Video game enthusiasts in search of industry knowledge and historical context surrounding their old Atari home system or new Sony PlayStation3 need look no further. Play Value, a new Internet TV show chronicling the past 30 years of video game history, makes its virtual debut.

The show explores the ways in which video games have become a part of the fabric of our daily lives. Throughout each episode, Play Value uses a documentary-style format reminiscent of VH1's Behind the Music and Pop-up Video to chart the mainstreaming of video games and their subsequent growth into a multi-billion dollar industry.

Play Value also features a quirky line-up of Gen X gaming aficionados who humorously recount the industry's highs and lows. Indeed, the program's cast list reads like a who's who of the gaming business: Libe Goad, AOL Games Programming Director; T.J. Allard, Video Game Designer; Dan Ackerman, CNET Editor; Jeff Rubin, Collegehumor.com Managing Editor, Josh Shabtai, New Media Specialist at Ketchum PR and Shandi Sullivan, America's Next Top Model finalist and popular New York City DJ.

With new episodes added regularly, The program's pilot episode, The Death of Arcades, shown below, highlights the rise and fall of dedicated gaming centers, which, in their heyday, saw Americans playing about 2 million hours a year on 1.5 million arcade machines, to the tune of $20 billion annually.

Episode 2, The Rise of Nintendo (shown here following episode 1), chronicles the era where most Americans thought video games were a fad while Nintendo was pushing their way to the top of the gaming world. Learn how Nintendo created their gaming monopoly and revisit the game systems of the past.

Episode 3, The Fall of Atari (following episode 2 -- see a trend here?), tells the story of Atari, the company that started the home videogame industry and quickly became the fastest growing company in American history. In the last six months of 1982, however, it all fell apart even faster than it started.

It's engrossing, must-see TV and it all starts here: