VGTV

The television industry has been trying for a while to capitalize on the massive video game industry. I imagine it's a matter of time before a dramatic series spins-off some game (if it hasn't already), but on the non-fiction side of TV the usual rules apply: they want to make it cheap and in a proven format.

The results are often tame at best – reviews, interviews... etc.

There are a couple of snags to why video games do not make good television.

The industry is too slow. Of course there's tons of new games all the time, the problem is that most of them suck. The TV-worthy blockbusters (Halo, GTA, Half Life, Sims) put the regular games to shame. Even most gamers don't care about the dozens of small-time games making the trip from the new arrival shelves to the discount bins, and besides, the TV industry is interested in appealing to a much larger audience than gamers.

I thought they were tired clichés even before I worked in TV, but I still (tangentially) hear stupid adjectives like "urban" coming down from network execs. I think a lot of executives think video games will have a similar impact that hip-hop had a decade or two before. They may be right about that, but what they're failing to grasp is that it won't be the SAME impact. Video games are not a product of a new and unexploited culture (in fact, there isn't much culture many gamers can even share).

Just for the record, I really, really hate thinking in these terms. Media companies seem to think innovation is a composite of buzzwords and commercial meme-crap. I also don't like the concept of memes, but that may be another post.

So if there's no fashion, music, or slang to appropriate, what else can they get? Well, there is a little star power. More and more celebrities are doing voices in video games, but there's still not enough to fuel an Entertainment Tonight-style video game show. For that matter, ET-style shows have no problems covering that kind of material, so why try to compete. Hmm, compete.

Competitions? Unlike watching... let's say snowboarding, watching people play video games is not interesting, even to die-hards.

Video games offer a level of emersion that does not compare to sports or films, and strangely, they feel very personal (or at least they do when the game is good).


You can't expect game clips to give you a sense of the challenge. You can't go behind the scenes, because "behind the scenes" is a bland office with overworked computer geeks. You can’t offer cheats and tips because the internet has better info. The internet also has better sneak peeks and reviews.

So, any ideas for a video game show?
I wish I had one - I’d be pitching it.