WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.840 [THEME MUSIC PLAYING] 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:06.240 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:07.200 [TIRES SCREECHING] 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:09.190 - It's an industry that's revolutionized 00:00:09.190 --> 00:00:11.060 every area of entertainment. 00:00:11.060 --> 00:00:14.470 From television to sports to movies. 00:00:14.470 --> 00:00:18.040 The video game business rakes in more than $20 billion a year, 00:00:18.040 --> 00:00:20.320 making bigger bucks than even Hollywood. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:21.970 - This industry was created on products 00:00:21.970 --> 00:00:23.928 that were so exciting that people would stay up 00:00:23.928 --> 00:00:26.470 all night outside a store to get it the next morning. 00:00:26.470 --> 00:00:29.200 - But how did two lines and a dot turn into the high tech, 00:00:29.200 --> 00:00:33.520 hyper realistic worlds of games like The Sims and Halo? 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:35.830 It's not just about circuit boards and chips, 00:00:35.830 --> 00:00:38.551 it's about people driven by vision and obsession. 00:00:38.551 --> 00:00:40.550 JOHN ROMERO: Video games to me is my whole life. 00:00:40.550 --> 00:00:42.370 That's all I've done since I was 12. 00:00:42.370 --> 00:00:44.680 - It's about games that have been blamed for making 00:00:44.680 --> 00:00:47.185 kids antisocial and violent. 00:00:47.185 --> 00:00:49.240 - If you play too much doom, you're 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:51.370 going to end up going on a shooting spree. 00:00:51.370 --> 00:00:52.980 [GUNFIRE] 00:00:52.980 --> 00:00:55.100 There's really people who believe this. 00:00:55.100 --> 00:00:58.010 - It's about feuds, wars, and even a little bit 00:00:58.010 --> 00:01:00.580 of good old fashioned piracy. 00:01:00.580 --> 00:01:02.600 - If they were going to copy our stuff, 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:05.239 we were going to bury them one way or another. 00:01:05.239 --> 00:01:07.040 - But most of all, it's about how 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:09.280 a whole generation grabbed the joystick 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:12.440 and got juiced up on video gaming. 00:01:12.440 --> 00:01:15.290 The secrets behind the games, the passion 00:01:15.290 --> 00:01:18.980 that powered the industry, and the guys who made it happen. 00:01:18.980 --> 00:01:27.674 00:01:27.674 --> 00:01:29.610 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:01:29.610 --> 00:01:30.795 TONY HAWK: Video games. 00:01:30.795 --> 00:01:33.160 For some people, they're a blast from the past. 00:01:33.160 --> 00:01:35.625 [VIDEO GAME SOUND EFFECTS] 00:01:35.625 --> 00:01:37.500 Something they used to do at the local arcade 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:40.950 when they were hanging out after high school. 00:01:40.950 --> 00:01:44.650 But for others, video games are the new technological frontier. 00:01:44.650 --> 00:01:48.060 And innovative form of communication and storytelling, 00:01:48.060 --> 00:01:49.632 and the future of entertainment. 00:01:49.632 --> 00:01:53.410 00:01:53.410 --> 00:01:54.259 Hi, I'm Tony Hawk. 00:01:54.259 --> 00:01:56.800 A lot of you are probably used to seeing me with a skateboard 00:01:56.800 --> 00:01:58.508 and looking a little something like this. 00:01:58.508 --> 00:02:03.830 00:02:03.830 --> 00:02:05.580 And a lot of you gamers are even more used 00:02:05.580 --> 00:02:09.169 to seeing me like this. 00:02:09.169 --> 00:02:11.870 I got into video games early on, even before I got 00:02:11.870 --> 00:02:13.800 to be a video character myself. 00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:16.104 In fact, I don't think I even had my first board yet, 00:02:16.104 --> 00:02:17.270 and where could you find me? 00:02:17.270 --> 00:02:18.978 Playing Pac-Man down at the pizza parlor. 00:02:18.978 --> 00:02:20.990 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:02:20.990 --> 00:02:23.379 But games have come a long way since then. 00:02:23.379 --> 00:02:25.670 And if you think the history of the video game invasion 00:02:25.670 --> 00:02:28.550 is all about cool graphics and cutting edge technology, 00:02:28.550 --> 00:02:29.300 well you're right. 00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:32.110 00:02:32.110 --> 00:02:34.750 But it's also a story about a group of unique individuals 00:02:34.750 --> 00:02:37.210 who started with nothing but ideas. 00:02:37.210 --> 00:02:38.920 Guys who came out of their garages 00:02:38.920 --> 00:02:41.770 and ended up as power players in a multi-billion dollar 00:02:41.770 --> 00:02:44.860 industry who revolutionized entertainment and turn 00:02:44.860 --> 00:02:46.480 themselves into rock stars. 00:02:46.480 --> 00:02:48.950 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:02:48.950 --> 00:02:52.600 And the first rock star of them all was this guy. 00:02:52.600 --> 00:02:54.460 This is Willie Higginbotham. 00:02:54.460 --> 00:02:57.490 He helped invent the nuclear bomb and the first computer 00:02:57.490 --> 00:02:59.328 [EXPLOSION] 00:02:59.328 --> 00:03:01.300 The bomb looked like this. 00:03:01.300 --> 00:03:04.210 The game looked like this. 00:03:04.210 --> 00:03:05.740 A primitive version of tennis. 00:03:05.740 --> 00:03:07.420 It was just a dot moving back and forth 00:03:07.420 --> 00:03:09.280 on an oscilloscope screen. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:10.780 It showed up as a novelty exhibit 00:03:10.780 --> 00:03:13.360 at Brookhaven National Lab in 1958 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:16.810 and generated about as much excitement as this picture. 00:03:16.810 --> 00:03:18.160 Mortal Kombat it was not. 00:03:18.160 --> 00:03:20.842 00:03:20.842 --> 00:03:21.736 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:03:21.736 --> 00:03:24.950 Fast forward, 1961. 00:03:24.950 --> 00:03:29.400 Student and pioneering hacker Steve Russell, nicknamed Slug. 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:33.800 He spent six months tapping into $120,000 computer at MIT. 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:38.384 End result, a punch card driven video called, Space War. 00:03:38.384 --> 00:03:40.050 STEVE KENT: He was the one who conceived 00:03:40.050 --> 00:03:41.610 the idea of making a game that would 00:03:41.610 --> 00:03:43.050 be completely interactive. 00:03:43.050 --> 00:03:46.200 It was a game where there were two rockets. 00:03:46.200 --> 00:03:49.080 A game where a Flash Gordon style rockets that 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:50.700 would fly around shooting each other 00:03:50.700 --> 00:03:53.130 with a sun in the middle that had some gravity. 00:03:53.130 --> 00:03:55.140 If it sucked you in, you got destroyed. 00:03:55.140 --> 00:03:57.765 TONY HAWK: Space Wars spread to universities around America 00:03:57.765 --> 00:04:00.270 on an early version of the internet. 00:04:00.270 --> 00:04:03.930 But would the average Joe spend $120,000 to own one? 00:04:03.930 --> 00:04:07.920 Slug figured, no way and never patented the idea. 00:04:07.920 --> 00:04:11.735 He left MIT without graduating. 00:04:11.735 --> 00:04:12.360 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:15.000 Jump to 1966. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:17.160 A little device called television 00:04:17.160 --> 00:04:20.579 had made it into almost every living room in America. 00:04:20.579 --> 00:04:22.110 It was a cultural phenomenon. 00:04:22.110 --> 00:04:25.380 But to Ralph Baer, Vice President of Engineering 00:04:25.380 --> 00:04:28.150 at electronics giant Sanders Associates, 00:04:28.150 --> 00:04:29.400 it was a business opportunity. 00:04:29.400 --> 00:04:30.270 [CHA-CHING] 00:04:30.270 --> 00:04:33.040 RALPH BAER: The concept was this, 40 million TV 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:35.340 sets out there in the US alone. 00:04:35.340 --> 00:04:39.180 If I could hit 1% of that, that's 400,000. 00:04:39.180 --> 00:04:43.728 Attach some gadget to 400,000 set, I got a business. 00:04:43.728 --> 00:04:46.100 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:49.690 TONY HAWK: Baer needed his play device to fit on a shelf. 00:04:49.690 --> 00:04:51.360 So that didn't give his little brown box 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:53.380 much room for processing power. 00:04:53.380 --> 00:04:56.310 He wasn't doing much better than old Higgy, just two dots 00:04:56.310 --> 00:04:57.690 moving on a screen. 00:04:57.690 --> 00:05:00.990 No way this was going to set the world on fire. 00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:02.200 Then it hit him. 00:05:02.200 --> 00:05:04.800 A blockbuster breakthrough that would blow the roof off 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:07.560 of home entertainment forever. 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:08.580 Three spots! 00:05:08.580 --> 00:05:10.396 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:05:10.396 --> 00:05:11.770 RALPH BAER: The third spot became 00:05:11.770 --> 00:05:15.760 a ball that made it into a ping pong game or a tennis game. 00:05:15.760 --> 00:05:19.450 Once we had that third ball going back and forth, 00:05:19.450 --> 00:05:22.380 we knew we had something. 00:05:22.380 --> 00:05:24.820 TONY HAWK: By 1971, Baer's bosses 00:05:24.820 --> 00:05:27.370 had patented the brown box and licensed it 00:05:27.370 --> 00:05:30.940 to television manufacturer Magnavox. 00:05:30.940 --> 00:05:34.270 Now called Odyssey, it began showing up at various trade 00:05:34.270 --> 00:05:35.703 fairs around the country. 00:05:35.703 --> 00:05:38.070 RALPH BAER: The Odyssey was the hit of the show. 00:05:38.070 --> 00:05:40.384 I had a hard time not getting up in my seat 00:05:40.384 --> 00:05:42.550 and then jumping up and down saying, that's my baby. 00:05:42.550 --> 00:05:45.370 - The system is called Odyssey and the hardware 00:05:45.370 --> 00:05:48.430 consists of a master control and two player control 00:05:48.430 --> 00:05:52.900 units connected by cable to any set 18 inches or larger, black 00:05:52.900 --> 00:05:54.310 and white or color. 00:05:54.310 --> 00:05:56.920 The players will simply switch to an unused channel, 00:05:56.920 --> 00:05:59.500 select their game, insert the program card 00:05:59.500 --> 00:06:03.497 in the control box, and place the overlay on the TV screen. 00:06:03.497 --> 00:06:04.147 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:06:04.147 --> 00:06:06.730 SELLAM ISMAIL: So for instance, if you were playing the tennis 00:06:06.730 --> 00:06:08.980 game, this would actually using-- 00:06:08.980 --> 00:06:10.990 from static electricity, would cling 00:06:10.990 --> 00:06:12.880 to the front of your television. 00:06:12.880 --> 00:06:16.600 So this would be the overlay for a hockey game. 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:19.630 TONY HAWK: The Odyssey hits store shelves in May, 1972, 00:06:19.630 --> 00:06:21.810 and sold for $100. 00:06:21.810 --> 00:06:24.730 And hey, if you wanted to pop for another $29, 00:06:24.730 --> 00:06:27.105 you could also buy yourself this wicked weapon 00:06:27.105 --> 00:06:30.670 and play the first ever shooter video game. 00:06:30.670 --> 00:06:32.770 Seems that even then, guns and video games 00:06:32.770 --> 00:06:35.904 were destined to be together. 00:06:35.904 --> 00:06:38.850 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:06:38.850 --> 00:06:42.010 And to convince America how hip it was to own an Odyssey, 00:06:42.010 --> 00:06:45.280 Magnavox got the King of Cool, old blue eyes, Frank Sinatra 00:06:45.280 --> 00:06:46.879 himself to pitch the product. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:48.670 RALPH BAER: Unfortunately in the beginning, 00:06:48.670 --> 00:06:51.610 they connected to a Magnavox television set, of course. 00:06:51.610 --> 00:06:54.700 That got the idea abroad that you needed a Magnavox 00:06:54.700 --> 00:06:56.065 television set to play games. 00:06:56.065 --> 00:06:59.170 And they had to undo that by convincing customers 00:06:59.170 --> 00:07:03.580 in the store that you could indeed plug it into any TV set. 00:07:03.580 --> 00:07:05.680 TONY HAWK: It took over a year, but Magnavox 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:09.790 managed to hook up about 150,000 Americans and their televisions 00:07:09.790 --> 00:07:12.248 to an Odyssey system. 00:07:12.248 --> 00:07:14.990 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:07:14.990 --> 00:07:17.480 Next player in the game, Nolan Bushnell. 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:20.990 An employee of a northern California electronics firm. 00:07:20.990 --> 00:07:24.050 He played Slug Russell's Spacewar at engineering school 00:07:24.050 --> 00:07:26.290 and couldn't get it out of his brain. 00:07:26.290 --> 00:07:28.044 NOLAN BUSHNELL: And actually thought, hey, 00:07:28.044 --> 00:07:29.960 this would be great news in an amusement park, 00:07:29.960 --> 00:07:34.580 but how do you put a million dollar computer into-- 00:07:34.580 --> 00:07:36.680 and pay for it at $0.25 a throw? 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:39.290 Remember, the microprocessor hadn't been invented yet. 00:07:39.290 --> 00:07:42.800 And then one day the mini computer for $5,000 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:44.974 came across my desk. 00:07:44.974 --> 00:07:45.890 I mean, the ad for it. 00:07:45.890 --> 00:07:48.320 I had the epiphany of being able to reduce it 00:07:48.320 --> 00:07:52.130 to a single board that was actually a fancy, signal 00:07:52.130 --> 00:07:54.122 generator, if you would. 00:07:54.122 --> 00:07:56.480 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:59.500 TONY HAWK: In 1971, Nolan's first video game, 00:07:59.500 --> 00:08:03.850 Computer Space hit American pinball arcades. 00:08:03.850 --> 00:08:06.400 Sleek, sexy, and we all remember the first time 00:08:06.400 --> 00:08:08.200 we played it, right? 00:08:08.200 --> 00:08:09.190 Right. 00:08:09.190 --> 00:08:12.230 It was one of the biggest turkeys of all time. 00:08:12.230 --> 00:08:14.980 NOLAN BUSHNELL: The problem with the game was that I loved it, 00:08:14.980 --> 00:08:17.960 all my friends loved it, but all my friends were engineers. 00:08:17.960 --> 00:08:21.370 It was a little bit too complex for the guy 00:08:21.370 --> 00:08:23.422 with a beer in a bar. 00:08:23.422 --> 00:08:24.790 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:08:24.790 --> 00:08:27.400 TONY HAWK: Nolan's next move, taking $500 00:08:27.400 --> 00:08:30.190 and starting his own company in Santa Clara, California, 00:08:30.190 --> 00:08:32.034 with buddy Ted Dabney. 00:08:32.034 --> 00:08:34.630 The year was 1972. 00:08:34.630 --> 00:08:38.970 The company was called Atari. 00:08:38.970 --> 00:08:41.870 NOLAN BUSHNELL: Atari comes from the Japanese Game 00:08:41.870 --> 00:08:44.810 Go which is plight warning saying, watch out, 00:08:44.810 --> 00:08:46.500 you're going to get whacked. 00:08:46.500 --> 00:08:47.760 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:08:47.760 --> 00:08:51.100 TONY HAWK: First big hire, engineer Al Alcorn. 00:08:51.100 --> 00:08:52.950 Nolan, proving he already has what 00:08:52.950 --> 00:08:54.870 it takes to be a great corporate executive, 00:08:54.870 --> 00:08:58.630 landed Al by lying to him. 00:08:58.630 --> 00:09:01.620 AL ALCORN: He told me he had a contract with General Electric 00:09:01.620 --> 00:09:04.440 to build a consumer video game, a home video 00:09:04.440 --> 00:09:08.130 game, which was almost impossible to do in those days. 00:09:08.130 --> 00:09:10.080 And the fact that nobody from General Electric 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:13.110 ever came by or called or wrote us a letter didn't occur to me. 00:09:13.110 --> 00:09:15.090 I was too busy building the prototype. 00:09:15.090 --> 00:09:18.000 NOLAN BUSHNELL: We decided to give him a test game. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.470 Call it throw away game, it was something that was simple. 00:09:20.470 --> 00:09:22.225 Basically, ping pong. 00:09:22.225 --> 00:09:27.060 two Paddles on either side, ball moving between them. 00:09:27.060 --> 00:09:29.190 TONY HAWK: Man does this sound familiar. 00:09:29.190 --> 00:09:32.310 But remember, it was still early in 1972 00:09:32.310 --> 00:09:34.835 and the Odyssey hadn't hit stores shelves yet. 00:09:34.835 --> 00:09:35.460 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:09:35.460 --> 00:09:37.680 The concept was still fair game and AL 00:09:37.680 --> 00:09:41.362 had his own spin on the idea. 00:09:41.362 --> 00:09:43.070 AL ALCORN: One of the things I discovered 00:09:43.070 --> 00:09:46.400 is that if the ball didn't speed up, it wasn't fun to play. 00:09:46.400 --> 00:09:49.500 So I added the ball speed up to the game. 00:09:49.500 --> 00:09:53.480 And the other thing that we did at the very end was the sound. 00:09:53.480 --> 00:09:56.090 And since I was already way over budget, 00:09:56.090 --> 00:09:58.310 I poked around and found tones that were already 00:09:58.310 --> 00:10:01.250 existent in the machine. 00:10:01.250 --> 00:10:04.850 And that became the sound. 00:10:04.850 --> 00:10:06.850 NOLAN BUSHNELL: We said OK, let's call it Pong. 00:10:06.850 --> 00:10:09.560 And we put it in Andy Capp's Tavern 00:10:09.560 --> 00:10:13.730 in Sunnyvale, California. 00:10:13.730 --> 00:10:17.390 AL ALCORN: This baby here is the original Pong prototype 00:10:17.390 --> 00:10:20.930 that went to Andy Capp's Tavern in Sunnyvale. 00:10:20.930 --> 00:10:23.000 And it has the original wire wrap 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:26.090 that I built in three months, in 1972. 00:10:26.090 --> 00:10:28.445 We put it in a box, put up on a barrel. 00:10:28.445 --> 00:10:29.400 [BEEPING] 00:10:29.400 --> 00:10:31.730 NOLAN BUSHNELL: It was an immediate hit. 00:10:31.730 --> 00:10:34.610 We weren't aware of just how much of a hit 00:10:34.610 --> 00:10:38.150 it was until we got a service call 00:10:38.150 --> 00:10:41.480 and found that the coin box had totally filled up 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:44.300 and wouldn't take anymore quarters. 