CNBC Fails to Show the Game Industry in Any Sort of Comprehensible Light

The other day, I missed a program on TV called CNBC's Playing to Win: the Video Game Industry. I recorded it and just finished watching it on DVR (hurray for DVR!)

 TL;DR: the documentary was uncomprehensive and fractured in explaining the history and the current state of the gaming industry.

The documentary starts off with the program portraying Electronic Arts as the "primary innovator" in video game technology in the early 90's. This isn't necessarily true, and it is unfair not to mention other innovators in early game history, such as ATARI and Nintendo within the same segmet: it creates a bias.

What's more, they had to have their say by claiming "hollywood has poured its essence into the video game industry", and then compares video games of the 90s not being as popular as music or television. Confusingly, CNBC claimed that EA was the pioneer for a new standard in video gaming: the 3DO. They never explained the evidence supporting their claim, but did mention that the 3DO was a bunk due to its hefty price tag, which it was. CNBC completely ignored the transition from cartridges to discs, and discs to online and downloadable content.

Another thing that made me sigh was their coverage of the "video games cause violence" debate of the 1990s. They had more interviewees on the program that supported the proposition that violent video games caused problems, and compared DOOM to the Columbine shootings. They offered an objectionable viewpoint, but again, the majority opinion was that violent video games were not good; when there is absolutely no scientific evidence supporting the claim that violent video games produce violent human beings. To help solidify their opinions, they had Alan Miller (creator of Activision) come in and say he "feels more aggressive after playing racing and violent video games".

Then, the program goes into a 20 minute or so segment into the wonders of Second Life and how new and innovational it is. Sorry you old crooks, you are about ten years late with that. You could have spent the 20 minutes you spent on second life discussing the video game crash of 1983, arcades, carts, discs; Everquest; a plethora of more important mentions than second life, which isn't that popular to begin with. The one saving grace of this program was that they showed how video games can positively impact the lives of training personell and giving kids an escape in hospitals to play games. They effectively showed how games are training tools for the army, RNs, and even for therapy and cognitive maintenance.

Overwhelmingly, CNBC failed to explain the game industry as it is today, and focused too much on antiquated tech as being "the new thing", and on the controversy of video games. The indy side of video games has also been completely ignored. The program is fractured, fragmented and uncomprehensible in regards to the entire picture that is the world of video games. Keep staring through those unwashed, 100 year old glasses folks.