Watch Icons (2002) Online!
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.
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Episode 1 - Music Games
Release Date: 2004-02-12Suddenly, everyone thinks they can bust a move. In today's episode we look at the movement of Music Games. Parappa The Rapper started the fad of making a game based on music, and not the other way ar... more
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Episode 2 - Sega Dreamcast
Release Date: 2004-03-11We explore the rocky history of Sega's last venture into the console market. Hear from Sega insiders Bernard Stolar and Kathy Schoback about the Dreamcast's last days of life and how Sega made the lea... more
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Episode 3 - ESRB
Release Date: 2004-03-25In 1992, games like Mortal Kombat and Night Trap pushed the envelope when it came to advancing graphic and technical capabilities... and catching the attention of the federal government. Washington of... more
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Episode 4 - Peter Molyneux
Release Date: 2004-04-08Peter Molyneux's first game, Populous, helped create an entire new genre, god games - and it has been copied several times since. With games like Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper, BC and the h... more
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Episode 5 - Tetris
Release Date: 2004-04-22Was it the challenge? Was it because it was easy? Was it the colorful blocks? Or was it that distinctive music? What ever it was, Alexey Pajitnov's creation has a firm place in the history of gamin... more
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Episode 6 - Electronic Arts
Release Date: 2004-05-06Hear how Electronic Arts grew from a small PC publisher to one of the largest game publishers in history. EA has innovated and driven the industry forward since 1982. We sit down with company founder ... more
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Episode 7 - Game Boy
Release Date: 2004-06-10For 15 years, it has been the dominate console in the videogame hand-held market. Icons follows the creation of the Nintendo Game Boy; from it's formulation from Gunpei Yoko to it's current place as ... more
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Episode 8 - Donkey Kong
Release Date: 2004-06-24It started with a flop. But a young visionary turned failure into success, and created a legendary character. He fought back legal battles and obscurity to become a pillar of gaming history. This is t... more
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Episode 9 - Nobuo Uematsu
Release Date: 2004-07-08Learn how Nobuo Uematsu went from playing keyboard in a band to joining Square in 1985. Join us as Nobuo himself tells us about his musical influences in creating the soundtrack for the beloved Final ... more
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Episode 10 - DOOM
Release Date: 2004-07-22No longer content with safe simple games like Mario, Zelda and Atari games from yesteryear, gamers have evolved to the next level - it includes more action and fighting demons. Icons takes a look back... more
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Episode 11 - Dead or Alive
Release Date: 2004-08-05Mortal Kombat may have reinvented the fighting game, but it did so by promoting bloody violence. The Dead or Alive series, while still slightly violent, concentrated on better game-play, detailed bac... more
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Episode 12 - SNK
Release Date: 2004-08-19From it's first game in 1978 Ozma Wars to the soon to be released SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom, SNK has battled against Capcom, lived through a takeover, finally gave in to bankruptcy and returned to pub... more
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Episode 13 - Mortal Kombat
Release Date: 2004-09-02No other game can claim that it created such controversy that it lead to the creation of a ratings board. Icons looks at the beginnings and future of the Mortal Kombat series and takes a look at how o... more
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Episode 14 - Prince of Persia
Release Date: 2004-09-30Prince of Persia has a long history in the gaming industry, mostly due to it's creator putting it aside on occasion to also work with his other interest in creating films. It revolutionized the adven... more
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Episode 15 - Mark Cuban
Release Date: 2004-10-14Mark Cuban wasn't given his money, he earned it. "Icons" looks at his humble beginning, to his creating then selling of Broadcast.com which ultimately lead to his purchasing of the Dallas Mavericks N... more
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Episode 16 - Metal Gear Solid
Release Date: 2004-10-28Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and character designer Yoji Shinkawa take Icons on an exculsive look at the history of the series that defined the stealth genre.
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Episode 17 - Half-Life
Release Date: 2004-11-16In celebration of today's release of Half-Life 2, Icons looks at the history of the title. Half-Life changed gaming in that the main character wasn't a soldier or the stereotypical hero, it was a com... more
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Episode 18 - Bungie
Release Date: 2004-12-09Bungie Studios' name is less familiar than the titles it produces. When a game sells 2.5 million copies on it's release date, you would think more people would know the company name. This episode lo... more
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Episode 19 - Apple II
Release Date: 2005-01-06Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were men with a vision. Icons retraces their steps to find the stories behind the creation of a company and the marketing of a small computer that would take a bite out o... more
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Episode 20 - Fighting Games
Release Date: 2005-01-20It's the genre that created the ESRB. Simple games like Karate Champ and Yie Ar Kung-Fu suddenly gave way to the more detailed and more violent Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. And despite the contr... more