00:10:44.300 --> 00:10:47.771 Those were kind of technical problems that we can solve. 00:10:47.771 --> 00:10:50.660 [COINS DROPPING] 00:10:50.660 --> 00:10:53.230 AL ALCORN: Here we have one of the first quarters 00:10:53.230 --> 00:10:55.760 that the Pong machine ever made, which now 00:10:55.760 --> 00:10:58.830 represents a multi-billion dollar industry. 00:10:58.830 --> 00:11:00.766 And it's in a little piece plastic. 00:11:00.766 --> 00:11:03.745 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:11:03.745 --> 00:11:05.870 TONY HAWK: Atari started rolling out their machines 00:11:05.870 --> 00:11:07.745 in November of 1972. 00:11:07.745 --> 00:11:10.941 And America went Pong crazy. 00:11:10.941 --> 00:11:12.690 NOLAN BUSHNELL: There were several reasons 00:11:12.690 --> 00:11:14.670 that Pong was very successful. 00:11:14.670 --> 00:11:16.760 The first one was, it was extremely 00:11:16.760 --> 00:11:20.390 easy to play, but very, very difficult to master. 00:11:20.390 --> 00:11:24.110 They had to pay a lot of money to get really good. 00:11:24.110 --> 00:11:27.650 The second one is that women found that they 00:11:27.650 --> 00:11:29.750 were better players than men. 00:11:29.750 --> 00:11:32.510 It turns out that women have better small motor 00:11:32.510 --> 00:11:34.220 coordination than men do. 00:11:34.220 --> 00:11:36.530 And it became socially acceptable 00:11:36.530 --> 00:11:40.693 for women to ask men to come over and play Pong. 00:11:40.693 --> 00:11:44.010 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:11:44.010 --> 00:11:46.540 TONY HAWK: More players meant more machines. 00:11:46.540 --> 00:11:49.630 And Atari needed more manpower to build them. 00:11:49.630 --> 00:11:50.770 Fast. 00:11:50.770 --> 00:11:53.140 NOLAN BUSHNELL: We tried a few social experiments 00:11:53.140 --> 00:11:57.100 with running buses into undesirable parts of the town 00:11:57.100 --> 00:12:00.010 and giving people a chance to come and have a job. 00:12:00.010 --> 00:12:02.740 It was kind of a rude awakening from some 00:12:02.740 --> 00:12:06.190 of our Age of Aquarius belief structures. 00:12:06.190 --> 00:12:07.780 STEVE KENT: They hired whoever they 00:12:07.780 --> 00:12:09.340 could hire in the beginning. 00:12:09.340 --> 00:12:11.350 Which meant they got a lot of bikers. 00:12:11.350 --> 00:12:13.342 You talked to some of the straitlaced people 00:12:13.342 --> 00:12:15.550 and they'd talk about being scared to walk the floor. 00:12:15.550 --> 00:12:17.380 They'd talk about going into bathrooms 00:12:17.380 --> 00:12:20.610 and seeing used needles and stuff on the ground. 00:12:20.610 --> 00:12:22.990 NOLAN BUSHNELL: The converse is, the 20% 00:12:22.990 --> 00:12:27.220 that stayed with us really appreciated the opportunity. 00:12:27.220 --> 00:12:30.790 Became some of our most valuable employees. 00:12:30.790 --> 00:12:31.522 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:12:31.522 --> 00:12:33.730 TONY HAWK: But who wouldn't want to work at a company 00:12:33.730 --> 00:12:35.905 where the bonuses came in beer kegs? 00:12:35.905 --> 00:12:38.895 And strategy meetings were held in hot tubs. 00:12:38.895 --> 00:12:41.020 NOLAN BUSHNELL: Since we had a lot of young people, 00:12:41.020 --> 00:12:43.810 we would constantly offer to throw 00:12:43.810 --> 00:12:46.150 a party if they hit quota. 00:12:46.150 --> 00:12:49.240 And it turns out when you've got 18, 19, 20 year olds, 00:12:49.240 --> 00:12:52.840 they're much more interested in a party than an extra $0.50 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:53.830 an hour. 00:12:53.830 --> 00:12:56.300 So we got known as a party company. 00:12:56.300 --> 00:12:59.830 STEVE KENT: There's a story that if you walked by the Borega 00:12:59.830 --> 00:13:05.350 Street building and you breathed deeply by the air vents, 00:13:05.350 --> 00:13:07.860 you'd get stoned because the pot smoking inside of it 00:13:07.860 --> 00:13:09.080 was so heavy. 00:13:09.080 --> 00:13:11.470 DAVID CRANE: It was a very laid back culture, 00:13:11.470 --> 00:13:13.840 which is very important in a creative environment. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:16.030 I mean, you can't really punch the clock 00:13:16.030 --> 00:13:18.287 and come up with something creative. 00:13:18.287 --> 00:13:19.132 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:13:19.132 --> 00:13:20.590 TONY HAWK: It didn't seem to matter 00:13:20.590 --> 00:13:24.100 what was going on inside Atari because on the outside, 00:13:24.100 --> 00:13:28.220 they'd become the kings of the 60-year-old arcade business. 00:13:28.220 --> 00:13:30.760 And in America, how do you know when you've really 00:13:30.760 --> 00:13:32.200 made it to the top? 00:13:32.200 --> 00:13:35.198 When people start suing you. 00:13:35.198 --> 00:13:39.100 It wasn't long before Atari got hit with their first lawsuit. 00:13:39.100 --> 00:13:42.770 And it came from Magnavox who claimed that Pong violated 00:13:42.770 --> 00:13:44.890 Ralph Baers' Odyssey patent. 00:13:44.890 --> 00:13:46.770 AL ALCORN: And I looked at the patent 00:13:46.770 --> 00:13:49.200 and I said, my God, this guy has patented 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:51.510 the idea of any kind of a moving object 00:13:51.510 --> 00:13:53.880 on a video screen controlled by anything 00:13:53.880 --> 00:13:57.260 and it was filed in 1969. 00:13:57.260 --> 00:14:00.030 NOLAN BUSHNELL: Magnavox was based on analog technology, 00:14:00.030 --> 00:14:01.480 which makes a fuzzy. 00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:03.757 Didn't have sound, didn't have score. 00:14:03.757 --> 00:14:06.090 I mean, you didn't really feel like you were you beating 00:14:06.090 --> 00:14:07.560 somebody when you beat them. 00:14:07.560 --> 00:14:10.505 Which is one of the core essence of what a game is. 00:14:10.505 --> 00:14:11.130 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:14:11.130 --> 00:14:13.260 TONY HAWK: But hey, what about those Magnavox trade 00:14:13.260 --> 00:14:14.165 show demos? 00:14:14.165 --> 00:14:15.540 RALPH BAER: Nolan Bushnell played 00:14:15.540 --> 00:14:23.250 a game in Burlingame, California on May 24th, I think, 1972. 00:14:23.250 --> 00:14:26.430 He signed a guest book playing the ping pong game. 00:14:26.430 --> 00:14:28.740 TONY HAWK: Bushnell decided to accept Magnavox's offer 00:14:28.740 --> 00:14:30.160 of a settlement. 00:14:30.160 --> 00:14:32.460 Atari paid Magnavox just under a million dollars 00:14:32.460 --> 00:14:35.490 and in exchange, became their first licensee. 00:14:35.490 --> 00:14:37.395 Game over and everyone's a winner. 00:14:37.395 --> 00:14:39.174 And who says losses don't work? 00:14:39.174 --> 00:14:40.590 NOLAN BUSHNELL: Believe it or not, 00:14:40.590 --> 00:14:43.450 it was never a very big issue for us. 00:14:43.450 --> 00:14:46.724 We settled it for less than it had cost us to defend it. 00:14:46.724 --> 00:14:49.510 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:14:49.510 --> 00:14:53.010 TONY HAWK: Then Atari went on the attack against the clones, 00:14:53.010 --> 00:14:55.260 knock offs, and pirate versions of Pong 00:14:55.260 --> 00:14:57.954 that were popping up all over the world. 00:14:57.954 --> 00:14:59.370 NOLAN BUSHNELL: We actually became 00:14:59.370 --> 00:15:01.830 quite diabolical about seeing ways 00:15:01.830 --> 00:15:03.240 that we could just mess them up. 00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:04.530 [CRASH] 00:15:04.530 --> 00:15:07.020 We put a chip in and we purposely 00:15:07.020 --> 00:15:11.620 mismarked it so that when somebody copied us, 00:15:11.620 --> 00:15:13.290 they'd put the wrong chip in. 00:15:13.290 --> 00:15:15.529 We felt like we were in a war. 00:15:15.529 --> 00:15:17.820 TONY HAWK: It was a war that would change entertainment 00:15:17.820 --> 00:15:19.250 forever. 00:15:19.250 --> 00:15:21.690 And as the Atari troops attack the arcades, 00:15:21.690 --> 00:15:23.820 Bushnell got ready to open a second front 00:15:23.820 --> 00:15:25.800 in living rooms across America. 00:15:25.800 --> 00:15:29.198 The battle for video game dominance was about to begin. 00:15:29.198 --> 00:15:32.325 [THEME MUSIC PLAYING] 00:15:32.325 --> 00:15:32.950 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:15:32.950 --> 00:15:36.340 In 1974, nearly two years after Pongs introduction, 00:15:36.340 --> 00:15:37.840 everyone had played the game so much 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.300 that 3/4 of the world population was suffering 00:15:40.300 --> 00:15:42.100 from carpal tunnel syndrome. 00:15:42.100 --> 00:15:43.155 No, not really. 00:15:43.155 --> 00:15:43.780 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:15:43.780 --> 00:15:47.871 But in the arcades, Pong fever was still running hot as ever. 00:15:47.871 --> 00:15:48.370 [BUZZER] 00:15:48.370 --> 00:15:50.170 People couldn't get enough. 00:15:50.170 --> 00:15:51.790 So Nolan Bushnell figured he'd give 00:15:51.790 --> 00:15:54.845 them more by introducing a home version of Pong. 00:15:54.845 --> 00:15:56.440 NOLAN BUSHNELL: Al Alcorn said, I 00:15:56.440 --> 00:16:01.146 believe we can put Pong on a chip. 00:16:01.146 --> 00:16:03.124 And I said, let's do it. 00:16:03.124 --> 00:16:04.540 AL ALCORN: This is actually what's 00:16:04.540 --> 00:16:08.000 inside the coin operated Pong video game. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.980 There's about 75 integrated circuits on this. 00:16:11.980 --> 00:16:17.590 And that was all replaced by what's in this. 00:16:17.590 --> 00:16:19.210 TONY HAWK: Atari cut a deal with Sears 00:16:19.210 --> 00:16:22.990 and over 150,000 home Pong units flew off the shelves 00:16:22.990 --> 00:16:27.670 during the 1975 holiday season 00:16:27.670 --> 00:16:29.550 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:16:29.550 --> 00:16:31.260 Now the established gaming leader, 00:16:31.260 --> 00:16:33.420 Atari was the place where top programming 00:16:33.420 --> 00:16:35.980 talent wanted to be. 00:16:35.980 --> 00:16:38.750 STEVE KENT: Steve Jobs showed up unannounced one day 00:16:38.750 --> 00:16:40.230 and wanted a job. 00:16:40.230 --> 00:16:44.710 He was unwashed, unkempt, smelled bad, had no degree. 00:16:44.710 --> 00:16:48.010 Al Alcorn's secretary came to him and said, what do I do? 00:16:48.010 --> 00:16:49.590 And Al Alcorn's comment was, well 00:16:49.590 --> 00:16:51.740 we should either hire him or call the cops. 00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:54.060 And Al hired him. 00:16:54.060 --> 00:16:57.810 TONY HAWK: Jobs brought along a buddy, Steve Wozniak. 00:16:57.810 --> 00:16:59.940 NOLAN BUSHNELL: We hired Steve Jobs 00:16:59.940 --> 00:17:02.790 and we didn't know that we sort of got Woz along 00:17:02.790 --> 00:17:04.020 with the package. 00:17:04.020 --> 00:17:07.050 He was never an official employee of Atari 00:17:07.050 --> 00:17:11.010 but hung out with Jobs a lot in the labs. 00:17:11.010 --> 00:17:12.637 They did break out, actually. 00:17:12.637 --> 00:17:14.220 STEVE KENT: There was a line of bricks 00:17:14.220 --> 00:17:17.010 and you tried to break the bricks away by knocking 00:17:17.010 --> 00:17:18.630 the ball against them. 00:17:18.630 --> 00:17:22.115 It was Pong only it was Pong turned vertical. 00:17:22.115 --> 00:17:22.740 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:17:22.740 --> 00:17:25.198 TONY HAWK: Pretty soon, Jobs and Wozniak broke out of Atari 00:17:25.198 --> 00:17:29.190 to start their own little business, Apple Computer. 00:17:29.190 --> 00:17:33.900 Jobs asked his boss to invest in the idea, Bushnell declined. 00:17:33.900 --> 00:17:37.090 The company's capital was tied up producing home Pong units 00:17:37.090 --> 00:17:40.380 and developing their next home console concept. 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:41.940 They called it-- 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:44.130 NOLAN BUSHNELL: The VCS, the Video Computer System 00:17:44.130 --> 00:17:45.640 was the 2600. 00:17:45.640 --> 00:17:50.352 And became universally known as the Atari. 00:17:50.352 --> 00:17:53.190 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:17:53.190 --> 00:17:54.890 AL ALCORN: The idea behind the 2600 00:17:54.890 --> 00:17:58.190 was to get away from having to build a whole new custom 00:17:58.190 --> 00:17:59.720 chip for every new game. 00:17:59.720 --> 00:18:03.290 So if we can make the game just be in a cartridge and software, 00:18:03.290 --> 00:18:06.350 we could release it much faster and much cheaper 00:18:06.350 --> 00:18:09.085 than we could with a whole new game. 00:18:09.085 --> 00:18:10.460 TONY HAWK: Nolan needed big money 00:18:10.460 --> 00:18:12.980 to develop and launch the 2600. 00:18:12.980 --> 00:18:16.832 He got it by selling the company. 00:18:16.832 --> 00:18:17.680 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:20.660 Warner Communications, headed by Chairman Steve Ross, 00:18:20.660 --> 00:18:24.460 paid Bushnell $28 million for Atari. 00:18:24.460 --> 00:18:26.830 Not bad for a $500 investment. 00:18:26.830 --> 00:18:28.570 Plus, Nolan would still draw a paycheck 00:18:28.570 --> 00:18:30.038 as the company chairman. 00:18:30.038 --> 00:18:30.538 [CHA-CHING] 00:18:30.538 --> 00:18:33.860 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:18:33.860 --> 00:18:37.010 In October of 1977, supported by a handful of games 00:18:37.010 --> 00:18:41.130 like Street Racer, Indy 500, and Kombat, 00:18:41.130 --> 00:18:46.640 the Atari 2600 hit the streets. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:48.840 STEVE KENT: It was a bomb. 00:18:48.840 --> 00:18:50.300 It did nothing. 00:18:50.300 --> 00:18:52.430 They didn't get them out in time for Christmas. 00:18:52.430 --> 00:18:55.220 They didn't sell, the ones that were out there. 00:18:55.220 --> 00:18:57.760 And Warner hit the roof. 00:18:57.760 --> 00:18:58.640 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:00.014 AL ALCORN: The net result of that 00:19:00.014 --> 00:19:03.890 was they removed Nolan and put in Ray Kassar, who 00:19:03.890 --> 00:19:07.370 was the person from the east coast who worked at Burlington 00:19:07.370 --> 00:19:10.710 Industries and was probably a more professional, 00:19:10.710 --> 00:19:13.940 big businessman to run Atari. 00:19:13.940 --> 00:19:15.145 TONY HAWK: Nolan was out. 00:19:15.145 --> 00:19:17.150 But don't cry for this guy. 00:19:17.150 --> 00:19:19.460 He made even more money with his next business, 00:19:19.460 --> 00:19:24.920 a chain of family restaurants called, Chuck E. Cheese. 00:19:24.920 --> 00:19:27.590 Now, while all of this was going on at Atari, 00:19:27.590 --> 00:19:33.260 something even bigger was going on in a galaxy far, far away. 00:19:33.260 --> 00:19:36.470 In 1977, the movie mega-hit Star Wars 00:19:36.470 --> 00:19:40.610 sent the nation's sci-fi crazy. 00:19:40.610 --> 00:19:42.650 And in less than a year, a new game 00:19:42.650 --> 00:19:46.650 arrived that cashed in on the craze. 00:19:46.650 --> 00:19:49.940 Atari's competitor Midway got the arcade upper hand 00:19:49.940 --> 00:19:53.862 with a Japanese import that went by the name, Space Invaders. 00:19:53.862 --> 00:19:56.070 JEFF GREEN: We're all fascinated by the Pong machines 00:19:56.070 --> 00:19:58.850 and then we were fascinated by Space Invaders, which 00:19:58.850 --> 00:20:02.300 again, was just lines coming down from the screen. 00:20:02.300 --> 00:20:04.125 TONY HAWK: Ultimately, you couldn't win. 00:20:04.125 --> 00:20:06.050 But it was the first arcade machine 00:20:06.050 --> 00:20:09.310 to record and display a high score. 00:20:09.310 --> 00:20:11.912 And that just made people want to play more. 00:20:11.912 --> 00:20:13.370 JEFF GREEN: You look at games today 00:20:13.370 --> 00:20:16.310 that cost literally millions and millions of dollars 00:20:16.310 --> 00:20:20.360 that take literally four or five years, or more, to complete. 00:20:20.360 --> 00:20:25.100 Most of those games don't rival the game play and addictiveness 00:20:25.100 --> 00:20:28.125 of Space Invaders. 00:20:28.125 --> 00:20:28.750 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:20:28.750 --> 00:20:32.450 TONY HAWK: It took Atari nearly a year but they did strike back 00:20:32.450 --> 00:20:34.380 with Asteroids. 00:20:34.380 --> 00:20:38.340 An updated version of Slug Russells' Spacewar. 00:20:38.340 --> 00:20:41.090 The object, breakup a surrounding storm 00:20:41.090 --> 00:20:43.610 of falling asteroids and avoid getting blown up 00:20:43.610 --> 00:20:46.160 by a fleet of flying saucers. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:47.840 JOHN SMEDLEY: I can remember Asteroids 00:20:47.840 --> 00:20:49.520 like there's no tomorrow. 00:20:49.520 --> 00:20:52.910 Going down there and literally begging my mother for quarters. 00:20:52.910 --> 00:20:55.850 And you know, an hour later I'm back asking for more. 00:20:55.850 --> 00:20:57.729 It's a good memory for me. 00:20:57.729 --> 00:21:00.020 JOHN ROMERO: The first ones that I played was basically 00:21:00.020 --> 00:21:03.594 Space Invaders and Asteroids. 00:21:03.594 --> 00:21:05.260 I always spent my allowance really fast. 00:21:05.260 --> 00:21:06.920 It was only $5 a week. 00:21:06.920 --> 00:21:08.540 It was like two days and I mean, I 00:21:08.540 --> 00:21:11.282 was stretching it as far as I could go. 00:21:11.282 --> 00:21:15.660 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:21:15.660 --> 00:21:18.420 TONY HAWK: As the '70s disco danced their way into history, 00:21:18.420 --> 00:21:20.280 1980 arrived. 00:21:20.280 --> 00:21:23.970 And true 8-bit color came to the arcade screens. 00:21:23.970 --> 00:21:26.100 Up until then, any colors seen in a game 00:21:26.100 --> 00:21:29.436 had been achieved by using tinted overlays. 00:21:29.436 --> 00:21:32.760 Atari was pumping out hits like Missile Command and Battle 00:21:32.760 --> 00:21:35.930 Zone, which had a custom version built for the American military 00:21:35.930 --> 00:21:37.100 to use in combat training. 00:21:37.100 --> 00:21:40.172 00:21:40.172 --> 00:21:41.630 One of the biggest hits of the year 00:21:41.630 --> 00:21:45.110 was Defender from Williams, an Atari rival. 00:21:45.110 --> 00:21:47.000 This was another "fight the aliens" game 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:48.680 but it was cooler because it had a radar 00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:50.096 screen that let you see everything 00:21:50.096 --> 00:21:53.125 that was coming your way. 00:21:53.125 --> 00:21:56.250 But there was one invader no one saw coming. 