WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.409 --> 00:00:02.160 (bright upbeat music) 2 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:02.993 - Hi guys. 3 00:00:02.993 --> 00:00:04.500 It's Alyssa Mercante from Kotaku 4 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:06.570 and I'm here with Alexey Pajitnov 5 00:00:06.570 --> 00:00:07.620 and Henk Rogers 6 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:09.360 who you guys probably know 7 00:00:09.360 --> 00:00:10.620 if you know video games. 8 00:00:10.620 --> 00:00:12.120 The opening monologue describes that 9 00:00:12.120 --> 00:00:13.770 Tetris as like addictive 10 00:00:13.770 --> 00:00:14.603 and something that 11 00:00:14.603 --> 00:00:15.660 you can't stop thinking about 12 00:00:15.660 --> 00:00:17.040 even when you're not playing it. 13 00:00:17.040 --> 00:00:18.660 Is that kind of how you think 14 00:00:18.660 --> 00:00:20.760 a good video game is? 15 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:22.210 - It's like a song, you know 16 00:00:22.210 --> 00:00:24.870 when you hear a song that you like 17 00:00:24.870 --> 00:00:27.630 you hear it in your mind, you know 18 00:00:27.630 --> 00:00:28.463 what's wrong with that? 19 00:00:28.463 --> 00:00:30.990 - So when you had to deal with this, right, 20 00:00:30.990 --> 00:00:32.250 securing this whole big thing 21 00:00:32.250 --> 00:00:33.420 in order to get Tetris 22 00:00:33.420 --> 00:00:36.330 outside of what was at the time the Soviet Union, 23 00:00:36.330 --> 00:00:38.670 how realistic was that portrayed in the movie? 24 00:00:38.670 --> 00:00:40.500 Cause there's obviously like Chases, 25 00:00:40.500 --> 00:00:42.210 fun stuff and exciting things 26 00:00:42.210 --> 00:00:43.350 but I'm sure it was 27 00:00:43.350 --> 00:00:44.749 still felt pretty high speed-- 28 00:00:44.749 --> 00:00:47.786 - Oh, I was definitely breaking the law. 29 00:00:47.786 --> 00:00:48.619 (Alyssa chuckles) 30 00:00:48.619 --> 00:00:50.837 You know, and when I went through that door, 31 00:00:50.837 --> 00:00:52.410 I said I didn't come all this way 32 00:00:52.410 --> 00:00:55.110 to stand in front of the door and go back and get a visa, 33 00:00:55.110 --> 00:00:56.490 I actually went through that door 34 00:00:56.490 --> 00:00:58.650 and that was actually a like, 35 00:00:58.650 --> 00:01:00.360 what the hell's gonna happen to me now? 36 00:01:00.360 --> 00:01:01.680 And then being in the lobby, 37 00:01:01.680 --> 00:01:03.960 just waiting for somebody to talk to me 38 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:05.400 and the guy staring at me 39 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:07.710 waiting for, to give my credentials, 40 00:01:07.710 --> 00:01:09.270 of course I didn't have any credentials 41 00:01:09.270 --> 00:01:11.520 so I just stood there and yeah, 42 00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:13.650 it was an adventure. 43 00:01:13.650 --> 00:01:14.483 - Yeah. 44 00:01:14.483 --> 00:01:15.316 - Crazy adventure. 