When the Xbox One was revealed this year, it was done in flurry of hype that focused on the one thing that gaming console owners want: Sports and television. Yessiree, the press event for that device was all about media, with a big focus on bringing original content to that platform.
The first such official bit of television hitting that device then? A documentary series that isn’t straying too far away from gaming, as Xbox prepares to dig up the past on the worst video game ever made.
Simon “Searching for Sugar Man” Chinn and Jonathan “30 Days” Chinn will help produce a documentary based on the legendary E.T The Extra-Terrestrial video game, an old Atari title that was so bad, that it was rumoured that millions of copies were buried in a New Mexico landfill.
“Our collaboration with Xbox offers an unparalleled opportunity to make a unique series of films around the extraordinary events and characters that have given rise to the digital age,” said Simon Chinn in a press release.
Our goal is to produce a series of compelling and entertaining docs which will deploy all the narrative techniques of Simon’s and my previous work. It’s particularly exciting to be partnering with filmmakers like Zak Penn who come to this process from other filmmaking disciplines and who will bring their own distinctive creative vision to this,” added Jonathan Chinn.
Jonathan and Simon Chinn are the perfect team to spearhead this series for Xbox. They are consummate story tellers and they plan to match their creative sensibility with the best talent in the industry” commented Nancy Tellem, president, Xbox Entertainment Studios. “These stories will expose how the digital revolution created a global democracy of information, entertainment and commerce, and how it impacts our lives every day.
The director for this doccie? Zak Penn, who happens to be a massive gamer himself. Juxtaposed against the rise, fall, rise and second fall of Atari, it’ll try and find some truth to this legend, when shooting starts in January. It’ll air exclusively on Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles later in 2014.
Last Updated: December 20, 2013
