Netflix’s buzzy August slate boasts an array of high-profile projects. There are 12 prestigious original films headed to the streaming giant next month. And the Karate Kid TV series Cobra Kai will also find a new home at the OTT platform for its season 3 in August. But the most noteworthy entry on Netflix’s next month’s lineup is neither a feature film nor a TV-show. Rather it’s High Score- a passion project of a docuseries- that is the main highlight of the premium VOD’s forthcoming releases.
High Score on Netflix is an ambitious docuseries that probes inquisitively into the gaming world’s self-proclaimed ‘golden era’. Back in the 1980s, arcade games had first stepped into the pop scene, prompting a steady purvey of their cultural dominance. The enhancement of technology across all media platforms crafted an interlinking web of entertainment modes -TV shows and movies were being adapted into video games and vice versa. In the golden era, smash hits like Pac-Man and Doom were first envisioned, and their success inspired game developers to develop more titles of similar standing. Then, iconic games like Defender, Galaga, Donkey Kong, and Centipede were engineered, which skyrocketed the fortunes of the industry to a multi-million dollar amount.
Netflix has unveiled its upcoming docuseries while announcing its vault of content for August. Unsurprisingly, High Score isn’t the only gripping documentary that will hit the streamer next month. Several other docuseries, which include the Latif Nasser biography Connected, the ICE exposé Immigration Nation, and the European criminal program World’s Most Wanted, are also slated to arrive on Netflix soon. While the latter projects are set for early August releases, High Score will premiere on Netflix, August 19, as it has been announced by Netflix’s official Twitter handle.
While Netflix hasn’t divulged many details about High Score, early screencaps from the docuseries reveal that it will chronicle the roles of visionary artists, ingenious innovators, and ardent players in the golden era of video games alike. High Score will take viewers back in time to the rooms where algorithms for the first cultural hits were programmed. The impactful launch of Space Wars and its ripple effect in spawning and declining video game arcade enthusiasm will also be explored. The mainstream appearance of video games as a consumer market, the rise of personalized hardware and multi-game cartridge-based systems, the advent of coloured and 3D games, the second generation of game consoles, the microcomputer revolution, the cult phenomenon impact of popular titles, and the rise of gaming to become a remunerative industry are the miscellaneous plot-lines that High Score will trek through.
High Score is Netflix’s long due nod to the video-game industry. Netflix’s rival streamer AppleTV+ has already manifested its industrial inclusion in its game-studio sitcom Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet. High Score; hence, is an auspicious opportunity for Netflix to garner some geeky eyeballs.
Source: Netflix
