Universal themselves had set the legal precedent that Kong was public domain, Nintendo just helped 'remind them'.

They kind of skimmed over the details for dramatic effect but it was enjoyable nevertheless - not a part of video game history that I know much about. Started watching episode 3 last night. Some notable absentees from the adventure genre. A great series but quite selective in its presentation.

We started watching at the weekend, really enjoyed the first episode. Perfect Sunday morning breakfast tv.

I didn't realise it was narrated by Charles Martinet. I'm not used to hearing his natural voice.

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:I didn't realise it was narrated by Charles Martinet. I'm not used to hearing his natural voice.

The Mario voice is his natural voice, he's putting this one on