1992: Will VIDEO GAMES kill the radio star? | The Money Programme | Retro Gaming | BBC Archive

[@larryinc64]

4:28 an amazing first impression of Sonic 2 right here. "Where am I, wut the 'ell am I doing?" "Look I spun around!"

[@dronespace]

Lol

[@Albert-lj5jb]

And that's all it took to make this one a life-long gamer. Cheers Sonic.

[@tridentcheckit2640]

are we always in a recession or something?

[@jjt171]

that's capitalism baby

[@Cartoonman154]

Depends on how bad the recession gets. You can have had the market slow down or some that happened in 2008 or in the 20s.

[@websterdrums]

Just an excuse to keep putting prices up!

[@vincentleeadams]

Only when Democrats get in power.

[@May-hem]

Literally part of capitalism 🙃

[@ZanzibarBreeze]

A kid putting in that Sonic 1 cartridge for the first time and seeing the vibrant, energetic colours and hearing the uplifting, melodic music of Green Hill Zone was immediately enchanted.

[@puddle_puddle]

*Sonic 2, *Emerald Hill Zone

[@Brimstoneandfire]

It was certainly a step up from my Spectrum+2A 😂

[@Chamber2020]

@@Brimstoneandfire R Tape loading error

[@rooneye]

As was I!

[@TechGamesAU]

“Look I’m spinning and getting the coins!!” - 90s kid playing sonic

[@danmorley6517]

If Dominic Diamond thought music was crap then he was in for a shock 30 years later.

[@GhastlyCretin]

He said, the year Nirvana's 'Nevermind' was released 🤦

[@watermelonineasterhay]

I know, early 90s music owned! How did it go so horribly wrong?

[@gan9e]

trap

[@kurtsmith2547]

@@GhastlyCretin yeah and blood sugar sex magic and Use your illusions. 91 was a great yeah for album releases

[@mrrowwmeoww]

@@watermelonineasterhay people will be saying the same thing about early 2020s music in the early 2050s, it's just a constant cycle of "the thing i grew up with was great, the new thing is bad"

[@Nightweaver1]

"Where the hell am I? What am I doing?" Oh my dear lad, I'm still asking that question in games 30 years later.

[@onlyme219]

The success is they were interactive, you could emerge yourself in the actual game, this seems something now for people that has always been there but at the time this was truly unbelievable. From Pong when I was around 8 to Mario and sonic at around 17 these were magical, you couldn't save your progress once you ran out of go's you had to start from the begging again and we did immediately. I'm 56 now and will never forget the wonder of the first video games

[@clareswinney1087]

My first was a Commodore 64! Now that took patients lol!

[@harrydavey9884]

Immerse*

[@harrydavey9884]

@@clareswinney1087 patience* 😂

[@koshwald]

Keep this stuff coming BBC Archive 🙏

[@97channel]

Of course, with hindsight we all know about the music industry crash of 1993 when everybody suddenly stopped listening to music and only played video games. To think, people under the age of 30 only know what music is from the stories told by their parents and grandparents. The last known piece of music ever produced was Mister Loverman by Shabba Ranks.

[@MacXpert74]

😂

[@justinwalker9038]

SHABBA

[@kurtsmith2547]

😂

[@TheGreenReaper]

With what was on offer, you can see why the market tanked.

[@scottyunitedboy2925]

1992 in a nutshell- Sonic 2 dominating the videogames market, Dire Straits still the biggest selling 'CD band', that poor girl singing along to Cher's Greatest Hits (the biggest selling CD in the UK that year), Our Price records still open, and Dominik Diamond before he got a haircut, simpler times.

[@alexkelly6449]

Mark 2 of sonic the hedgehog is the most news explaining video games thing ever

[@t3hOutlaw]

He was referencing the Mega Drive Mark II which was releasing at the same time as Sonic 2.

[@infrared752]

@@t3hOutlaw he wasn’t, the Mega Drive 2 was released around mid-late 1993, while sonic 2 was released November 1992. He was definitely talking about Sonic 2.

[@davidtexmex1616]

This was right & wrong at the same time, literally a few years on and UK music peaked with a furious resurgence. While video games growth hasn’t stopped.

[@TheBroz]

@@madcommodore Whatever old man.

[@scottyunitedboy2925]

in both cases, advances in technology (particularly the rise of the internet) accelerated the peak of music and the greater explosion in video gaming

[@ThePsycoDolphin]

Amazing looking at that footage of Nintendo making SMB3 (or "Mario the Plumber" apparently). Its just like Super Mario Maker! Cool!

