157: Love Sucks and Then You Evolve

[Colin Rowsell]

Love Sucks and Then You Evolve

"I didn't know what to expect from my brief affair with television, but I knew it wouldn't all be long walks on the beach and playing kissy-face. For a start, I've known television my whole life. I've suckled the great glass teat since I was a toddler, and TV has entertained - or at least occupied - many hours since. Climbing into bed with the boob tube sounded a little incestuous."

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[josh797]

wow were sounds like you were writing for g4. im not really sure about the point of this article. i mean we all know that tv and video games are at odds a lot, and i cant really blame gamers for wanting their first foray into tv to be a good one.

 

[maantren]

i mean we all know that tv and video games are at odds a lot, and i cant really blame gamers for wanting their first foray into tv to be a good one.

It wasn't that clear 5 years ago, though I certainly don't blame them either... After I handed this article in I saw a news piece claiming that the median age of TV viewers is now over 50, which IMO is a stunning comment on TV's decline into a senior citizen medium. 10 years ago (when I had my first working experience in that industry) TV saw itself as the absolute number one thing going.

Cheers

Colin

 

[Frybird]

I'm just thankful for Internet TV these days. I'd rather watch the very well made (but a bit too self obsessed...i don't give a shit about the people working at EGM, just talk about games!) 1up Show and the pretty professional and serious (but sometimes a bit vague) Gametrailers.com Productions than anything that Television can give me.

 

[sharp_as_a_cork]

Now take that and multiply it by the internet.

I love this


Maybe I'm naive, but I think good TV shows can be made about games - they might be uneconomical to produce or impossible to market, though.

Great writing, by the way.

 

[maantren]

Maybe I'm naive, but I think good TV shows can be made about games - they might be uneconomical to produce or impossible to market, though.

Great writing, by the way.

Cheers, much appreciated

I definitely think some fantastic tv could come from the historical angle; hunting down the people from, say, Sierra On-line or Atari and making mini-documentaries about old games. I love things like the BBS Documentaries, and if it's far enough back in the past you can usually get a decent level of honesty.

For modern stuff, though, I'm still not quite sure what gaming TV (especially broadcast tv) is actually for: to show game clips? To have presenters giving their opinions? Interviews and industry show coverage? All of them seem a little redundant. And, as you say, anything particularly edgy - say, something that was brutally honest about the PR/Marketing pressure side of the industry - would probably be uneconomical...

Cheers

Colin

 

[Drong]

I definitely think some fantastic tv could come from the historical angle; hunting down the people from, say, Sierra On-line or Atari and making mini-documentaries about old games. I love things like the BBS Documentaries, and if it's far enough back in the past you can usually get a decent level of honesty.

I think you could definitely be onto a good idea with that, maybe each week have a show focusing on the history of different genres or what happened to the great publishers of the past and how they changed the game industry and then how they met their eventual demise or like you said just focus on a single game and it's development and influences it's had on games since. Before the TV producers start taking notes maybe we should get this copyrighted or something.

 

[sammyfreak]

Great article! I remember a Swedish show of the same caliber, it actualy had an occasional interesting feature or weekly "retro moment".

I also like the idea of a show that shows documentaries about games and stuff, might even convince me to watch TV from time to time.

 

[teknoarcanist]

Great article as always. The Escapist continues to impress me.

 

[OurGloriousLeader]

What a depressing article! I mean it's great. But it's so dreary. Luckily for you, I like dreary! You write like Bukowski, and that's a compliment.

Almost every attempt to make a weekly TV show about games will come off as condescending and inaccurate. It's nobody's fault, and it's actually unnecessary. The internet happily fills the void.

 

[maantren]

Glad you're all enjoying the piece and thank you for taking the time to post.

The thing that probably didn't come across as well as it should have is this: in my experience, on a day-to-day basis, TV production is a great place to work. Most of the professionals (which may or may not include the on-air talent) are fun, interesting people. The pace is fast, the money is good, and you're never bored.

But at the end of the day you're making TV, and (in this case) dealing with the consequences, which is where the Bukowski-ness begins to take hold...

Cheers

Colin

 

[Dom Camus]

Civilization was a full-on brain surge. I played a hundred hours the first year alone.

So just the one game before you got bored then? Yeah, me too.

 

[maantren]

Civilization was a full-on brain surge. I played a hundred hours the first year alone.

So just the one game before you got bored then? Yeah, me too.

Hehe, have to say I'm appreciating the new Civilization Revolution a lot, 2-3 hour playing time and less complexity suits my tiny mind perfectly...

Cheers

Colin

 

[Mriceguy]

Screenshot was some time ago, I think I was mainly into watching it at the time for the competitions! I never did win though

 

[Doug]

Almost every attempt to make a weekly TV show about games will come off as condescending and inaccurate. It's nobody's fault, and it's actually unnecessary. The internet happily fills the void.

Yup. Over here in UK land, we had "Game World" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25PTVx9RhVw) and "GamesMaster" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezCSYdWFTKY), both pandering to the belief the average age of a gamer was 10. In fact, less than 10, because when I was about 9-ish, they still came across as hammy and alittle insulting to my intelligence.

As for GamerTv, I've seen it a few times - they actually do manage to make it reasonable, but frankly TV just can't keep up with Gaming releases.

 

[The Cake Is Annoying]

Almost every attempt to make a weekly TV show about games will come off as condescending and inaccurate. It's nobody's fault, and it's actually unnecessary. The internet happily fills the void.

Yup. Over here in UK land, we had "Game World" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25PTVx9RhVw) and "GamesMaster" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezCSYdWFTKY), both pandering to the belief the average age of a gamer was 10. In fact, less than 10, because when I was about 9-ish, they still came across as hammy and alittle insulting to my intelligence.

As for GamerTv, I've seen it a few times - they actually do manage to make it reasonable, but frankly TV just can't keep up with Gaming releases.

I've still fond memories of Bad Influence!, I always felt they knew when to keep the tongue-in-cheek. - http://bad-influence.co.uk/