00:21:56.250 --> 00:21:57.430 Check him out. 00:21:57.430 --> 00:21:59.329 He's got a classic profile. 00:21:59.329 --> 00:22:04.335 [PAC-MAN MUSIC PLAYING] 00:22:04.335 --> 00:22:04.960 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:07.670 His name, Pac-Man. 00:22:07.670 --> 00:22:09.660 He was born at a Japanese game company 00:22:09.660 --> 00:22:15.420 called Namco and brought to the US by Atari's nemesis, Midway. 00:22:15.420 --> 00:22:17.340 Originally called Puck-Man, Midway 00:22:17.340 --> 00:22:19.740 was afraid vandals would have too much fun changing 00:22:19.740 --> 00:22:22.320 the first letter of his name. 00:22:22.320 --> 00:22:25.530 Small and yellow, he ate everything in his path. 00:22:25.530 --> 00:22:27.990 Little dots and ghosts with names 00:22:27.990 --> 00:22:31.610 like Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. 00:22:31.610 --> 00:22:34.260 00:22:34.260 --> 00:22:35.760 AL KAHN: I loved Pac-Man. 00:22:35.760 --> 00:22:39.240 It was just such a simplistic movement with a joystick 00:22:39.240 --> 00:22:43.710 and yet it was easy to play, hard to master. 00:22:43.710 --> 00:22:45.768 And that was really, I think, the secret of it. 00:22:45.768 --> 00:22:46.726 [PAC-MAN SOUND EFFECTS] 00:22:46.726 --> 00:22:50.262 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:22:50.262 --> 00:22:52.470 TONY HAWK: It was also the first time a character was 00:22:52.470 --> 00:22:54.840 the star of a video game. 00:22:54.840 --> 00:22:56.940 Most important thing about characters? 00:22:56.940 --> 00:22:58.740 You can license them. 00:22:58.740 --> 00:23:01.020 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:23:01.020 --> 00:23:04.215 Pretty soon, Pac-Man had a song in the top 40 charts. 00:23:04.215 --> 00:23:06.300 A Saturday morning TV show. 00:23:06.300 --> 00:23:10.374 And he even made it to the cover of Time magazine. 00:23:10.374 --> 00:23:11.350 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:23:11.350 --> 00:23:14.900 Then a year later, Ms. Pac-Man showed up on the scene. 00:23:14.900 --> 00:23:17.090 Same profile, only this time sporting 00:23:17.090 --> 00:23:19.170 a bow and a beauty spot. 00:23:19.170 --> 00:23:23.615 There were also more mazes, more ghosts, an even bigger success. 00:23:23.615 --> 00:23:27.192 [MS. PAC MAN THEME MUSIC PLAYING] 00:23:27.192 --> 00:23:28.590 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:23:28.590 --> 00:23:31.230 Time to head back over to Japan and the company 00:23:31.230 --> 00:23:33.150 called Nintendo. 00:23:33.150 --> 00:23:37.040 They got their start in 1889 manufacturing playing cards. 00:23:37.040 --> 00:23:40.695 By 1980, under the leadership of Hiroshi Yamauchi, 00:23:40.695 --> 00:23:44.700 the company was desperate to cash in on the video craze. 00:23:44.700 --> 00:23:47.070 STEVE KENT: Nintendo was doing modestly well 00:23:47.070 --> 00:23:48.930 in the Japanese arcade business. 00:23:48.930 --> 00:23:51.960 They could not get a foot in, in the US market. 00:23:51.960 --> 00:23:55.320 In desperation, Yamauchi turned to this guy 00:23:55.320 --> 00:23:59.646 he had hired named Shigeru Miyamoto. 00:23:59.646 --> 00:24:01.020 TONY HAWK: By Japanese standards, 00:24:01.020 --> 00:24:03.390 Miyamoto was sort of a wild man. 00:24:03.390 --> 00:24:06.870 When it came to music, he loved the Beatles and bluegrass. 00:24:06.870 --> 00:24:11.250 He played the banjo and he loved designing toys. 00:24:11.250 --> 00:24:15.580 STEVE KENT: And they said, can you make a game for us? 00:24:15.580 --> 00:24:18.210 Miyamoto started spouting off about how he'd do this 00:24:18.210 --> 00:24:18.940 and he'd do that. 00:24:18.940 --> 00:24:21.180 And Yamauchi's like, yeah, yeah, sure. 00:24:21.180 --> 00:24:22.522 Just make us a good game. 00:24:22.522 --> 00:24:24.480 TONY HAWK: Miyamoto came up with something that 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:25.980 had never been done in gaming. 00:24:25.980 --> 00:24:28.285 A story to motivate the action. 00:24:28.285 --> 00:24:31.135 [DONKEY KONG MUSIC PLAYING] 00:24:31.135 --> 00:24:33.360 A gorilla runs away from a carpenter 00:24:33.360 --> 00:24:35.690 and steals the carpenters girlfriend. 00:24:35.690 --> 00:24:37.710 Carpenter chases the gorilla through a factory 00:24:37.710 --> 00:24:39.075 to rescue the girl. 00:24:39.075 --> 00:24:40.710 Hey, nobody said it was Shakespeare. 00:24:40.710 --> 00:24:45.960 [DONKEY KONG MUSIC PLAYING] 00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:49.080 Literally translated, Miyamoto Japanese title for the game 00:24:49.080 --> 00:24:52.170 came out as, "Stubborn Gorilla." 00:24:52.170 --> 00:24:54.810 Wanting something sexier, he went to the Japanese/English 00:24:54.810 --> 00:24:55.950 Dictionary. 00:24:55.950 --> 00:24:58.890 For stubborn, he came up with donkey. 00:24:58.890 --> 00:25:01.090 Gorilla became Kong. 00:25:01.090 --> 00:25:03.410 Yamauchi called his American headquarters, 00:25:03.410 --> 00:25:05.890 headed by Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln, 00:25:05.890 --> 00:25:08.390 and gave everyone that good news on the game. 00:25:08.390 --> 00:25:10.919 STEVE KENT: And he said, Donkey Kong. 00:25:10.919 --> 00:25:12.210 I mean, they almost passed out. 00:25:12.210 --> 00:25:14.640 They were like, Donkey Kong? 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:15.830 What's a Donkey Kong? 00:25:15.830 --> 00:25:19.350 I think Howard Lincoln's comment was, Donkey Kong, Konkey Dong. 00:25:19.350 --> 00:25:20.430 I mean, come on. 00:25:20.430 --> 00:25:22.918 But Donkey Kong was a magic game. 00:25:22.918 --> 00:25:25.606 [DONKEY KONG MUSIC PLAYING] 00:25:25.606 --> 00:25:26.510 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:25:26.510 --> 00:25:28.740 TONY HAWK: Donkey Kong fever swept the arcades. 00:25:28.740 --> 00:25:32.790 Closely followed by Donkey Kong Jr. 00:25:32.790 --> 00:25:35.640 When it came to merchandising, the monkey was natural. 00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:39.729 But it was really the man who became the breakout character. 00:25:39.729 --> 00:25:42.270 Plans were soon made to give the little guy with the mustache 00:25:42.270 --> 00:25:44.070 his own game. 00:25:44.070 --> 00:25:46.620 Everyone knew he had personality but what he really 00:25:46.620 --> 00:25:48.810 needed was a name. 00:25:48.810 --> 00:25:51.300 American Nintendo chief Minoru Arakawa 00:25:51.300 --> 00:25:52.980 came up with the answer. 00:25:52.980 --> 00:25:55.020 STEVE KENT: Originally, he was Jump Man. 00:25:55.020 --> 00:25:59.810 And the Nintendo's landlord out here, Mario Sigali, 00:25:59.810 --> 00:26:01.185 pissed off Arakawa. 00:26:01.185 --> 00:26:05.940 So then Arakawa re-named Jump Man, Mario, after Mario Sigali. 00:26:05.940 --> 00:26:07.760 TONY HAWK: And when Mario got his new name, 00:26:07.760 --> 00:26:10.230 he also got a new job as a plumber. 00:26:10.230 --> 00:26:12.300 Along with a new brother named Luigi. 00:26:12.300 --> 00:26:13.670 [MARIO BROS THEME MUSIC PLAYING] 00:26:13.670 --> 00:26:15.810 And the Mario Bros jumped into the arcades 00:26:15.810 --> 00:26:19.545 in a series of games that are still popular today. 00:26:19.545 --> 00:26:22.870 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:26:22.870 --> 00:26:24.910 By 1982, it seemed like the country 00:26:24.910 --> 00:26:27.070 was having one great big party. 00:26:27.070 --> 00:26:30.320 Ronald Reagan was in power, the economy was booming, 00:26:30.320 --> 00:26:32.440 and the gaming industry was taking a big slice 00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:34.300 of the disposable income. 00:26:34.300 --> 00:26:37.570 Americans had now spent over 75,000 man years 00:26:37.570 --> 00:26:40.490 playing video games and dropped more than 20 billion quarters 00:26:40.490 --> 00:26:42.280 in the process. 00:26:42.280 --> 00:26:44.230 It looked like things couldn't get any better. 00:26:44.230 --> 00:26:45.400 And you know what? 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:46.594 They couldn't. 00:26:46.594 --> 00:26:48.010 Players in the video game industry 00:26:48.010 --> 00:26:50.064 were about to move up to the next level 00:26:50.064 --> 00:26:52.480 and faced a revolution that would tear the business apart. 00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:57.406 [THEME MUSIC PLAYING] 00:26:57.406 --> 00:26:58.030 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:26:58.030 --> 00:26:59.770 This is the first game I ever played. 00:26:59.770 --> 00:27:02.210 There was a machine just like it at the local pizza place. 00:27:02.210 --> 00:27:04.170 Man, it's still great. 00:27:04.170 --> 00:27:06.694 Pac-Man, not the pizza. 00:27:06.694 --> 00:27:09.110 But there was one version of this game that wasn't so hot. 00:27:09.110 --> 00:27:11.770 In fact, it was so bad that it nearly killed off video games 00:27:11.770 --> 00:27:13.020 for good. 00:27:13.020 --> 00:27:15.520 Rewind to 1980. 00:27:15.520 --> 00:27:17.470 Namco and Midway's Pac-Man is eating up 00:27:17.470 --> 00:27:19.330 most of the arcade business and cutting 00:27:19.330 --> 00:27:20.502 into Atari's bottom line. 00:27:20.502 --> 00:27:21.460 [PAC-MAN SOUND EFFECTS] 00:27:21.460 --> 00:27:23.560 The company had a new president, Ray Kassar 00:27:23.560 --> 00:27:25.540 who was a marketing pro. 00:27:25.540 --> 00:27:27.070 Looking for a new revenue stream, 00:27:27.070 --> 00:27:29.410 he set his sights on American homes 00:27:29.410 --> 00:27:34.000 and getting the 2600 console into more of them. 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:37.200 Marketing 101, people buy what they know. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:40.600 And people know these guys. 00:27:40.600 --> 00:27:43.090 Space Invaders had kicked Atari's butt in the arcades 00:27:43.090 --> 00:27:45.910 back in 1978. 00:27:45.910 --> 00:27:48.647 Now Kassar thought they were the ones who could save it. 00:27:48.647 --> 00:27:50.730 In the best, can't beat them, join them tradition, 00:27:50.730 --> 00:27:53.650 he went straight to Taito, the original Japanese company that 00:27:53.650 --> 00:27:56.080 designed the game and bought the rights to a home 00:27:56.080 --> 00:27:59.050 version of Space Invaders. 00:27:59.050 --> 00:28:02.730 When it hits stores, 2600 sales skyrocketed. 00:28:02.730 --> 00:28:04.280 Kassar wanted more. 00:28:04.280 --> 00:28:07.780 DAVID CRANE: We were asked to do home versions of popular arcade 00:28:07.780 --> 00:28:08.400 titles. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:11.530 Very difficult task because the Atari 2600 00:28:11.530 --> 00:28:15.910 is a very simple game system, electronically. 00:28:15.910 --> 00:28:18.000 Whereas an arcade game has $4,000 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:19.720 worth of technology in it. 00:28:19.720 --> 00:28:21.220 TONY HAWK: Faster than you could say 00:28:21.220 --> 00:28:25.480 Asteroids, more Atari arcade knockoffs hit store shelves. 00:28:25.480 --> 00:28:28.540 Atari soon had a reputation as a profitable company 00:28:28.540 --> 00:28:31.030 and a great place to work, but only 00:28:31.030 --> 00:28:34.520 if you were in upper management. 00:28:34.520 --> 00:28:37.550 ALAN MILLER: The culture changed at Atari. 00:28:37.550 --> 00:28:41.780 When Bushnell was forced out and the new management came in, 00:28:41.780 --> 00:28:43.520 they didn't understand the industry. 00:28:43.520 --> 00:28:45.440 They didn't understand consumer electronics. 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:47.390 They didn't understand technology. 00:28:47.390 --> 00:28:49.760 They had little respect for the creative work 00:28:49.760 --> 00:28:52.490 that was being done by game designers such as myself. 00:28:52.490 --> 00:28:55.335 00:28:55.335 --> 00:28:56.960 AL ALCORN: These engineers would create 00:28:56.960 --> 00:29:00.170 a software program that would result in $20- $30 million 00:29:00.170 --> 00:29:01.820 in sales. 00:29:01.820 --> 00:29:03.950 And they were making this little paltry salary 00:29:03.950 --> 00:29:06.380 and they figured gee, I'd like to get a penny or two 00:29:06.380 --> 00:29:07.932 or three per each cartridge. 00:29:07.932 --> 00:29:09.890 DAVID CRANE: So we go to the president of Atari 00:29:09.890 --> 00:29:14.450 and point that out, and he said to us, and I'll quote, he said, 00:29:14.450 --> 00:29:18.080 you are no more important to that game than the person 00:29:18.080 --> 00:29:20.540 on the assembly line who puts it together. 00:29:20.540 --> 00:29:22.190 That didn't sit too well with us. 00:29:22.190 --> 00:29:24.030 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:29:24.030 --> 00:29:26.310 TONY HAWK: Contempt breeds competition. 00:29:26.310 --> 00:29:28.470 So four of Atari's top game designers 00:29:28.470 --> 00:29:31.876 gave Kassar the kiss off and started their own company. 00:29:31.876 --> 00:29:37.222 - You blast light out of your sense. 00:29:37.222 --> 00:29:40.138 Star Master by Activision. 00:29:40.138 --> 00:29:42.455 00:29:42.455 --> 00:29:44.080 ALAN MILLER: The most significant thing 00:29:44.080 --> 00:29:47.130 about Activision was that it was the first independent video 00:29:47.130 --> 00:29:48.430 game publisher. 00:29:48.430 --> 00:29:51.430 Prior to our formation, all game software 00:29:51.430 --> 00:29:53.505 was created by the hardware manufacturers. 00:29:53.505 --> 00:29:55.630 DAVID CRANE: One of the differences with Activision 00:29:55.630 --> 00:30:00.720 was we promoted the game creator as an author. 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:03.310 If you're creative at what you do, 00:30:03.310 --> 00:30:05.579 you kind of like some recognition from the public. 00:30:05.579 --> 00:30:07.370 ALAN MILLER: Activision was a huge success. 00:30:07.370 --> 00:30:10.930 We grew from $0 in revenue to $160 million 00:30:10.930 --> 00:30:13.975 in revenue in three years. 00:30:13.975 --> 00:30:18.700 TONY HAWK: Their first hits included Pitfall, Ka-Boom, 00:30:18.700 --> 00:30:19.660 and Freeway. 00:30:19.660 --> 00:30:22.360 - I came up with Freeway on Lakeshore Drive 00:30:22.360 --> 00:30:24.434 in Chicago, which is 10 lanes of traffic. 00:30:24.434 --> 00:30:26.350 Looked out the window and there was this idiot 00:30:26.350 --> 00:30:27.680 trying to cross the street. 00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:29.169 And I'm looking at that and I said, 00:30:29.169 --> 00:30:30.585 that would make a good video game. 00:30:30.585 --> 00:30:34.670 00:30:34.670 --> 00:30:36.940 TONY HAWK: Atari wasn't the only game in town anymore. 00:30:36.940 --> 00:30:40.200 More companies were making more consoles. 00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:43.060 Activism was making games for all of them. 00:30:43.060 --> 00:30:46.090 Magnavox had the Odyssey 2. 00:30:46.090 --> 00:30:50.480 Famous toymaker Mattel had Intellivision. 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:52.600 Mattel's ads for their console featured 00:30:52.600 --> 00:30:55.690 intellectual literary figure George Plimpton. 00:30:55.690 --> 00:30:57.970 - I've been comparing the exciting new Intellivision 00:30:57.970 --> 00:31:01.210 space game Star Strike with one of the most popular Atari 00:31:01.210 --> 00:31:02.360 games, Asteroids. 00:31:02.360 --> 00:31:04.450 TONY HAWK: I guess they figured most Americans had 00:31:04.450 --> 00:31:06.730 to be dragged away from reading War and Peace to play 00:31:06.730 --> 00:31:07.570 video games. 00:31:07.570 --> 00:31:10.645 - Star Strike features our most exciting visual effect-- 00:31:10.645 --> 00:31:12.310 total destruction of a planet. 00:31:12.310 --> 00:31:15.230 Which is why after Star Strike, Asteroids 00:31:15.230 --> 00:31:18.028 left [INAUDIBLE] rather flat. 00:31:18.028 --> 00:31:21.684 To-to-total destruction of a planet. 00:31:21.684 --> 00:31:24.350 TONY HAWK: Then another unlikely player showed up on the field-- 00:31:24.350 --> 00:31:28.110 a plastic pool maker called Coleco. 00:31:28.110 --> 00:31:31.010 - We had looked at this whole arcade position 00:31:31.010 --> 00:31:34.220 and believed that electronics, as it related to kids, 00:31:34.220 --> 00:31:36.750 was going to be very, very important angle. 00:31:36.750 --> 00:31:39.110 So we started to work on a number of different products 00:31:39.110 --> 00:31:42.946 that's used electronic chips as they're heart. 00:31:42.946 --> 00:31:44.943 - I'm an electronic quarterback. 00:31:44.943 --> 00:31:47.770 I start in the back field and follow my blockers. 00:31:47.770 --> 00:31:48.270 - Blockers? 00:31:48.270 --> 00:31:49.845 I don't have any blockers. 00:31:49.845 --> 00:31:51.800 MAN: Coleco's Electronic Quarterback. 00:31:51.800 --> 00:31:54.630 - We did the head to head series of dedicated games, 00:31:54.630 --> 00:31:56.170 where you played against an opponent 00:31:56.170 --> 00:31:57.420 on the other side of the game. 00:31:57.420 --> 00:31:59.090 - Now we can play at the same time. 00:31:59.090 --> 00:31:59.810 - I'm offense. 00:31:59.810 --> 00:32:00.770 - I'm defense. 00:32:00.770 --> 00:32:02.390 MAN: With Head to Head, you're really in the game. 00:32:02.390 --> 00:32:03.050 A power sweep. 00:32:03.050 --> 00:32:03.560 You pass. 00:32:03.560 --> 00:32:04.100 He blitzes. 00:32:04.100 --> 00:32:04.850 Intercepts. 00:32:04.850 --> 00:32:07.000 - This is real competition. 00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:10.010 - And we did the miniature tabletop arcade games, 00:32:10.010 --> 00:32:12.950 which are miniature versions of Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. 00:32:12.950 --> 00:32:14.919 They looked exactly like the arcade games. 00:32:14.919 --> 00:32:16.085 - They were very successful. 00:32:16.085 --> 00:32:20.510 And that Coleco on the road to developing more video 00:32:20.510 --> 00:32:24.760 and electronic games. 00:32:24.760 --> 00:32:28.340 TONY HAWK: And the new console called Coleco Vision was born. 00:32:28.340 --> 00:32:31.490 - Coleco Vision was an attempt to try and replicate as closely 00:32:31.490 --> 00:32:34.670 as possible in those days the actual experience 00:32:34.670 --> 00:32:35.254 of the arcade. 