Slashdot Mirror
On Videogaming TV Shows And Vitriol
Thanks to GameSpy for their 'Sole Food' editorial discussing the vitriol directed against videogame-themed television programs, or, more specifically, the game-themed digital cable/satellite channel G4. The writer laments: "You'd think that people that enjoy the gaming lifestyle would be all over the only channel dedicated to their passion. Sadly, that's not the case", and goes on to suggest "there's been an enormous amount of improvement" in the channel, and comment: "my favorite thing about [G4] is that it will bring new people into the [videogaming] fold." Are there any game-related TV shows, either on G4 or elsewhere, that you think are being done just right?
- Gaming is interactive; television is not. For most gamers, watching people play games is like watching people eat food. They're more interested in the participation.
- Gamers don't really need a heads-up about what's new. They largely play sequels or the latest tired iteration of the first-person shooter/RTS genres, or whatever their favorite magazine tells them to get for their consoles. Reviews all lie anyway.
- Gamers aren't going to bother sitting in front of a TV for hours when they can sit in front of a computer for hours. The biggest decision for many is whether to camp in a plane in BF1942 or bitch in the public forums.
Game channels/shows don't succeed because even if they were firing on all cylinders the hardcore gamer is on the computer and nobody else really cares to watch them. It's the poker tournament dilemma with electronics.Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
The gaming world is something that changes day by day. Through the internet, people are used to getting news and information hours after it's published, or finding info they need with google. Things move faster than most tv programming can keep up with.
What is there really to put on any kind of 'gamer's tv' that isn't easier to get at through an internet connection?
I agree... I think it's got enough content to be good, and odd enough hosts to be enjoyable. I don't see myself watching videogaming TV all day everyday... but I think that a half hour of X-Play every couple days is JUUUUUST right, I don't need to be in the thick of the video game industry, but I'd like to keep up with the basics of what's out there, and XPlay does a pretty good job of that.
CharlesP
wordtrip.com
Theres a new BBC show called Time COmmanders that doesn't actually focus on video games but uses a game engine as a method to allow contestants to
re-enact historic battles. The BBC don't have a page on it (figures , battle isn't politically correct so the vegan lentil eaters who do their
web site wouldn't be seen dead writing about it) but there is a page run by the company who did the software:
Total War
Not sure if I will be lynched for this (I have a friend working in the industry that hates the show), but I am very partial to Electric Playground.
The skits are usually funny (yes, sometimes they are dumb, especially in the older shows, but they've gotten a lot better), but more importantly, the reviews are no-holds barred. If they hate a game, they have no qualms about giving it a 2/10 and ripping the shit out of it point by point.
Mechanik
When the average age of viewers is probably about 16 and the average age of the posters "hatin'" is probably about 13, what do you expect them to say? I never met a 13 yr old boy who liked things because he appreciated their potential.
However, a lot of the criticisms are totally valid too for the current state of affairs.
- Ronilyn on Pulse could be a blowup doll considering the mechanical way she reads the teleprompter.
- Diane Mizota does a better job, and is hotter, but it is pretty clear she never touched a computer game in her life before getting her gig on Filter.
- What's with all the freakin' one word show titles? Pulse, Portal, Filter, Arena, Blister, Sweat, Cheat, . People should watch Judgement Day just to show G4 we can handle two word titles of shows.
- What kind of budget does this channel really have for making shows? Arena must cost them about $8 per show to film, and they've only made about 25 shows in 3 years. They should do that one like Wheel of Fortune and shoot 10 a day. It would also be much better if they actually bracketed the teams and made true champion each season instead of "win 3 shows and join the Hall of Champions".
- I would probably nominate Portal as the worst show on TV, on any channel in existence. Anyone have a worse one?
The two shows that are at least making an effort to be fun and informative are Judgement Day and G4TV.com. Pulse is ok if you can ignore how Ronilyn reads and just focus on her "assets". Arena is worth watching if nothing else is on just to hear all the nicknames for Stacy Barcelata. Other than that, you'll have more fun and learn more watching the gold necklace show on QVC than anything on G4.
"The difference between theory and practice is small in theory and large in practice..."
Actually the general concensus I've read says that, compared to the original Extended Play, X-Play sucks.
Extended Play is the first and only VG show that I actually thought wasn't patronising or annoying. Then Kate Botello left, leaving Adam Sessler, which was still good. Then they went to five days a week, started getting crap.
Haven't actually seen X-Play myself as I dumped Tech TV early this year. (Since the station is now utterly retarded and has precious little for hardcore geeks anymore.)
I actually like Portal. I probably need exposure to more quality machinima, but I like how they use various MMORPGs to tell stories. The cheesiness of many of the stories are part of its charm, as well as their parodies of people and films, like Ringfellas: And of course the dwarf, Shorty, who almost invariably only ever says, "You have my axe!" Unfortunately it has too many airtimes in the week at too many inconsistent times of day for anyone except PVR owners to follow. I was happy for the weekend marathon.
And they're killing off some of the best characters, such as Bloody Dove and Moe Tuesday.
"Can you and me be buddies and go hunt little wolves together?"
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Here are some responses to some of the posts here:
I would probably nominate Portal as the worst show on TV, on any channel in existence. Anyone have a worse one?
I'd say Portal is an aquired taste - some people are fanatical fanboys of it, and some don't get it. There is a lot of good humor in it, it makes fun of itself and of the MMORPG game genre. If nothing else, it's unique and creative and there is nothing like it out there. Isn't that what people ask for when they say how bad modern TV is?
Excuse my ignorance, but does G4 play trailers? If not, they should, and they should do it "en masse". Rather than downloading these big motha trailers off the net, I'd much rather see em on my television, at television quality. Trailer after trailer... that's what they should air.
One of our shows, Cinematech is only trailers and game footage. Since this show doesn't have hosts, it's all about the editing of the footage - and the editor that works on this show is really talented.
There just isn't enough programming on the channel though to keep me interested. You can only watch the same Pringles commercial(are they their only sponsor?) over and over and over again
You must have watched the channel when we just launched. We had a very limited inventory of episodes to air from, and only a few sponsors have signed up. Things have changed significantly since then.
Besides, the information provided on the shows is borderline useless. If I wanted to know how to beat a certain game, I would think that it is just easier to look it up on the internet instead of waiting until 7:30 to see it on the tv.
Some of the shows are targetted more at the casual gamer, or even the wanna-be casual gamer. Being online over-exposes you to the hard-core gamer, but joe six-pack sitting at home playing Madden 2004 on his PS2 never heard of Slashdot or the Gamespys and the IGNs for that matter. And the proof for that is that our show CHEAT is one of the most popular shows, even though you can easily get cheats online.