Stan Lee
Self
Icons (2002)
Season 4
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.
Released May 1, 2002
Episode 25 min
None+
Genres: Documentary
Keywords: tmdb.video-game, imdb.g4tv, imdb.docuseries, imdb.man-child, imdb.review, imdb.geek, imdb.anthology + 6 more, imdb.celebrity-interview, imdb.retroculture, imdb.playing-a-video-game, imdb.celebrity, imdb.interview, imdb.video-game-development
Network: G4
Country: United States
Languages:
English
S4E1 - Gran Turismo
There's no question that racing is one of the oldest and well-loved genres in the game industry, but there is one series out there that truly stands apart from the crowd in the minds of auto enthusiasts and casual gamers alike, and it is Gran Turismo. Named after the European endurance races of legend such as 24 heures du Mans and Targa Florio, Gran Turismo has dominated the racing game genre since the debut of its first game in 1998. However, the inspiration behind this game had its start long before Polyphony Digital's famous racing simulator ever hit the Sony Playstation.
Racing games have been around since the very beginning of the arcade era, when casual gamers flocked to arcades to experience the thrill of playing Pole Position using a real wheel. Later on, arcades and home consoles began to carry more sophisticated racing titles such as Ridge Racer and Need for Speed, but Polys Entertainment designer Kazunori Yamauchi had dreams of creating a different kind of racing game. Yama
Feb. 3, 2005, midnight
S4E3 - Frank Miller
Fans of Frank Miller's Sin City have been for years bedazzled by the comics' bold, hard-boiled look and the gritty tales told within, but many folks are just now coming to see the mastery of Miller's work through the film version of the comic. Miller spent years working on Sin City independently, but creating comic books wasn't always so easy.
Growing up in Vermont, Frank Miller started drawing comics at home at the age of six, using typing paper stapled together to make comic books following a fascination with Batman. Though he'd eventually become a comic book legend, when he traveled to New York to try to break into the comic industry, there were many hurdles he'd face before getting his first real job with a pencil. While working menial and sometimes dangerous jobs, Miller polished his skills under the tutelage of Neil Adams; after being told repeatedly that his work was terrible, Adams found him a job drawing Twilight Zone comics, and his career took off.
After a slow start, Mill
March 31, 2005, midnight
S4E4 - Tim Schafer
Though he's been an influential force in games for over a decade, Tim Schafer hasn't been heard from much in recent years because he's been hard at work forming his own company and working hard on Psychonauts for the past three years. However, Schafer didn't start out at the top but rather worked his way up at LucasArts on projects such as Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. In 2000, Schafer left LucasArts and founded Double Fine Productions in San Francisco along with many members of the Grim Fandango team as well as many new faces.
In a first for Icons, watch the staff at Double Fine Productions as they frantically rush to put the finishing touches on Psychonauts during the last week of production and get a firsthand glimpse of what working in a top-notch game studio is really like.
April 28, 2005, midnight
S4E5 - Star Wars Games
Following the debut of the first Star Wars film in the late 1970's, Star Wars games have become an almost natural extension of the series' plot and experience, feeding the frenzy of fans thirsting for more. Starting with the first arcade game in 1983, fans went nuts for anything based on the series, spawning the first rush of Star Wars games to the home console market. However, it was not until 1991 that LucasFilm Games (now LucasArts) produced their own game based off their most famous series for the Nintendo Entertainment System. They would go on to produce a number of hits including X-Wing, TIE Fighter and Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight, though working with their proprietary content did not guarantee them a good game, as proven by such flops as Masters of Teras Kasi and Star Wars: Rebellion. However, the release of the new Star Wars Trilogy beginning in 1999 would prove to inject new life into the series of games including Jedi Academy, Knights of the Old Republic and the series' first
May 12, 2005, midnight
S4E6 - Ralph Baer
Contrary to what you might have been led to believe by fanboys, the father of video gaming is not Shigeru Miyamoto, Will Wright, or even Nolan Bushnell. And it certainly isn't Bill Gates.
What you may not know is that the technology that enabled the creation of video games was patented by engineer Ralph Baer in 1968, four years before Pong was ever introduced to gamers worldwide. However, Baer had developed the concept much, much earlier.
June 9, 2005, midnight
S4E7 - PlayStation
Icons digs deep to get the real history of the Sony PlayStation, starting with its beginnings as a parts-maker for Nintendo consoles and the development of a CD-based game for Nintendo. After Sony was double-crossed by Nintendo when they decided to drop Sony for Philips, Ken Kutaragi fought to develop the technology as a 3D game console despite Sony's reputation as a consumer electronics company. However, the company was able to gather the support of Japan's top game developers and publishers and push the PlayStation to the top of the sales charts and changed the way the world saw video games.
Sept. 8, 2005, midnight
S4E8 - George A. Romero
George A. Romero was a pivotal figure in the development horror films with his first feature, "Night of the Living Dead" in 1968. We talk with this independent filmmaker about his career and take a look at some of his most memorable work.
Oct. 31, 2005, midnight
S4E9 - NES
What goes into creating a next generation console? We'll go behind the scenes and talk with the production team of this exciting new project. Microsoft staffers and first-party developers add their insights on the challenges and expectations regarding Xbox 360--one of the most highly-anticipated launches in games.
Dec. 1, 2005, midnight
S4E10 - Xbox 360
Icons delves deep into the history of the NES, the console that changed the world.
From its beginning in Japan over 150 years ago, through the boom years of the 1980s and 1990s to its present place as one of the most recognizable names in gaming, Nintendo has always been about innovation and visionary gameplay, but nothing they've created was more visionary than the Nintendo Entertainment System.
While gamers know the NES as pure fun, the story behind the game is pure drama, from the incredibly risky launch of the NES in America to Nintendo's sometimes contentious relationship with game developers. Videogame luminaries featured include Don James, the Executive Vice President of Operations for Nintendo of America and legendary game designer (and creator of Mario) Shigeru Miyamoto.
Dec. 4, 2005, midnight
S4E11 - King Kong
We look back at the cinematic fascination with this monster ape and talk with director Peter Jackson, the artistic genius behind the latest remake of this classic film.
Dec. 12, 2005, midnight
S4E2 - Splinter Cell
In contrast to the smooth and suave spies of lore, Sam Fisher is a grizzled, middle-aged ex-Navy SEAL who has seen and done it all, but is nevertheless a cool character that players would empathize with. As a member of the super-secret government faction Third Echelon, Fisher is the titular Splinter Cell, a lone operative charged with taking down terrorist cells with stealth and efficiency, but he still needed a strong voice, so the producers signed on renowned thespian Michael Ironside to voice Fisher. With additional advising from Clancy himself on everything from the characters to the goggles used in the game, the Ubisoft team released the original Splinter Cell title in November 2002 and it went on to sell over 1 million copies in its first six months of release.
March 3, 2005, midnight
G4
25 min/ep
2670 min
May 1, 2002
June 3, 2007, midnight
Ended
NR
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