Columns Dear TV: Please Get Your Act Together

http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/2007/12/22/dear_tv_please_get_your_act_together/1

Rob Yescombe, games writer for Free Radical Design and the mind behind the upcoming Haze, takes the microphone in a new guest column. He asks, just why is it that there are no good TV shows about games and whether this could change any time soon?

 

Nice article. I have to agree, there aren't enough game channels on TV, although I notice that the amount of game commercials (at least here in Canada) are increasing, which is at least a step in the right direction.

 

the new WoW commercials running here in the states are a great example of something targeting the softer-edged gamers.

just enough there to spark interest (except for the Mr. T. one )

 

I think we've got the same ones running here in the UK. Certainly seen quite a lot of WoW ads on the TV recently.

 

it's a pretty common misconception that porn drove the start of the internet... there used to be hardley any porn on the net but lots and lots and lots of warzed software. I know I was there

 

As I understand it the BBC has commissioned the guys that do Consolevania for an extended run of their BBC Scotland show videoGaiden, which will be shown on the whole network. Should be a step in the right direction and they're proper gamers too, which certainly helps.

 

unless the totality of commercials are 30 minutes long and the show you are watching is 1 hour long and has 2 commercial breaks...

 

Good article, I suppose that the huge TV stations are too blind too see that there is a big market out there for gaming programs, oh well, its their loss.

 

I think the TV shows need to be less geeky and more MTV style, fast paced, but not tacky (hard to do I know) in order to get into the "casual" demographic you need a casual show, something that is on say a saturday afternoon after the news for 15 minutes.

 

Tales of Heroes

does an audio show and a video show about every other week. it's not "television", but then again, no commercial breaks either.

 

I remeber that there were loads of game tv shows when I was at school like Gamesmaster on channel 4 and the one with Big Boy Barry on Sky one and there was one really good one on ITV but I cant rtemeber the name.

Didnt think Gamesmaster was all that good though. The other shows on the other channels were better.

 

what about bad influence that was on citv?

would probably be a happy medium for terrestrial to revive...

had it all, reviews, cheats, tech stories

 

Thumb Bandits on Channel 4 was awesome, it wasn't very geeky as was pretty funny too, the only problem with it was it was on at like midnight so very few people watched it and it got canned. Tis a shame, I'd really like to see it return.

 

We've got Electric Playground. They're fairly good. I absolutely hate X-Play, though... their reviews are very unprofessional or usually shallow.

 

There is only 1-2 game shows on

I think they're on Spike at 1 am

 

Though it wasn't specifically about games, I was always a HUGE fan of TechTV's The Screensavers.
Shame G4 had to %^&# it all up.

 

In Oz we have Good Game:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/video/program.htm?program=goodgame

I started off skeptical but it's quite a good er.... show.

 

What I am about to say will sound harsh to some, rude to others and some benevolent creature of the internets will surely be mocking me for it, but I don't care.
To start off with, why force the casual gamer to buy games and watch programmes about them, just to save the TV from dying a horrible death? The faster the TV dies as a media the better. I loathe this relentless challenge of the Media versus Us, who can and will make more confident reasons why NOT to buy that game. We hear it from the forums We use, the sites We wander, ever vigilant about that piece of information We seek. We do not need their non interactive media to tell Us what We need.

We have the internet for a reason, namely information. If they cannot find the information they need when they need it by themselves, but have to be spoon-fed everything, please Mr(s) Casual Gamer(ess) turn off your Wii/PS3/Xbox360, unplug your PC and watch the weather channel or CNN, play with some Play-Doh or go play outside. You are not up to the task of being ready for the information you need at the pace We deliver it.

I am a casual Gamer by choice, but I grew up on the information highway, well knowing that if I didnt educate Myself with it, nobody will.

We have the same amount of adverts or more, but thanks to the interactivity we can skip those we do not want to see and focus on the job/ information at hand.

(I use Adblock to some extent, but Bit has always been white-listed as are their afflilates. I only hate in your face adverts, hence the reason why i hate the TV for all it is worth.)

 

Too bad you don't have decent NON add filled, free to air TV shows then. I do Most big game sites WE use are borderline corporate mouth pieces anyway so I am not sure where you are going with that? Production values on most quality non interactive programs far exceeds the ridiculous web/pod cast crap online. I sit in front of a PC for most of the waking day at work. Last thing I want to watch or READ for that matter is poor quality shite represented by online gaming medias misrepresentation of many of the new games - Crysis being case in point. Mere relays for publishing company hype unfortunately. Not to say that's all of them but to pretend that everyone has the time or inclination to read a multitude of websites is naive at best. Viral marketing targeting forums is diluting its value. Not everyone has the time to spot high post count corporate stooges. When online media finally drags itself out of the amateur sea "paid geek with a website" phase it will be different. Till then I will take all forms of media and pick the best at each slot. I must be old - I still listen to the radio for news when appropriate :|

 

Sorry but I've to disagree somewhat. Your arguments are flawed and contradicting. You constantly make comparisons and criticisms of television compared to the internet., yet they're merely tools or platforms. Look at Newscorp, they own televisions services, news papers and internet sites spanning different demographics and audiences. So in fact your argument is defunct. It has already happened.

The internet as a tool has delivered woeful content. Look at newspapers and books, you've the best writers in the world delivering content daily. What does the internet have? An epidemic of rife amateurism. Look at Gamestop for a prime example of how woefully bad internet organisations have done so far.

Video and music? Well they're just transferred or pirated from traditional sources. People are still pirating movies from the same big five or six movie companies, irregardless if they downloaded it on some torrent or bought a DVD from the market. The internet has vblogs and what else? Look at the BBC, despite the cost difference and the possibilities, they choose to just upload old programmes onto the iPlayer.Look at Joost, nice idea, no content. Pretty much sums up the internet.

The reason why games appear so lucrative is because of their high base point price, usually thirty pounds is the cheapest you will find a new game for. Whereas you can go see a movie for under five, even less if you rent a DVD. Depending where you look, music will be around the ten pound mark for a new album.

Disregarding mass media as old fashioned or out of touch is just completely and utterly wrong. They're more aware than you think and despite the fact I couldn't think of any worse than watching gaming orientated programmes or channels on television, you're quite obviously clueless. Go look up the CGS (Championship Gaming Series). It's a world wide professional gaming league bankrolled by Newscorp and aired over their worldwide media entities (DirecTV, Sky, StarTV(?)) and they also basically bought the exclusive rights for some of the best gamers in the respective games.

Just to add to that point, just about all of the professional gaming leagues and organisations basically bend over backwards to get featured in traditional media. Whether it was the CPL with MTV or WSVG (RIP!) with CBS. Just shows who wears the trousers.

Doesn't sound like they need to get their act together at all, sounds like you need to check your facts first. No offense though, but who, no matter how casual actually buys something without checking ""anything"" first?