45 00:01:15.316 --> 00:01:19.560 - Yeah, and at the same time when he just supposed 46 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:22.243 that something wrong could happen with him, 47 00:01:22.243 --> 00:01:23.821 I knew for sure. 48 00:01:23.821 --> 00:01:24.720 (all laughing) 49 00:01:24.720 --> 00:01:27.270 - Yeah, you were like, something bad could happen. (laughs) 50 00:01:27.270 --> 00:01:29.430 - He knew that he was breaking the law. 51 00:01:29.430 --> 00:01:32.730 I kind of felt, I didn't know what the laws were, 52 00:01:32.730 --> 00:01:33.960 but he knew what the laws were. 53 00:01:33.960 --> 00:01:36.389 - [Alyssa] And you didn't tell him. (laughs) 54 00:01:36.389 --> 00:01:39.650 - It was a pre-historic at time, last ness time, 55 00:01:39.650 --> 00:01:43.110 very rare, have some very good hope at that time. 56 00:01:43.110 --> 00:01:44.070 - I mean, you're here. 57 00:01:44.070 --> 00:01:44.970 Tetris is Tetris. 58 00:01:44.970 --> 00:01:46.073 - There you go. 59 00:01:46.073 --> 00:01:46.906 - It was worth it. 60 00:01:46.906 --> 00:01:48.000 - It was definitely worth it. 61 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:48.833 - Absolutely. 62 00:01:48.833 --> 00:01:49.740 - No, I mean, and now there's 63 00:01:49.740 --> 00:01:50.790 so many different iterations. 64 00:01:50.790 --> 00:01:52.020 There's Tetris 99 65 00:01:52.020 --> 00:01:53.760 and people play Tetris competitively 66 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:54.870 and I wonder if you like, 67 00:01:54.870 --> 00:01:55.939 see all those different versions of it. 68 00:01:55.939 --> 00:01:59.190 - Yeah, we keep track of all of them. 69 00:01:59.190 --> 00:02:00.230 That's our job. 70 00:02:00.230 --> 00:02:01.063 (Alyssa chuckles) 71 00:02:01.063 --> 00:02:02.910 - So what's your favorite version? 72 00:02:02.910 --> 00:02:03.870 - I like 99. 73 00:02:03.870 --> 00:02:05.120 I mean, I like the original. 74 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:05.953 [Henk and Alexey] Oh wow 75 00:02:05.953 --> 00:02:07.980 I like the original as well, but I just 76 00:02:07.980 --> 00:02:08.880 didn't have as much like, 77 00:02:08.880 --> 00:02:10.410 easy access to it, you know 78 00:02:10.410 --> 00:02:11.580 I didn't have Nintendo systems 79 00:02:11.580 --> 00:02:13.200 in my house until I was older. 80 00:02:13.200 --> 00:02:14.584 My parents didn't Want me to play video games 81 00:02:14.584 --> 00:02:15.417 - I I really enjoy 99 82 00:02:16.990 --> 00:02:17.823 - You do? 83 00:02:17.823 --> 00:02:18.656 - [Henk] Oh yes. 84 00:02:18.656 --> 00:02:19.680 That's, that's probably. 85 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:21.330 Now one of the-- 86 00:02:21.330 --> 00:02:22.650 - [Alyssa] We have some people on our team 87 00:02:22.650 --> 00:02:24.473 who are very into Tetris 99. 88 00:02:24.473 --> 00:02:25.306 - [Alexey] Oh, nice. 89 00:02:25.306 --> 00:02:26.483 - [Alyssa] So they'll be happy to know that you like it. 90 00:02:26.483 --> 00:02:27.316 (All laughing) 91 00:02:27.316 --> 00:02:29.820 It's not just them fighting for it all the time. 92 00:02:29.820 --> 00:02:33.340 And obviously you also famously made the Black onyx 93 00:02:34.305 --> 00:02:37.138 (Videogame beats playing) 94 00:02:38.926 --> 00:02:39.759 - Oh 95 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:40.860 - Yeah, which is something that 96 00:02:40.860 --> 00:02:42.330 several people on our team brought up 97 00:02:42.330 --> 00:02:43.996 immediately when they heard you were gonna be here. 98 00:02:43.996 --> 00:02:44.829 - Oh, okay. 99 00:02:44.829 --> 00:02:46.200 - So I'm just curious like, 100 00:02:46.200 --> 00:02:47.130 that sort of 101 00:02:47.130 --> 00:02:48.210 it shook up like 102 00:02:48.210 --> 00:02:50.550 the computer game market at the time 103 00:02:50.550 --> 00:02:51.383 - [Alexey] In Japan. 