In the last 25 years of film and TV viewing, video games have been the focus of countless feature films, TV commercials, game shows, news clips and special features, all heralding the cultural impact felt by these new marvels of space age technology.
For the first time, the historical legacy created by these film and TV appearances will be celebrated with a special event called the 1st Annual Video Game Film Festival, which will take place during the 2001 Classic Video Game World Championship, Saturday, June 2, 2001, at the famous Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire.
Co-sponsored by Funspot and the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard, the Festival will treat the viewers to a wide sampling of short features, full-length films and broadcast news clips that define different periods in the evolution of the video game.
"Video games have made a significant contribution to the cultural trends of the last 25 years," explains Walter Day, Twin Galaxies' Chief Scorekeeper and emcee of the Film Festival. "In every area of entertainment and news, the video game has prominently dominated the airwaves, creating a colorful and rich tapestry worthy of being appreciated by today's students of culture."
Among the pieces to be viewed is Hollywood Zap, a little-known feature film that was shot in arcades around Los Angeles in 1983. It reached very few screens before it made its way to videotape and is now nearly impossible to find. Produced by the late Ben Frank, who also starred in the lead role, the story depicts the adventures of a Wall Street stockbroker who leaves New York to find the "Zap," the world's greatest video game player, who is famous for playing the game Zaxxon.
Other historically significant pieces to be viewed are the: That's Incredible Ms. Pac-Man World Championship, which was broadcast on October 11, 1982, and the North American Video Game Olympics, which was co-produced by That's Incredible and Twin Galaxies on January 8-9, 1983. This Olympics is now viewed to be video game history's first video game world championship.
The highlight of the event will be the screening of the special Dragon's Lair episode of Starcade, -- The Starcade television show was history's first and only Video Arcade game show. This special episode focuses solely on Dragon's Lair, a laser game hotline, a champion Dragon's Lair player that completes all screens, a Space Ace Hotline and a 30-second Starcade commercial that you don't want to miss. The show was donated for the event by JM Production Company, the creators and Producers of 128 episodes of Starcade. "This special show was filmed in 1983 during the height of popularity of the the laser-disc game," says Jim Caruso, partner with Mavis Arthur in JM Production Company, who gets hundreds of thousands of hits monthly at the
www.starcade.tv web site his company maintains to satisfy all of the Starcaders that are still out there, reliving the exciting times they enjoyed as twelve-year-olders back in the 1980's.
Other videos on the schedule include numerous big-city TV news broadcasts that covered the era of high-score competition in the early 1980s. "In almost every American city back in the early 1980s, TV news teams were covering local youths who were making new world records on video games like Asteroids, Missile Command and Stargate," explains Gary Vincent, Manager of Operations for Funspot. "It was a widespread phenomenon, and we will be watching many of these old newscasts from 1981 and 1982 to examine the historical mood of those times."
Two additional tapes on the schedule include an edition of Entertainment Tonight, broadcast January 12, 1985, featuring the 1985 Coronation Day Video Game World Championships which were held in Los Angeles, CA, and a 1982 documentary that saw North America's 17 best video game players brought together for a photo session with LIFE magazine on November 8-9, 1982.
Other TV ads and news appearances enjoyed by specific companies have also been donated for use during the event. "Whenever major developments happened in video game history," notes Day, "TV cameras were never very far away. Now, its time for the entire worldwide electronic gaming industry to open their archives and support a regular, annual Film Festival that celebrates the history of the video game."
The Festival starts Saturday night, June 2nd, at 8:00 PM and lasts until all films have been viewed. Admission is free and seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. The event has been created to coincide with the 3rd Annual Funspot-Twin Galaxies Classic Video & Pinball Tournament, which is the industry's most famous high-score tournament on classic video games popular during the period 1974-1986. The results of this event will be listed in the forthcoming edition of Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game and Pinball Book of World Records.
Day notes that Funspot was chosen for the unique distinction of hosting the 1st Annual Video Game Film Festival because of its undying support of the classic gaming hobby. "Funspot's collection of 140 classic video games, maintained in perfect condition, is the most complete in the world," says Day. "And, their games are all set on the official tournament settings required by Twin Galaxies for publication in the forthcoming Book of Records.
The first two perfect scores ever achieved on the classic arcade game Pac-Man were recorded at Funspot in July of 1999 by video game legend Billy Mitchell of Hollywood, Florida and Canadian video game ace Rick Fothergill. Numerous other video game records have been set at Funspot, the most recent of which took place last November when Donald Hayes, 32, of Salem, New Hampshire, broke the 14-year-old world record on Atari's classic arcade video game, Centipede.
Funspot, selected as "Arcade of the Year'' in 1999 for its key role in spearheading the revival of interest in classic, non-violent video gaming, is the world's second largest arcade. It has over 500 electronic games ranging from the classics to today's high-powered interactive games such as Hydro Thunder, Daytona II and Star Wars Trilogy. The first two perfect scores ever achieved on the classic arcade game Pac-Man were recorded at Funspot in July of 1999 by video game legend Billy Mitchell of Hollywood, Florida and Canadian video game ace Rick Fothergill.
One of New England's most popular attractions, the Funspot Family Entertainment Center is located on a 33-acre site just a mile from 44,000 acre Lake Winnipesaukee. It draws 600,000 people a year to its 60,000 square foot-entertainment complex.
It will mark its 50th year in business next summer, all under the direction of its original founders, Bob and John Lawton.
Twin Galaxies has been keeping score for the world of video game and pinball playing since 1982 and is recognized as the Official World Referee and Scorekeeper for the Interactive Entertainment Industry. After nearly 20 full years of judging the best there is behind the joystick and mouse, Twin Galaxies continues to sanction the contests, enforce the rules, and set the standard for competitive video game play on console, PC and arcade titles. Its mission is to transform electronic gaming into a recognized sport by building upon a rich tradition of champions and their world records. The organization publishes Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game and Pinball Book of World Records, verifying world records achieved by gamers in more than thirty-one countries.
The current world records on any game title can be viewed at Twin Galaxies at
www.twingalaxies.com.
For more information on the 1st Annual Video Game Film Festival, contact: Walter Day, Chief Scorekeeper, at Twin Galaxies. Or email
walter@twingalaxies.com or call (641) 472-3882.
