Once Upon Atari (UPDATED)

September 19, 2003 at 12:00 AM in

Update: I have recently received a pressed copy of this DVD at only the cost of returning the original (and an intermediate attempt to resolve the problem). Not only are the production values of the pressed DVD significantly better, but episode four, which was previously unwatchable, is in fact the best episode of the lot since it isn't as fixated on the people and their antics --it's worth the price of the DVD all by itself. While I will leave the review below untouched I now believe that there's enough reason to purchase the DVD, especially since the price has also dropped. Just make sure you get a pressed copy.

I had thought that the story of the heyday of Atari would be an interesting one. Apparently it's not. It's full of young creative people highlighting their youth rather than their creativity, mindless consumption of drugs, poor management, poorer marketing and ultimately a very depressing tail of excess and shallowness. I regret discovering just how shallow the major players were when they weren't being innovators.

To add insult to injury, the DVD itself has all the production values of a Powerpoint presentation. Primarily it's not a pressed DVD, but a burnt one. Less than half the content is actually playable on my PS2. Other than that show-stopper, the editing is seriously distracting. While commentary is grouped together so as to highlight particular tails, the lack of interview technique results in a feeling of disorientation. Don't get me started on the transition effects, or the Tarot card metaphor that gets beaten to death.

If you want an idea of early computing, you would do much better to read (edited) The Hacker Crackdown by Bruce Sterling, or Hackers by Steven Levy (sorry, got the two mixed up first time, thanks to everyone that pointed out the error). It won't give you Atari's specific story, but that's a good thing all by itself, even before you take into account that it's written by an actual writer.