104 00:02:51.383 --> 00:02:52.216 - Yes in Japan. 105 00:02:52.216 --> 00:02:53.049 - In Japan, to be clear. 106 00:02:53.049 --> 00:02:53.882 So, you know, 107 00:02:53.882 --> 00:02:55.020 I majored in computer science 108 00:02:55.020 --> 00:02:56.220 and I minored in Dungeons 109 00:02:56.220 --> 00:02:57.990 and Dragons when I was in, 110 00:02:57.990 --> 00:02:59.070 at the University of Hawaii. 111 00:02:59.070 --> 00:03:00.840 We had a club called ARG 112 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:04.383 alternative Recreational Realities Group of Hawaii. 113 00:03:05.310 --> 00:03:06.750 And six years later 114 00:03:06.750 --> 00:03:07.650 I was living in Japan 115 00:03:07.650 --> 00:03:10.193 and personal computers came out. 116 00:03:10.193 --> 00:03:12.690 I said, oh, I can make a game. 117 00:03:12.690 --> 00:03:13.770 I went to Akhbarak, 118 00:03:13.770 --> 00:03:15.000 looked at what the games are and 119 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:18.300 and conspicuously missing we're role playing games. 120 00:03:18.300 --> 00:03:20.580 And, you know, I knew nothing 121 00:03:20.580 --> 00:03:23.220 about how tiny this computer actually was. 122 00:03:23.220 --> 00:03:25.894 It's an eight bit computer with 64K of memory. 123 00:03:25.894 --> 00:03:28.170 And I'm, I made a role playing game 124 00:03:28.170 --> 00:03:29.100 for this machine 125 00:03:29.100 --> 00:03:32.580 and it had graphics, it had story 126 00:03:32.580 --> 00:03:35.160 it had the 3D that you could walk through 127 00:03:35.160 --> 00:03:37.140 30 monsters, etc etc. 128 00:03:37.140 --> 00:03:39.780 And I, today, it seems 129 00:03:39.780 --> 00:03:42.090 like that was another crazy thing that I did. 130 00:03:42.090 --> 00:03:43.110 You know, I was planning to make 131 00:03:43.110 --> 00:03:43.943 this kind of a game 132 00:03:43.943 --> 00:03:45.643 and I could actually only fit this much. 133 00:03:45.643 --> 00:03:46.476 (Alyssa laughing) 134 00:03:46.476 --> 00:03:48.000 And then knowing what to throw out 135 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:49.830 is really the hard part if you, 136 00:03:49.830 --> 00:03:52.170 if you're squeezing into 64 K. 137 00:03:52.170 --> 00:03:54.000 But it was the number one game in 1994 138 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:55.353 and got me a publishing company, so. 139 00:03:55.353 --> 00:03:56.280 - [Alyssa] So there you go, that's 140 00:03:56.280 --> 00:03:57.113 - [Alexey] there you go. 141 00:03:57.113 --> 00:03:58.617 And having a publishing company 142 00:03:58.617 --> 00:04:00.240 eventually led me to travel 143 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:01.440 around the world looking for games 144 00:04:01.440 --> 00:04:04.110 and a consume electronic show, I found Tetris 145 00:04:04.110 --> 00:04:04.943 - [Alyssa] It all comes together. 