[@trevorrandom]

Brilliant 👍

[@livvy94]

This footage is fantastic, wonderful quality.

[@TheLaidOffFounder]

Creation of 'Mario The Plumber' :P

[@AdmiralBison]

Mario hasn't been a plumber for 30 years. When was the last time he was seen holding a plunger? LOL

[@danielwalker26]

0:33 Holy crap an R360. Those were so rare and so expensive. Today one of those would cost about $250,000.

[@TechGamesAU]

Now the videogame industry is 3x bigger than the movie industry

[@scaredyfish]

The 80s fashion extended further into the 90s than I remember.

[@johnq4951]

Two years isn't long enough for the average person to replace their entire wardrobe.

[@lucasm3879]

Late 80's and early 90's were pretty much the same period for fashion, music, popular culture etc. Mid 90's and early 90's are two different periods.

[@garryleeks4848]

I’m still in the 80s

[@northernsnow6982]

I remember half the clothes people say were from the 90's, were actually from the mid to late 80's.

[@burgertim7878]

The 80's casted a long shadow. It gets better around 94 though.

[@exiles_dot_tv]

Crazy to think Dire Straits was the band that sold the most CDs in 1992. The music industry was definitely due for a kick in the pants.

[@PerpetualAlfa]

Can’t see it taking off tbh

[@Game_Hero]

yeah, these computers things will go nowhere, cable television is where it's at!

[@vesavius]

Christ, if Dominic thought '92 music was faceless and bland god knows what he thinks of '22...

[@jonmac1987]

I think crap music existed in all times. As time goes on people only remember the good songs from an era and leave the rubbish in the past.

[@jonmac1987]

@Jim Crawford The Prodigy, Nirvana, NWA, Wu-Tang clan all got big in the 90's. What are you thinking of when you say it was terrible? The 90's had some awful music but so does every era.

[@Hysteria98]

@@jonmac1987 Yes, but what is kept floating in the mainstream has changed dramatically and most agree it is a far cry from what actually used to be; people who knew how to play a musical instrument, write lyrics, and actually sing,

[@jonmac1987]

@@Hysteria98 Most agree? Like who? I'm interested to know what you would point to as an example?

[@Hysteria98]

@@jonmac1987 Mate, ask just about anyone on the street- regardless of adult age or braincells, most will say the same thing.

[@legion1791]

4:23 what?? No kids had EVER both Nintendo and Sega! That is impossible!!

[@weemadangus1834]

I would if I could at the time lol.

[@Tyrannicon]

i did

[@OSW]

3:07 that poor girl being asked to provide B-Roll of listening to music. It's like a friendly hostage situation

[@simplesimonhadapie]

#this was exactly my point to my partner!!!! have a can of coke yersel

[@trevorrandom]

Bet she didn't get a penny...

[@dannyg9039]

But...what bar is she?

[@legion1791]

She was certainly extremely happy to go on the TV and told all her friends and family

[@hbk441]

Whoever was controlling sonic behind him at 1:30 was having a right mare.

[@joewest1674]

First level too 😆

[@treborschafer3945]

The strangest thing is that physical toys are still very much a thing and video games are still massive.

[@PhirePhlame]

Music also boomed like gold a few years later

[@TinLeadHammer]

Rrright. Toys R Us in the U.S. closed all its stores several years ago.

[@treborschafer3945]

@@TinLeadHammer Other big toy shops like Smyths. Here in England anyway.

[@yeti3994]

it's almost as if multiple products can co-exist and this idea that one has to replace the other is nonsense

[@rasherbasher8203]

What a time to be alive👍

[@geesterfunk]

Then sega started putting out too much hardware with substandard software!

[@Hysteria98]

@@pmbbmp Well, he's right.

[@Gigantemanatee]

But they definitely went out with a bang! The Dreamcast was a turning point of bringing near perfect arcade games into the home console domain. With Sega’s excellent arcade output that was a dream come true for me…If only they could have managed it better, probably would have kept them in the hardware game for another generation at least.

[@XanderCrease]

@7:14 I'd love to go back and tell them that video games have over taken movies and music in the entertainment industry. But strangely Books, TV and (especially) gambling are still in the top spots in 2022 (financially at least).

[@pforson]

Those kids playing sonic now have kids themselves. Wow, time flies.

[@southsidesaiyan8641]

That’s not really that crazy, there are people who were born in 2000 who have babies.

[@tcaudiobooks737]

In 1992... no one died.

[@kolonizedx]

Facts

[@tcaudiobooks737]

@@kolonizedx Fact x Importance = NEWS!