00:32:35.254 --> 00:32:36.961 TONY HAWK: Knowing they needed a hot game 00:32:36.961 --> 00:32:39.350 to kick off their console sales, they set their sights 00:32:39.350 --> 00:32:40.730 on the arcade hit-- 00:32:40.730 --> 00:32:43.700 Donkey Kong. 00:32:43.700 --> 00:32:46.040 And bought themselves a six month 00:32:46.040 --> 00:32:48.150 exclusive to the game from Nintendo. 00:32:48.150 --> 00:32:52.886 Coleco Vision became the smash hit of 1982. 00:32:52.886 --> 00:32:54.560 - And Donkey Kong was the driver. 00:32:54.560 --> 00:32:56.090 We impacted it with the unit. 00:32:56.090 --> 00:32:57.465 You bought the Coleco Vision, you 00:32:57.465 --> 00:32:59.116 got a Donkey Kong cartridge. 00:32:59.116 --> 00:33:02.330 00:33:02.330 --> 00:33:04.370 TONY HAWK: Suddenly, another 800 pound gorilla 00:33:04.370 --> 00:33:05.600 came into the room-- 00:33:05.600 --> 00:33:07.340 Universal Studios. 00:33:07.340 --> 00:33:09.920 They claimed that Nintendo's Donkey Kong violated 00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:12.500 their copyright on the movie King Kong 00:33:12.500 --> 00:33:14.390 and they wanted their piece of the action. 00:33:14.390 --> 00:33:15.560 - It's a great court case. 00:33:15.560 --> 00:33:18.530 They actually at one point brought in a Donkey Kong 00:33:18.530 --> 00:33:21.620 machine and played the game for the judge 00:33:21.620 --> 00:33:24.729 in the middle of the core, which was quite a scene. 00:33:24.729 --> 00:33:26.270 TONY HAWK: But the biggest laugh came 00:33:26.270 --> 00:33:29.360 when court papers, prepared by Universal's own lawyers, 00:33:29.360 --> 00:33:31.490 revealed that the original copyright holder 00:33:31.490 --> 00:33:35.490 that the rights fall into the public domain. 00:33:35.490 --> 00:33:37.760 - So in the end, not only did they lose, 00:33:37.760 --> 00:33:41.020 they have to pay damages and court expenses. 00:33:41.020 --> 00:33:43.010 TONY HAWK: Hate to say it, but we got to-- 00:33:43.010 --> 00:33:45.020 Nintendo made a monkey out of Universal. 00:33:45.020 --> 00:33:49.790 00:33:49.790 --> 00:33:52.350 And what about those monkeys who were running Atari? 00:33:52.350 --> 00:33:55.670 - They were affected by waves of people leaving the company-- 00:33:55.670 --> 00:33:57.060 first, Activision. 00:33:57.060 --> 00:33:58.850 Then there was another wave after us. 00:33:58.850 --> 00:34:01.760 And so they lost their very best programmers. 00:34:01.760 --> 00:34:03.320 TONY HAWK: Desperate, Atari licensed 00:34:03.320 --> 00:34:07.280 the arcade classic Pac-Man and ordered 12 million cartridges. 00:34:07.280 --> 00:34:09.389 [BEEPING] 00:34:09.389 --> 00:34:10.050 It sucked. 00:34:10.050 --> 00:34:12.440 - It flickered, it didn't look like Pac-Man, 00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:16.310 it didn't play well, it was hard to control, it was ugly, 00:34:16.310 --> 00:34:17.630 it was an awful game. 00:34:17.630 --> 00:34:20.938 TONY HAWK: And a financial disaster, big time. 00:34:20.938 --> 00:34:25.310 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:34:25.310 --> 00:34:28.010 Steve Ross, chief of Atari's corporate parent, Warner 00:34:28.010 --> 00:34:30.710 Communications, decided to step in and he brought 00:34:30.710 --> 00:34:33.440 one of Hollywood's biggest talents along with him-- 00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:35.219 Steven Spielberg. 00:34:35.219 --> 00:34:39.210 In the summer of 1982, ET was burning up the box office, 00:34:39.210 --> 00:34:41.889 and Ross wanted to ride that bike too. 00:34:41.889 --> 00:34:44.060 He paid a cool $25 million for the right 00:34:44.060 --> 00:34:47.250 to use Steve's extra terrestrial in a new video game, 00:34:47.250 --> 00:34:50.158 and he promised to have it out by Christmas. 00:34:50.158 --> 00:34:52.699 - I think they had to develop the game in eight weeks instead 00:34:52.699 --> 00:34:55.780 of nine months. 00:34:55.780 --> 00:34:58.070 It's kind of hard to make a game be really fun 00:34:58.070 --> 00:35:01.980 and have a lot of depth in it in a period of a eight weeks. 00:35:01.980 --> 00:35:03.820 - And it was so bad. 00:35:03.820 --> 00:35:06.822 The ones that they sold, most of them were returned. 00:35:06.822 --> 00:35:12.170 - In '83, Atari sent diesel trucks into the New Mexico 00:35:12.170 --> 00:35:15.320 desert packed with unsold cartridges and they buried 00:35:15.320 --> 00:35:15.820 them. 00:35:15.820 --> 00:35:18.070 - The legend was, they had to run in and pour concrete 00:35:18.070 --> 00:35:20.120 over them to make them really go away. 00:35:20.120 --> 00:35:21.289 Ugly, ugly. 00:35:21.289 --> 00:35:22.330 I basically killed Atari. 00:35:22.330 --> 00:35:23.330 It was the end of Atari. 00:35:23.330 --> 00:35:25.880 00:35:25.880 --> 00:35:27.740 TONY HAWK: By early 1983, it looked 00:35:27.740 --> 00:35:32.040 like the home gaming boom was going bust for everyone. 00:35:32.040 --> 00:35:34.400 - 30 companies got a couple million dollars in venture 00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:36.530 capital, hired a couple of programmers 00:35:36.530 --> 00:35:38.810 off the street who'd never designed games, 00:35:38.810 --> 00:35:42.240 and developed a video game and tried to sell it 00:35:42.240 --> 00:35:47.100 and nobody was buying it, because it was garbage. 00:35:47.100 --> 00:35:50.504 It was ironic, because when we saw those 30 new companies, 00:35:50.504 --> 00:35:52.670 we looked at each other and said, none of these guys 00:35:52.670 --> 00:35:54.980 are going to be in business a year from now. 00:35:54.980 --> 00:35:56.780 And we didn't take that one step further 00:35:56.780 --> 00:35:59.322 and say, and my god, what that's going to do to the business. 00:35:59.322 --> 00:36:00.696 TONY HAWK: In the next two years, 00:36:00.696 --> 00:36:02.390 Warner Communications dumped Atari 00:36:02.390 --> 00:36:04.970 and got out of the industry. 00:36:04.970 --> 00:36:08.360 Mattel shut down production of their Intellivision system. 00:36:08.360 --> 00:36:11.520 Coleco sales dropped through the floor. 00:36:11.520 --> 00:36:15.470 And in 1985, just as everything really hit bottom, 00:36:15.470 --> 00:36:17.140 Nintendo stood up and said they weren't 00:36:17.140 --> 00:36:20.540 going to take it anymore and launched their own gaming 00:36:20.540 --> 00:36:21.340 console-- 00:36:21.340 --> 00:36:25.670 the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES. 00:36:25.670 --> 00:36:27.560 Everyone thought they were crazy. 00:36:27.560 --> 00:36:29.810 - All of a sudden, Nintendo came in, 00:36:29.810 --> 00:36:33.250 better graphics, better color, better sound. 00:36:33.250 --> 00:36:34.620 Boom, rock and roll-- 00:36:34.620 --> 00:36:36.030 total success. 00:36:36.030 --> 00:36:38.790 MAN: Nintendo has the most video game hits, 00:36:38.790 --> 00:36:41.520 like Baseball and Excite Bike. 00:36:41.520 --> 00:36:44.730 Now, you're playing with power. 00:36:44.730 --> 00:36:47.440 - They really brought in a new age of video games 00:36:47.440 --> 00:36:49.702 with the simple introduction of the NES system. 00:36:49.702 --> 00:36:50.910 They've rethought everything. 00:36:50.910 --> 00:36:53.100 They said, the way a cartridge is loaded, 00:36:53.100 --> 00:36:55.440 the way the controllers are designed-- 00:36:55.440 --> 00:36:58.230 they said, let's start over and create a really friendly game 00:36:58.230 --> 00:37:00.150 system for families to enjoy. 00:37:00.150 --> 00:37:03.870 TONY HAWK: And who was leading the Nintendo NES charge? 00:37:03.870 --> 00:37:06.120 Their Donkey Kong hero Mario, now 00:37:06.120 --> 00:37:08.110 starring in Super Mario Bros. 00:37:08.110 --> 00:37:11.230 - They came out with Super Mario Bros, which was a great game-- 00:37:11.230 --> 00:37:14.720 so far beyond anything that has existed before in he home. 00:37:14.720 --> 00:37:18.510 It made side scrolling vivid, and it gave you puzzles-- 00:37:18.510 --> 00:37:21.160 hidden puzzles and fun puzzles. 00:37:21.160 --> 00:37:25.060 It characterized what games could be. 00:37:25.060 --> 00:37:29.030 And it was a phenomenon all over again. 00:37:29.030 --> 00:37:31.430 - Once that happened, it really changed the business, 00:37:31.430 --> 00:37:34.100 because then Sega started looking at the business 00:37:34.100 --> 00:37:35.330 more seriously. 00:37:35.330 --> 00:37:37.790 TONY HAWK: Sega was short for Service Games. 00:37:37.790 --> 00:37:40.490 It had actually gotten its start as an American company then 00:37:40.490 --> 00:37:43.250 imported pinball machines to military bases in Japan 00:37:43.250 --> 00:37:45.356 after World War II. 00:37:45.356 --> 00:37:49.730 But by 1986, Sega was a Japanese company toiling away 00:37:49.730 --> 00:37:51.230 in the arcade business. 00:37:51.230 --> 00:37:53.300 Seeing Nintendo's success, they came out 00:37:53.300 --> 00:37:54.960 with their first console-- 00:37:54.960 --> 00:37:57.140 the Sega Master System. 00:37:57.140 --> 00:37:59.930 Most of their games were repackaged arcade titles 00:37:59.930 --> 00:38:01.990 and couldn't compete with the exciting originals 00:38:01.990 --> 00:38:03.680 that Nintendo was cranking out. 00:38:03.680 --> 00:38:05.810 It would take another five years before Sega 00:38:05.810 --> 00:38:09.380 would get a real shot of pushing Nintendo and Mario 00:38:09.380 --> 00:38:11.690 off their high latter. 00:38:11.690 --> 00:38:15.230 - And the Japanese really took over the video game industry, 00:38:15.230 --> 00:38:18.050 because we had these games that anyone could play, 00:38:18.050 --> 00:38:20.630 anyone could understand and everyone loves. 00:38:20.630 --> 00:38:23.020 And they're very simple, they're very easy to get into. 00:38:23.020 --> 00:38:25.460 And the hardware is more powerful than anything 00:38:25.460 --> 00:38:27.090 we've seen from the American side. 00:38:27.090 --> 00:38:29.750 So these guys, they were able to bring back video games, 00:38:29.750 --> 00:38:32.040 like they brought it back from the dead. 00:38:32.040 --> 00:38:33.770 TONY HAWK: After a five year slump, 00:38:33.770 --> 00:38:36.480 consoles were clawing their way back into homes only 00:38:36.480 --> 00:38:39.450 to meet a new challenger-- the personal computer. 00:38:39.450 --> 00:38:41.499 We can barely remember life without them, 00:38:41.499 --> 00:38:43.040 but in the early '80s, these machines 00:38:43.040 --> 00:38:44.349 were the hot new thing. 00:38:44.349 --> 00:38:46.640 And they were about to take video game play to a higher 00:38:46.640 --> 00:38:49.660 level, create new competition for gaming dollars 00:38:49.660 --> 00:38:51.980 and give game designers a new opportunity 00:38:51.980 --> 00:38:54.110 to take even more power into their own hands. 00:38:54.110 --> 00:38:58.490 00:38:58.490 --> 00:38:59.990 You know how some people always seem 00:38:59.990 --> 00:39:02.450 to be in the right place at the right time? 00:39:02.450 --> 00:39:04.940 Maybe it has more to do with being ready to step up 00:39:04.940 --> 00:39:06.245 than just dumb luck. 00:39:06.245 --> 00:39:08.030 And the video game industry has always 00:39:08.030 --> 00:39:10.100 been packed with risk takers, people who 00:39:10.100 --> 00:39:12.890 can't wait to take their shot. 00:39:12.890 --> 00:39:15.320 Time for another chapter in our tale of two Steve-- 00:39:15.320 --> 00:39:16.760 Jobs and Wozniak. 00:39:16.760 --> 00:39:17.590 Remember? 00:39:17.590 --> 00:39:20.350 Those two guys who left Atari to start their own thing. 00:39:20.350 --> 00:39:22.790 By the early '80s, their Apple 2 Home Computer was a must 00:39:22.790 --> 00:39:27.470 buy for tech heads everywhere, at a whopping $1,300 a pop. 00:39:27.470 --> 00:39:30.050 - I just thought I had to have one. 00:39:30.050 --> 00:39:33.890 I convinced my wife that I would somehow make it pay for itself. 00:39:33.890 --> 00:39:36.560 And we spent well over a month's income 00:39:36.560 --> 00:39:40.710 for the two of us buying that first Apple 2 computer. 00:39:40.710 --> 00:39:47.760 And well, I guess I did make it pay for itself eventually. 00:39:47.760 --> 00:39:50.359 TONY HAWK: Computers were making word processing a breeze 00:39:50.359 --> 00:39:52.650 and typewriters were being tossed out of office windows 00:39:52.650 --> 00:39:54.030 everywhere. 00:39:54.030 --> 00:39:56.280 But coming out of Atari, the two Steves 00:39:56.280 --> 00:39:59.370 had gaming in their blood and knew that working hard 00:39:59.370 --> 00:40:01.140 meant playing harder. 00:40:01.140 --> 00:40:04.500 So they made sure their baby was built to game. 00:40:04.500 --> 00:40:06.150 - Once you have a PC on your desk, 00:40:06.150 --> 00:40:07.670 you soon realize that it's something 00:40:07.670 --> 00:40:09.480 that you can goof off on. 00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:11.640 And right from the very beginning 00:40:11.640 --> 00:40:13.770 of PCs on desktops in the workplace, 00:40:13.770 --> 00:40:15.020 there were games to play. 00:40:15.020 --> 00:40:18.040 In those days-- the mid-80s, a lot of them 00:40:18.040 --> 00:40:20.521 were just text games like Zork. 00:40:20.521 --> 00:40:22.770 The great thing about that is because it was all text, 00:40:22.770 --> 00:40:24.920 it actually kind of looked like work. 00:40:24.920 --> 00:40:28.770 TONY HAWK: A rival PC, the Commodore 64 came out in 1982, 00:40:28.770 --> 00:40:30.370 and was even more successful. 00:40:30.370 --> 00:40:33.690 22 million machines were sold in 1983 alone. 00:40:33.690 --> 00:40:39.492 Well, maybe because that one was only $600. 00:40:39.492 --> 00:40:41.970 - When the Commodore 64 first came out, 00:40:41.970 --> 00:40:44.040 I bought one of those like the first day 00:40:44.040 --> 00:40:46.500 and spent like the next month just learning machine, trying 00:40:46.500 --> 00:40:47.830 every last feature of it. 00:40:47.830 --> 00:40:49.455 And then, the first game I did actually 00:40:49.455 --> 00:40:50.456 was on he Commodore 64. 00:40:50.456 --> 00:40:52.080 - I would go into the college and there 00:40:52.080 --> 00:40:53.705 were students programming on the Apple, 00:40:53.705 --> 00:40:56.512 so I could ask them, how do you get the dot on the screen. 00:40:56.512 --> 00:40:58.470 And I'm just asking them all the basic commands 00:40:58.470 --> 00:41:01.400 and writing them all down and trying to make my own programs 00:41:01.400 --> 00:41:02.677 in the corner on the machines. 00:41:02.677 --> 00:41:05.010 - I love playing on a computer a lot more than a console 00:41:05.010 --> 00:41:07.020 because, I felt like the interaction was there. 00:41:07.020 --> 00:41:10.800 There was a lot more fun in actually programming things 00:41:10.800 --> 00:41:14.450 rather than just being passive and letting somebody else make 00:41:14.450 --> 00:41:15.600 the game for me. 00:41:15.600 --> 00:41:17.648 That was really when I fell in love with games. 00:41:17.648 --> 00:41:21.400 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:41:21.400 --> 00:41:23.290 TONY HAWK: Back at Apple, a young employee 00:41:23.290 --> 00:41:25.930 named Chip Hawkins was getting ready to pull a Steve 00:41:25.930 --> 00:41:29.260 Jobs on Steve Jobs and take off on his own. 00:41:29.260 --> 00:41:31.990 00:41:31.990 --> 00:41:34.540 - At Apple, Steve Jobs was treating him 00:41:34.540 --> 00:41:38.830 like a worthless MBA instead of like the future CEO 00:41:38.830 --> 00:41:40.800 and rockstar. 00:41:40.800 --> 00:41:43.780 - The big idea I had was to basically bring 00:41:43.780 --> 00:41:47.170 a lot of practices from Hollywood 00:41:47.170 --> 00:41:50.980 into this new digital medium elevating 00:41:50.980 --> 00:41:54.460 the development of the product to that of an art form 00:41:54.460 --> 00:41:57.880 and treating the creative talent as artists. 00:41:57.880 --> 00:42:00.750 TONY HAWK: In October of 1982, Electronic Arts was born. 00:42:00.750 --> 00:42:05.232 00:42:05.232 --> 00:42:08.220 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:42:08.220 --> 00:42:10.230 - We wrote the business plan in November '82. 00:42:10.230 --> 00:42:12.450 And two weeks later, Atari, which 00:42:12.450 --> 00:42:15.000 had just shipped ET, announced that they 00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:17.615 weren't going to make their revenue, or profit, targets. 00:42:17.615 --> 00:42:18.990 And what they were doing was they 00:42:18.990 --> 00:42:22.000 were spending their money on bulldozers bulldozing 00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:25.340 all those ETs into the ground. 00:42:25.340 --> 00:42:28.100 We though cartridge video games we're done for ever. 00:42:28.100 --> 00:42:30.390 So we took a big risk and we launched and only did 00:42:30.390 --> 00:42:32.272 floppy disk PC games. 00:42:32.272 --> 00:42:35.630 TONY HAWK: Trip had to get people's eyes back on gaming 00:42:35.630 --> 00:42:40.280 and he did it by catching their eye on the store shelves. 00:42:40.280 --> 00:42:42.560 - I immediately gravitated towards thinking 00:42:42.560 --> 00:42:45.170 that the product should be packaged like a record album. 00:42:45.170 --> 00:42:48.380 And it was very successful in the marketplace in that, 00:42:48.380 --> 00:42:52.552 a lot of people really liked those early record albums. 00:42:52.552 --> 00:42:56.634 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:42:56.634 --> 00:42:59.050 TONY HAWK: Trip also figured sports stars would look great 00:42:59.050 --> 00:43:00.460 on box covers. 00:43:00.460 --> 00:43:01.900 Not sure why. 00:43:01.900 --> 00:43:04.460 Maybe he ate a lot of Wheaties. 00:43:04.460 --> 00:43:07.130 Whatever the reason, he went after two of the biggest-- 00:43:07.130 --> 00:43:09.410 Larry Bird and Julius Erving, better 00:43:09.410 --> 00:43:12.110 known as Dr. J. Each got about $25K 00:43:12.110 --> 00:43:14.570 for a snapshot and their names. 00:43:14.570 --> 00:43:17.570 And the doctor himself got involved in the game design. 00:43:17.570 --> 00:43:20.720 - We asked him questions about how he played and strategies 00:43:20.720 --> 00:43:23.082 and we wanted to understand what kind of shots 00:43:23.082 --> 00:43:25.040 he would take from different parts of the floor 00:43:25.040 --> 00:43:26.664 and what his shooting percentages were. 00:43:26.664 --> 00:43:28.550 - We exactly built into the game. 00:43:28.550 --> 00:43:31.400 And then we said, imagine you're really going one on one 00:43:31.400 --> 00:43:34.035 with Larry, what would the outcome be. 00:43:34.035 --> 00:43:37.420 And he goes, if I went one-on-one with Larry, 00:43:37.420 --> 00:43:39.840 I'd beat him every time. 00:43:39.840 --> 00:43:42.330 Cool. 00:43:42.330 --> 00:43:45.980 - Premiering on the Apple 2 and Commodore 64, Dr. J 00:43:45.980 --> 00:43:50.720 and Larry Bird go one on one was a huge seller. 