Rock, Paper, Shotgun notes the kickoff of a new Discovery channel series called
Rise of the Videogame. Blogger John Walker discusses the show, which just began last week, with an eye towards its research rigor and friendliness to the subject matter.
He comes away fairly impressed, both by the topics covered and the casting. Along with games industry luminaries like
Nolan Bushnell and
Al Alcorn, they chat with folks like Steve Russell (of
Spacewar! fame) and
Smartbomb author Heather Chaplin.
"A little visually overwrought with its montage footage of real-world conflict, it's otherwise a solid, informative and supremely well 'cast' documentary. If you've read around the subject, it won't tell you anything new. But it's fantastic to hear the stories from the people themselves. Episode 2 is very sensibly about the rise of Mario, next Wednesday."