While the television industry may choose to ignore gaming as a viable topic for proper coverage - beyond the odd documentary every ten years or so - Hollywood (or independent filmmakers, anyway) realise that it's an area a-ripe for the plucking.
Indeed, the last ten years have seen an explosion in video game documentaries, and here's our pick of the ten best video game "doccos" available to humanity.
Indeed, the last ten years have seen an explosion in video game documentaries, and here's our pick of the ten best video game "doccos" available to humanity.
10. SECOND SKIN
Though seven or so years old now, Second Skin is still worth a watch. It's a look at seven people who are addicted to virtual worlds - Everquest, World of Warcraft, and Second Life (is that even still going?). It focuses on the subculture of those online communities, and how whole lives have been changed by pretending to be a pretend person. We've all been there: we once spent a year at a nursery pretending to be a stupid baby. Unfortunately, we were eventually barred from attending, for trying to suckle the man who ran it.
9. CHASING GHOSTS: BEYOND THE ARCADE
Even older than Second Skin, Chasing Ghosts looks back at the halcyon days of arcade gaming. It centers around one Walter Day - founder of Twin Galaxies, the official supplier of gaming world records to Guinness - and survivors of the 1982 Video Game World Championships. Bad hair, tight t-shirts, and middle-aged men reminiscing about how Pac-Man ruined their life. "That yellow, spherical bastard ran off with my wife", none of them ever actually say.
8. FRAG: THE MOVIE
From the dawn of e-sports, we now spread ourselves compulsively before the intense panorama of the modern era. Frag is an inside look at the - frankly, insane - world of professional gaming. From convincing parents that it's a legitimate career, to coping with the rivalry and pressure of competing in the Cyberathlete Professional League, it's a stark but compelling tale of people who should probably get out more.
7. VIDEO GAMES: THE MOVIE
Not one for the hardcore, Video Games: The Movie is a broad celebration of everything video game - with celebrity talking heads (Will Wheaton and Max Landis, of course) telling you just why they love the games. Its focus is a bit scattershot and breathless, and the somewhat pretentious quotes from Ghandi and Nikola Tesla might test your patience, but as an enthusiastic overview of the history and appeal of gaming, it more or less does its job. Beware: this film features Peter Molyneux - The Most Evil Man on Earth.
6. FREE TO PLAY
Put together by Valve (yes - that Valve: remember when they used to make games?), Free To Play is another plunge into the e-sports bucket, following three professional gamers as they compete at DOTA 2 in Cologne. With a $1 million prize at stake, all three are desperate for the life-changing sum - and the documentary delves into the semi-depressing journeys that led them to The International.
5. ATARI: GAME OVER
Fronted by screenwriter Zak Penn, Atari: Game Over deals with the rise and fall of Atari, and seeks to establish whether it's just an urban legend that millions of copies of the Atari 2600 game E.T. were buried in the desert as the company's fortunes waned. There's a bit of a stretch to make it feel like an archeological adventure in the vein of Indiana Jones (basically, they end up excavating a dirty old landfill), but the most effective through-line is the impact of the game's reception - it was long considered the worst video game of all time - on its creator, Howard Scot Warshaw.
4. CAINE'S ARCADE
A bit of a left-field one, Caine's Arcade is a movie about 9 year-old Caine Monroy, who built a cardboard games arcade in his dad's mechanics workshop. Short but very sweet, we defy anyone to watch it and not shed a tear or ten.
3. INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE
Considering becoming an indie game developer? You may think again while watching this documentary. And then, by the end, will decide that it's definitely the career for you. This is the movie that consolidated Phil Fish as something of a controversial industry figure (typical Phil Fish quote: "Fuck you"), it's a stressful watch - as the makers of Fez, Braid and Super Meat Boy struggle to get their games completed. It's a shame there wasn't room to cover some more esoteric and minority-led projects - Indie Game does little to suggest that game development is anything other than a club for white males - but it's a compelling watch nonetheless.
And on the topic of Phil Fish, this mini-documentary, which dissects his public persona, is also worth a look.
And on the topic of Phil Fish, this mini-documentary, which dissects his public persona, is also worth a look.
2. THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS
The King of Kong is a David and Goliath tale of the rivalry between softly-spoken Steve Wiebe and black-shirted, apparent egomaniac, Billy Mitchell, to hold the world record for Donkey Kong high scores. We'd be interested to know quite how Mitchell feels about it - as he's very much painted as the arch-villain, despite consenting to be featured. Structured like a Hollywood Movie, The King of Kong is an impossible-not-to-like tale of good versus evil. Roughly speaking.
1. FROM BEDROOMS TO BILLIONS
And we're finally back home. From Bedrooms to Billions is a two-and-a-half hour jaunt through the history of the British games industry, from 1979 to the present day. It's stuffed to its throat with interviews from lost souls such as Matt "Manic Miner" Smith, and survivors like Ian Livingstone. Nicely, the soundtrack is provided by Ron Hubbard and Ben Daglish (and if you don't know who they are... this possibly isn't for you). You can buy From Bedrooms to Billions right here.
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