00:43:50.720 --> 00:43:51.890 Next up, football. 00:43:51.890 --> 00:43:54.640 The tie-in, John Madden. 00:43:54.640 --> 00:43:57.470 With a big name, give him a big shock. 00:43:57.470 --> 00:44:00.650 You see, in the early '80s, technology would only allow 00:44:00.650 --> 00:44:02.240 seven players on each team. 00:44:02.240 --> 00:44:08.460 - Madden looked at it and he goes, where's the other guys? 00:44:08.460 --> 00:44:12.650 Well, this is an Apple 2 and it only has 64k of ram. 00:44:12.650 --> 00:44:16.780 So actually having seven on seven is a huge breakthrough. 00:44:16.780 --> 00:44:18.450 And he just gets the stink face-- 00:44:18.450 --> 00:44:22.250 it's like, where are the other-- that's not football. 00:44:22.250 --> 00:44:25.030 You can shift that if you want, but not with my name on. 00:44:25.030 --> 00:44:26.690 We're thinking, he's got our money. 00:44:26.690 --> 00:44:29.585 So I would go back to Rob and Anthonic, the programmer 00:44:29.585 --> 00:44:32.610 and designer, and say, it's got to be a 11-on-11. 00:44:32.610 --> 00:44:37.800 And he goes, that's impossible. 00:44:37.800 --> 00:44:41.370 Two years later when the 11-on-11 game was finished, 00:44:41.370 --> 00:44:42.440 we shipped it. 00:44:42.440 --> 00:44:46.995 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:44:46.995 --> 00:44:49.750 TONY HAWK: And in 1988, the ultimate video sports game 00:44:49.750 --> 00:44:51.730 franchise was born, along with one 00:44:51.730 --> 00:44:54.940 of the greatest video marketing opportunities ever. 00:44:54.940 --> 00:44:57.310 Like football itself, a new version of Madden 00:44:57.310 --> 00:45:01.780 started arriving every season with new teams, statistics, 00:45:01.780 --> 00:45:02.927 and players. 00:45:02.927 --> 00:45:04.510 - And I said, this is the crown jewel. 00:45:04.510 --> 00:45:06.010 We're going to build the company around this. 00:45:06.010 --> 00:45:08.070 This is going to be a hugely successful product. 00:45:08.070 --> 00:45:10.690 Madden's success proofed that sports can be very, very 00:45:10.690 --> 00:45:13.240 good for EA, and it has, giving birth 00:45:13.240 --> 00:45:15.560 to a whole subdivision within the company. 00:45:15.560 --> 00:45:19.530 And it doesn't stop there, from action to adventure, 00:45:19.530 --> 00:45:23.140 from franchises to tie-in titles, these guys are on it. 00:45:23.140 --> 00:45:24.622 Now going for over 20 years, they 00:45:24.622 --> 00:45:26.080 are the biggest and most successful 00:45:26.080 --> 00:45:27.820 publisher of video games ever. 00:45:27.820 --> 00:45:33.280 In 2003, the revenues topped $2.5 billion. 00:45:33.280 --> 00:45:35.620 But hey, we're starting to get ahead of ourselves here. 00:45:35.620 --> 00:45:41.620 Put the brakes on and let's rewind back in 1979. 00:45:41.620 --> 00:45:44.490 This is Ken Williams and his wife Roberta. 00:45:44.490 --> 00:45:47.440 Based in LA, Ken had just started a computer consulting 00:45:47.440 --> 00:45:50.080 business called Online Systems. 00:45:50.080 --> 00:45:53.200 And then, one day, he bought his own computer along 00:45:53.200 --> 00:45:54.550 with a computer game. 00:45:54.550 --> 00:45:57.240 - Roberta started playing it and she got really, really hooked. 00:45:57.240 --> 00:46:01.070 Then after she got hooked, she said, you know, I can do that. 00:46:01.070 --> 00:46:03.070 And it turned out that she could not only do it, 00:46:03.070 --> 00:46:05.335 she could do it brilliantly. 00:46:05.335 --> 00:46:09.550 TONY HAWK: In 1980, she started writing her own game-- 00:46:09.550 --> 00:46:11.560 Mystery House. 00:46:11.560 --> 00:46:13.970 - The adventure game genre really developed 00:46:13.970 --> 00:46:16.520 around what the PC was capable of, 00:46:16.520 --> 00:46:19.820 which was exploration and storytelling. 00:46:19.820 --> 00:46:21.774 You could type in walk left and you 00:46:21.774 --> 00:46:22.940 would get a description of-- 00:46:22.940 --> 00:46:24.380 OK, now you're in the field. 00:46:24.380 --> 00:46:26.930 It was all text based. 00:46:26.930 --> 00:46:28.640 TONY HAWK: An avid movie lover, Roberta 00:46:28.640 --> 00:46:31.160 loved visuals, and insisted the game would 00:46:31.160 --> 00:46:34.100 be more fun if there were pictures to go along with it. 00:46:34.100 --> 00:46:37.370 - She couldn't understand why the hardware at the time 00:46:37.370 --> 00:46:39.980 couldn't do the things that she wanted done. 00:46:39.980 --> 00:46:43.550 And so she would just say, Ed, you've gotta make this happen. 00:46:43.550 --> 00:46:46.640 And somehow Ken would work on it and figure it 00:46:46.640 --> 00:46:49.100 out some kind of thing and make it happen. 00:46:49.100 --> 00:46:52.490 Because of her, Ken created this software program 00:46:52.490 --> 00:46:56.330 that allowed them to store hundreds of graphic screens 00:46:56.330 --> 00:46:58.280 on one single floppy disk. 00:46:58.280 --> 00:47:01.160 And they produced the first adventure game for the Apple 2 00:47:01.160 --> 00:47:01.910 that had graphics. 00:47:01.910 --> 00:47:02.409 It 00:47:02.409 --> 00:47:04.130 - They take these games in a baggy 00:47:04.130 --> 00:47:06.500 and they'd drive them around California 00:47:06.500 --> 00:47:08.270 about have computer shops sell them. 00:47:08.270 --> 00:47:11.100 And that got successful and that became their company. 00:47:11.100 --> 00:47:14.010 00:47:14.010 --> 00:47:18.260 TONY HAWK: Ken and Roberta sold 80,000 copies of Mystery House. 00:47:18.260 --> 00:47:20.440 More games started coming, some were 00:47:20.440 --> 00:47:24.370 originals, some adaptations of arcade titles. 00:47:24.370 --> 00:47:26.620 They also moved their office out of the LA kitchen 00:47:26.620 --> 00:47:30.070 and into a building just outside Yosemite National Park. 00:47:30.070 --> 00:47:34.210 Name change time too-- the company became Sierra Online. 00:47:34.210 --> 00:47:36.670 Then IBM knocked on the new office door. 00:47:36.670 --> 00:47:39.265 They wanted a game for their new consumer machine, the PC 00:47:39.265 --> 00:47:40.020 Junior. 00:47:40.020 --> 00:47:43.000 Roberta came up with King's Quest, a fantasy adventure 00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:46.479 game filled with knights, treasures and puzzles. 00:47:46.479 --> 00:47:48.520 It would also let gamers play from a third person 00:47:48.520 --> 00:47:49.960 perspective. 00:47:49.960 --> 00:47:51.520 Controlling and moving a character 00:47:51.520 --> 00:47:53.350 inside a physical world-- 00:47:53.350 --> 00:47:55.330 a first for adventure games. 00:47:55.330 --> 00:47:57.790 - My first experience with question was just a revelation. 00:47:57.790 --> 00:48:00.580 It was kind of a very, very early form of virtual reality, 00:48:00.580 --> 00:48:02.050 that I was the main character. 00:48:02.050 --> 00:48:04.930 And I was actually creating the story as I went along. 00:48:04.930 --> 00:48:07.030 I thought that was very exciting as a storyteller 00:48:07.030 --> 00:48:09.400 and very compelling for me as a gamer. 00:48:09.400 --> 00:48:13.300 00:48:13.300 --> 00:48:15.370 TONY HAWK: Like the movie biz, success brought 00:48:15.370 --> 00:48:18.100 equals and a few spin-offs too. 00:48:18.100 --> 00:48:20.820 00:48:20.820 --> 00:48:23.620 With each game, Roberto's vision expanded 00:48:23.620 --> 00:48:25.880 and Ken had to think fast to keep up with it. 00:48:25.880 --> 00:48:27.490 - She said, well, I want color. 00:48:27.490 --> 00:48:29.590 And he said, well, Apple only has six colors 00:48:29.590 --> 00:48:30.770 and they're kind of weird. 00:48:30.770 --> 00:48:32.630 And she said, well, make more than that. 00:48:32.630 --> 00:48:33.400 And so he did. 00:48:33.400 --> 00:48:34.570 She wanted sound. 00:48:34.570 --> 00:48:36.790 So he convinced [? Rollins ?] to produce 00:48:36.790 --> 00:48:40.450 a mini board and a sound card so that the PCs could 00:48:40.450 --> 00:48:42.280 have music soundtracks. 00:48:42.280 --> 00:48:43.930 Because with them, the sound cards 00:48:43.930 --> 00:48:48.238 really came into the PC world. 00:48:48.238 --> 00:48:50.110 TONY HAWK: And like Nintendo with Mario, 00:48:50.110 --> 00:48:53.470 Ken and Roberta knew continuing characters like Leisure Suit 00:48:53.470 --> 00:48:56.650 Larry could be just as lucrative as franchise titles. 00:48:56.650 --> 00:48:59.170 - The first Leisure Suit Larry King game had a very simple 00:48:59.170 --> 00:49:05.650 plot-- you were a 39-year-old virgin software salesman in Las 00:49:05.650 --> 00:49:09.640 Vegas for one night and hoping to lose your virginity. 00:49:09.640 --> 00:49:13.150 And you can do that through a variety of means, none of which 00:49:13.150 --> 00:49:17.919 were very sexy or stimulating, but we're funny. 00:49:17.919 --> 00:49:19.210 That's what made it successful. 00:49:19.210 --> 00:49:22.427 It was a risqué title. 00:49:22.427 --> 00:49:24.919 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:49:24.919 --> 00:49:26.960 TONY HAWK: Despite all of the success that Sierra 00:49:26.960 --> 00:49:29.114 and Electronic Arts we're finding in the mid-80s, 00:49:29.114 --> 00:49:30.530 their audience still consisted of. 00:49:30.530 --> 00:49:33.200 A highly specialized group of tech heads and gamers 00:49:33.200 --> 00:49:35.030 with computers becoming an everyday part 00:49:35.030 --> 00:49:37.700 of everyone's work and home life, a money making 00:49:37.700 --> 00:49:41.600 stream of potential players was just sitting there untapped. 00:49:41.600 --> 00:49:43.845 All someone needed was one simple game. 00:49:43.845 --> 00:49:46.639 It needed to be something that anyone could play, 00:49:46.639 --> 00:49:48.680 a game so addictive that workers around the world 00:49:48.680 --> 00:49:50.090 would have to cover their computer screens when 00:49:50.090 --> 00:49:51.305 the boss walked by. 00:49:51.305 --> 00:49:52.840 Well, that game was about to arrive. 00:49:52.840 --> 00:49:58.300 00:49:58.300 --> 00:50:00.520 In terms of global obsession, this next game 00:50:00.520 --> 00:50:02.140 broke all the records. 00:50:02.140 --> 00:50:03.520 It was one of those classic-- 00:50:03.520 --> 00:50:06.520 why didn't I think of that ideas, a game so simple, 00:50:06.520 --> 00:50:08.590 no one in the world could resist playing. 00:50:08.590 --> 00:50:11.550 It was called Tetris. 00:50:11.550 --> 00:50:14.530 And next to cocaine, It was the most addictive substance 00:50:14.530 --> 00:50:17.640 being passed around in the party hardy 1980s. 00:50:17.640 --> 00:50:21.510 And the idea came right out of party central. 00:50:21.510 --> 00:50:24.280 Well, make that Communist Party central. 00:50:24.280 --> 00:50:26.970 00:50:26.970 --> 00:50:29.880 In 1984, Alexey Pajitnov enough was 00:50:29.880 --> 00:50:32.220 working at the Academy of Science in Moscow. 00:50:32.220 --> 00:50:34.680 Occupation-- mathematician. 00:50:34.680 --> 00:50:37.420 His hobbies-- puzzles. 00:50:37.420 --> 00:50:40.990 Alexey came up with Tetris using his computer at work. 00:50:40.990 --> 00:50:44.760 He based it on an old Russian puzzle game called Pentomino. 00:50:44.760 --> 00:50:48.320 - So this is original Pentomino, which I brought from Russia. 00:50:48.320 --> 00:50:52.320 And I had an idea to make to play a game with this. 00:50:52.320 --> 00:50:53.930 And let's start to program it. 00:50:53.930 --> 00:50:57.440 And when I program it, I see-- 00:50:57.440 --> 00:50:59.800 well, in order to put it there, you 00:50:59.800 --> 00:51:02.750 need to flip it or rotate it. 00:51:02.750 --> 00:51:06.032 That was the moment when Tetris was born. 00:51:06.032 --> 00:51:08.530 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:51:08.530 --> 00:51:10.870 TONY HAWK: In 1985, the game was ready 00:51:10.870 --> 00:51:14.820 and Alexey made his big launch, Soviet style. 00:51:14.820 --> 00:51:16.320 - [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH],, in Russian, 00:51:16.320 --> 00:51:19.450 means that you give the copy to your friends. 00:51:19.450 --> 00:51:23.990 And that was like a forest fire, you know? 00:51:23.990 --> 00:51:26.870 In two weeks, it was on every single PC in Moscow, 00:51:26.870 --> 00:51:29.900 and probably in Russia. 00:51:29.900 --> 00:51:31.410 I don't know. 00:51:31.410 --> 00:51:34.340 TONY HAWK: And of course, Alexey made a ton of money, retired 00:51:34.340 --> 00:51:35.840 and he's been sitting around sipping 00:51:35.840 --> 00:51:38.400 Stoli in this 30-room mansion ever since. 00:51:38.400 --> 00:51:39.350 Yeah, right. 00:51:39.350 --> 00:51:43.380 This was the Soviet Union, remember? 00:51:43.380 --> 00:51:45.670 - It was Communist power in Russia, 00:51:45.670 --> 00:51:49.086 so basically, at that point, we are 00:51:49.086 --> 00:51:55.466 agreeing that I will grant them all my rights for 10 years. 00:51:55.466 --> 00:51:57.840 TONY HAWK: So the Communists did what any good capitalist 00:51:57.840 --> 00:52:01.690 would do, they sold the rights to Tetris around the world. 00:52:01.690 --> 00:52:05.550 It started showing up on US computers in January of 1988. 00:52:05.550 --> 00:52:09.120 Soon everyone was playing, at home, at work, 00:52:09.120 --> 00:52:12.930 on company time, personal time, it didn't seem to matter-- 00:52:12.930 --> 00:52:14.940 the nation was transfixed. 00:52:14.940 --> 00:52:16.460 Kids, ask your parents. 00:52:16.460 --> 00:52:19.530 If they say they never played Tetris, they're lying. 00:52:19.530 --> 00:52:21.090 - Tetris is very intuitive. 00:52:21.090 --> 00:52:22.840 Kids are very good at Tetris. 00:52:22.840 --> 00:52:26.200 Adult people, even senior people like these games. 00:52:26.200 --> 00:52:32.610 Everyone would find something for himself in this game. 00:52:32.610 --> 00:52:34.290 TONY HAWK: Smelling a hit, Nintendo 00:52:34.290 --> 00:52:38.130 used Tetris to launch Gameboy, their new handheld gaming 00:52:38.130 --> 00:52:38.850 device. 00:52:38.850 --> 00:52:41.490 - The very big part of the Tetris success 00:52:41.490 --> 00:52:43.640 is connected to Gameboy. 00:52:43.640 --> 00:52:47.620 Somehow, this platform and this game was born for each other. 00:52:47.620 --> 00:52:51.330 Gameboy for Tetris sold them the number of 30 million. 00:52:51.330 --> 00:52:53.650 It's a pretty big number. 00:52:53.650 --> 00:52:57.450 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:52:57.450 --> 00:52:59.220 TONY HAWK: Not only was the game a hit, 00:52:59.220 --> 00:53:02.250 it helped establish the Gameboy as a viable and popular gaming 00:53:02.250 --> 00:53:04.350 platform that could move software numbers that 00:53:04.350 --> 00:53:07.800 rivaled consoles and PCs, and continues to do 00:53:07.800 --> 00:53:08.970 that kind of business today. 00:53:08.970 --> 00:53:14.470 00:53:14.470 --> 00:53:17.760 The best part of the story, in 1996, Tetris rights 00:53:17.760 --> 00:53:19.260 returned to Alexey. 00:53:19.260 --> 00:53:22.500 Now, instead of Stoli, he's sipping Starbucks in Seattle 00:53:22.500 --> 00:53:24.510 where he works with Microsoft. 00:53:24.510 --> 00:53:26.160 And new generations are discovering 00:53:26.160 --> 00:53:28.630 Tetris on a variety of platforms, 00:53:28.630 --> 00:53:30.120 including mobile phones. 00:53:30.120 --> 00:53:33.770 - We collect and distribute royalties for the game. 00:53:33.770 --> 00:53:38.030 They are not that big anymore, but it's still-- 00:53:38.030 --> 00:53:39.164 it's still good. 00:53:39.164 --> 00:53:41.770 00:53:41.770 --> 00:53:45.520 TONY HAWK: As the 1990s kicked in, Nintendo was riding high. 00:53:45.520 --> 00:53:47.440 Not only was the Gameboy doing great, 00:53:47.440 --> 00:53:50.230 but Nintendo had single-handedly rebuilt the home console 00:53:50.230 --> 00:53:54.800 market, leaving Atari and the toy makers in the dust. 00:53:54.800 --> 00:53:57.580 The NES was the leader of the pack with their lock on hit 00:53:57.580 --> 00:54:00.400 titles and game franchises. 00:54:00.400 --> 00:54:03.850 Sega was also hanging in there with their master system. 00:54:03.850 --> 00:54:06.960 They decided it was time to challenge Nintendo supremacy 00:54:06.960 --> 00:54:11.090 and in 1989, Sega launched the Genesis console. 00:54:11.090 --> 00:54:12.900 - When the Sega Genesis came out, 00:54:12.900 --> 00:54:15.530 it really brought video games to the next generation 00:54:15.530 --> 00:54:17.700 of technical capabilities. 00:54:17.700 --> 00:54:20.570 - Our agency created the slogan, Genesis does when 00:54:20.570 --> 00:54:23.690 Nintendon't, which meant, we had a 16-bit system, 00:54:23.690 --> 00:54:25.070 they have an 8-bit system. 00:54:25.070 --> 00:54:27.020 It was the first competitive position 00:54:27.020 --> 00:54:31.409 in the video game industry in terms of home game systems. 00:54:31.409 --> 00:54:33.200 TONY HAWK: In the no holds barred campaign, 00:54:33.200 --> 00:54:35.530 Sega rolled out their secret weapon-- 00:54:35.530 --> 00:54:39.306 a blue hedgehog called Sonic. 00:54:39.306 --> 00:54:40.430 - They said, you know what? 00:54:40.430 --> 00:54:41.990 This is going to be our mascot. 00:54:41.990 --> 00:54:43.690 He's going to have more of an attitude, 00:54:43.690 --> 00:54:45.940 he's going to be here toward a slightly older audience 00:54:45.940 --> 00:54:48.040 and he's going be fast. 00:54:48.040 --> 00:54:51.050 [INAUDIBLE] show Sonic just like, whizzing by on his feet 00:54:51.050 --> 00:54:52.974 and just going super fast, while Mario is just 00:54:52.974 --> 00:54:54.140 kind of jumping up and down. 00:54:54.140 --> 00:54:59.440 And they really made Mario out to be some kid's character, 00:54:59.440 --> 00:55:01.865 while Sonic was, hey, this is the next hottest thing. 00:55:01.865 --> 00:55:02.990 TONY HAWK: And this sound-- 00:55:02.990 --> 00:55:03.460 MAN: Sega! 00:55:03.460 --> 00:55:05.668 TONY HAWK: Heard at the end of every Sega commercial, 00:55:05.668 --> 00:55:08.040 piled on the attitude. 00:55:08.040 --> 00:55:10.920 While Sega and Nintendo were fighting over the home market, 00:55:10.920 --> 00:55:13.000 gamers we're heading back to the arcades 00:55:13.000 --> 00:55:16.000 where the games were more graphic and intense, 00:55:16.000 --> 00:55:19.840 games like Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. 