Jun 07, 2026 - In this NHK documentary, the history of video games is told as the story of a new kind of empire: the rise of software.
From the early days of Spacewar! at MIT to Nolan Bushnell’s Atari, from the arcade boom of Space Invaders to the crash of the American video game market, this episode explores how a university experiment became a global industry worth billions.
The documentary follows the birth of modern game development, showing how games were designed, programmed, tested and turned into commercial products. It also traces the rise of key companies such as Atari, Hudson and Nintendo, and explains how titles like Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., Breakout and Space Invaders changed the future of entertainment.
A major part of the story focuses on Nintendo’s transformation from a Japanese toy company into a global video game empire. Through the success of the Famicom/NES, the creation of iconic software and its strict cartridge licensing system, Nintendo reshaped the entire industry after the Atari crash.
This is not only a documentary about games. It is a documentary about software, creativity, business, copyright, piracy, hardware, cartridges, microcomputers and the battle to control a new cultural and technological market.
Originally broadcast by NHK as part of Shin Denshi Rikkoku / The New Electronic Nation, this episode captures a crucial moment in the history of video games, when play became software, and software became power.
Source: TRNGL
