TV Execs' Attempts To Lure Gamers Not Always Best

Thanks to MSNBC for its article discussing the mixed fortunes of TV bosses trying to get videogamers to watch shows about games. The piece starts with the question: "Golf players watch golf, but will video game players watch games?", and points out the failures (UPN's previously mentioned CG sitcom Game Over, an "esoteric take on gaming culture [which] didn't last long. Amid dismal ratings, UPN yanked the show off the air earlier this month.") alongside more long-running shows such as TechTV's X-Play (the writer notes "...enough inside jokes to please the hardcore gamers, but listen closely enough and you may detect an almost mocking tone.")

Comments

Gamesmaster

[Tomah4wk]

When i was a kid we had a show Gamesmaster, that was bascially a tv program that had people playing against each other to see who was the best gamer (think Wizard with Fred Savage) and little review spots, cheats etc. Basically it was a really good tranistion of a games magazine to tv (in terms of style), in fact the show spawned a magazine (or that might have been the other way round). It was a really good show, and even had Patrick Moore as its narrator.

South Korea has it done right

[The Evil Couch]

I'm in the US Army and I'm stationed in South Korea. The Koreans have several channels dedicated to video and computer games and they routinely broadcast Warcraft III and Starcraft tournaments.

They manage to cut the footage and hop between players well enough to keep things interesting enough to watch.

honestly, I think that most gaming shows focus too much on adding stuff to making it interesting instead of just making the footage quality enough for it to be interesting on its own merit.

Comcast customer?

[Rayonic]

You sound like you're a Comcast customer.

Helpful tip: They actually have a special sub-basic Cable TV plan. They don't advertise it, but it covers the basic broadcast and local access channels.

The price? $13 a month.

Does it qualify you for the $15 discount on your Comcast Internet connection? Yes.

So, for $2 less per month, you could get a few local cable channels. Hey, it's always handy to have at least that.

And if you're lucky (like me) they'll forget to put on the right filter and you'll get full basic cable. :^)

For those you who haven't seen Game Over

[Isbiten]

Here's a torrent listing of them

Clicky clicky

Machinima TV Series

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not quite Game TV but there are two Machinima TV series in the works.

One is Rogue Farm and the other is GAME. Apparently GAME is both for broadcast and console delivery. You can interact with each episode somehow.