00:55:19.840 --> 00:55:22.300 - Mortal Kombat is a game where after you've 00:55:22.300 --> 00:55:24.980 beaten your opponents, you can put in what's called a fatality 00:55:24.980 --> 00:55:27.460 and you can rip out their spine and their skull 00:55:27.460 --> 00:55:29.590 or stick your hand into their chest 00:55:29.590 --> 00:55:32.410 and pull out their hard or a whole bunch of other really 00:55:32.410 --> 00:55:33.477 grizzly little endings. 00:55:33.477 --> 00:55:38.915 00:55:38.915 --> 00:55:40.290 TONY HAWK: Both Sega and Nintendo 00:55:40.290 --> 00:55:41.910 wanted to match the visual quality 00:55:41.910 --> 00:55:44.580 of these intense arcade games. 00:55:44.580 --> 00:55:47.090 Sega saw possibilities in a new format-- 00:55:47.090 --> 00:55:48.760 the CD-ROM. 00:55:48.760 --> 00:55:53.120 One CD could hold 320 times more data than a console cartridge. 00:55:53.120 --> 00:55:55.990 To you and me that's just more gaming power. 00:55:55.990 --> 00:55:59.060 But just as Sega began to consider the CD-ROM, 00:55:59.060 --> 00:56:01.040 personal computers beat them to the punch. 00:56:01.040 --> 00:56:03.550 00:56:03.550 --> 00:56:09.300 In 1993, a new game designed for the Macintosh home computer 00:56:09.300 --> 00:56:11.230 made its debut. 00:56:11.230 --> 00:56:13.687 - Blue pages. 00:56:13.687 --> 00:56:15.520 TONY HAWK: It was designed by Rand and Robin 00:56:15.520 --> 00:56:18.970 Miller, two brothers who had found modest success designing 00:56:18.970 --> 00:56:21.100 children's computer games. 00:56:21.100 --> 00:56:24.050 Working out of their garage in Spokane, Washington, 00:56:24.050 --> 00:56:28.280 they crafted an immersive interactive world-- 00:56:28.280 --> 00:56:30.180 Myst. 00:56:30.180 --> 00:56:33.510 - Typically, games start with a game play system, 00:56:33.510 --> 00:56:34.530 ours start with a place. 00:56:34.530 --> 00:56:37.639 00:56:37.639 --> 00:56:39.430 In our minds, we we're building real places 00:56:39.430 --> 00:56:40.820 that people could lose themselves in. 00:56:40.820 --> 00:56:42.720 They'd sit down in front of their computer, 00:56:42.720 --> 00:56:46.810 they'd turn the lights down, turn the sound up, 00:56:46.810 --> 00:56:50.020 and they'd forget that they were in this world 00:56:50.020 --> 00:56:53.920 and they would feel like they were in that world. 00:56:53.920 --> 00:56:56.890 The graphics in Myst were what defined it, 00:56:56.890 --> 00:56:59.890 because for the first time, I think people saw stuff 00:56:59.890 --> 00:57:01.810 on your screen that could be mistaken 00:57:01.810 --> 00:57:03.910 for real images of real places. 00:57:03.910 --> 00:57:07.440 00:57:07.440 --> 00:57:09.180 There were some terrific constraints 00:57:09.180 --> 00:57:12.400 like, we couldn't actually move the pictures in real time. 00:57:12.400 --> 00:57:17.160 So we built them very realistic, but they were still. 00:57:17.160 --> 00:57:20.940 Myst was the killer app for CD, because it 00:57:20.940 --> 00:57:25.279 allowed for this incredible wealth of graphics 00:57:25.279 --> 00:57:26.820 that we had really never seen before. 00:57:26.820 --> 00:57:28.560 A floppy disk just couldn't handle 00:57:28.560 --> 00:57:30.135 the size of these graphics. 00:57:30.135 --> 00:57:34.740 00:57:34.740 --> 00:57:37.370 TONY HAWK: Myst became the must have game, 00:57:37.370 --> 00:57:41.060 selling 250,000 copies in 12 months. 00:57:41.060 --> 00:57:44.030 It stayed on computer game best seller lists for the next three 00:57:44.030 --> 00:57:47.240 years, selling over 4 million copies. 00:57:47.240 --> 00:57:51.570 It also turned the Miller brothers into a millionaires. 00:57:51.570 --> 00:57:53.730 - I smile because I look back and think, 00:57:53.730 --> 00:57:57.000 when we were two stupid brothers sitting in the garage, 00:57:57.000 --> 00:57:58.710 we didn't have great insight. 00:57:58.710 --> 00:58:03.660 We maybe had some good instincts and the timing was right. 00:58:03.660 --> 00:58:06.540 For loads of gamers, Myst was a watershed moment, 00:58:06.540 --> 00:58:08.700 with it's enchanting magical graphics helping 00:58:08.700 --> 00:58:11.490 to create a completely immersive experience. 00:58:11.490 --> 00:58:13.980 But the next killer application for multimedia PC 00:58:13.980 --> 00:58:18.270 would follow arcade games on a much darker more brutal road. 00:58:18.270 --> 00:58:20.070 And suddenly, the video game industry 00:58:20.070 --> 00:58:21.990 would find itself in a head on collision 00:58:21.990 --> 00:58:23.910 with the US government. 00:58:23.910 --> 00:58:27.760 [MUSIC PLAYING] 00:58:27.760 --> 00:58:30.240 20 years after the awesome success of Pong, 00:58:30.240 --> 00:58:32.290 video games had morphed from the geeky hobby 00:58:32.290 --> 00:58:34.570 for computer engineers to addictive entertainment 00:58:34.570 --> 00:58:35.800 for the masses. 00:58:35.800 --> 00:58:37.810 And like all success stories, the industry 00:58:37.810 --> 00:58:42.580 soon attracted the attention of big business and law makers. 00:58:42.580 --> 00:58:46.040 OK, let's back up to 1981 for a second. 00:58:46.040 --> 00:58:49.350 This is the original castle Wolfenstein, a classic, 00:58:49.350 --> 00:58:52.570 let's-fight-the-Nazis computer game. 00:58:52.570 --> 00:58:56.920 When it came to action gaming, this was as good as it got. 00:58:56.920 --> 00:58:59.140 But just 11 years later, technology 00:58:59.140 --> 00:59:02.450 would take it from this to this. 00:59:02.450 --> 00:59:04.770 Wolfenstein 3D was the brainchild 00:59:04.770 --> 00:59:09.000 of id Software, a company run by two young game designers named 00:59:09.000 --> 00:59:12.240 John Carmack and John Romero. 00:59:12.240 --> 00:59:15.120 Based in Texas and both in their early 20s, 00:59:15.120 --> 00:59:17.010 they were hardcore gamers with a passion 00:59:17.010 --> 00:59:20.430 for movies like Aliens and Evil Dead 00:59:20.430 --> 00:59:22.920 and a love for heavy metal music. 00:59:22.920 --> 00:59:25.710 Combine these influences with Carmack's recent mastery 00:59:25.710 --> 00:59:28.750 of smooth scrolling 3D graphics for the PC 00:59:28.750 --> 00:59:32.000 and you got one of 1992's breakout computer games, 00:59:32.000 --> 00:59:34.740 especially when the buzz got out about it's blood 00:59:34.740 --> 00:59:36.330 and gore content. 00:59:36.330 --> 00:59:39.090 - People were quite literally blown away by it, 00:59:39.090 --> 00:59:41.370 because they had never seen anything like this. 00:59:41.370 --> 00:59:43.410 And it really showed that there could 00:59:43.410 --> 00:59:47.400 be this whole interesting, compelling, edgy gaming 00:59:47.400 --> 00:59:51.600 experience on a PC that you were able to find on consoles 00:59:51.600 --> 00:59:54.165 or necessarily in arcades. 00:59:54.165 --> 00:59:56.040 TONY HAWK: It was also one of the first games 00:59:56.040 --> 00:59:59.250 to be played to a first person perspective. 00:59:59.250 --> 01:00:01.750 Since you needed to shoot a lot of people to win, 01:00:01.750 --> 01:00:04.440 it helped coin the video genre title-- 01:00:04.440 --> 01:00:06.540 first person shooter. 01:00:06.540 --> 01:00:10.170 - First person shooter is where your eyes are the monitor 01:00:10.170 --> 01:00:12.560 basically and you get to see your hands or your weapons 01:00:12.560 --> 01:00:14.510 or whatever in front of you-- so it's you. 01:00:14.510 --> 01:00:16.874 And first person to us was the most successful interface 01:00:16.874 --> 01:00:18.290 that there was, because you didn't 01:00:18.290 --> 01:00:21.660 have to think about anything but just what 01:00:21.660 --> 01:00:24.017 you're doing in the game. 01:00:24.017 --> 01:00:26.100 TONY HAWK: But the best thing about Wolfenstein 3D 01:00:26.100 --> 01:00:27.840 was the way it was sold. 01:00:27.840 --> 01:00:30.200 With more and more computers hooking up to the internet, 01:00:30.200 --> 01:00:33.210 Carmack and Romero could take advantage of a new distribution 01:00:33.210 --> 01:00:35.670 system called shareware. 01:00:35.670 --> 01:00:39.150 - Shareware was a really, really radical concept at the time, 01:00:39.150 --> 01:00:42.140 because what it basically meant is that you would 01:00:42.140 --> 01:00:44.490 be giving games away online-- 01:00:44.490 --> 01:00:47.640 portions of a game, hoping that people got hooked. 01:00:47.640 --> 01:00:50.876 - Here's the first third in a trilogy that you get for free 01:00:50.876 --> 01:00:53.250 and you leave them with a cliffhanger and all this stuff, 01:00:53.250 --> 01:00:55.080 so they have to buy the other two. 01:00:55.080 --> 01:00:59.394 - And it was like crack basically over the internet. 01:00:59.394 --> 01:01:00.810 TONY HAWK: And a lot of people got 01:01:00.810 --> 01:01:04.470 hooked on Wolfenstein's hardcore style. 01:01:04.470 --> 01:01:06.380 18 months later, Carmack and Romero 01:01:06.380 --> 01:01:08.220 gave them their next fix. 01:01:08.220 --> 01:01:10.906 The game was called Doom. 01:01:10.906 --> 01:01:13.690 01:01:13.690 --> 01:01:17.380 - December 10 of 1993 when we released Doom, 01:01:17.380 --> 01:01:20.170 we'd been up for about 30 hours before that working. 01:01:20.170 --> 01:01:22.220 - Id was trying to get this uploaded, 01:01:22.220 --> 01:01:27.100 but there were so many people waiting online 01:01:27.100 --> 01:01:30.130 that id could not get in to upload it. 01:01:30.130 --> 01:01:30.850 - And the files-- 01:01:30.850 --> 01:01:32.800 it should had been an empty directory-- 01:01:32.800 --> 01:01:35.350 but people were putting sentences in there 01:01:35.350 --> 01:01:36.750 as file names. 01:01:36.750 --> 01:01:38.740 They're making, when will it be here? 01:01:38.740 --> 01:01:40.060 And hurry up and stuff. 01:01:40.060 --> 01:01:42.250 It's like a whole directory full of sentences. 01:01:42.250 --> 01:01:45.000 And we're just like, these people are insane. 01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:49.540 - What id had to do was to tell everybody to just back off, 01:01:49.540 --> 01:01:52.870 don't come on for a few minutes while they upload the game. 01:01:52.870 --> 01:01:58.770 01:01:58.770 --> 01:02:01.470 TONY HAWK: When it came to graphic action and intensity, 01:02:01.470 --> 01:02:03.940 Doom pushed it farther than Wolfenstein 01:02:03.940 --> 01:02:07.490 and was an even bigger success. 01:02:07.490 --> 01:02:09.690 - My most seminal gaming experience 01:02:09.690 --> 01:02:11.370 was playing Doom with my headphones 01:02:11.370 --> 01:02:13.740 on late at night with my wife asleep in the other room 01:02:13.740 --> 01:02:16.620 and being really terrified. 01:02:16.620 --> 01:02:18.360 And feeling stupid for being terrified, 01:02:18.360 --> 01:02:21.369 but still being terrified. 01:02:21.369 --> 01:02:23.910 TONY HAWK: The other thing that made Doom appealing to gamers 01:02:23.910 --> 01:02:27.720 was its multi-player capabilities. 01:02:27.720 --> 01:02:28.719 - Go, go, go. 01:02:28.719 --> 01:02:30.510 TONY HAWK: Network a few computers together 01:02:30.510 --> 01:02:32.343 and you could start shooting at your buddies 01:02:32.343 --> 01:02:33.397 inside the same game. 01:02:33.397 --> 01:02:34.230 MAN: Here they come. 01:02:34.230 --> 01:02:35.925 Here they come. 01:02:35.925 --> 01:02:39.740 TONY HAWK: Carmack and Romero called it death matching. 01:02:39.740 --> 01:02:41.410 - But through all of pretty much 1994, 01:02:41.410 --> 01:02:42.997 I was just addicted to death match. 01:02:42.997 --> 01:02:44.580 It was just the coolest thing I'd ever 01:02:44.580 --> 01:02:47.830 experienced my entire life. 01:02:47.830 --> 01:02:50.790 TONY HAWK: For two young guys in their 20s, the success of Doom 01:02:50.790 --> 01:02:52.680 was a dream come true. 01:02:52.680 --> 01:02:54.960 Practically overnight, the id software founders 01:02:54.960 --> 01:02:57.010 had become multimillionaires. 01:02:57.010 --> 01:03:00.420 - I totally had fun buying fun cars and houses 01:03:00.420 --> 01:03:01.665 and all that kind of stuff. 01:03:01.665 --> 01:03:03.456 - Romero with show up at gaming conventions 01:03:03.456 --> 01:03:05.962 and there would be people literally bowing at his feet 01:03:05.962 --> 01:03:07.170 and doing the Wayne's World-- 01:03:07.170 --> 01:03:08.332 I'm not worthy. 01:03:08.332 --> 01:03:11.610 They really were the rock stars at that time. 01:03:11.610 --> 01:03:14.010 And then, when all of the controversy 01:03:14.010 --> 01:03:15.840 came out for violent games, then they 01:03:15.840 --> 01:03:20.624 had all that too to kind of stoke their image. 01:03:20.624 --> 01:03:22.790 TONY HAWK: In the year leading up to Doom's release, 01:03:22.790 --> 01:03:26.300 violent video games had become headline news makers, but not 01:03:26.300 --> 01:03:27.920 in a good way. 01:03:27.920 --> 01:03:30.320 Popularity of games like Street Fighter 2 01:03:30.320 --> 01:03:33.410 and Mortal Kombat among young children and teenagers 01:03:33.410 --> 01:03:35.150 had parents and lawmakers blaming 01:03:35.150 --> 01:03:38.720 video games for everything, from unfinished homework 01:03:38.720 --> 01:03:42.260 to antisocial behavior and rising street crime. 01:03:42.260 --> 01:03:44.630 In late 1993, the issue was picked up 01:03:44.630 --> 01:03:46.520 by Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman 01:03:46.520 --> 01:03:49.970 who formed a Senate committee to investigate video game 01:03:49.970 --> 01:03:51.230 violence. 01:03:51.230 --> 01:03:53.900 - We're not talking about Pac-Man or Space Invaders 01:03:53.900 --> 01:03:54.540 anymore. 01:03:54.540 --> 01:03:59.030 We're talking about video games that too often glorify violence 01:03:59.030 --> 01:04:04.310 and teach children to enjoy inflicting the most gruesome 01:04:04.310 --> 01:04:06.630 forms of cruelty imaginable. 01:04:06.630 --> 01:04:08.900 We are calling on the video game industry 01:04:08.900 --> 01:04:12.170 today to recognize its responsibility to the parents 01:04:12.170 --> 01:04:13.391 and children of this country. 01:04:13.391 --> 01:04:15.652 01:04:15.652 --> 01:04:18.110 TONY HAWK: Lieberman's Senate committee wagged their finger 01:04:18.110 --> 01:04:21.160 at the uncensored version of Mortal Kombat 01:04:21.160 --> 01:04:24.440 and an obscure game called Night Trap. 01:04:24.440 --> 01:04:26.870 - In the game, you play a guy who's 01:04:26.870 --> 01:04:31.070 trying to protect a house full of sorority girls that 01:04:31.070 --> 01:04:33.380 are being attacked by these fledgling vampires, who 01:04:33.380 --> 01:04:36.650 apparently don't have fangs yet so they use this drill 01:04:36.650 --> 01:04:40.380 contraption that hooks up to the neck and sucks their blood out. 01:04:40.380 --> 01:04:42.370 The game wasn't selling, it wasn't fun, 01:04:42.370 --> 01:04:44.660 it was a silly game. 01:04:44.660 --> 01:04:47.150 TONY HAWK: Lieberman called a gratuitous and offensive 01:04:47.150 --> 01:04:51.350 and ought not to be available to people in our society. 01:04:51.350 --> 01:04:54.500 His comments turned Night Trap into one of the biggest selling 01:04:54.500 --> 01:04:56.069 games of the year. 01:04:56.069 --> 01:04:58.440 [MUSIC PLAYING] 01:04:58.440 --> 01:05:00.420 The result of the government hearing 01:05:00.420 --> 01:05:02.210 was that all major game producers 01:05:02.210 --> 01:05:04.640 agreed to set up the Entertainment Software Rating 01:05:04.640 --> 01:05:06.680 Board to rate games. 01:05:06.680 --> 01:05:10.490 Violence didn't go away, but now it came with a warning. 01:05:10.490 --> 01:05:13.700 - I was actually a key proponent in the creation of the rating 01:05:13.700 --> 01:05:15.250 system for video games. 01:05:15.250 --> 01:05:17.990 So I'm a big believer in honest packaging 01:05:17.990 --> 01:05:20.010 and providing consumers with all the information 01:05:20.010 --> 01:05:22.190 they need to make a good product decision 01:05:22.190 --> 01:05:23.891 and to know what they're getting. 01:05:23.891 --> 01:05:25.890 - If you don't let your kids see r-rated movies, 01:05:25.890 --> 01:05:28.070 you shouldn't let your kids play m-rated games. 01:05:28.070 --> 01:05:31.190 And once that becomes more ingrained in American culture 01:05:31.190 --> 01:05:34.040 in everyone's minds, then the whole violence issue 01:05:34.040 --> 01:05:36.247 in video games will become less of an issue. 01:05:36.247 --> 01:05:38.330 TONY HAWK: With the government battle behind them, 01:05:38.330 --> 01:05:41.210 Sega and Nintendo were now free to start beating each other up 01:05:41.210 --> 01:05:43.220 in the marketplace again. 01:05:43.220 --> 01:05:45.950 Sega fired the first volley by announcing their plan 01:05:45.950 --> 01:05:47.390 to launch a new home system called 01:05:47.390 --> 01:05:49.700 the Saturn, which would operate exclusively 01:05:49.700 --> 01:05:51.289 from a CD-ROM drive. 01:05:51.289 --> 01:05:53.330 - Nintendo said, well, if they're going to do it, 01:05:53.330 --> 01:05:54.410 we've got to do it. 01:05:54.410 --> 01:05:57.260 So Nintendo partnered with Sony and they 01:05:57.260 --> 01:06:01.640 created a CD player for the Super Nintendo 01:06:01.640 --> 01:06:03.710 called the PlayStation. 01:06:03.710 --> 01:06:06.560 Only then, Nintendo decided, you know what, 01:06:06.560 --> 01:06:08.990 we don't trust Sony very much. 01:06:08.990 --> 01:06:10.700 And they partnered up with Phillips. 01:06:10.700 --> 01:06:12.880 They left Sony standing at the altar. 01:06:12.880 --> 01:06:15.380 TONY HAWK: And as anyone who's been left at the altar knows, 01:06:15.380 --> 01:06:16.591 revenge can be sweet. 01:06:16.591 --> 01:06:19.240 01:06:19.240 --> 01:06:22.140 Nintendo's and Phillip's plans for a CD-ROM system 01:06:22.140 --> 01:06:25.890 began to fall apart and consumer electronics giant Sony 01:06:25.890 --> 01:06:28.260 decided they could make it in the video game industry 01:06:28.260 --> 01:06:29.542 all by themselves. 01:06:29.542 --> 01:06:31.500 - They kept the name PlayStation, which I think 01:06:31.500 --> 01:06:33.690 was a real thumbing of the nose at Nintendo. 01:06:33.690 --> 01:06:35.430 - Everybody knows Sony is a company that 01:06:35.430 --> 01:06:37.620 makes Walkmans and electronics. 01:06:37.620 --> 01:06:39.450 And then gradually, over time, consumers 01:06:39.450 --> 01:06:42.060 have accepted that Sony represents really good quality 01:06:42.060 --> 01:06:42.940 stuff. 01:06:42.940 --> 01:06:44.726 It was a natural progression. 01:06:44.726 --> 01:06:47.100 And then with the PlayStation, they just dropped the bomb 01:06:47.100 --> 01:06:48.798 and it was incredibly. 