NextGen reviews Once Upon ATARI video
From: 
This is the unedited review of the video documentary "Once Upon
Atari" in Next Generation magazine (April 98 issue, page 20).
You can also check out the website for this video (and it's creator)
at: http://www.netcom.com/~hsw/ouatari.html or
http://www.netcom.com/~hsw
Here it is:
     Once Upon Atari: The Agony and the Ecstasy video review
The culture at Atari's console division in the glory days of
1979-1982 has always had a mystique about it. It was the seminal
videogame development "scene," and many myths and legends grew out of
that time. During last June's Electronicon, a Philadelphia fan
convention, Howard Scott Warshaw, creator of E.T. and Yars Revenge,
premiered a new documentary, Once Upon Atari: The Agony and the
Ecstasy. It is actually the final installment of a planned four-part
series that explores those days by interviewing the programmers who
created some of console gaming's best-loved (and most hated) titles.
While the video quality sometimes leaves a lot to be desired (the
introduction is almost unbearably cheesy), the interviews are amazing.
Warshaw has tracked down almost everyone who did anything of
significance in Atari's home division, including the people involved
in some of the most criticized events in Atari's history, like Pac-Man
for Atari 2600 (see "What the Hell Happened?" page 38). The interviews
are seamlessly edited together with very little narration, which is
good if you are familiar with Atari's history - for those who don't
already know most of these names, though, the video may be a bit
confusing.
This episode tries to capture the spirit of what it was like to
actually work at Atari, an environment that was both a product of the
times - the free-wheeling '70s - and the need to hire anyone who could
program the 2600, a feat that ranged from difficult to impossible.
This quote from Todd (Pac-Man) Frye is typical: "They were having a
problem getting a programmer to do the Atari 2600 Xevious. Xevious was
a very graphically active game in the arcades, and the Atari 2600 was
not really a very graphically active machine. So I went home - I
smoked this joint, with a little psilocybin and a little cocaine in it
- and all of a sudden it sprang full forth in my mind exactly how to
do it. And that was the moment of inspiration."
Other installments will include Nolan Bushnell, Larry Kaplan
(Activision, Kaboom!), Rob Fulop (Missile Command), and others,
disclosing their personal feelings and stories about everything from
the creation of Activision to some of the pretty outrageous sexual
(mis)conduct that went on between employees. The remainder of the
series will be released later this year. The first episode will cover
what it was like to actually work at Atari, the second will deal with
the legendary three M's of Atari (marketing, management, and money),
and finally the third - and possibly the most exciting - will detail
the game design process at Atari.
The highly in-depth nature of the documentary offers a refreshing
contrast to other efforts, like Leonard Herman's Phoenix (see review
NG 37), which, in their attempts to cover a broader subject matter,
are necessarily more impersonal. Is this video essential viewing? If
you're simply interested in the broad history of the industry,
probably not. But if the word "Atari" still can make the hair on the
back of your neck stand up, send in your money ASAP - you won't be
disappointed.
Available in NTSC or PAL. Running time: 28 minutes.
To order, send $29.95 (postpaid) to:
 SCOTT WEST PRODUCTIONS
 PO Box 610787
 San Jose, CA 95161
 Or call with credit card: 1-800-711-3627
 More information can be found at http://www.netcom.com/~hsw Or
 http://www.netcom.com/~hsw/ouatari.html
 Check it out!
 
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