The story of Tetris (from Russia with love)

The above is a 2004 BBC documentary on Tetris and the struggles by several to distribute the game. Long but very well done. Via Kottke: “Alexey Pazhitnov, a computer programmer from Moscow, created Tetris in 1985 but as the Soviet Union was Communist and all, the state owned the game and any rights to it. Who procured the rights from whom on the other side of the Iron Curtain became the basis of legal wranglings and lawsuits; the Atari/Nintendo battle over Tetris wasn’t settled until 1993.”

Where would Nintendo be if it weren’t for Tetris?