01:06:48.798 --> 01:06:53.280 01:06:53.280 --> 01:06:55.340 TONY HAWK: The Sony PlayStation hit the shelves 01:06:55.340 --> 01:06:57.950 in September, 1995 and immediately left 01:06:57.950 --> 01:07:02.200 Sega's new system, the Saturn, in the dust. 01:07:02.200 --> 01:07:05.742 - Technologically, you could tell that the Saturn way 01:07:05.742 --> 01:07:06.700 behind the PlayStation. 01:07:06.700 --> 01:07:09.240 The PlayStation handled 3D. 01:07:09.240 --> 01:07:11.530 All of a sudden, there was no competition, 01:07:11.530 --> 01:07:14.470 because here's Sony, they've got a better unit, 01:07:14.470 --> 01:07:19.070 the unit is $100 cheaper and they've got all the games. 01:07:19.070 --> 01:07:20.939 You can't compete with something like that. 01:07:20.939 --> 01:07:22.480 TONY HAWK: Especially when Lara Croft 01:07:22.480 --> 01:07:25.520 was playing on their team. 01:07:25.520 --> 01:07:28.080 - Thank you. 01:07:28.080 --> 01:07:31.020 TONY HAWK: When Tomb Raider first came out in 1996, 01:07:31.020 --> 01:07:34.200 it was only available for the PlayStation. 01:07:34.200 --> 01:07:38.040 - You had not only a female lead character, but a sexy one, who 01:07:38.040 --> 01:07:40.349 had big boobs and short shorts. 01:07:40.349 --> 01:07:42.890 She became really popular and the game itself was incredible. 01:07:42.890 --> 01:07:44.640 So Tomb Raider was one of the key games 01:07:44.640 --> 01:07:48.035 that helped make PlayStation. 01:07:48.035 --> 01:07:49.410 TONY HAWK: Two of the other games 01:07:49.410 --> 01:07:51.201 that helped push the PlayStation to success 01:07:51.201 --> 01:07:56.190 were a fighting game called Tekken and Crash Bandicoot. 01:07:56.190 --> 01:07:59.130 Crash did for Sony when Mario and Sonic 01:07:59.130 --> 01:08:00.900 had done for their competitors. 01:08:00.900 --> 01:08:03.367 And the character became sort of an unofficial PlayStation 01:08:03.367 --> 01:08:03.867 mascot. 01:08:03.867 --> 01:08:07.290 01:08:07.290 --> 01:08:10.140 Sega just couldn't compete with the might of Sony. 01:08:10.140 --> 01:08:14.310 In 1999, Sega launched another console, the Dreamcast. 01:08:14.310 --> 01:08:16.710 It bombed. 01:08:16.710 --> 01:08:19.040 Sega quietly dropped out of the console market 01:08:19.040 --> 01:08:22.540 to concentrate on game development. 01:08:22.540 --> 01:08:24.510 Sony planned to follow up the PlayStation 01:08:24.510 --> 01:08:26.850 with the PlayStation 2, which would 01:08:26.850 --> 01:08:31.590 be more of a multimedia machine, able to play CD music and DVD 01:08:31.590 --> 01:08:33.611 movies. 01:08:33.611 --> 01:08:35.310 But just when it looked like Nintendo 01:08:35.310 --> 01:08:37.710 would be the only competition, a Seattle 01:08:37.710 --> 01:08:41.410 based company decided it was time to get into the business. 01:08:41.410 --> 01:08:45.090 Oh, and that company was just about the biggest in the US-- 01:08:45.090 --> 01:08:46.992 Microsoft. 01:08:46.992 --> 01:08:48.450 - There are a lot of people saying, 01:08:48.450 --> 01:08:51.600 Sony is going to replace the PC with PS2. 01:08:51.600 --> 01:08:56.069 It occurred to me that the only way to really counter 01:08:56.069 --> 01:08:58.439 that would be to make a dedicated device, 01:08:58.439 --> 01:09:01.590 to make your game console. 01:09:01.590 --> 01:09:04.140 TONY HAWK: But Microsoft was all about software 01:09:04.140 --> 01:09:06.450 and had trouble convincing people in the game business 01:09:06.450 --> 01:09:08.529 that they knew what they were doing. 01:09:08.529 --> 01:09:11.430 - And we had about six months of not being taken seriously, 01:09:11.430 --> 01:09:14.432 because I would show up or some other guys would show up 01:09:14.432 --> 01:09:15.890 and say, hey, we're from Microsoft. 01:09:15.890 --> 01:09:18.620 We're making a game console that will compete with Sony now. 01:09:18.620 --> 01:09:19.770 That's a hard thing to say. 01:09:19.770 --> 01:09:21.685 That's like saying, we're from the government, 01:09:21.685 --> 01:09:23.162 we're here to help. 01:09:23.162 --> 01:09:27.979 [MUSIC PLAYING] 01:09:27.979 --> 01:09:29.770 TONY HAWK: But it turned out that Microsoft 01:09:29.770 --> 01:09:31.122 did know what they were doing. 01:09:31.122 --> 01:09:34.529 CROWD: 4, 3, 2, 1. 01:09:34.529 --> 01:09:36.430 [CHEERING] 01:09:36.430 --> 01:09:38.270 TONY HAWK: They even got the hardware was 01:09:38.270 --> 01:09:41.350 useless without killer games. 01:09:41.350 --> 01:09:44.939 When the software giant released the Xbox in 2001, 01:09:44.939 --> 01:09:48.720 they had an exclusive on first person shooter-- 01:09:48.720 --> 01:09:50.524 Halo. 01:09:50.524 --> 01:09:52.832 - You look at that successful console launches 01:09:52.832 --> 01:09:54.290 and you'll see, the console becomes 01:09:54.290 --> 01:09:56.190 a player for the popular game. 01:09:56.190 --> 01:09:57.560 The Xbox became the Halo player. 01:09:57.560 --> 01:10:01.250 Yes, this black device with the green circle on it plays Halo. 01:10:01.250 --> 01:10:04.130 - Halo was a big hit, because the critics loved it, 01:10:04.130 --> 01:10:06.300 then the hardcore gamers really picked up on it, 01:10:06.300 --> 01:10:07.550 and then word of mouth spread. 01:10:07.550 --> 01:10:09.837 01:10:09.837 --> 01:10:12.170 TONY HAWK: Microsoft might have established their gaming 01:10:12.170 --> 01:10:15.110 credentials, but along with Nintendo's new mini-disc 01:10:15.110 --> 01:10:15.740 system-- 01:10:15.740 --> 01:10:18.830 the Game Cube-- the Xbox was still chasing the market 01:10:18.830 --> 01:10:19.700 leader-- 01:10:19.700 --> 01:10:22.460 Sony's PlayStation 2. 01:10:22.460 --> 01:10:24.460 Now, some of the biggest multimedia corporations 01:10:24.460 --> 01:10:26.584 in the world were gaining control of the video game 01:10:26.584 --> 01:10:27.110 industry. 01:10:27.110 --> 01:10:28.970 Real proof that there were big bucks to be made 01:10:28.970 --> 01:10:31.595 and that video games were now a major part of the entertainment 01:10:31.595 --> 01:10:32.450 business. 01:10:32.450 --> 01:10:34.520 And as entertainers, the game designers 01:10:34.520 --> 01:10:36.328 would have to keep the hits coming. 01:10:36.328 --> 01:10:40.600 [MUSIC PLAYING] 01:10:40.600 --> 01:10:43.330 Games today have gone way past the run, jump and shoot 01:10:43.330 --> 01:10:45.040 basics of the early titles. 01:10:45.040 --> 01:10:47.800 Instead of blowing up aliens and aiming for high scores, 01:10:47.800 --> 01:10:50.410 gamers are looking for a more realistic, immersive and 01:10:50.410 --> 01:10:52.090 open-ended experience. 01:10:52.090 --> 01:10:54.070 And the gaming audience is changing too. 01:10:54.070 --> 01:10:55.870 Boys, girls, men, women-- 01:10:55.870 --> 01:10:58.060 they're all getting into games big time. 01:10:58.060 --> 01:11:00.670 Whether it's attempting to cubed a 900 on a skateboard 01:11:00.670 --> 01:11:03.160 from the safety of your couch, or deciding 01:11:03.160 --> 01:11:08.230 how much to tax the residents of your very own virtual city. 01:11:08.230 --> 01:11:10.720 Back in the late '80s, Will Wright, a young programmer 01:11:10.720 --> 01:11:12.730 and hardcore gamer was fascinated by how 01:11:12.730 --> 01:11:14.470 cities and societies work. 01:11:14.470 --> 01:11:16.720 Urban planning might not sound like the next hot thing 01:11:16.720 --> 01:11:18.136 in entertainment, but Will thought 01:11:18.136 --> 01:11:21.620 it was a great idea for a game. 01:11:21.620 --> 01:11:23.530 - Well, Sim City was basically a game 01:11:23.530 --> 01:11:25.019 where you're designing a city. 01:11:25.019 --> 01:11:26.810 It's almost like a paint program in a way-- 01:11:26.810 --> 01:11:29.440 you have a pallet of parts, but the parts in this case 01:11:29.440 --> 01:11:32.810 are things like roads or industrial zones or schools. 01:11:32.810 --> 01:11:34.390 And as you paint, things happen. 01:11:34.390 --> 01:11:36.970 People start building houses, traffic appears on the roads, 01:11:36.970 --> 01:11:39.460 there's pollution, there's crime. 01:11:39.460 --> 01:11:40.540 So we released in '89. 01:11:40.540 --> 01:11:42.960 It was a very different sort of game at the time. 01:11:42.960 --> 01:11:45.670 At that time, still most games were very action oriented, 01:11:45.670 --> 01:11:47.380 very clear goals. 01:11:47.380 --> 01:11:50.110 And at first, we were having a hard time getting anybody 01:11:50.110 --> 01:11:51.670 to even play it. 01:11:51.670 --> 01:11:53.440 TONY HAWK: Until a rave review in Newsweek 01:11:53.440 --> 01:11:56.620 put Sim City on the map and sent sales of the game 01:11:56.620 --> 01:11:58.080 through the roof. 01:11:58.080 --> 01:12:00.070 And a new gaming franchise was born. 01:12:00.070 --> 01:12:04.030 01:12:04.030 --> 01:12:07.030 But the big payday came when Will applied his simulation 01:12:07.030 --> 01:12:10.990 concepts to the human form. 01:12:10.990 --> 01:12:13.630 When the Sims debuted in February of 2000, 01:12:13.630 --> 01:12:16.270 players can now build simulations of actual people 01:12:16.270 --> 01:12:17.610 and run their lives. 01:12:17.610 --> 01:12:19.400 - It's effectively a dollhouse where 01:12:19.400 --> 01:12:20.750 you get to a virtual life. 01:12:20.750 --> 01:12:22.330 And it's really fun to play. 01:12:22.330 --> 01:12:25.770 I think it's one of the most innovative games ever made. 01:12:25.770 --> 01:12:27.977 - The Sims is one of the games that my daughter 01:12:27.977 --> 01:12:30.310 will play, it's one of the games that my wife will play. 01:12:30.310 --> 01:12:34.767 Sims is one that they're immediately drawn to. 01:12:34.767 --> 01:12:37.100 TONY HAWK: Will Wright wasn't the only one giving gamers 01:12:37.100 --> 01:12:38.710 the power to build their own world. 01:12:38.710 --> 01:12:42.460 5,000 miles east of Silicon Valley, in England to be exact, 01:12:42.460 --> 01:12:44.590 British designer Peter Molyneux also 01:12:44.590 --> 01:12:46.365 had a new take on game play. 01:12:46.365 --> 01:12:48.070 - Instead of playing a hero, or instead 01:12:48.070 --> 01:12:50.980 of playing a character, or a plumber, or a hedgehog, 01:12:50.980 --> 01:12:52.665 why don't you play a god. 01:12:52.665 --> 01:12:57.490 That's the most powerful thing that you could possibly be. 01:12:57.490 --> 01:12:59.290 TONY HAWK: Molyneux's game, Populace 01:12:59.290 --> 01:13:01.840 sold over 4 million copies and gave birth 01:13:01.840 --> 01:13:04.190 to a new genre, the god game. 01:13:04.190 --> 01:13:07.750 - Rather than actually controlling a single character 01:13:07.750 --> 01:13:09.520 with your godly powers, your influence 01:13:09.520 --> 01:13:11.650 lots of little characters. 01:13:11.650 --> 01:13:13.210 - Just as when you were little kids 01:13:13.210 --> 01:13:15.100 and you were setting up your GI Joe's 01:13:15.100 --> 01:13:16.870 in the sandbox or whatever, you're 01:13:16.870 --> 01:13:21.000 doing the same thing now, but with digital toys. 01:13:21.000 --> 01:13:23.119 TONY HAWK: If some gamers got juiced being God, 01:13:23.119 --> 01:13:24.910 others wanted to get their kicks by playing 01:13:24.910 --> 01:13:27.940 with a bunch of friends inside the virtual world of a game. 01:13:27.940 --> 01:13:30.130 When the internet exploded in the '90s, 01:13:30.130 --> 01:13:32.621 technology was able to deliver their fantasy. 01:13:32.621 --> 01:13:34.870 One of the first games to really hook into the concept 01:13:34.870 --> 01:13:42.060 was Carmack and Romero's 1996 follow up to Doom, Quake. 01:13:42.060 --> 01:13:46.650 - Quake enabled 16 people to play over the internet. 01:13:46.650 --> 01:13:49.960 And that really just blew it open. 01:13:49.960 --> 01:13:52.740 There started to be teams of gamers 01:13:52.740 --> 01:13:54.354 and they called themselves clans. 01:13:54.354 --> 01:13:55.020 - All right, go. 01:13:55.020 --> 01:13:55.830 - Go now. 01:13:55.830 --> 01:13:57.690 - I just wake up in the morning and can't 01:13:57.690 --> 01:14:00.630 wait to go hope on the game and see who's there 01:14:00.630 --> 01:14:06.390 or say hi or pop in and go kill people. 01:14:06.390 --> 01:14:09.180 [MUSIC PLAYING] 01:14:09.180 --> 01:14:10.680 TONY HAWK: Not exactly the usual way 01:14:10.680 --> 01:14:12.480 to win friends and influence people. 01:14:12.480 --> 01:14:14.760 Within months of Quake's release, some of the clans 01:14:14.760 --> 01:14:20.230 decided to have a get together, so they can meet face to face. 01:14:20.230 --> 01:14:22.740 - QuakeCon is really a grassroots event. 01:14:22.740 --> 01:14:26.010 It was about 50 guys that wanted to get together, 01:14:26.010 --> 01:14:27.880 because they met online, and thought, well, 01:14:27.880 --> 01:14:29.650 we'll just do it in Texas. 01:14:29.650 --> 01:14:30.800 And it just grew. 01:14:30.800 --> 01:14:33.250 - This has become a yearly vacation. 01:14:33.250 --> 01:14:36.300 It's my time to just have fun, stay up late, 01:14:36.300 --> 01:14:40.695 sleep late, meet people I play against online. 01:14:40.695 --> 01:14:42.930 - We're in a senior gaming league 01:14:42.930 --> 01:14:45.180 and we have our own competition. 01:14:45.180 --> 01:14:48.840 Anyone over the age of 35 can play. 01:14:48.840 --> 01:14:50.160 I just have fun. 01:14:50.160 --> 01:14:54.210 - We came out here to meet our fellow teammates that we play 01:14:54.210 --> 01:14:55.200 on-- it's NADs-- 01:14:55.200 --> 01:14:56.510 North American Destroyers. 01:14:56.510 --> 01:14:59.580 And our NADs set up a group for the younger children. 01:14:59.580 --> 01:15:01.280 We call them NITs-- 01:15:01.280 --> 01:15:02.100 NADS In Training. 01:15:02.100 --> 01:15:05.120 01:15:05.120 --> 01:15:07.490 TONY HAWK: Seven years on from their first fan fest, 01:15:07.490 --> 01:15:11.270 QuakeCon attracts over 5,000 players every summer. 01:15:11.270 --> 01:15:15.200 Texas in August, they've got to love Quake. 01:15:15.200 --> 01:15:16.700 It seemed people couldn't get enough 01:15:16.700 --> 01:15:18.050 of playing in big groups. 01:15:18.050 --> 01:15:20.150 So game designers started coming up with games 01:15:20.150 --> 01:15:23.570 that thousands of computer gamers could play online. 01:15:23.570 --> 01:15:27.800 - But when you go from 16 or 8 or 32 people to thousands, 01:15:27.800 --> 01:15:30.200 it's massively multi-player. 01:15:30.200 --> 01:15:31.970 A massively multi-player game is where 01:15:31.970 --> 01:15:34.430 you are running the game on your PC 01:15:34.430 --> 01:15:37.570 and thousands of other people are connecting to the server. 01:15:37.570 --> 01:15:40.220 And that connection is allowing you to interact with the game 01:15:40.220 --> 01:15:42.730 and communicate with others. 01:15:42.730 --> 01:15:46.430 TONY HAWK: Hot titles included Ultima Online, Lineage 01:15:46.430 --> 01:15:49.820 and Everquest-- the brainchild of John Smedley. 01:15:49.820 --> 01:15:52.970 In 1999, he persuaded Sony to create a whole new customer 01:15:52.970 --> 01:15:56.870 service online so that 30,000 people could play at once. 01:15:56.870 --> 01:15:59.040 - We make a world for people to play in. 01:15:59.040 --> 01:16:01.130 On Everquest, we have a 60 person team 01:16:01.130 --> 01:16:05.340 that does nothing but make this world unique every day. 01:16:05.340 --> 01:16:08.250 So when they come into work, they're changing creatures, 01:16:08.250 --> 01:16:10.400 they're adding new quests, they're 01:16:10.400 --> 01:16:12.650 looking at what the players have done and saying, 01:16:12.650 --> 01:16:14.990 OK, that's a little too easy for them, let's tweak that, 01:16:14.990 --> 01:16:17.070 or maybe that's too hard. 01:16:17.070 --> 01:16:20.650 - There are dragons and orcs and fairies and giants 01:16:20.650 --> 01:16:23.060 and all sorts of creatures. 01:16:23.060 --> 01:16:25.640 And it's supposed to be a virtual world to the extent 01:16:25.640 --> 01:16:30.611 that, whether you're logged on or not, the world keeps going. 01:16:30.611 --> 01:16:32.860 TONY HAWK: So much for the stereotype of a nerdy gamer 01:16:32.860 --> 01:16:35.300 playing on his own. 01:16:35.300 --> 01:16:38.110 Now gamers, including women, were joining forces 01:16:38.110 --> 01:16:41.740 to take on the challenges of Everquest. 01:16:41.740 --> 01:16:44.020 - Women are really into forming relationships. 01:16:44.020 --> 01:16:45.550 And so women do go to these worlds. 01:16:45.550 --> 01:16:48.670 You often find that they become community leaders. 01:16:48.670 --> 01:16:53.119 They become the center of a social group. 01:16:53.119 --> 01:16:54.910 TONY HAWK: Soon millions of computer gamers 01:16:54.910 --> 01:16:57.190 around the world we're logging on to massively 01:16:57.190 --> 01:16:58.350 multi-player games. 01:16:58.350 --> 01:17:01.750 01:17:01.750 --> 01:17:05.314 PlayStation and Xbox jumped on the bandwagon in 2002 01:17:05.314 --> 01:17:06.730 when they made the latest versions 01:17:06.730 --> 01:17:09.100 of their consoles internet friendly. 01:17:09.100 --> 01:17:12.160 - The console online scheme is really 01:17:12.160 --> 01:17:14.276 just a response to the PC. 01:17:14.276 --> 01:17:16.150 They're looking at what's happening on the PC 01:17:16.150 --> 01:17:17.816 and saying, well, we can do that too. 01:17:17.816 --> 01:17:20.200 - If the game is entertaining and you put it online 01:17:20.200 --> 01:17:22.490 and it's entertaining online, then it's awesome. 01:17:22.490 --> 01:17:24.022 It's entertainment squared. 01:17:24.022 --> 01:17:25.730 If it's a bad game and you put it online, 01:17:25.730 --> 01:17:28.396 you're just spreading the misery around in a more efficient way. 01:17:28.396 --> 01:17:31.644 01:17:31.644 --> 01:17:33.310 TONY HAWK: You probably won't believe it 01:17:33.310 --> 01:17:36.560 when we tell you this, but not everyone plays games for fun. 01:17:36.560 --> 01:17:38.710 Remember how back in 1980, the US Army 01:17:38.710 --> 01:17:40.480 ordered a special version of Battlezone 01:17:40.480 --> 01:17:42.880 from Atari to train the troops? 01:17:42.880 --> 01:17:45.130 The Marines even had their own version of Doom 01:17:45.130 --> 01:17:49.400 in 1994 to teach teamwork skills. 01:17:49.400 --> 01:17:52.660 21st century army recruits are tech savvy and into video 01:17:52.660 --> 01:17:55.460 games big time. 01:17:55.460 --> 01:17:56.930 So it made sense for the military 01:17:56.930 --> 01:17:58.610 to tap into all that expertise. 01:17:58.610 --> 01:18:01.970 - With these kids playing 13 hours, 20 hours a week-- 01:18:01.970 --> 01:18:03.030 video games-- 01:18:03.030 --> 01:18:05.169 these thumbs are very agile, they know joysticks, 01:18:05.169 --> 01:18:05.960 they know triggers. 