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What Mainstream Media Think of Gaming
John Callaham writes "Video and PC games are a multi-billion dollar entertainment industry. So why don't they get the attention of movies or TV? FiringSquad interviews several members of the mainstream media, including reporters from Time, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly and more, to find the answers and see how journalism will cover games in the future." From the article: "I guess all I'd add is that gaming journalism is at a very interesting place right now. There are still a lot of people who are suspicious of games, and who don't understand their appeal, and there's an opportunity for people who write about games, if they do it well enough, to bridge that gap, and make games interesting to people who don't get them yet."
And let the Gen-Xer's cover games. Generations that didn't grow up on games just don't get them, and don't want to get them.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
Video and PC games are a multi-billion dollar entertainment industry. So why don't they get the attention of movies or TV?
First, who the heck concluded it doesn't get enough attention. I'd say it gets enough attention, notice the E3 coverage on Internet... And there we get to the point.
TV and Movies have been here for over 70 years, part of our culture. If something is on TV, "it gets enough attention".. Aparently TV is shown on TV, and movies are shown on TV and cinemas as well.
We're used to considering what's on TV "important". The fact that thousands of online media followed who sneezes at E3, is a lot less important.
Conclusion: we just need some more time so that Internet truly becomes a respected mainstream media to non-techies, where "important" stuff can happen. Gaming is the same. Give it more time, let the gamers grow some more.
The mainstream media doesn't write much about games because it doesn't appeal much to a mainstream audience.
If this signature is witty enough, maybe somebody will like me.
That blurb is misleading; it sounds as if the article is talking about how the video game medium is represented in other media like TV and film. The topic is how the gaming industry is covered by the big news media(e.g. CNN, Wall Street Journal, etc.) compared to other entertainment industries that make just as much money as the video game industry.
The underlying assumption here is that if the gaming industry makes as much money as the movie industry it should be covered in the news as much as that other industry. Of course that's not the whole picture. People in big media report things that are important, but they also have to report things that people want to hear about. There is a huge audience that want to hear what Brad Pitt's new movie is, who's playing in the World Cup today, what Microsoft's business plans for future are, and what is going on in Capital Hill. The audience that wants to hear what John Carmack's new game engine will do is small.
Also, just because the gaming industry makes as much money as the movie industry doesn't mean it reaches as many people. The entry level cost to get into gaming is much higher. The learning curve is much steeper too, especially if you've never grown up with videogames. However, the time that can be spent on game(vs. a book, movie, or tv show) is much higher. In short, gaming has a significantly-sized, time-dedicated audience compared to other entertainment media; however, other media have a much larger audience and probably always will(unless you make video gaming cheaper and easier to learn). Thus, the gaming industry will never be covered in big news media as much as other entertainment industries.
-Shawn "If the Name Don't Rhyme It Ain't Mine" Conn
Hmm
1. movies based off of Video games. They failed
2. A tv network based on video games(G4). It failed.
3. A sitcom with animated characters from fictional video games(game over). It failed.
The last good video game coverage I saw in mainstream TV were episodes of "That's Incredible!" and "Starcade". That was over 20 years ago. That time has not come back.
Two things: There's a big difference between net profits and gross sales. They're talking about gross sales. That's the amount of money that we the public spend on the products they produce. A $7 movie ticket is a wee bit smaller than an $80 game. Thus you need 1/10 the audience to produce the same sales numbers.
Second, there's kind of a fake-out, like how the porn industry can rake in as much in sales as the "mainstream" movie industry. How many movie studios are there left? There's about 3 or 4 big ones left after all the mergers. How many porn producers are there? Thousands. Heck, tens of thousands. Porn is cheap to make, and many thousands of titles are released every year. How many game studios are there that make the biggest hits? Dozens of big players like Sony, Nintendo, and EA, and at least hundreds of smaller ones like Pandemic, ID and Ubisoft.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
This just in! People who play video games are under represented in mediums which they are less interested in! Why doesn't bloomberg cover reggae concerts more often? The medium most gamers prefer is THE INTERNET (or technically, the WWW). So of COURSE there isn't going to be more video game coverage on TV and the movies. Gamers don't watch as much TV and movies, and they are more than happy to read about games online. In fact, as represented by the huge popularity of "The Office" and "The Daily Show" on torrent sites, I'm guessing that TV is more likely to get co-opted onto the computer than vice versa. TV, Movies, and the recording industry are dead. Long live TV, the movies, and the recording industry on bit torrent!
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.