Did you check out the Video Game Revolution special on PBS last night? It wasn’t anything earth shattering, but it was an interesting look at an industry that has become a huge force in our culture in an astonishing short period of time. The Pong madness of the late 70’s, to the Atari craze of the early 80’s to the Nintendo-led resurrection of the late-80’, all leading up to today, where video games are nearly on par with movies and television as cultural touchstones. And far more economical too, one developer in the series mentions how the movie Goldeneye cost just under $100 million to make and grossed just over $200 million worldwide. The video game version cost $10 million to make, and grossed over $250 million.
Astonishing….
If you missed it, I’m sure it will be on again. Check out the section on PBS.org too. It will take long time gamers down memory lane. Remember how bad ET was? It was also nice, as an ex-pat Seattleite, to see Greg Palmer on my TV screen. It did make me feel old though, I realized that when I first saw his actually interesting human-interest stuff on Seattle TV, I was a child. He was the same age I am now.
Posted by Frinklin at September 9, 2004 11:07 PM