Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show

Although the Internet is full of streaming video (with apologies to Newton Minnow—YouTube is actually the “vast wasteland”), it wasn't all that long ago that the concept was cutting edge, with Internet broadcasters squeezing postage stamp-sized programs through dialup modem connections. One such effort was the Pittsburgh-based Classic Game Room, a fun, geeky show (circa 1999-2000) that reviewed classic video games (from the likes of Atari, Sega, Nintendo, and Sony) on FromUSAlive.com. Interweaving highlights from the show's roughly 80-episode run with a rather juvenile retrospective tale of its rise and fall, writer-director Mark Bussler's Classic Game Room features some of the familiar drama of other dot-com booms and busts, including a steadily increasing viewership outweighed by an even greater burn rate of funds. Of course, the financial aspects of Classic Game Room, featuring cheeky co-hosts Bussler and Dave Crossen, were decidedly smaller scale than most start-ups: each of the 80 episodes were budgeted at $50, most of which went to purchasing games for each irreverent show. Sometimes, however, the pair would squirrel away funds to create a special segment: a driving game, for instance, might feature close-ups of the hosts “driving” and matchbox-cars-on-strings for the chase action, ending in a fiery lighter-fluid induced crash (Ed Wood would have been proud). While the reviews here are of popular games, including Duck Hunt, Frogger, X-Men, and Yar's Revenge, this moderately engaging documentary is definitely a niche program. DVD extras include an audio commentary track by Bussler. A strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (C. Block)