Art: documentaries dedicated to classic French video games launched

Art: documentaries dedicated to classic French video games launched
The thematic channel Arte has launched a series of mini documentaries dedicated to some of the classic video games developed in France, to underline their historical importance and perhaps also to show the world that gaming culture is not only US-centric.

The games covered are ten: Captain Blood from 1988, Future Wars from 1989, Another World from 1991, Alone in the Dark from 1992, Dune from 1992, Versailles 1685 from 1996, Megarace from 1993, Atlantis from 1997, Nightmare Creatures from 1997 and Syberia of 2004. Each mini documentary shows the genesis of the games and interviews the authors, bringing out a really interesting picture.

Many, unfortunately also many representatives of the press, when they talk about the history of video games refer essentially to the USA and Japan, often passing off clichés as historical facts (think of those who talk about video games in the 1980s, referring only to the NES, when for example in Europe consoles at the time were a marginal phenomenon compared to computers). Initiatives such as that of Art are therefore very useful to make some order and to show that the medium was more alive and dynamic than you think, even in its first years of life, with each nation having its own production linked specifically to its culture, a production of which there are often traces still alive today in modern titles.

To watch the documentaries of Arte, in French with English subtitles, start with Captain Blood.