Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

G4: The Pong Channel?

Posted by chrisd on from the tired-of-the-fireplace-channel dept.

CoffeeNowDammit writes "Care to watch other people play Pong? You may be able to do so with the debut of G4, a new US cable channel (via participating Comcast cable providers) devoted entirely to video-gaming. G4 will air a marathon of Pong.. 24 hours a day.. see ball, see ball bounce.. for an entire week. Story is here . What a country." This has got to be a joke, right? A fake press release? Please, tell me it's a joke.

9 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. The Sega Channel by svwolfpack · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Somehow, it just wont be as cool as the sega channel...now THAT was hot... Video games are great and all, but watching people play video games rather than playing them yourself... I just dont know. Hopefully, they'll focus more on behind the scenes, and less on famous gamers and whatnot.

    --
    Once upon a time...
  2. Re:Joke by digitalunity · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Pong? At least give us UT tournaments.

    I'll pay only for the very best.

    --
    You can't legislate goodness. Let each to his own destiny, by will of his freely made choices.
  3. Ohhh the station by zephc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I thought they were talking about Pong on the G4 (computers), as in Open Firmware Pong from the 98 MacHack Contest

    --
    "I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
  4. Televising video games by Paul+Johnson · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I can imagine televised video games, but it would have to be done right. (And "Pong" isn't doing it right).

    Most attempts to do it give you the players POV, which for most games sucks just as much as, say, head mounted cameras in conventional sports. The player dashes here and there, looks left, looks right, and from the players point of view its very straightforward, but from the viewer's point of view its a confusing jerky mess.

    What is needed is multi-player games with customised clients that act like camera positions. Put a "cameraman" in charge of the client with pan and zoom controls, and maybe smooth 3d traverse as well, and you would have a pleasant viewing experience.

    You also need games that can do well given such a gods-eye view. Quake capture the flag games in fairly open terrain could work very well indeed.

    Paul.

    --
    You are lost in a twisty maze of little standards, all different.
    1. Re:Televising video games by Cloud+9 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Super Mario Bros. 1-3 & Super Mario World 1-2 good

      No, more like Rocket Arena 3 3rd person view mode after you die, or even better, Team Fortress demo style arena viewing. Imagine being able to spectate on the interaction between multiple players from a distance, instead of watching the game from a single player's perspective.

      This could be easily scripted in Q3, just make a script allowing the camera man to be invisible and invincible, and have him follow gamers around in arenas.

      Dunno how easily done it could be in other games though.

      --
      Karma: Dyn-o-mite!(mostly affected by Jimmy Walker reading your comments)
  5. Annoying launch marathon not unusual by kikta · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There was a radio station in Louisville, KY (102.3 FM) that was re-launching back around '96 as a alternative rock station. About a week before they went on the air, they started playing the Beatles song "I Am The Walrus" over and over and over again. The rumor was that they were out to set a record. Either way, people would check in every once in a while to see if the station was up yet or maybe just out of morbid curiosity. When they did finally premier, everyone had heard of them and their ratings were sky-high.

    I'm assuming that the folks at G4 are just trying to create some buzz and do something fun at the same time. So, good luck to them... of course that alternative rock station is now a "smooth-rock" station. :-)

    1. Re:Annoying launch marathon not unusual by Mondrames · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually a lot of stations do this. I believe it is called "stunting". Makes sense really, look at everyone getting in a tiz over 7 days of pong!
      "Hey - did you hear about that weird tv station that's playing pong for a week straight?"
      "no! - Hey, Jimmy did you hear about ...." ad naseum.

      Cheaper than a full fledged ad campaign.

  6. Unreal Tournament Spectate Mode by ticklejw · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wow, I can see some real promise for something like Unreal Tournament. Have the UT hour, where players can sign up to play for an hour, and its commented on like those crazy sports commentator people, and with spectate mode, it would be so easy to set up various "cameras" here and there to keep an eye on the game and all..

    it would be cool ;-)

    -J

    --
    "Software is like sex; it's better when it's free." -Linus Torvalds
  7. They do it in Finland by DataSquid · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Well, not pong, but video games in general. Basically they just show the game while a couple guys play and talk. They aren't especially good, they're not reviewing the game (from what I can tell, and none of the games are new releases) and they rarely show the human players. Usually just the game screen.

    Now, this is in a country where I believe there are about (only) 15 channels or so (where I am). It's on during the day too. So I guess someone likes it. In the evening it gets even more interesting when the chat shows begin. 9pm or so one or two channels show what is basically just a pretty IRC console. And you watch people chat. Fun.

    I leave for home on Saturday. Gonna miss this place.

    I can smell the improper application of an 'offtopic' to this post already....

    --

    DataSquid.net, a little about me.