Since the early days of Nintendo fever, TV networks have been trying to create programming with gamers in mind. Makes sense. After all, the potential audience for a game-centric show just keeps growing and is an advertiser’s dream with the full spectrum of ethnicity, a steadily widening age range and a lot more women paying attention in recent years.
A big problem is, the content has been pretty universally unwatchable. There have been plenty of bad cartoons, the occasional odd game show, and even a few reviews/news/interviews shows with hosts that have run the gamut from pretty-but-uninformed to so-annoying-you-wish-for-their-demise. The G4 Network promised 24 hours of games programming over a year ago, and they’re still filling afternoons with COPS reruns and reality shows like Ninja Warrior.
To be fair, there has been SOME decent gaming TV out there. A few months ago, the Discovery Channel aired a fantastic 4-part miniseries, The History of the Videogame. And I’ve always like G4’s Icons, which feels a little bit like VH1’s Behind the Music for game developers. Only with less booze. And I don’t think anyone on Behind the Music ever talked about how they got their start grinding it out in bug testing, but I haven’t watched that show in years.
One format that’s actually working quite well in Japan is Game Center CX. It’s a reality show that challenges its host, the affable Shinya Arino (“The Kacho”), to beat a different notoriously difficult retro game (usually an original NES title) and documents the entire process. It’s such an ingenious concept, I can’t believe an English language version hasn’t been rushed into production yet. Every single gamer can relate to this – we’ve all been stumped by a at least one ridiculous NES game. And forces like crappy design, rental store late fees, and puberty kept many of us from seeing the endings of a lot of these “gems.”
The series is being subtitled in English, and all the narrations are being dubbed for an eventual North American DVD release. Best of all, two episodes have been included in this year’s Asian Film Festival, going on now in NYC. Be sure to check them out, and let us know what you think.
MYSTERY OF ATLANTIS – screens Saturday 6/28 at noon
GHOSTS AND GOBLINS (has anyone ever beaten this?) – screens Sunday 6/29 at noon and Wednesday 7/2 at 11:30 am
All screening are free of charge at the IFC film center.
Check out the show:
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Wordpress Marketing Bloggers Network Roundup | eyecube // June 16, 2009 at 10:25 am |
[...] *Rich from Liquid Architecture takes a look at how video games have been portrayed, and covered, by television. [...]