A TV show that examines the history, culture and oddities of video games. Each episode focuses on a specific year and the influential games of that year.A TV show that examines the history, culture and oddities of video games. Each episode focuses on a specific year and the influential games of that year.A TV show that examines the history, culture and oddities of video games. Each episode focuses on a specific year and the influential games of that year.
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Addictive, But Missing Some Substance
The Video Game Years was a series Pat Contri (Pat the NES Punk) created back in 2012. It's a great time capsule of three key timeframes in video game history: The rise (and fall) of Atari, the Golden Age of Arcade Video Games, and the domination of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Other platforms like Sega, PC gaming, and others also are given mentions. Starting in 1977 and ending in 1989, it gives a snapshot of 12 very important years in the growth of the video game industry.
The show is set up in similar style to VH-1's "I Love the 80s" series. Key games are highlighted, as are accessories, consoles, moments, and more. The show also airs old advertisements, talks about pop culture at the time, brings up more obscure games, and even points out the popular pinball machines of the time.
The series is a bit of a time capsule. This was YouTube in the early years, when retro gaming was at the height of popularity, and seeing many of these gaming YouTubers together is a bit strange. For example, Tommy Tallarico is a part of the series, yet he and Pat the NES Punk had a very prominent falling out, so very odd seeing them together. Other YouTubers in this series have long since left the platform or retro gaming, some have passed away, and of course others, like Pat or James Rolfe, are still going strong. It's a time capsule, not just of the early years of video gaming, but of a different era of YouTube.
Two reasons I give this series a 6. One, there is a little too much reliance on YouTubers instead of industry professionals. Yes, some are here like Intellivision's Keith Robinson, Nintendo's Howard Phillips and Atari's Howard Scott Warshaw, but I wish there was more from them to give the series a little more authenticity. The other thing that annoyed me was when a subject came up that obviously was something that either wasn't known by the show or wasn't of interest, they would do a very basic "uh yeah, it's a game, cool." It felt almost like a check box they felt like they had to so people wouldn't yell at them about "hey, what about this game?" I almost would have rather they just put in a quick mention or something, it comes off a bit lazy.
Overall, it's a fun series, but it's quite apparent in many ways that this was an early YouTube production by some of the production choices and somewhat "on the cheap" feel to it. You will learn a few things, but they will drive you nuts by how they skim over or skip certain subjects.
The show is set up in similar style to VH-1's "I Love the 80s" series. Key games are highlighted, as are accessories, consoles, moments, and more. The show also airs old advertisements, talks about pop culture at the time, brings up more obscure games, and even points out the popular pinball machines of the time.
The series is a bit of a time capsule. This was YouTube in the early years, when retro gaming was at the height of popularity, and seeing many of these gaming YouTubers together is a bit strange. For example, Tommy Tallarico is a part of the series, yet he and Pat the NES Punk had a very prominent falling out, so very odd seeing them together. Other YouTubers in this series have long since left the platform or retro gaming, some have passed away, and of course others, like Pat or James Rolfe, are still going strong. It's a time capsule, not just of the early years of video gaming, but of a different era of YouTube.
Two reasons I give this series a 6. One, there is a little too much reliance on YouTubers instead of industry professionals. Yes, some are here like Intellivision's Keith Robinson, Nintendo's Howard Phillips and Atari's Howard Scott Warshaw, but I wish there was more from them to give the series a little more authenticity. The other thing that annoyed me was when a subject came up that obviously was something that either wasn't known by the show or wasn't of interest, they would do a very basic "uh yeah, it's a game, cool." It felt almost like a check box they felt like they had to so people wouldn't yell at them about "hey, what about this game?" I almost would have rather they just put in a quick mention or something, it comes off a bit lazy.
Overall, it's a fun series, but it's quite apparent in many ways that this was an early YouTube production by some of the production choices and somewhat "on the cheap" feel to it. You will learn a few things, but they will drive you nuts by how they skim over or skip certain subjects.
- benkizer-39434
- Oct 31, 2022
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