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[Agent X]

Digital Eclipse has announced that they will be developing and publishing a series of "interactive documentaries" focused on notable video games, studios, and designers. These products will be known as the Gold Master Series. Their intention is to preserve and present these games, along with deep examinations of the history of their development, much like what The Criterion Collection has done for movies.

If you're familiar with Digital Eclipse's work on Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, then you have an idea of the approach they're using for these products. The inaugural release will be The Making of Karateka, which includes “pixel-perfect versions” of the original Karateka releases and early prototypes, accompanied by design documents and documentary-style video features.

The Making of Karateka will be available later this year for PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch.

Digital Eclipse's announcements of the Gold Master Series and The Making of Karateka can be found at the following links:

INTRODUCING... The Gold Master Series

The Making of Karateka kicks off Digital Eclipse's new line of interactive documentaries, exploring gaming's greatest creators and creations.

www.digitaleclipse.com

The Making of Karateka

Play the history! Go behind the scenes of Jordan Mechner's landmark game Karateka in this interactive documentary from Digital Eclipse, with archival materials, video features, and more.

www.digitaleclipse.com

Here is a trailer for The Making of Karateka:



For more information on The Making of Karateka, check out this article from The Verge, and this blog post from Karateka designer Jordan Mechner for more details of what features you can expect from the final product. Here's a brief excerpt from Jordan Mechner's blog

Digital Eclipse has reconstructed my Super 8 rotoscoping process — from film to pencil tracings to pixelated game character — in their interactive, hands-on "Rotoscope Theater." And that's just one element of "The Making of Karateka." It's packed with audio and video interviews with me, my dad, and game-industry luminaries; a podcast about Karateka's music (which my dad composed); rare original design documents; excerpts from my journals; and 14 playable games — including not only the final Apple II, Commodore, and Atari versions of Karateka, but also work-in-progress builds I submitted to Broderbund along the way, tracking its development from prototype to gold master. All the games are playable on a choose-your-own nostalgic menu of period monitors and TVs, with optional audio commentary and a "watch/play" mode that the Dagger of Time would envy.

This is a very promising concept. I look forward to trying out The Making of Karateka, and I'd like to see what other entries are planned for this series.

 

[AJUMP23]

It hurts not to see this get much love. I think this looks great. Digital Eclipse did an amazing job on the Atari one. What I would like is all of this wrapped up in one long form video. Drew Scanlon from GiantBomb works on these documentary things.

What is the price?

 

[Punished Miku]

That actually sounds extremely interesting.

 

[Rayderism]

Dropped on PSN today. Gonna check it out after work. Loved Karateka back in the day on C64. All the history will be interesting too.

 

[Punished Miku]

$20. Yeah this looks like a GOTY contender honestly. First ever interactive criterion collection documentary complete with the game, demo dev versions and a remaster.

 

[sachos]

Holy shit, such an interesting initiative, the production value & format is great. You think they will do a physical release?

 

[Agent X]

You think they will do a physical release?

Limited Run Games is supposedly doing a physical release at some point.



In other news, the next game in the Gold Master Series is supposed to be revealed on December 6!

 

[Agent X]

Following the releases of The Making of Karateka and Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, the third product in the Gold Master Series was announced today: Tetris Forever.

Tetris Forever

The true story of Tetris, the game that still captivates the world after 40 years.

www.digitaleclipse.com

Here's the description from Digital Eclipse's site:

Unrivaled after four decades, Tetris Forever celebrates the original, genre-inspiring puzzle game that escaped from behind the Iron Curtain, onto the world stage, and into our cultural consciousness!
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More than 15 playable classic games from the series' history are featured, including many being released for the first time outside Japan. Battle your friends in the multiplayer cult favorite Tetris Battle Gaiden, create massive explosions to clear lines in Super Bombliss, and see where it all began in 1984 with an accurate recreation of the first version of Tetris on the Electronika 60 computer.
‍
As the next release in Digital Eclipse's acclaimed Gold Master Series, Tetris Forever includes over 90 minutes of all-new documentary footage exploring the lifelong friendship and creative partnership between Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov and The Tetris Company founder Henk Rogers, as they share the extraordinary but true story about Tetris.
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And as this celebration wouldn’t be complete without an all-new Tetris experience, prepare to enter the… Tetris Time Warp! Up to four players will "warp" between different eras of Tetris in real time to experience a variety of classic graphic styles and play mechanics!