01:18:05.960 --> 01:18:08.450 And they said, let's just make our interfaces like that 01:18:08.450 --> 01:18:10.160 and we're already over the first hurdle 01:18:10.160 --> 01:18:13.685 in getting them to kind of feel comfortable in these systems. 01:18:13.685 --> 01:18:15.470 TONY HAWK: In 2002, the army gave away 01:18:15.470 --> 01:18:19.220 a game called America's Army to the American public. 01:18:19.220 --> 01:18:24.240 Intended to test wannabe GIs, it turned into a smash hit. 01:18:24.240 --> 01:18:26.640 Then they drafted Pandemic Studios 01:18:26.640 --> 01:18:28.110 onto a top secret project. 01:18:28.110 --> 01:18:31.070 01:18:31.070 --> 01:18:33.830 They wanted a game that would get recruits ready for combat 01:18:33.830 --> 01:18:36.230 without putting them at risk. 01:18:36.230 --> 01:18:37.730 Full Spectrum Warrior. 01:18:37.730 --> 01:18:39.890 - It's not a war game where you are 01:18:39.890 --> 01:18:42.110 running around and celebrating the fact 01:18:42.110 --> 01:18:43.370 that you're killing people. 01:18:43.370 --> 01:18:45.590 Your goal is to advance to a certain location 01:18:45.590 --> 01:18:49.400 or secure something to make sure your men are safe. 01:18:49.400 --> 01:18:52.952 It's a very different take on other military games. 01:18:52.952 --> 01:18:54.410 TONY HAWK: The army also had a plan 01:18:54.410 --> 01:19:00.200 to create a retail version of Full Spectrum Warrior. 01:19:00.200 --> 01:19:02.540 Of course, the GI Joe game needed a few tweaks 01:19:02.540 --> 01:19:04.220 to make it play for a general public. 01:19:04.220 --> 01:19:06.860 - The army product was made for sergeants who are already fully 01:19:06.860 --> 01:19:08.147 trained, years of experience. 01:19:08.147 --> 01:19:10.730 We couldn't make that assumption with the average game player. 01:19:10.730 --> 01:19:14.540 So it's up to us to teach as you play all of the Army tactics 01:19:14.540 --> 01:19:16.370 that the soldiers had spent years learning. 01:19:16.370 --> 01:19:18.770 - It's a design challenge, because we're moving away 01:19:18.770 --> 01:19:21.110 from the sim into the purely entertainment 01:19:21.110 --> 01:19:23.100 aspect of the game. 01:19:23.100 --> 01:19:24.890 So we were trying to find creative ways 01:19:24.890 --> 01:19:28.160 to keep it authentic, but also keep the pace going. 01:19:28.160 --> 01:19:33.120 Keep you moving forward, get the action level up a bit. 01:19:33.120 --> 01:19:35.902 [MUSIC PLAYING] 01:19:35.902 --> 01:19:37.610 TONY HAWK: Playing the commercial version 01:19:37.610 --> 01:19:39.320 might just be one of the best recruiting 01:19:39.320 --> 01:19:42.130 tools the Army could dream up. 01:19:42.130 --> 01:19:45.060 - Video games actively improve your hand eye coordination 01:19:45.060 --> 01:19:47.240 and can train you directly in things that 01:19:47.240 --> 01:19:48.532 are relevant to the military. 01:19:48.532 --> 01:19:50.240 They're planting those seeds in your head 01:19:50.240 --> 01:19:51.323 when you're really young-- 01:19:51.323 --> 01:19:53.110 hey, you want to be a super soldier, 01:19:53.110 --> 01:19:55.700 or to play games-- the Army is the place to go. 01:19:55.700 --> 01:19:57.822 01:19:57.822 --> 01:20:00.280 TONY HAWK: It's pretty ironic that the same government that 01:20:00.280 --> 01:20:02.150 a few years ago hammered the video game 01:20:02.150 --> 01:20:03.830 industry for damaging young minds 01:20:03.830 --> 01:20:06.065 and is now using the same tools to hook and train 01:20:06.065 --> 01:20:08.830 their raw recruits. 01:20:08.830 --> 01:20:11.150 The video game industry is still full of surprises. 01:20:11.150 --> 01:20:13.316 And now the biggest surprises are not just the games 01:20:13.316 --> 01:20:16.160 themselves, but who's playing, how many billions of dollars 01:20:16.160 --> 01:20:19.609 are involved and who wants to be part of the action. 01:20:19.609 --> 01:20:22.990 [MUSIC PLAYING] 01:20:22.990 --> 01:20:25.860 So video games have been with us since the 1970s, 01:20:25.860 --> 01:20:27.750 moving from arcades to home consoles 01:20:27.750 --> 01:20:30.127 to handhelds and cell phones like this. 01:20:30.127 --> 01:20:31.710 They've become essential entertainment 01:20:31.710 --> 01:20:32.800 for a whole generation. 01:20:32.800 --> 01:20:35.877 And with gross revenues of over $20 billion a year, 01:20:35.877 --> 01:20:37.710 the video game industry is making more money 01:20:37.710 --> 01:20:39.330 than the movie business. 01:20:39.330 --> 01:20:42.300 But they also continue to be a lightning rod for controversy. 01:20:42.300 --> 01:20:44.022 Anytime there's trouble in society, 01:20:44.022 --> 01:20:45.980 video games still get a big chunk of the blame. 01:20:45.980 --> 01:20:49.460 01:20:49.460 --> 01:20:53.510 In 1999, two students went on a horrific shooting spree 01:20:53.510 --> 01:20:55.480 at their school and Columbine. 01:20:55.480 --> 01:20:58.670 And as society searched for a reason, 01:20:58.670 --> 01:21:02.357 people began to blame video games. 01:21:02.357 --> 01:21:04.190 - There was a videotape, much later I think, 01:21:04.190 --> 01:21:07.430 released of Eric Harris talking about how 01:21:07.430 --> 01:21:10.100 shooting up a high school saying it would be just like Doom. 01:21:10.100 --> 01:21:13.489 And the press ran with it. 01:21:13.489 --> 01:21:15.030 - They just said, you know what, this 01:21:15.030 --> 01:21:16.750 is bad for America's morality. 01:21:16.750 --> 01:21:18.760 It's corrupting kids and it's causing kids 01:21:18.760 --> 01:21:20.650 to do all sorts of bad things, when there's 01:21:20.650 --> 01:21:23.590 quite a bunch of problems making kids do bad things nowadays. 01:21:23.590 --> 01:21:26.856 - There's no correlation between video games and human violence. 01:21:26.856 --> 01:21:28.480 Human violence has always been with us. 01:21:28.480 --> 01:21:30.970 We're in a society where politicians 01:21:30.970 --> 01:21:34.000 and the special interest groups pick on the new media. 01:21:34.000 --> 01:21:37.300 It just underscores the fact that it's not about video games 01:21:37.300 --> 01:21:39.075 at all. 01:21:39.075 --> 01:21:40.450 TONY HAWK: And with recent titles 01:21:40.450 --> 01:21:43.240 like Max Pain and the Grand Theft Auto series, 01:21:43.240 --> 01:21:45.640 the controversy continues. 01:21:45.640 --> 01:21:47.410 Who knows if it will ever end. 01:21:47.410 --> 01:21:51.730 01:21:51.730 --> 01:21:56.530 In 2004, 145 million Americans are playing video games. 01:21:56.530 --> 01:21:58.630 That's more than half of us. 01:21:58.630 --> 01:22:00.520 And they're not all lonely teenage kids 01:22:00.520 --> 01:22:04.385 sitting in a dark room playing for hours on end. 01:22:04.385 --> 01:22:06.760 - People still have this idea, particularly in the United 01:22:06.760 --> 01:22:10.580 States, that games are something for a 14-year-old skater 01:22:10.580 --> 01:22:13.080 criminals to do to avoid doing their homework. 01:22:13.080 --> 01:22:16.790 And when you point out that the middle of our demographic is 01:22:16.790 --> 01:22:19.210 the 26-year-old with a lot of expendable income-- 01:22:19.210 --> 01:22:20.860 is probably professional-- 01:22:20.860 --> 01:22:24.040 they just refuse to believe it. 01:22:24.040 --> 01:22:25.840 - The female gaming population is actually 01:22:25.840 --> 01:22:29.050 the quickest growing segment of the video game business. 01:22:29.050 --> 01:22:33.130 - Almost every girl my age has played a game in her life 01:22:33.130 --> 01:22:36.910 and would not call herself a gamer, but is. 01:22:36.910 --> 01:22:39.690 TONY HAWK: Now 28% of video gamers are women. 01:22:39.690 --> 01:22:42.550 And for PC players, the numbers are even higher-- 01:22:42.550 --> 01:22:43.050 41%. 01:22:43.050 --> 01:22:45.710 01:22:45.710 --> 01:22:48.170 With such a diverse audience, the industry 01:22:48.170 --> 01:22:50.730 has to use every available resource to keep them hooked. 01:22:50.730 --> 01:22:53.840 01:22:53.840 --> 01:22:56.690 Thanks to the mega processing power of 21st century 01:22:56.690 --> 01:22:59.420 computers, programmers have been able to develop 01:22:59.420 --> 01:23:01.820 artificial intelligence, which means 01:23:01.820 --> 01:23:03.830 that non-player characters in games 01:23:03.830 --> 01:23:07.046 can apparently think for themselves. 01:23:07.046 --> 01:23:09.110 - What artificial intelligence should do 01:23:09.110 --> 01:23:14.260 is look at what you, a player, enjoy, and what you, a player, 01:23:14.260 --> 01:23:17.440 doesn't enjoy and adapt the game accordingly. 01:23:17.440 --> 01:23:19.580 Not only adapt the challenges you 01:23:19.580 --> 01:23:22.940 face, the opponents you face, but adapt the storyline, 01:23:22.940 --> 01:23:26.100 adapt the world itself. 01:23:26.100 --> 01:23:29.970 Yes, ultimately, we could all be playing the same game, 01:23:29.970 --> 01:23:33.190 but having a completely different experience. 01:23:33.190 --> 01:23:36.870 [MUSIC PLAYING] 01:23:36.870 --> 01:23:38.830 TONY HAWK: Sports games are still huge, 01:23:38.830 --> 01:23:41.121 and they've kept up with the explosion of action sports 01:23:41.121 --> 01:23:43.110 like snowboarding and BMX and a little thing 01:23:43.110 --> 01:23:44.160 called skateboarding. 01:23:44.160 --> 01:23:46.605 And there's some games here I can really recommend. 01:23:46.605 --> 01:23:49.320 In the latest one called Tony Hawks Underground, 01:23:49.320 --> 01:23:52.240 you could email a picture of yourself to Neversoft, download 01:23:52.240 --> 01:23:55.380 from their server, you match up the points to your face 01:23:55.380 --> 01:23:57.340 and you're in the game. 01:23:57.340 --> 01:24:00.201 It's pretty cool if I say so myself. 01:24:00.201 --> 01:24:02.130 - Whoa, not bad. 01:24:02.130 --> 01:24:03.390 Where are you from? 01:24:03.390 --> 01:24:06.187 - I came all the way down from New Jersey for the Tampa Am. 01:24:06.187 --> 01:24:07.770 - Talk about a surprise attack, if you 01:24:07.770 --> 01:24:09.228 stay on your board tomorrow, you'll 01:24:09.228 --> 01:24:11.614 walk away with the contest. 01:24:11.614 --> 01:24:13.530 TONY HAWK: Another method of customizing games 01:24:13.530 --> 01:24:17.520 has been around since the early '90s when John Carmack and John 01:24:17.520 --> 01:24:20.160 Romero put out software that let gamers make 01:24:20.160 --> 01:24:22.260 their own versions of Doom. 01:24:22.260 --> 01:24:24.960 Just like hot rodders personalizing their cars, 01:24:24.960 --> 01:24:28.740 gamers could now modify or mod Doom, 01:24:28.740 --> 01:24:32.040 bringing the gaming experience to a new and even more personal 01:24:32.040 --> 01:24:32.560 level. 01:24:32.560 --> 01:24:34.600 MAN: Game over man. 01:24:34.600 --> 01:24:36.390 - I put out all the information out there 01:24:36.390 --> 01:24:38.220 for how the sectors and line segments 01:24:38.220 --> 01:24:40.790 and everything was organized. 01:24:40.790 --> 01:24:43.360 So everyone had the information, they could write tools for. 01:24:43.360 --> 01:24:45.860 And that was the start of the whole mod scene. 01:24:45.860 --> 01:24:47.460 - Doom spawned this whole culture 01:24:47.460 --> 01:24:50.460 of mod making, which was incredibly far 01:24:50.460 --> 01:24:53.040 reaching and important, because it was really 01:24:53.040 --> 01:24:55.868 weaning the next generation of game developers. 01:24:55.868 --> 01:24:58.596 01:24:58.596 --> 01:25:00.720 TONY HAWK: Check it out, the next wave of designers 01:25:00.720 --> 01:25:04.200 can even go to school to learn how to create video games. 01:25:04.200 --> 01:25:08.140 - For me, game design is design field, like architecture. 01:25:08.140 --> 01:25:12.360 It should have courses, departments, whole schools 01:25:12.360 --> 01:25:15.140 dedicated to it. 01:25:15.140 --> 01:25:18.550 TONY HAWK: At schools like USC and the DigiPen Institute 01:25:18.550 --> 01:25:21.640 of Technology in Seattle, a degree in game design 01:25:21.640 --> 01:25:24.430 is more than just a workout for the thumbs. 01:25:24.430 --> 01:25:26.170 - We want to teach people how to be 01:25:26.170 --> 01:25:29.540 critical thinkers about this rich medium 01:25:29.540 --> 01:25:33.960 that there isn't historically a lot of academic grounding too. 01:25:33.960 --> 01:25:38.440 - We have the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Fine Arts. 01:25:38.440 --> 01:25:40.990 You may not have bargained for so much math. 01:25:40.990 --> 01:25:43.039 You may not have bargained for so much physics. 01:25:43.039 --> 01:25:44.830 You thought that if you played video games, 01:25:44.830 --> 01:25:46.960 you were going to be good at it. 01:25:46.960 --> 01:25:49.810 - Having more game related studies in the university 01:25:49.810 --> 01:25:52.600 context is part of what needs to happen 01:25:52.600 --> 01:25:55.890 for games to become a more mature pop cultural medium. 01:25:55.890 --> 01:25:58.660 01:25:58.660 --> 01:26:00.160 TONY HAWK: But future graduates will 01:26:00.160 --> 01:26:02.410 have to be pretty determined, because none 01:26:02.410 --> 01:26:06.520 of the video pioneers are going away anytime soon. 01:26:06.520 --> 01:26:09.790 After 30 years in the business, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell 01:26:09.790 --> 01:26:11.860 is still coming up with ideas. 01:26:11.860 --> 01:26:14.650 His latest is called uWink Inc, touch 01:26:14.650 --> 01:26:16.990 screen coin-operated games. 01:26:16.990 --> 01:26:19.600 - We're generally in adult locations. 01:26:19.600 --> 01:26:23.260 Simple games, a little bit Atari-esk, if you would. 01:26:23.260 --> 01:26:27.310 Games that are well produced and operate for adults. 01:26:27.310 --> 01:26:29.470 You can sit down, you play for a few minutes 01:26:29.470 --> 01:26:31.620 and have a good time. 01:26:31.620 --> 01:26:34.190 TONY HAWK: And Nolan's first company, Atari, 01:26:34.190 --> 01:26:37.160 has changed hands a few times and hit rock bottom 01:26:37.160 --> 01:26:39.560 more than once, but they've stormed back 01:26:39.560 --> 01:26:43.010 with a slew of hit games like Enter The Matrix and Unreal 01:26:43.010 --> 01:26:46.350 Tournament. 01:26:46.350 --> 01:26:48.920 The rock star designers are also looking at new ways 01:26:48.920 --> 01:26:51.210 to deliver great games to us. 01:26:51.210 --> 01:26:53.000 Everyone's got a cell phone, right? 01:26:53.000 --> 01:26:56.815 With a cell phone, you can play video games anytime, anywhere. 01:26:56.815 --> 01:26:58.190 - Even though the handset may not 01:26:58.190 --> 01:26:59.960 have a lot of computing power itself, 01:26:59.960 --> 01:27:04.490 it's connected to an incredibly vast computer network. 01:27:04.490 --> 01:27:08.560 - I saw that now mobile devices like PDAs 01:27:08.560 --> 01:27:12.367 had the power to actually play games well on them. 01:27:12.367 --> 01:27:14.450 That's always kind of going in the back of my mind 01:27:14.450 --> 01:27:17.360 is, how can I do something else that I think would be a killer 01:27:17.360 --> 01:27:18.950 app for this new platform. 01:27:18.950 --> 01:27:20.450 TONY HAWK: With all those guys still 01:27:20.450 --> 01:27:22.400 pushing the envelope and new designers 01:27:22.400 --> 01:27:24.500 joining their ranks every day, we can't even 01:27:24.500 --> 01:27:27.498 imagine what games are going to look like 10 years from now. 01:27:27.498 --> 01:27:32.487 [MUSIC PLAYING] 01:27:32.487 --> 01:27:34.670 In just a few short decades, video games 01:27:34.670 --> 01:27:37.010 have led an entertainment revolution. 01:27:37.010 --> 01:27:39.880 Movies, television, they haven't been the same since video games 01:27:39.880 --> 01:27:41.030 arrived on the scene. 01:27:41.030 --> 01:27:43.250 - There's a perception in the game industry 01:27:43.250 --> 01:27:45.740 that games are in their infancy. 01:27:45.740 --> 01:27:47.510 We've achieved a lot, but we're far 01:27:47.510 --> 01:27:49.670 from where it's going to be. 01:27:49.670 --> 01:27:52.070 - And more than that, they continue to massively impact 01:27:52.070 --> 01:27:54.380 every aspect of our culture, influencing everything 01:27:54.380 --> 01:27:57.220 from education to the military. 01:27:57.220 --> 01:27:58.970 - People really do wonder, how can we play 01:27:58.970 --> 01:28:00.380 that damn thing for 40 hours? 01:28:00.380 --> 01:28:02.744 I mean, think about 40 hours a game. 01:28:02.744 --> 01:28:04.910 It must be deep, it must be doing something for you. 01:28:04.910 --> 01:28:07.368 So the emotional experience we have with games is something 01:28:07.368 --> 01:28:08.624 everybody can have with games. 01:28:08.624 --> 01:28:11.602 01:28:11.602 --> 01:28:13.810 - As the debate over their violence and addictiveness 01:28:13.810 --> 01:28:16.120 rages on, video games also continue 01:28:16.120 --> 01:28:18.790 to drive the leading edge of computer technology, 01:28:18.790 --> 01:28:21.190 opening players minds to new concepts of strategy 01:28:21.190 --> 01:28:23.140 and tactical thinking and capturing 01:28:23.140 --> 01:28:26.110 the attention of the world in bold and unexpected ways. 01:28:26.110 --> 01:28:28.120 - In the next 20 years, the person 01:28:28.120 --> 01:28:29.710 who is in the White House will have 01:28:29.710 --> 01:28:31.900 played Super Mario Brothers. 01:28:31.900 --> 01:28:33.700 And what will that mean for the way 01:28:33.700 --> 01:28:35.560 that they think about policy or the way 01:28:35.560 --> 01:28:38.020 they think about resource distribution or the way 01:28:38.020 --> 01:28:41.830 they think about problem solving. 01:28:41.830 --> 01:28:44.680 - People in their 30s who grew up playing this stuff 01:28:44.680 --> 01:28:46.630 are now paying attention to it. 01:28:46.630 --> 01:28:48.310 And we don't think twice about it. 01:28:48.310 --> 01:28:50.660 And we don't think these games are just for kids. 01:28:50.660 --> 01:28:54.400 We don't think these games are destroying the fabric of youth. 01:28:54.400 --> 01:28:57.010 For us, it's just like music, it's just like TV, 01:28:57.010 --> 01:28:58.510 is just like film. 01:28:58.510 --> 01:28:59.260 It's part of life. 01:28:59.260 --> 01:29:01.994 01:29:01.994 --> 01:29:04.499 - And thanks to the vision of the guys behind the games, 01:29:04.499 --> 01:29:06.790 there's a limit to where they'll take us in the future. 01:29:06.790 --> 01:29:09.760 The video invasion is just beginning. 01:29:09.760 --> 01:29:17.560 01:29:17.560 --> 01:29:20.560 [OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING] 01:29:20.560 --> 01:30:21.460 01:30:21.460 --> 01:30:22.060 WOMAN: GSN. 01:30:22.060 --> 01:30:23.610 GSN. 01:30:23.610 --> 01:30:25.411