News "BBC should support small UK devs"

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2009/12/15/bbc-should-support-small-uk-devs/1

Labour MP Tom Watson has claimed the BBC should do what it can to support the indie scene in the UK.

 

I don't see why the BBC should be involved in the games industry to be honest.

 

I suppose the argument is they are already involved in supporting British Music and Film, so why not the games industry? I'd be happy if they just made a half decent games tv show that reflected the demographic rather than some non-sense aimed at 13 yr olds with ADD.

 

BRING BACK GAMESMASTER! PANTS!

 

+1
I pay my TV license for them to fund their TV programmes, not to invest in businesses.

 

hey if channel 4 can spend money they earned on it then why cant the publicly funded BBC do it. Out of the 60 million people in the UK it's a safe bet a fair chunk of them have played games and like to on a regular basis yet, as mentioned, there is virtually no programs catering for the demand. Charlie Brooker had a go but it was very much "for the uninitiated" not about serious reviews and previews. I for one would actually consider getting a TV or atleast paying the fee again if there was less ****ing reality jibberish and more programming aimed at me.

 

They already invest in businesses. Seen Dave recently? BBC Worldwide is the commercial arm of the operation.

The purpose of this is generally to commercially exploit the programmes they've made (with licence funds) so as to make money on them and be able to make more programmes.

Personally I don't see much evidence of this working very well, but that's the principle.

 

With Top Gear being pants nowadays, and with Question Time asking on people to be on the panel just to heckle them, I would very much like to see the licensing fee go to something worth watching.

 

This has nothing to do with the BBC's content and if this prat of an MP gets his way it wont change the content either. Hes just doing what a politian does best, divert the attention away from their lack of funding and support to game developers. Lack of UK Tax breaks for game developers would be a great place to start.

 

Are people forgetting the days of the BBC Micro? Good times indeed, now if the beeb wish to get involved in game development and supporting struggling indies then I for one would be happy to see a british broadcasting shaped shadow looming into view

 

I don't think anyone is forgetting the BBC Micro itself, but they might have forgotton the half dozen or so games that were released for it!

I don't think the BBC should be funding games development outside of contracting out development of games for its own website. The last thing I need is the license fee to go up by a huge amount just because BBCsoft (or whatever they might be called) blew a few million licensing the Unreal engine, and then couldn't make a decent game out of it.

Now if you're talking a TV programme that covered games, sure, I'd get behind that, but it's likely to have such a small audience that it won't last long. Game Face wasn't particularly well received...

 

What we need is a Bit-Tech TV show on the BBC, covering everything the site covers. So who's going to pitch it?

 

My bad. All the talk of gamershows got me talking TV. I meant to say "go to something worth while".

Although that in no way lessens the fact that the government does nothing, and this does just look like an attempt at shifting blame.

 

i would rather we lose half the supposed services that the BBC offers and cut the License fee to £100 then we can start making better shows

i mean £1Bn on the website jesus christ!!!


also why does it have bidding wars with ITV for Sporting events (i can understand having wars with Sky) as if its on ITV then the public get to watch it anyway

 

why not just slash the BBC's licence fund and reditribute it? Next BBC will be responsible for bankers. I don't mind the BBC investing in british movies etc, after all, its related to their programs.

Mind you,tob gear racing tournment or racing game reviews mightn't be so bad lol.

 

The BBC website is an excellent site and has been for many years. I have always used it as my opening browser page for news and sport coverage. It's also company friendly so it's allowed in most business environments. That £Billion is since the very first site started which is probably 10 to 15 years old now so I don't think that's not a bad thing considering it will include all the staff to keep it upto the minute updated and secure for that entire time.

 

Surely spending £1 billion on the website alone will have kept a few IT people on the gravy train for a few years anyway...?

Axe Jonathan Ross and his salary would fund the next Modern Warfare game (4 v 4 on dial-up).

 

While as a whole I am against the Licence Fee I do feel that since the money is used to support the film, tv and music industries why should the games industry be left out?

 

With this comment coming from a politican. It's more than likely the £Billion figure includes everybody connected with the BBC website including journalists, developers, editors, writers, photographers, tea ladies you name it. It's not 4 nerds sitting in a server room. Not that there's anything wrong with 4 nerds in a server room.