I recently got a Netflix trial subscription and started watching some films I had been meaning to watch, but then turned my attention to some gaming related documentaries.
Bedrooms to Billions. What stunned me most about this was that the entire narrative came from the people being interviewed and not any narration. I did crave for more in depth information about companies and individuals and hopefully the creators (who are currently making a sequel about the Amiga Years) will make more films. One thing it did help me understand was how and why the British game industry died, and it was down to lack of government grants and assistance.
Atari: Game Over. I knew of the home console crash in the early to mid-1980s, but it affected the industry more than the retail sector, and by then I was already engrossed into the UK computer scene, but it did reveal that while E.T. was a poor game compared to its contemporaries, it wasn't the sole reason Atari and the industry failed wholesale.
Indie Game: The Movie is a story about 3 independent development teams on the way to releasing their long awaited indie game. What was most telling about the film was how neurotic and paranoid and obsessive some of the these programmers are, how difficult they are as human beings to relate to, and how they view success and failure in totally different ways to normal people. They are both fascinating and frustrating to watch in the interviews.
Downloaded. I have just started watching this, but it is a stunning portrayal of the events that blew the internet and music industry wide open and turned the internet from a data viewing and storage system into a global communications tool, as well as a global sharing medium. Watching this left me with nothing but resentment for the people blocking progress, and resolved even more to never buy music again, but support the smaller bands.
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