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Gaming TV Goes Legit On The BBC
In a bid to prove that a television show besides X-Play can talk cogently about gaming, the BBC has offered a television show to the creators of online gaming zine Consolevania. GameDailyBiz has a plethora of details about Consolevania, which is well worth checking out before their BBC show, videoGaiden, takes off. From the most recent episode: "An uncensored and hilarious review of Leisure Suit Larry is followed by a darkly offensive Hitler Dreamcast makeover segment, a dance sequence, a poignant riff on MMORPG gaming and quite certainly the greatest parody of Nu-School journalism ever distributed via Bittorrent. The final sketch alone is worth the massive download."
I can hear the crickets chirping....
I didn't get past the line in the article that read "X-Play can talk cogently about gaming" before bursting out laughing. I tried to persevere and read on, but the tears in my eyes from gaffawing made it impossible.
Too bad that adjective can't be applied to the gushing, strangely anonymous review, or to Consolevania itself. The author mentions that the show is full of profanity, nudity and so on, and then says that if "G4 isn't securing domestic US rights as you read this, the network has officially screwed up." While the show is desperate and unfunny enough that it would be right at home on G4, Hitler jokes and graphic depictions of people fucking generally aren't shown on basic cable (at least in the US; I don't know what Scotland's obscenity-law situation is).
Writhe your naked ass to the mindless groove.
The original submitter doesn't make it clear that the show is only on BBC 2 Scotland, so the only way most non-UK people outside Scotland can see it is if they've got Sky Digital satellite and tune to channel 960...but how many people will do that?! Never mind, that only a minority of UK people have Sky Digital anyway...
I'm not sure a local Scottish TV programme not on the two "main" terrestrial channels (BBC 1 or ITV 1) warrants a Slashdot story! Hey, we'll be seeing stories about UK Channel 5's "The Gadget Show" next (which I guess is just about the only UK national terrestrial TV show regularly covering anything remotely technical [and, yes, it's mostly just boys toys on it, not much about computing]). And, yes, I know about "Click Online", but that's tucked away on BBC News 24, so barely gets an audience.
Disclaimer: I am a gamer.
I don't understand the way that gaming is covered and portrayed in shows that aim to show it. This is most obvious with the way G4 conducts itself, and the programming they select. Consider this: There is not a single show on the G4 network, or anywhere else outside of South korea, that shows a game being played. Oh, you can find clips and montages of a game being played, in 10 second chunks, on many shows. Try to find a program that will show you an entire 15 minute session from start to finish, or a single round of an FPS shooter, all 3 minutes of it. It won't happen.
The fishing channel shows fishing. Sure, some of the shows have big cuts between when they cast the bait and when the fish bite, but that's because literally nothing happens. The NFL channel shows football games all day long, some from the 1980s. And yet not a single gaming channel or show will actually show people playing videogames, outside of South Korea.
When MTV started, they simply showed music videos. It took them some time to build credibility and to change format whereby they now simply pander to the screaming 14 year old girl demographic. All the gaming related shows I'm seeing try to skip this step, and skip directly to the pandering.
Making a show that simply shows gameplay footage instead of endless highlights would be cheaper, more exciting, and respectful to the audience. There are many games out there that I simply don't have the time to play, but I would like to see the story/conclusion of (Metal Gear Solid: 3, for instance). The main point is, this is a segment of viewers that has no programming to watch, and I hope that sooner or later someone would try to fill that need. G4 for god's sake, how hard would it be to show people playing videogames at 3AM instead of infomercials? Let me tivo it!
Bah.
At the height of the "Manhunt causes teenage murder" fiasco last year, Robert Florence was brought in on Scottish Television's lunch-time show to provide a gamer's viewpoint. While providing a balanced and mature view of the issue, he nevertheless managed to slip in the phrase "bummed in the gob" undetected. That may give you an idea what sort of show this is. That said, their reviews are some of the best around.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
For anyone who cares (both of you), someone has put up an edited clip of one of their sketches on Putfile.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?