146 00:04:04.943 --> 00:04:05.776 - There you go. 147 00:04:05.776 --> 00:04:07.050 - Coming from my background of like 148 00:04:07.050 --> 00:04:08.104 knowing about video games and, 149 00:04:08.104 --> 00:04:10.317 and acquisitions and rights and 150 00:04:10.317 --> 00:04:11.490 and all this stuff, 151 00:04:11.490 --> 00:04:13.140 this is such a fantastic 152 00:04:13.140 --> 00:04:14.402 and fascinating story for 153 00:04:14.402 --> 00:04:18.360 kind of seeing it in modern times in gaming 154 00:04:18.360 --> 00:04:20.130 because there's so many big business 155 00:04:20.130 --> 00:04:21.933 things that happen that are just, 156 00:04:21.933 --> 00:04:24.210 I know that there's entry going on. 157 00:04:24.210 --> 00:04:26.070 We don't know what's going on in the background 158 00:04:26.070 --> 00:04:27.600 but there's stuff like, you know, the 159 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:29.280 the massive Microsoft acquisition 160 00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:32.070 of Activision that's 60 something billion dollars. 161 00:04:32.070 --> 00:04:34.011 I wonder how you look at something like that and go, 162 00:04:34.011 --> 00:04:36.810 man, back in the day I was breaking the law 163 00:04:36.810 --> 00:04:39.000 going to other countries just to get this game 164 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:41.100 like in people's hands. 165 00:04:41.100 --> 00:04:41.973 - It's a progression, you know? 166 00:04:41.973 --> 00:04:45.120 And, and my understanding is that the game business 167 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:47.340 has surpassed the movie business. 168 00:04:47.340 --> 00:04:48.900 So I'm going like, oh yeah, 169 00:04:48.900 --> 00:04:50.220 where's a kicking butt? 170 00:04:50.220 --> 00:04:54.030 You know, as a genre or as a entertainment form. 171 00:04:54.030 --> 00:04:54.863 - [Alyssa] Yeah. 172 00:04:54.863 --> 00:04:57.150 - And it's not gonna go back, you know 173 00:04:57.150 --> 00:04:59.370 because interactive stuff 174 00:04:59.370 --> 00:05:01.050 it's gotta be better than sitting there. 175 00:05:01.050 --> 00:05:02.340 Couch potato stuff. 176 00:05:02.340 --> 00:05:03.450 At the end of the day, 177 00:05:03.450 --> 00:05:04.590 you get to do something. 178 00:05:04.590 --> 00:05:07.530 - That was my main drive into the, 179 00:05:07.530 --> 00:05:09.300 into the game industry. 180 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:10.260 - [Alyssa] Do you think people, 181 00:05:10.260 --> 00:05:11.490 because I feel like this is a movie. 182 00:05:11.490 --> 00:05:12.960 My parents are not gamers, 183 00:05:12.960 --> 00:05:13.793 but this is a movie 184 00:05:13.793 --> 00:05:16.500 that my parents would definitely love. 185 00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:17.333 Like I can tell 186 00:05:17.333 --> 00:05:18.810 I've seen a lot of movies with them. 187 00:05:18.810 --> 00:05:20.370 Do you think this is something that 188 00:05:20.370 --> 00:05:21.492 people will turn around and go, 189 00:05:21.492 --> 00:05:24.180 man, I want to try Tetris again. 190 00:05:24.180 --> 00:05:25.620 - [Alexey] Barnum said, 191 00:05:25.620 --> 00:05:26.782 there's a sucker born every day. 192 00:05:26.782 --> 00:05:28.005 (Alyssa laughing) 193 00:05:28.005 --> 00:05:30.120 There's a Tetris player, you know 194 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:32.100 potential Tetris player, born every day. 195 00:05:32.100 --> 00:05:34.350 My son played Tetris when he was three years old 196 00:05:34.350 --> 00:05:35.183 for Christ's sakes. 197 00:05:35.183 --> 00:05:36.016 - Wow. 198 00:05:36.016 --> 00:05:36.849 - You know, so I think 199 00:05:36.849 --> 00:05:38.610 it's a very good thing for the mind 200 00:05:38.610 --> 00:05:40.331 to be able to do that kind of stuff 201 00:05:40.331 --> 00:05:41.970 when you're young. 