Imagic: The Making of Atlantis

[108 Stars]

I wanted to post this here because it is a very fine document for retro gamers.

This is a documentary on the software publisher Imagic, known for VCS/Intellivision hits such as Atlantis, Cosmic Ark and Demon Attack.

This 30-minute documentary was made in 1982; the report introduces us to the newly found company Imagic. The video game market is booming, and after Activision Imagic wants to follow its lead and be successful by doing excellent video games on consoles. The young team, consisting of former Atari- and Mattel-employees gives insight in the development process of their first hit Atlantis; everybody is euphoric and optimistic. They know they have got great stuff in their hands, they do everything a game company can do, including TV spots etc; and their games are so successful they repeatedly have to raise sales expectations.

The sky is the limit it seems.

In an act to fulfill their dream of surpassing Activision, Imagic decides to be traded on the stock market as the first game company ever. Predictions are great.

Shortly thereafter, the film is still being shot... the market is shaken. Many more start-ups in the industry have entered the market. Other game companies do TV commercials as well, and have licenses of franchises like E.T. on their side. More companies, more games... and less profit for each party since the cake is just so big. Financial experts react; video games get a bad rep. The interest in the games industry sufferes so much that shortly before day X Imagic has to cancel trading its stock. For the first time their is worry in the mens' faces. But still (acted?) optimism... the entry to the stock market is just delayed for a few months, everything will be fine.

The film ends.

And we all know what we have just seen... we have seen the moment the gold-digging spirit in the video game business began to turn around and how the crash drew near. From the eyes of a company that was in the midst of it all.

Imagic, like so many other companies never recovered from the crash; while they had made great software, they went belly-up by 1986.

This documentary is so great because it is from the actual times. People did not know what they were observing, and we always just read about it. This film gives us the chance to really feel it a bit finally.

A must-see for retro gamers with historical interest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmrZUNID ... ure=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKG4rHNz ... ure=relmfu

Just thinking... maybe someone here should ddownload this in case it is ever deleted from Youtube. Just to have it safe.

[TL]

I have seen this before, it's excellent. Totally forgot to post it here.

I just fixed the You Tube links in your post for you.

[108 Stars]

Yeah, I wish we had a YouTube button in the editor.^^

[TL]

Yeah, I wish we had a YouTube button in the editor.^^

You don't need one, you just copy and paste the link - SIMPLE!

[TrekMD]

Thanks for posting this!  I had never seen it before. 

[onthinice]

Thanks!

[TL]

I just found this amazingly cool related video!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqxJZX7SyNc

[108 Stars]

Great find!

I can imagine those kids in theend thought they had the best job in the world.

[zapiy]

Fantastic stuff, god knows how i missed this thread before..

[Alberto 2K]

Very nice vids!

[TrekMD]

Very nice vids!

I may be able to download it for you, if you can't.

[Alberto 2K]

I may be able to download it for you, if you can't.
[/quote]
Thank you very much Trek!

What program are you using?? I can try with it so you don´t have to bother.

Don´t know why but I can´t download any vids with keephd, not only this one...

[TrekMD]

I use one of two different extensions on Firefox, Download Helper and Easy YouTube Video Downloader.  The latter is better and even can convert video to audio files.  Try that one first.

[Alberto 2K]

Mmmm... I use Chrome but I´m going to look for a complement like that Easy YT Downloader, I´m sure there must be something.

I don´t want to bother you everytime I want a vid (I have a looong list :O) so it´s much better for you if I find something useful soon!! 

[TrekMD]

Mmmm... I use Chrome but I´m going to look for a complement like that Easy YT Downloader, I´m sure there must be something.

I don´t want to bother you everytime I want a vid (I have a looong list :O) so it´s much better for you if I find something useful soon!!  :)  Just use both.  I have both Chrome and Firefox as they each have their strengths.  Firefox is my primary browser precisely because of how customizable it is.  I've kept Chrome for my Google services.