Lack of TV video game shows?

[Dyno Kid]

How many regular video game TV shows do you watch?

For me it used to be recording Cybernet in the middle of the night and the old gamesmaster.

Is there many on Sky TV? I'm poor and only have freeview:) so my games shows are a big fat 0:(

I think an indie/casual games TV slot could work, i know i would watch it.

What do you guys think?

Darren.

[barrygamer]

Considering the size of the console market there seems to be a gaping void in gaming TV shows. Perhaps the 'kids' don't ever watch them? Cybernet was OK, is it still on? I'm sure I caught it on ITV3 or something not long ago.

I have 'freesat' (satellite free-to-air channels) and there is a channel called xleague.tv. Its not very good; they usually just show a deathmatch game of Halo, or Motorstorm etc, and the top 10 games. No reviews or real content. It makes Cybernet look good :rolleyes:

As for online shows, I am addicted to The 1UP Show. I really love that show.

[zoombapup]

online TV is the way to go.

I really want to get an indie + games focussed online tv production on the go. But right now its just too much effort.

Maybe in 6 months.

[Fry Crayola]

Consolevania (internet-based) and videoGaiden (BBC Scotland, basically televised Consolevania in all but name) are the ones I watch.

Well, I say watch, I mean line up to watch but rarely get around to it, but you know...

[Spore Man]

Here's an honest question to you folks: WHAT would you expect from television shows about games?

The reason I ask is I find there are enough. There's only so much you can do: Review Games, show previews, show trailers. What else? Walkthroughs and cheats are best suited to Internet medium. Watching people play is boring as hell. Game news? There isn't that much to report that can't be summed up within 20 minutes a day. What else?

[Fry Crayola]

Again taking Consolevania as a cue, comedy. It's essentially a sketch show with games reviews, and it works.

Like paper based magazines, any good games show that isn't a comedy would be relying mostly on features. We get our reviews and news these days on the internet. I wouldn't eject either from a show, video reviews do give you more than a collection of screenshots and sometimes news is too big to ignore. What you're really after through isn't information, it's opinion.

Opinions from people who know their stuff. Opinions from leading developers. Features on various trends and topics that might otherwise escape your radar. All opinion pieces of varying kinds and there's arguably room for a decent half hour show, even if it has to be monthly.

If a show resorts to simply reeling off trailers and telling you things that have happened, might happen, won't happen and can't happen, it becomes worthless, really, because all of that is available any time you want it. If they've got a chin wag with Kojima and a feature on the apparent decline of turn based strategy, you've got me interested.

[zoombapup]

I'd go for a mix of news, reviews and what I really want to see is behind the scenes footage from the developers offices. Interviews with the programmers artists and designers etc.

See, I'm interested in the people who MAKE the games as well as the games themselves. Its like most sites concentrate on the games, but where are the interviews with the developers? Where are the behind the scenes "making of" movies?

Imagine going to see a film and never seeing an interview with whoever the star in the film is? or the director?

Now thats not to say I'd go down the film route of sticking them in a room and shuffling through a bunch of interviewers. A good example though is an interview I saw online with David Jaffe. He was obviously drunk, but had a great deal to say about big vs smaller games etc.

Believe me, there are plenty of really interesting people in game development, if they would only come out of the woodwork. People ARE interested in these things.

And not just sales or PR pitches either. People are interested in seeing how a game level is built, or how an artist chooses a characters textures.

[Spore Man]

See, I'm interested in the people who MAKE the games as well as the games themselves. Its like most sites concentrate on the games, but where are the interviews with the developers? Where are the behind the scenes "making of" movies?
So in other words, more of the show "Icons"

[MrBozo]

In France there's a cable channel dedicated to video games, called Game One. They have game previews, reviews, technology news... and yes there are some interviews with developers too, some "making of" movies, they also have a show where they follow Counter Strike matches. It's not bad, but their problem is they only have about 1 hour of real new content a day, so the rest is just reruns, music videos, mangas, "real world" kind of reality shows, stuff that have nothing to do with games. Another problem is they're sometimes too kid-oriented.

The future isn't TV anyway, it's the Internet. I like Gamersyde (http://www.gamersyde.com/gsd_en.html) (French, with English subtitles), it's basically 2 guys that discuss about video games, they test previews, meet developers, and then talk to each other about it. Since it's mostly a dicussion between the 2, it feels more honest and casual and real than most other game reviews. I also follow the weekly Gamekult (http://www.gamekult.com) show (French only), it's 5 of the Gamekult journalists (Gamekult = game website like IGN or GameSpot) talking about the events of the week, their views on specific games and on the game industry as a whole.

[barrygamer]

Again taking Consolevania as a cue, comedy. It's essentially a sketch show with games reviews, and it works.


Just watched it for the first time -- those guys are bonkers! Aside from the bits which were maybe just toooo weird for me, it was very entertaining. Its like a really extreme version of the 1UP Show :eek:

[zoombapup]

I caught a movie show.. on stage6.com but cant remember the name. It was basically a guy and his friends, sat discussing various films that came out. Now thats ok as this guy evidently was kind of "in" with various studios and got to hear a lot of stuff, he also did on location shoots with various well known stars and more importantly directors etc.

Of course, he lived in hollywood, so that helped.

Big problem with my way of thinking about it, is that most developers havent got time. Bummer!