202 00:05:41.970 --> 00:05:43.860 So parents, please don't tell your kids 203 00:05:43.860 --> 00:05:45.030 don't play games. 204 00:05:45.030 --> 00:05:47.342 It's, you know, setting them up for a future 205 00:05:47.342 --> 00:05:48.420 that, you know 206 00:05:48.420 --> 00:05:51.030 if you go back in the 1800's 207 00:05:51.030 --> 00:05:51.863 you were preparing 208 00:05:51.863 --> 00:05:53.408 for a lifetime of physical labor. 209 00:05:53.408 --> 00:05:54.241 - Yeah. 210 00:05:54.241 --> 00:05:55.291 - And so you did sports 211 00:05:55.291 --> 00:05:57.690 and now we are preparing our children 212 00:05:57.690 --> 00:06:00.240 for a lifetime of mental labor. 213 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:02.283 And so they need to play video games. 214 00:06:02.283 --> 00:06:04.440 - I have some doubts 215 00:06:04.440 --> 00:06:06.461 about this increasing 216 00:06:06.461 --> 00:06:09.810 of the game popularity after movie 217 00:06:09.810 --> 00:06:14.061 but when I saw the reaction of audience, 218 00:06:14.061 --> 00:06:16.200 all my doubts are gone 219 00:06:16.200 --> 00:06:18.333 because people really love it. 220 00:06:19.259 --> 00:06:22.259 (Audience applause) 221 00:06:36.622 --> 00:06:39.180 - You can't imagine how people applause 222 00:06:39.180 --> 00:06:42.330 when they see Game Boy and and Tetris. 223 00:06:42.330 --> 00:06:43.571 - There's people cheering 224 00:06:43.571 --> 00:06:45.826 - [Henk] They have a feeling for this stuff 225 00:06:45.826 --> 00:06:46.770 - [Alexey] People cheering, during the movie 226 00:06:46.770 --> 00:06:48.900 people were cheering at different moments 227 00:06:48.900 --> 00:06:49.733 in the movie. 228 00:06:49.733 --> 00:06:50.566 - [Alyssa] That's so sick 229 00:06:50.566 --> 00:06:51.540 - Well you can imagine. 230 00:06:51.540 --> 00:06:52.373 - [Alyssa] Yeah, 231 00:06:52.373 --> 00:06:53.580 - But I mean it was such a noisy crowd 232 00:06:53.580 --> 00:06:54.720 at South by Southwest. 233 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:55.560 - Oh yeah, they get rowdy 234 00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:57.780 - And it was really, it was amazing. 235 00:06:57.780 --> 00:07:00.300 It felt like I just won an Oscar or something. 236 00:07:00.300 --> 00:07:01.440 - That's so lovely. 237 00:07:01.440 --> 00:07:02.273 - Yeah, it was great. 238 00:07:02.273 --> 00:07:03.600 - Well I'm glad to hear that you guys 239 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:04.980 are enjoying all of this 240 00:07:04.980 --> 00:07:07.170 and I can't wait for other people to see it 241 00:07:07.170 --> 00:07:08.003 including my parents 242 00:07:08.003 --> 00:07:09.420 cause then maybe they'll finally understand 243 00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:10.253 what I do for a living. 244 00:07:10.253 --> 00:07:11.100 - There you go. 245 00:07:11.100 --> 00:07:11.933 - We're getting there. 246 00:07:11.933 --> 00:07:13.170 - We're getting there. 247 00:07:13.170 --> 00:07:14.003 - Bit by bit. 248 00:07:14.003 --> 00:07:15.066 - Is that what you do? 249 00:07:15.066 --> 00:07:15.899 - Yeah, yeah. 250 00:07:15.899 --> 00:07:17.026 - In Russia right now. (laughs) 251 00:07:17.026 --> 00:07:17.887 Imagine. 252 00:07:17.887 --> 00:07:19.470 Thank you guys so much. 253 00:07:19.470 --> 00:07:20.970 I really appreciate it 254 00:07:20.970 --> 00:07:21.820 - You're welcome.