6 of 10 | Searching for Shangri-La
The Artists
Computers were built to process data—but can they also make us cry? Meet “The Artists,” the video-game designers, developers, and programmers who revolutionized the way we experience American entertainment and storytelling.
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Glitch155.4
Seeing Farther
Meet the group of rogue programmers who, in the 1980s, decided to elevate computer games to an art form.
10 minutes
- 2
Volley794.8
The Revolution Will Be Digitized
Pong took computer games out of the lab and into the dive bar. Here’s how the runaway success of Atari’s first game led to th…
13 minutes
- 3
Gloom978.4
The Doom Generation
Doom was a fast-paced and immersive first-person shooter game whose success was the envy of the industry.
11 minutes
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Guru658
The Dragon Slayer
Though his industry was becoming increasingly concerned with the bottom line, Chris Crawford understood that video games coul…
12 minutes
- 5
Pixels302.5
Come Together
For one programmer, the future of gaming was about more than art. It was a social issue.
11 minutes
- 6
Stable398.3
Searching for Shangri-La
Extending his empire to the small screen, George Lucas built a video-game incubator on his own ranch.
12 minutes
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Surgical619
Dungeons & Doctors
Young doctors-turned-game-designers performed a digital transplant on an iconic role-playing game.
9 minutes
- 8
Anachronism 930
One More Turn
The history-inspired Civilization games say less about the past than they do about what’s next.
10 minutes
- 9
Belles-Lettres802
Wordsmiths
Before video games could get graphic, text-based adventures imagined the future of literature.
11 minutes
- 10
Futures116
From Then to Now
From the art gallery to the boardroom, video games are going places their inventors never anticipated.
10 minutes