While gaming is a hugely successful industry, and has been growing rapidly over the last couple of decades – for some reason there really seems to be a lack of coverage on television. While there are many shows related to film reviews and the like, gaming just doesn’t seem to be able to find a real place on TV screens – aside from the odd advert or two that have been becoming a little more common nowadays.
Strangely, the biggest gaming TV I can recall was GamesMaster, which was actually quite successful, shown on Channel 4 from 1992 up until 1998. While the games industry was only getting stronger at that point, the senior staff at Channel 4 were responsible for it’s removal – just when the show was getting more serious, aimed at real gamers and delivering the kind of stuff that was interesting to watch. But it was not to be – and the show was never to be seen again. Since then, there have been a few attempts at gaming shows – all of which have failed to grasp any real attention. I remember an old gaming channel on Sky, Game Network (which was actually where I first heard about Devil May Cry – which grew to become one of my favourite games), which used to be run by people from Holland (or somewhere in that region) – however amongst some of the genuine info, it was full of phone-in competitions and repeated sections, general rubbish to try and fill space and bring in a bit of extra cash – it’s late night hours filled with condescending “Babestation” stuff that cheapened the channel furthermore. The overall experience was a little like trying to read a game article crammed in the corner of a page full of ads, but it was better than nothing.
We need more shows like this
Since then, however, it’s all been fairly quiet. No-one quite seems willing to cash out and produce a decent quality gaming show – leaving us with mediocre attempts that have failed and given little hope for others who might wish to try something similar. However, more recently I discovered two new shows on Bravo – GameFace, and Ginx Files, which were two half-hour, back to back gaming shows that actually seemed to be produced by the exact same people. The only real difference seemed to be that GameFace featured Julia Hardy as it’s main presenter (+50 points), while Ginx Files was simply done via voiceovers over game footage. Although the show wasn’t the most amazing production ever - and did start off showing fairly old news – I found that the shows got better as the weeks passed, finding new info that I hadn’t seen before, and they were by far the best (if only) gaming programmes on TV. Sure, it was a presented in a bit of a cheesy way, but it was nice to see a decently produced show that focused solely on gaming news and reviews.
But it seems that the producers have bigger ideas – the team behind the shows plan to open a new TV channel this November. While they are currently planning general game reviews and information (which sounds like the sort of content their shows already do), they are hoping to expand in the future into other gaming related shows – such as documentaries, and topics such as celebrities gaming habits. While they do seem to be aiming the channel at a mass market – which is understandable – it’s good to hear that there are already plans to expand upon the channel and improve it’s overall quality. According to Ginx’s CEO, there are concepts of perhaps expanding into HD and 3D gaming reports in the future as well.
This was probably the last decent games program we had. Retro.
Of course, it’s far too early to say whether or not Ginx will sink or swim. However – before you decide, consider that there’s far too little gaming coverage on TV at the moment. I for one will be showing my full support for the new station – as the deciding factor of it’s success will ultimately be whether or not the channel gets enough viewers. I think it’s about time we got some quality coverage out there – and I’d much rather stick on a gaming channel when I’m bored rather than MTV.
-Leon
