Slashdot Mirror
Is Video Game TV Closer That You Think?
Gamer Bitch X writes "Someone's trying to launch a gaming news channel (G4) and someone else is there to chat 'em up.
From an interview at UGO where they ask if G4 were to feature a McLaughlin Group-style show, who would be your ideal panel and host?"
CEO from G4: "Shigeru Miyamoto, Alexey Pajitnov, Chun Li, Will Wright and Max Payne , hosted by Bart Simpson (I still love him from my Fox Network days)."
Okay, I take it back. If the above were true, I'd watch this in a heartbeat!"
Riiight. I wouldn't mind seeing a few real shows about video games,
but I'd want it hosted by Old Man Murray.
It'd be nice just to quickly see video clips, but somehow I doubt that it could be
done with integrity. I imagine a video game network being more like
an infomercial channel, and well, yuck.
I heard that Jar-Jar Binks is looking for work.
...but only of done right.
Of course you need to have your corporate sponsored shows showing off the latest and greatest.
But it would have to be balanced. There would have to be shows dedicated to the grassroots community. Maybe shows about the history of gaming (like an A&E 'Biography' but showing the 'Biography' of different games)
If there were a variety of shows like that, the channel might actually be worth watching.
Well nothing new here, such a channel now exists on satellite for more than 6 years
The channel started as C: and was proposing download through the satellite, and were proposing some anime series, like Evangelion, Lodoss and some series like Red Dwarf. There were no real show on games itself.
What happened after was that Infogrammes came into the company and transformed into a real game news channel, now called Gameone. They still shows some anime, shows some clip of videogames with either game music or some chosen. Most of those clips are pretty good. They are also shows now which talks about some Internet Website games, etc... But the focus is also on anime, Comics, Movies. Well far more than just videogames, and more related to the videogames culture and what is close to it.
By the way, Anime is far more known in France and for a much longer time than it is in the us and the exposure is way bigger
Pelops
I know I may be in the minority here, but I feel pretty lame when I blow a whole night actually gaming. I can't imagine how lame it would be to blow a whole night just watching someone talk about gaming...
How about reading a slashdot story, that points to another story, that talks about someone talking about gaming?
I stumbled across this video game review show on TBS Superstation the other night, basically two guys sitting in a living room playing and talking video games. It was on so late I'd need a Tivo to catch another episode. Here's more info about the show.
The crux of the idea is that it is possible to make games look stunning for television. Sure, the xbox can generate some pretty graphics. But, that is a cheap consumer device rendering in real time. Why not record telemetry from "live" games, and render Final-Fantasy-quality versions offline for later televised viewing? Survivor has made it clear that you can successfully air a show long after it is taped, as long as the outcome is kept a secret.
Imagine the beautiful imagery a powerful rendering farm could generate for the televised version of the game. Offline rendering also affords the opportunity to select camera angles and lay on interesting commentary, etc. Shows like Survivor and Junkyard Wars are much better due to the quality editing which helps to highlight (manufacture) story lines and competitive tension. You also don't need to air every second of the game. Editing could make a tedious multi-hour marathon session into an engaging 30-minute TV show.
Create a multiplayer game, ala Quake, where players can compete in different interesting arenas, but the basic controls are always the same. Players compete in a series of online tournaments to qualify for the big televised championship. The "home version" used for these online qualifiers renders at normal xbox/PC/etc levels of detail, of course.
The top 10 online players are invited to the televised competition every week/month/quarter (they may even play it from their living rooms). They compete inside a new, never before seen, arena. Every move, shot, hit, collision, etc is recorded (this is the telemetry). This telemetry is fed into a high-end rendering farm. An editing team selects camera angles and creates scenes. They overlay music and commentary, perhaps even add audio from the players' mics. The show could be ready to air within a very short time (days or less) if desired.
Shortly after this new arena airs on TV in all its render-farm glory, it is released as a "home version". This new arena is then used for the online qualifiers to select the next round of competitors for the TV show.
This is probably way too much detail, but it's an idea that I've been kicking around for awhile.
i can just see the interviews in the locker rooms after the games...
"You've just won the ultimate Quake tournament, what are you going to do next?"
"I'm gonna take my Sims to Disney Land!"