[@Game_Hero]

Isaac Asimov : Allow me to die.

[@roahnosh]

The toy industry is still thriving. The music industry is still relevant. It's the arcade, yes those machines featured at the start of this video that's dead and it's sad to see.

[@Ken.-]

These music industry guys are in for a real shock when Napster comes along.

[@HelloImNik]

"strange electronic world" 😂

[@broccoliface4501]

Lmao, this is probably what my parents were watching around about the time I was walking round Debenhams queuing to play the demo consoles

[@MeiGunner]

4:00 If they only knew aBout Loot Boxes and Fifi decks , man o man , they would really think people were Crazy for the money they Spend on that!

[@AdmiralBison]

They are crazy for spending money on that crap. loot boxes, NFTS, games as a service and all manner of rip offs.

[@vincentleeadams]

The growth rate for video game revenue was wildly underestimated.

[@Hysteria98]

As usual, except for the people who actually liked them. However, the biggest contributing factor more than the market itself was actually the internet, it has accelerated it hugely.

[@mattlm64]

History seems to suggest the record companies' solution was to make music worse.

[@PaulMurphyMusic]

@4:40 Interesting Dominic Diamond saying rock music was bland and faceless. Two years later Brit Pop would explode making rock music exciting in the UK again.

[@ChiefExecutiveOrbiter]

That cheesy 90s house. Yes! CRT tubes , CDs

[@gcooper642]

My sister was give one of those bunnies for Christmas. We didn't have a games console lol

[@derranthefunnyguy]

In 2022 the video game industry is bigger than the movie industry and the music industry combined, music sales have almost been replaced by streaming too.

[@southlondon86]

Damn this brings back so many great memories!

[@TeamRocketHQR]

1:50 Beta Super Mario Bros 3!!!!!! Official level editor!!!!

[@total_betty]

RIP Our Price

[@djdrwatson]

Sony (Playstation), Microsoft (XBox), Apple (iPod then the iPhone) would later all get in on entertainment industry assisted by the phenomenal rise and the power of the internet. The rest, as they say, is history.

[@geesterfunk]

Sony was already in it with Nintendo, till ninty screwed them over! Almost manufacturing their own destruction!

[@websterdrums]

@@geesterfunk nintendo are stronger than ever

[@sugreev2001]

@@websterdrums Sony is the largest gaming company by revenue , buddy. Last year alone, their software sold a whopping $19b, pushing their stock above their previous record. The Switch may be selling like hot cakes, but Sony’s previous 4 consoles are among the top 10 best selling consoles. If not for the chip shortage, the PS5 was selling better than the PS2 and the PS4 at the same time. And Nintendo’s lack of third party games and super weak hardware still means a much lower software attachment rate than either the PS4 or the PS5. And now every PS exclusive, like Ghost of Tsushima or the Norse God of War, make well over a $1b in revenue each. They’re still on fire.

[@apollosungod2819]

This Video is from 1992... You're making reference to 2005 and up... you clearly don't understand what this video was about or how technology works.

[@kurtsmith2547]

I was 13 in 1992 and all I could think about was Sega Mega Drive games. A year later I discovered rock music and all I could think about was buying albums and going to festivals and didn’t look at a video game again. Then came Britpop which must have helped the music industry too.

[@UpTheAnte1987]

Segas mark 2 version of Sonic the hedgehog and Mario the plumber? I wonder if he ever reported on part 2 of that fighters of the street game?

[@MacXpert74]

He still has fond memories of the man that packed and that Ferrari that ran out. 😅

[@Pumpkinhead77]

Good times. I was 15 years old and never even noticed a recession.

[@mgmidget66]

3:01 I’m sure that is Our Price in the then newly opened Harlequin Shopping Centre in Watford

[@puddle_puddle]

They even misspelt Dominik Diamond's name.

[@hardcoredelta]

6:33 someone had a good Christmas game gear with the accessories throw in a few games no time for Christmas dinner that day haha..

[@CheesestringXX]

They got an AC adapter too,smart move because batteries were pointless with that thing.

[@petedemaio168]

Looking at how electronic games could effect the music industry... this was nothing compared to what was coming.... streaming.

[@Dynastone]

0:42 what's the song name?

[@lukebale8550]

0:42 Dave Perry Sighting their

[@cgtio]

I feel like I've seen this Dominic Diamond dude before...years ago back in the late 90s/early 00s. Did he appear on that ITV late night videogame show, Cybernet?

