Classic Game Room - The Rise and Fall of the Internet's...

Buy This Item Classic Game Room - The Rise and Fall of the Internet's... by Inecom Entertainment Company  Available from Amazon  $17.99  on 11-26-2008     <b><i>Classic Game Room</i></b> was the first classic video game review show on the Internet in 1999 and 2000. It returns as a feature-length comedy film about the triumphant story of online success, failure, obscurity, resurrection and success again! <P> The legendary show was produced in the early days of online video by Mark Bussler and David Crosson at an Internet startup with one camera, a green screen and $50 budgets. The show was objective, entertaining and obnoxious with beer-drinking, bottle-throwing, joystick-slinging, car-crashing classic game reviews. A cult following developed and the reviews kept coming, but how long could it last until the money ran out? Features the original raucous reviews of Duck Hunt for NES, Alien for Atari 2600, X-Men for Sega Genesis, Sega GT for Dreamcast, Joust and Missile Command for Playstation, Frogger for Atari 2600, SeaMan for Dreamcast, Perfect Dark for Nintendo 64 and Yars' Revenge for Atari 2600. Reader Reviews In 1999, a dotcom business started a series of shows. One of them was a video game review show called The Game Room. Hosted by Mark Bussler and Dave Crosson, the show reviewed brand new games for the Dreamcast and Playstation, but it also reviewed great classics from the Atari, NES, Genesis, etc. What set this show apart from others was that it was just two guys talking over video game footage. It was not professional. It wasn't monotone. It wasn't just a big advertisement bought and paid for by Eidos. Because of this, I immediately became a fan of the show. I, and many others, could releate to these guys far better than the `professionals' that typed away at their trivial reviews. The Game Room was so funny and informative. And the show never made a dime. 80 episodes were produced before the show was canned 11 months later. 8 years later, The Game Room comes back in a new DVD. "Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show" is a compilation of 10 episodes along with a documentary about the show. Do not take the documentary seriously, else you lack common sense. Despite the show's popularity and large amount of viewers, it was unable to make any ad revenue, much like almost every dotcom business of that era. Despite the show being ahead of its time by several years, the audience that watched the show (myself included) were too young, and therefore too poor to actually buy the games through The Game Room's Amazon affiliate links. "Viral marketing" with videos was also something of a rare breed back in 1999, as I'm sure the show's fans didn't even try to pimp this thing to their friends or message boards. Viral marketing is usually fraudulent anyway with paid marketing companies helping out (see: lonelygirl15, Chris Crocker, Lisa Nova) Of the 80 games Mark and Dave reviewed, I DID end up buying a lot of the games, but only many years after the show's cancelation, when I actually had income. It's about eight years late, but I'm doing my part as an original Game Room fan. This is NOT a movie just for Game Room fans. It's a movie for all gamers everywhere. The documentary is very entertaining, and is obviously meant to be light-hearted and not serious. The classic episodes are very fun to watch, especially their `review' of Seaman for the Sega Dreamcast. There's also a full-length audio commentary by the director. Here it is in 2008, and the internet still does not have another show like The Game Room out there. Sure, you may see some show where it's two people talking about a game, but it's usually professional, scripted gunk that's completely untrustworthy. A few months ago, Gamespot FIRED a senior editor of over 10 years for giving a negative review of a video game. It just happened to be that the game's publisher, Eidos, had given Gamespot a lot of ad money, and they were displeased with the much deserved criticism. Gamespot has no integrity. The Game Room did. On the DVD, I learned that Nintendo had offered to enter into a partnership with The Game Room. Once the show criticized Perfect Dark and the Nintendo 64, however, Nintendo immediately pulled all advertising, and The Game Room was dead soon after. I trusted The Game Room to give me the low-down on new and old games, and they always delivered. Sites like Gamespot? Completely bought and paid for by the publishers. No dignity, no credibility. If you like old video games, pick up this DVD. If you can have enough common sense to not take the documentary seriously, pick up this DVD. The Game Room was a great show, and in 2008 there's still a desperate need for another show just like it to rise from its grave. Gamespot is close to murdering the video game review. Buy this movie to see how you're really supposed to review games.

Classic Game Room - The Rise and Fall of the Internet's... Available from Amazon Price: $17.99 Updated on 11-26-2008.

SPONSORED LINKS