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Cable Boxes Get Gauntlet With Set-Top Games Deal

Posted by simoniker on from the seinfeld-needs-food-badly dept.

Thanks to Yahoo for reprinting a press release revealing a U.S. company called TvHead is attempting to make inroads into the games-via-cable-TV market, and has "secured agreements with... Midway Games [and] PopCap Games" to publish games such as Bookworm, Gauntlet, and Smash TV for availability as part of a cable TV service. The company's founder claims that: "Gaming revenues via interactive television have been projected to be as high as $2.7 billion by 2006", and players are meant to "...access the TvHead Games Channel with their remote control just as they would any other channel." The company's official site links to a recent CED magazine article that discusses advances in this area, including ICTV "showing off a version of Quake playing on DCT-1000s and DCT-2000s [cable boxes]."

20 comments

  1. I can see it now by obeythefist · · Score: 5, Funny

    Couch Potato needs food badly!

    --
    I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
    1. Re:I can see it now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhhhhhh........... typical american.............. studpi jok.e..............

    2. Re:I can see it now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why, because you don't get it?

    3. Re:I can see it now by obeythefist · · Score: 1

      The really funny part is, I'm Aussie. I should have started my post with "g'day". Is there a law in the US patriot act that forces non-americans to identify themselves yet?

      --
      I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
  2. Metroid prime playable on Phantom???? by Darkwraith · · Score: 1

    I went to the CED magazine link and this image http://www.cedmagazine.com/ced/2003/1003/images/a2 _lg.jpg has what looks very much like Metroid Prime.Since when would Nintendo let some makers a crappy console like the Phantom even dream of selling it for their machine.This looks very bad on the part of Infinium Labs.

    1. Re:Metroid prime playable on Phantom???? by nempo · · Score: 0

      Oh..what's this, a premenition....I...see...a lawsuit!

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      --- No, english is not my mother tongue.
    2. Re:Metroid prime playable on Phantom???? by dk4 · · Score: 1

      Except for the fact that it is first person and the door is a hexagon, this doesn't look at all like Metroid Prime.

  3. Flashbacks by illuminata · · Score: 1

    This service reminds me of the Sega Channel. Here's a picture of the cartridge used for the service, along with some extra information.

    It was pretty disastrous. It makes you wonder if a similar idea will work now.

    --


    Until Slashdot fixes the funny modifier, use insightful or interesting. The poster knows your intentions.
    1. Re:Flashbacks by ronfar · · Score: 1
      Ah, the Sega Channel. It was the way I got gipped out of MegaMan: The Wily Wars, something I'm still mad about. I remember how Sega had made a big deal about Capcom coming on board with the Genesis with a picture of MegaMan and Sonic shaking hands. However, they neglected to mention that only the three people who actually subscribed to the Sega Channel would ever be allowed to play MegaMan on their Genesis Systems (in the US).

      No, I'm not bitter... More Information Here

      --
      All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
    2. Re:Flashbacks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Holy crap. I remember having that thing. I remember it more fondly than the rest of you morose motherfuckers, though.

  4. Smash TV for the public? by MMaestro · · Score: 1
    I donno if they plan on "dumbing" the game down but they'll most likely have to considering what you do in the game (at least the SNES version). For those who never played heres a short version of the game.

    Shoot people/things.(*cough*) Pick up random items that appear. (read : steal) Don't die.

    People will bitch about the game because it encourages children to steal and go on mass murdering sprees.

    1. Re:Smash TV for the public? by Dopefish_1 · · Score: 1

      Well, mass murdering sure, but it wasn't actually stealing. The premise of the game was/is that you are a contestant on a game show, and the items you pick up are cash and prizes you win.

      Of course, being an arcade game, the story isn't very important to the gameplay. And the end result is that you're probably right; people will bitch about it.

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      #include <sig.h>
    2. Re:Smash TV for the public? by eyenot · · Score: 0

      the other part of the premise was that the enemies were robotic undead aliens anyways, wasn't it? who cares about desecrating the bodies of the undead? it's like holy. and xenophobia rocks, so do guns. if robots ever have feelings, they'll take over the world, so none of that. more guns! blood!

      anyways, weren't there some drawings of busty women in there? the real question is will leaving those in make or lose money for the company!

      --
      "Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
    3. Re:Smash TV for the public? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People will bitch about the game because it encourages children to steal and go on mass murdering sprees.

      The same people would complain that Pong encourages more-than-healthy competition, and results in stress, anxiety and feelings of inferiority when you lose.

  5. Openscorce DCT-2000 by NateSac · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I have one of these set top boxes. I think they'd make a great platform to open up to open scorce development, maybe some geeks around here could port linux to it, maybe steal or reverse engineer it to work. *dont mod me down cause Im a dreamer*

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    ::i visited slashdot and all i got was this lousy sig::
    1. Re:Openscorce DCT-2000 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      www.elinux.org.

      A few of us have DCT-5000s we're tinkering with (albeit very slowly), though I'm not sure if the 5000 is very similar to the 2000.

  6. Sounds like NABU network... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For those Canadians who were kids in the 80s...remember NABU?

    It was a game network delivered over cable. Basically you went to the right channel, selected a game from a menu and away you went.

    To this day I'm still surprised at how "ahead of its time" it was.

  7. wowww, awesooome, by eyenot · · Score: 0

    when do they plan on releasing PAC-MAN?

    --
    "Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
  8. Even Flashierback by DLWormwood · · Score: 1
    It makes you wonder if a similar idea will work now.

    I'm even more doubtful, I remember this...

    Then again, maybe third time's the charm?

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    Those who complain about affect & effect on /. should be disemvoweled
  9. Gawd damn NW comcast... by UltimaL337Star · · Score: 1

    I played smash tv after I found out my cable company raised it's prices, fun game, my tv only let you play it once though...