Sabertooth Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 Who else is watching High Score on Netflix? Episode 1 covers the rise and crash and prominently features HSW and the E.T. story. Thoughts? TrekMD, mmaxfit and StormSurge 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 54 minutes ago, atarilbc said: Who else is watching High Score on Netflix? Episode 1 covers the rise and crash and prominently features HSW and the E.T. story. Thoughts? Haven't had time to watch this yet so I can't speak to it, but as much as I love HSW and E.T. I wish every documentary would NOT feature it so prominently. That's becoming nostalgia junk food. There's so much more to the Atari story, and the golden age of video games, than the "failure" of E.T. and the dump in Alamogordo. It's one interesting voice in a chorus of stories. To make Atari a footnote in history and focusing mostly on the E.T. thing is a disservice. Hoping this series gives some big picture coverage. History Channel had a really nice documentary on last year called "Game Changers". It covered the dawn of video games through Atari, Nintendo and Sega during the 8 and 16-Bit eras. Very well done, lots of good Atari coverage and footage that I had never seen before. socrates63, Sabertooth, StormSurge and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 I haven't heard of it. I'll have to check it out. I agree with @Justin. Why are E.T. and Pac-man for that matter blamed soo much for the video game crash. If you watch Game Over that documented the uncovering of all the Atari "junk" which got buried you would see that there was a lot more than E.T. in that landfill. There's Atari consoles and computers, controllers, some Circus Atari and Defender games...there was more than just E.T. in there. It was Atari's way to empty a warehouse full of returns and unsold merch. Nothing more or less. They had to get rid of the site some how and with it holding all that stuff they couldn't sell it. So...bury the rubbish and sell the property. Simple as that. I wish people and documentaries would stop putting E.T. in the mix. There's nothing wrong with that game. Sabertooth, Gianna, mmaxfit and 2 others 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 It's just, why focus prominently on the negative? They accomplished so many amazing things. It was the dawn of a new industry, nobody had ever done this before. It's like talking about going to the moon and focusing 80% of the time on Apollo 13. socrates63, mmaxfit and Sabertooth 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 I need to watch this. Justin, Sabertooth and mmaxfit 3 Quote 🖖 Going to the final frontier, gaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 I was going to watch it last night. Ended up just playing more Atari. Typical. socrates63, Justin, Sabertooth and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted August 20, 2020 Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 3 hours ago, TrekMD said: I need to watch this. Hoping to hear that it’s good! 😀 TrekMD and Sabertooth 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabertooth Posted August 20, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2020 I watched most of it last night. It was enjoyable for the most part but the editing/plotting isn't linear. Good interviews and anecdotes from a number of icons. I think most here will probably find it a good watch! socrates63, Justin and HDN 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted August 21, 2020 Report Share Posted August 21, 2020 Watched the first episode. Wish they would've fleshed out why the crash happened and didn't just pin it all on ET and Pac-Man. Otherwise I like it. High production values. Charles Martinet's in it as the narrator. socrates63, Sabertooth and Justin 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted August 21, 2020 Report Share Posted August 21, 2020 12 minutes ago, HDN said: Watched the first episode. Wish they would've fleshed out why the crash happened and didn't just pin it all on ET and Pac-Man. Otherwise I like it. High production values. Charles Martinet's in it as the narrator. I think it's lazy story telling and intellectually dishonest to hype Pac-Man and E.T., we're seeing it all the time now. It has psychological elements to it. Pac-Man and E.T. are not without blame, but c'mon. It's far more interesting to listen to Minoru Arakawa explain in simple terms Atari's poor decision making and undisciplined business practices which Nintendo of America identified as the weaknesses which had led to the industry's collapse, and what must be corrected to bring the industry back. This is where it's at: Sabertooth and socrates63 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates63 Posted August 21, 2020 Report Share Posted August 21, 2020 Thanks for the History video link, Justin. I haven't yet seen the Netflix series nor this one from History. I wonder whether the rise of the home computers A8, C64 etc. had a role in the crash. It's certainly not the main cause of the crash, but I wonder how that may have contributed (if at all) to the circumstances. I mean, I think the first wave of kids who grew up on the 2600 jumped to computers and ignored consoles completely or at least used them less as their primary home video gaming machine. Or, it could just be since that was my personal story. After I went to the Atari 800 from the 2600, I ignored the console scene and didn't get one until the late 90s (original PlayStation to play FF7). I didn't even know that a video game crash happened until I heard about it when I got into retro gaming. Justin and Sabertooth 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted August 25, 2020 Report Share Posted August 25, 2020 I'm hearing pretty good things about this Netflix show. People are saying it's pretty cool! Sabertooth and socrates63 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabertooth Posted August 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2020 Having sat on it for a few days before re-watching with the GF, I still enjoyed it. The approach to the storytelling was interesting and entertaining. I didn't learn anything new and some of the history - particularly the N.A. crash and fall of Atari was over simplified - but a decent overview. The later episodes with the Nintendo Game Counselor, the high score kids and John Romero were great. I also liked the Argonaut/Star Fox story. Outside of how they handled the crash, it was a decent series and may open up interest in this era of gaming to potentially broader audiences. I think that's a good thing! Also, you can tell that HSW is embracing this ET thing and loving every minute of it. Good on him. It's not the cause of the crash, nor the worst game ever, but I like how he is wearing it, if that makes any sense. 😉 socrates63 and Justin 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmaxfit Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 On 8/20/2020 at 12:32 AM, Sabertooth said: Who else is watching High Score on Netflix? Episode 1 covers the rise and crash and prominently features HSW and the E.T. story. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmaxfit Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 I've watched 3 episodes so far and really enjoy it. The music and narration by Charles Martinet are great. I like the topics they cover and how they switch back and forth between locations in the United States and Japan. When a new topic begins or a person is introduced they don't give you info on where the story is heading but as it unfolds and becomes clear I find it very interesting. Sabertooth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauber Posted August 31, 2020 Report Share Posted August 31, 2020 FWIW, the show did not pin the crash on E.T. and Pac-Man -- the narration certainly did up-play them as causes, but the narrator said something like "along with a flood of low-quality third-party games" or something. I watched the rest of the series. Personally, I think it was highly enjoyable. I was disappointed that there aren't more episodes than there are. BTW, those of you who haven't seen it yet...it's not something you can watch unless you plan to keep your eyes on the screen at all times: in almost every episode, there are talking heads with Japanese creators who speak in their native tongue, subtitled in English. Unless you speak Japanese, you'll miss out if you're multitasking. 🙂 TrekMD 1 Quote Supernatural, perhaps...baloney, perhaps not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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