About
Icons was a documentary TV show on G4 that originally focused on significant people, companies, products, history, and milestones in world of video games. It was relaunched in 2006 and focused entirely on pop culture. It was cancelled soon afterwards. On May 10, 2006, it was announced that Icons was relaunching on June 3 with an episode focusing on J.J. Abrams. The show will feature a broader scope on things and people "men 18–34 care about, admire and emulate." Future episodes would focus on Marc Ecko, The Onion, and Family Guy. This change in format had been suspected, due to the recent episodes about George A. Romero, Frank Miller and the history of the King Kong franchise. The classic video game themed episodes continued to air on the network sporadically until 2008, under the new name of Game Makers.
Episodes
Season 1
Oddworld Inhabitants
It's an Oddworld after all. Lorne Lanning and Sherry McKenna, co-founders of Oddworld Inhabitants, have created a video game franchise unlike any other. Fans worldwide have embraced Abe and Munch, the spunky characters who battle the forces of evil with little more than their wits. Lorne, Sherry and other insiders reveal long-held secrets behind some of the games' biggest mysteries and recall the fierce backlash that hit when Abe moved from PlayStation to Xbox.
Nolan Bushnell
For decades Nolan Bushnell, the originator of Pong and ATARI, has pushed the boundaries with inventions that were sometimes a bit ahead of their time. After amassing a personal fortune by selling ATARI to Warner Communications, Bushnell focused his attention on his rapidly growing Chuck E. Cheese pizza parlor chain and backed a series of innovative inventions, including in-car navigation systems, online shopping and robots. The sometimes-controversial father of the video game industry finally returned to the business with his current company, uWink
Pac-Man
In 1979, a young Japanese game designer named Toru Iwatani had the desire to create a non-violent arcade game that would appeal to everyone. Originally called "Puck-Man" in Japan, the name was changed to "Pac-Man" by the time the game hit the United States in October 1980. The moment Pac-Man landed on U.S. shores Americans were hit with "Pac-Man Fever." As the fever grew, so did revenues for arcade owners and Pac-Man merchandise retailers. But by the mid 1980s, the arcade industry saw a sharp drop in profits as the home console era began. Atari's home version of Pac-Man for the Atari VCS was one of the best-selling games in Atari's history. Since then, Pac-Man has been released on almost every console imaginable.
Lara Croft
Dubbed "Indiana Jane" before her 1996 release in the United States, Lara Croft kicked the door open for open for an army of other video game heroines who are tough - and beautiful. The Tomb Raider series, which continues with the upcoming The Angel of Darkness, has legions of male and female fans. On this episode of "Icons" you'll learn the secrets behind the dazzling facade through interviews with Eidos insiders Adrian Smith ("We always thought that the consumers wouldn't believe for one moment we were going to kill Lara off."), Paul Baldwin ("The original game concept was in fact turned down."), and Rob Dyer ("We were more concerned it was going to turn off guys.").
Activision
Founded by four former Atari vets in 1980, Activision dominated the video game industry with smash-hit titles like Pitfall!, River Raid and Kaboom! Rocked by an industry downturn and business missteps, the company floundered until it was purchased by a group headed by Robert Kotick ("Everybody was asking me whether I was mad, you know. Why was I going off and doing this?"). But Kotick proved his doubters wrong and turned the failing game company into one of the world's most successful video game publishers.
Miyamoto
Mr. Miyamoto has created characters such as Donkey Kong, Zelda and, of course, Mario. But with each success, the pressure on Mr. Miyamoto has increased to continually be innovative. He has met the challenge each time and become an integral part of Nintendo's worldwide success. Despite his status as an icon in the gaming world, Mr. Miyamoto remains a team player and leads a surprisngly humble life
Everquest
Fans worldwide have embraced EverQuest since its debut in March of 1999. The enchanting land of Norrath--populated by humans, gnomes, elves and other incredible creatures--is also home to as many as 40,000 players at a given time. On this episode of "Icons," we'll learn the stories behind the conceptualization of EverQuest, how its creators convinced Sony Online Entertainment that Ultima Online was not the ultimate in massive multiplayer online gaming, and what the future holds for this fantasy world.
Bioware
In just seven short years, the video game company Bioware, formed by Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, has become one of the most respected and fastest-growing companies in the video game business. Best known for their submersive role-playing games, Bioware strives to push the envelope combining the best of technology and epic story-telling.
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