[@APRICEPRODUCTION]

He presented Games Master :D

[@theseoldbeats]

Great video. Such a bad take on the music industry risk though.

[@Antireality]

'only 1 in 10 households have a console - we see a great growth potential' Kind of forgot to mention that probably 7 or 8 out of 10 had an Amiga instead :)

[@CheesestringXX]

8 out of 10? No chance.

[@videogamebookreviews]

They feel the need to explain that games can be played on a TV using a 'special console', as though it was a new invention for the 90s!

[@scottyunitedboy2925]

To be fair, as she says in the report, only 11% of UK households had a games console at that time. No internet, very few dedicated programmes about video games (only Gamesmaster and Bad Influence spring to mind), it's understandable that they felt the need to explain it to the general public who probably didn't have a clue about much of this.

[@fattomandeibu]

@@scottyunitedboy2925 But a massive number of households owned a computer that connected to a TV and was used as a game console in the '80s, as well as people who owned Pong machines. They could've simply said "a more advanced type of Pong machine" or "a computer without a keyboard" and the viewers would've known what it was. Almost every kid I knew had either a Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC or ZX Spectrum.

[@krashd]

It's a financial show, it isn't watched by normal people, it is watched by grandparents interested in who to invest their savings in. They wouldn't have a clue what a games console is.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

The NES existed in the 1980s, (and things like Atari 2600 before it) so it wasn't a brand new thing There was the big video game crash of 1984

[@sparxies]

@@unicorntomboy9736 I know it's a year later, but the video game crash of '84 was very much an American specific event. The computer game market (I used the term "computer game" deliberately) in the UK was thriving in the early to mid-80s with the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC 464 computers all competing for top spot. 1000s of titles were produced and purchased while the US was filling their landfill sites with 1000s of over-produced E.T cartridges.

[@POBileski72]

It's just a fad...

[@RWL2012]

yeah it will pass

[@kolonizedx]

@@RWL2012 a minute passes in every 60 seconds in africa

[@Pheeze]

What is that song playing at 0:42?

[@HometownUnicorn]

I just love it how back in the day and probably to this day. In little England these posh etonians that run these companies, look like the people that do not partake in anything that they actually sell.

[@gmann6269]

What, do you expect the companies to be run by children and teenagers?

[@welshlad6427]

I just love it back in the day.

[@Gigantemanatee]

I think you’ll find you’d be completely deluded.

[@HometownUnicorn]

@@Gigantemanatee I think you will find you have only ever commented 8 times ever on youtube........lol

[@Gigantemanatee]

@@HometownUnicorn When do I get my prize?

[@trevorrandom]

How much did SEGA give the BBC for this advert?

[@ButeSound]

It certainly is a strange electronic world.. go for a walk

[@cmck1777]

Main competitors being consumer electronics companies... I wonder how much Sega knew about the Sony/Panasonic/Nintendo collaborations behind the scenes at this point? Poor guys. They played the game as best they could... Playstation was just a better, more accessible more affordable product.

[@skylark.kraken]

It's weird to think of games and music being a competition

[@simonlovett151]

1992 - 'Even though we are in one of the worst recessions this century...' , errm, no, having lived through the 1970's, 80's, 90's, 2008, I would say we are NOW going into the worst recessions of this millenia.

[@simonlovett151]

NB worst recessions in 20th century were 1920's, which I didnt live through, but the recession in the 90's was a pussycat even compared with the 1970's. 2008 opened a new deck of cards and 2022 heralds a new era of recession.

[@benjaminyoung9694]

Gg earth

[@jimtrincasramblesandsuchas8377]

How does that contradict anything he said

[@welshlad6427]

Take me back.

[@kolonizedx]

one word: segaworld

[@dominicwalker9824]

At the end of the video, there's a music video, what's it called?

[@pauljakeman]

Mario the plumber. I haven’t played that game yet.

[@krashd]

It was Numtendo's answer to Spikey Blue Blur.

[@thejoin4687]

Nice cameo by Bowie's Scary Monsters, his best album since Scary Monsters.

[@chriso8485]

And Sega went and messed it up. RIP Dreamcast

[@Gigantemanatee]

I like to think it had more to do with the other companies having deeper pockets… Sony and Microsoft were money pits that Sega couldn’t compete with. Even Nintendo could mess up badly and it still wouldn’t put a dent in their bottom line. Sega knew it was time to bow out, especially after they banked everything they had on the Dreamcast. Still, it had a good run, until it became apparent how easy it was to just burn games on to CD-R.

