Airdate: Console Wars

In November iwonder screens the doco Console Wars, a nostalgia-fuelled story of the video game battles of the 1990’s which saw US-based new kid on the block, Sega, take on Japanese global video games juggernaut, Nintendo.

iwonder CEO, James Bridges, says of the film: “You don’t have to be a video games fan to fondly remember the tug of war between Sonic the Hedgehog and the Super Mario Brothers that characterised the home entertainment scene of the nineties. The 16-bit gaming revolution took graphics and gameplay to a whole new level, with the emergence of powerful new competing consoles from Nintendo and Sega transforming the video games market. As well as serving as a homage to a period of huge nostalgia for many, Console Wars sets the scene for the modern-day PlayStation versus Xbox rivalry and the next chapter in the development of a rapidly growth industry worth over ninety billion dollars globally.”

Before the power struggles of the present day came the tug of war between the dominant console manufactures of the late 20th century, when challenger brand, Sega, took on global market leader, Nintendo, for the hearts, minds and fingertips of video gamers everywhere.

Produced by comedy actor, writer, director and producer, Seth Rogan (The Disaster Artist, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) the film pits Sonic the Hedgehog against Mario and Luigi, as a group of ambitious upstarts from the US set out to seize the throne from the Japanese games’ behemoth.

Looking at the personalities, relationships, boardroom battles and guerrilla marketing tactics that defined a period of major disruption in the video games industry, as well as marking the emergence on the scene of sleeping giant, Sony, Console Wars pays homage to a colourful and characterful period in recent entertainment history.

Tuesday 16th November on iwonder.