In the last 30 years, humans have come up with the Internet, email, and apparently, pagers that still work after two decades (see the Tron: Legacy movie trailer for more on that obscure reference). And in those same 30 years, enough has happened in Tron's digital, neon-lit canon to fill seven pieces of media.

That's right, if you want to know everything that went on in this epic storyline about a world inside a computer, you'll have to watch two feature-length films, play four different video games (due out today across six platforms), and read a graphic novel.

To illustrate, here's how the timeline flows:

1. Start: Tron (original 1982 film)
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2. Tron: Evolution (DS)
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3. Tron: Evolution -- Battle Grids (Wii)
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4. Tron: Evolution (PSP)
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5. Tron: Betrayal (Marvel graphic novel)
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6. Tron: Evolution (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
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7. End (?): Tron: Legacy (2010 film)

To help us walk through the overall story arc one piece at a time (including where the original Tron arcade classics and the PC Tron 2.0 fit in all of this), we talked to Associate Brand Manager Vince Vanasin at publisher Disney Interactive.

Starting with the classic flick...

1. Tron (original 1982 film)

Vince Vanasin: In the original movie, Kevin Flynn [ed: played by Jeff Bridges], the head game designer and this genius at Encom, gets pulled into the digital grid. And while he's there, he discovers this whole world that exists and programs that he's created. He is the only user to ever have gone into the grid. So you kind of view Kevin Flynn as this god, right? And through the course of the story he meets a lot of different programs. And he's put in the game grid to fight for his life. They really want to test him [since he's the only user they've seen].

Long story short, he goes in and defeats the Master Control Program, defeats Sark, and jumps back out and regains his company as well. Where it makes sense...where it starts relating to the games and to the new movie is what happens inside the digital grid after he leaves.

2. Tron: Evolution (DS)

VV: When Kevin Flynn comes to defeat the Master Control Program, Clu [ed: Flynn's in-grid digital counterpart] makes a sacrifice...it kind of ushers in this utopian era of the Tron universe. So that's why we have the DS and the Wii games set in that era because of the DS and Wii platform demographic -- kids, families.... We wanted to set the games in a really colorful, really happy place.

So in the DS game, you start off as a security program, and you are sent in to investigate this mystery...to prevent this meltdown from these various corrupt programs.

All the [individual stories are tied into] the canon. If this system meltdown that I'm talking about happens, then it affects everything. Your role in coming in as that security program is to stop that. And while it may not have overt references to the new film because it's so far away [in the timeline] or even the original movie, it still is an important part. That's something that the Propaganda [development] team and our production team made sure with the filmmakers. They made sure that every game fits within the chronology and mythology of the game.

3. Tron: Evolution -- Battle Grids (Wii)

VV: So the Wii version, again, is set in this utopian era of the Tron world, but it's different from the DS in that your goal is not coming in as a security program trying to prevent the system meltdown. You're thrown in as a rookie into the game grid's championship, and your goal is to become the ultimate game-grid champion.

Anyone who's familiar with Tron knows that the character Tron is the only one to have ever been the game-grid champion, and so you are put in that role.

In this storyline, you meet characters like Tron, like Quorra [ed: played by Olivia Wilde], who you'll see in the new film...like Gibson, who plays a big part in the next-gen game as a leader of survivalists. And then the Wii also has a lot of great new characters like Blaze and Bosh who are big rivals you compete with to get to the championship.

4. Tron: Evolution (PSP)

VV: The world starts to lose a little bit of color. You see the Tron universe start to enter this dystopian era. What happens here...I don't want to give anything away, but basically your goal is to become the game grid's champion, similar to the Wii. It's just a different presentation that has its own unique view.

[And as a quick side note], the only time you're ever able to play as a Recognizer is in the DS and PSP versions.