[Huz]

I've just seen a great little BBC TV documentary on video games called "Trigger Happy - The Invincible Rise of the Computer Game". Contrary to what I was expecting from the title (and the slightly dodgy introduction), it was actually rather good! It was nothing new to those of us who are well aware of gaming, but for the outsider (at whom it seeemd to be aimed) it was just the sort of intelligent view you'd wish to present. It started with first principles (games are fun, you know) and went right through the whole 'games as art' debate, looking at some Myst clone and Ico as examples, with some jolly fellow from BAFTA (the British Academy of Film and Television... Awards) comparing the state of gaming today with the early days of cinema. Towards the end, it rattled onwards into 'immersive gaming' territory by looking at MMORPGs, Eyetoy, The Mysterious Future - where, as the presenter amusing said, perhaps "games play you" (Soviet Russia not mentioned). And yes, it reminded me of Marek's State Future of Adventure Gaming articles in places.

One thing that struck me as odd was the appearance of Charles Cecil as an interviewee in the opening stages - but once they got on to talking about strong narrative, decent scripts and so on, he mysteriously disappeared! Whether he had too much to say on the topic for such an introductory style of programme, I don't know - but I found his absense at that point very odd!

Anyway, highly recommended, says I. If you get the chance, UK types, watch it! I've just had a quick look through the schedules for this week, and unfortuantely it seems that the only time it's repeated is at 1:30am tonight, BBC4 (so it's probably too late for anyone to be alerted, sorry). The bloody Tetris programme which preceded it seems to be on about 300 times this week, though. >

I hope this programme will get a repeat on BBC2 at some point, where more people can actually see it...

[DomStLeger]

I also saw the program too and was quite impressed. I agree it was strange that Charles Cecil was interviewed at the beginning and then wasn't shown when they started talking about strong narrative. They also got an interview with Peter Molyneux and a few other British gaming luminaries.

It was a very upbeat documentary with an upbeat message about gaming as an art from and as an intelligent passtime. Also it was good to hear the praise from the gentleman from BAFTA, justifying the new gaming awards coming this month; very refreshing and open minded.

P.S. BAFTA = British Academy of Film and Television Arts

[scabb]

According to the Radio Times, it's on on Wednesday the 18th February, at 7:30pm on BBC4.

I didn't quite catch it, but I did watch that Tetris programme. Recommended if you enjoy legislative matters, and the discussion of them! I was more interested in Alexey Pajitnov, the Tetris inventorering man, and the mysterious disappearance of the guy who was heading up Atari. Oh, the box art was pretty cool, too.

[Marek]

I haven't seen this, but I'd love to, knowing that it's by Steven Poole. He wrote the Trigger Happy book, which I can wholeheartedly recommend, and he writes (or wrote?) the Trigger Happy column for Edge.

I've seen the Tetris documentary and it's really good. It's good from a human/historical point of view, but it's also a nice backgrounder to the game.

[ysbreker]

They don't have this documentary online somewhere?

[Deshrill]

Damn... I'm in the USA, so I don't get the BBC, but would have loved to see this.

I've read "Trigger Happy" and it's an interesting read, although I don't agree with some of his game theory views (specifically, the opinion that everything in a game should be interactive). For those wanting a good overview of videogame history, Steven L. Kent's "The Ultimate Guide to Videogames" is an excellent read.

[LabRat]

Hello everyone,

I've finally got round to vidcapping the three programmes that were broadcast on the 9th February 2004. They were given to me on a rather old VHS tape, so I've captured them at full resolution to retain the quality.

ed2k://|file|Tetris_-_From_Russia_With_Love_[UKTV][XviD][LabRat].avi|737912832|3582C8C1E218DE82DFA1AF5E4A335603|/
ed2k://|file|Tetris_-_From_Russia_With_Love_[UKTV][XviD][LabRat].nfo|3751|B68C66741A944466A487FBAA217304EF|/

ed2k://|file|Time_Shift_-_Hard_Drive_Heaven.[UKTV][XviD][LabRat].avi|397170688|310DA11444B0BDDB9567E3BB3380F656|/
ed2k://|file|Time_Shift_-_Hard_Drive_Heaven.[UKTV][XviD][LabRat].nfo|4804|964B17A5572A8A224BF7070FB8AE0471|/

ed2k://|file|Trigger_Happy_-_The_Irresistible_Rise_Of_The_Videogame_[UKTV][XviD][LabRat].avi|331999232|3DD99C667E9D29F14DD5183AD380E53B|/
ed2k://|file|Trigger_Happy_-_The_Irresistible_Rise_Of_The_Videogame_[UKTV][XviD][LabRat].nfo|3751|8CA689080E34CB993F7C5209E3068059|/

Enjoy!

/LabRat

[Starflux]

When I read the title of the programme, I thought it was another humorous sketch from Trigger Happy TV, quirky british show made up of absurd sketches involving huge mobile telephones, people with gigantic rasta's and large stuffed tigers thrown in containers to be mushed by the government into stone bricks.
Sheer brilliance.

[Deshrill]

I tried downloading from those links and got an error message... Is there something that I need to do besides cutting and pasting the URL?

[Kolzig]

You need to download an eMule or eDonkey client

[scabb]

Outrageous Fortunes

BBC Three goes in search of the truth behind the biggest brands in the world and the families that control them. Disney, Bacardi, Nintendo, Walmart, Guinness and De Beers Diamonds have all been created by powerful dynasties. This series investigates the real stories behind the success of these companies and questions at what price have the families made their millions.

I think that the Nintendo one may be on tonight at 9:00pm on BBC3, although my TV Planner claims it's Bacardi. Either way, looks like interesting programming

[Huz]

Originally Posted by scabb

I think that the Nintendo one may be on tonight at 9:00pm on BBC3, although my TV Planner claims it's Bacardi. Either way, looks like interesting programming

The Radio Times says that the Nintendo programme is on next week, but the BBC3 website says it's tonight (yet the BBC's own planner says it's Bacardi tonight) - so take your pick.

[DomStLeger]

The BBC3 site puts all 3 on tonight, so I think it'd be best to stick with the planner if it says Bicardi. Though the BBC3 site says Disney is episode 1?

Anyway I'm looking forward to this series; should be ok; though I bet it'd have been much higher quality if it had been made for BBC4. I imagine this will be quite a superficial look at the family's fortunes, in the style of the crappy celebrity programs BBC3 does all the time. Though the presenter, Simon Reeve, is a very good journalist; his "Holidays in the Danger Zone: The Stans" series was fantastic.