[@krashd]

Nintendo messed up badly too by starting and then leaving the Playstation project with Sony because "optical discs will never take off in gaming so we've decided to stick with cartridges". Sony and Microsoft have utterly dominated Nintendo for the past 25 years while using optical discs.

[@Soldat-d3r]

5:03 Lmao Assange, whatcha doin here?

[@smokaduke2527]

Interesting as this is before the music industry got a boost in 1997 when the first digital download was sold.

[@KentPetersonmoney]

I never did beat sonic 2 as a kid. Had they had memory cards probably would have beaten. Back then you couldn't save games and had to start over once you die. Once memory cards could save games, games became longer.

[@legion1791]

That final boss was impossible!!

[@DemonStink]

Damn you nostalgia! I want to time travel.

[@CheesestringXX]

6:53 wish he was my dad back then.🎁🎄

[@Hu-uw4hz]

Who is that singing at the end? Is there a video?

[@garethluvsthetruth6782]

i cant find that music video of supersonic

[@danielwalker26]

I wonder how upset these people would be if they knew how much streaming music would impact compact disk sales.

[@Pedster9]

I still remember Mortal Monday for the Mortal Combat release 🤣 good times.

[@mehere3013]

ahh wonder boy music , great game

[@Hysteria98]

Arguably the last good decade. A culmination of the better cultures that came just before it, as well as the increased societal freedom, but minus the dependence on technology that would ruin most facets of our lives and the left-wing politics that would slowly seep it's way into everything.

[@Jcrash71]

Thanks for confirming that you weren't alive throughout the 60s and 70s. *A culmination of the better culture that came just before it* what a laughable statement I do say

[@Hysteria98]

@@Jcrash71 70's and 80's. not 60's.

[@Jcrash71]

@@Hysteria98 are you a GenXer? If so then I can see why you posted that laughable statement. You were probably too young for the 70s

[@watermelonineasterhay]

Agree, I liked the noughties but that was when the rot set in

[@unicorntomboy9736]

@@watermelonineasterhay What are you talking about. I grew up as a child in the 2000s

[@markfrench9004]

Sonic 2uesday. Ah, the memories.

[@an4189]

Interesting about music flat lining at the time as a not long after this was a big boom with the Brit-pop era.

[@spider-ham7140]

31 years ago ….. Wow I’m old

[@leejohnson3209]

I was 12 in 1992 and thought console games were naff. I played Champ man for hours on end on PC though. Then the Playstation came out and I flirted with that for two or three years (Tomb Raider and Fifa), until it got switched off for the last time and put in a box. I haven't played a computer game of any kind in about 25 years.

[@dominicwalker9824]

Which Our Price is that from?

[@afriend9428]

*Birmingham the Palacedes!*

[@c.coulter6452]

Sony: That's Cute .......

[@a-damthemansixtynan4463]

7:00 Do you think this guy knew the Dreamcast was already on the way in 1992?

[@vincentleeadams]

In 2021 video game revenue was projected at almost 219 billion dollars.

[@Kobuletely]

Contra👍

[@michaeltimothycole]

Can you upload HangaRRR 17 the complete series.With grandmothers.With the grandmothers corolla forfeits.Uncut.30 minutes.ALL 32 episodes.PLease Paul Leyshon?.

[@danmorley6517]

Can't believe that kid had a snes and a mega drive. In 1992 I was a proud owner of a Commodore 64 🥲

[@bigbelix]

2:50 John is jez's dad no doubt.

[@afriend9428]

*I’m waiting for the Super Nintendo to come out Xmas*

[@MeiGunner]

0:45 THat man is On drugs! ( wow, he is Lit!_)

[@benji.B-side]

Yeah saw that look many a time when the Rave music scene took off : )

[@mtbert9307]

Did they just say that video games and music are converging? Nonsense 😂

[@tachikomakusanagi3744]

Britpop was just around the corner...

[@sugreev2001]

And now some of the biggest money makers in gaming are made in the UK.

[@krashd]

It was even more so in the 90's. Thanks to the inexpensive ZX Spectrums of the early 80's the 90's had an abundance of 20-something programmers who created some of the biggest games companies on the planet, DMA Design, Bitmap Brothers, Bullfrog, Core, Sensible Software, Team 17, etc. Many would go on to create franchises that still exist today like Tomb Raider and Grand Theft Auto.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

@@krashd None of the those developers exist today

[@diond1333]

It's more than likely that nobody in this video had access to a mobile phone or the Internet. And they all thought that a hedgehog was a game changer (pun intended).

[@Nix-7741]

This documentary is just a Sonic 2 advertisement