Even More Videogames On Tv
<div class="IPBDescription">the horror</div> TV Execs Go Gaga Over Gaming - wired.com
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Television networks are trying a new tactic to convince game-addicted young people, particularly males, to spend more time in front of the tube.
Top cable networks like Spike TV, MTV and Game Show Network are focusing on original programming that revolves around video games in an effort to regain the loyalty of an audience segment coveted by advertisers.
The programs, most of which were launched recently or are in the pilot stage, include comedies, adventure series, awards ceremonies and interactive shows produced in conjunction with gaming websites. While it's unclear what kind of following the gaming-driven programming has generated so far, network executives hope the shows will strike a chord with sought-after male viewers between the ages of 18 and 34.
"Before we got into video game programming, we went out and talked to guys through focus groups," said Kevin Kay, vice president of programming and production for Spike TV. "The No. 1 answer for how they spent their leisure time was video games. So it seemed like a reasonable thing to get into."
"We want to plant the flag with male gamers with the (awards show). If you want to see programming about video games, come to Spike TV," Kay said.
The channel, which reaches 87 million homes, will have a two-hour block of video game programming by late next year, if all goes according to Kay's plans.
In addition to a weekly Entertainment Tonight-style show covering Hollywood's activities in the video game industry, the network has licensed television programming rights to a game that ships next Christmas, Kay said. He declined to name the game, on which Spike TV is planning to base a half-hour adventure show.
Game Show Network, meanwhile, launched a two-hour video game block in October. The weekly block includes one episode of Gamer.tv and two episodes of Game Sauce every Saturday at 2 p.m. Both half-hour shows are produced in London by Gamer.tv, a video game production house and online gaming site that is a joint venture between TWI, the television arm of the IMG group of companies, and PCCW, one of Asia's largest communications companies.
MTV already has aired video game content through its True Life series, which tracked a trio of gamers during an hour-long segment. Now, the network has at least five game-themed programs in the pipeline, including the "Ultimate Videogame Countdown," which airs Jan. 2. That program was created in partnership with video game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly. Another pilot is in the works from g-Net that will reposition various game characters into a comedy show.
"The pilots we're working on for Spike TV and MTV allow the video game publishers to showcase new and old games and game characters to a huge TV audience without running a review or preview," said John Rosenberg, president of g-Net. "On the TV side, we're taking existing content and giving it a new entertainment context. If these shows are successful, we're satisfying two masters."
The Discovery Channel, which reaches 87 million homes, already has aired one documentary on the creation of Xbox video games, called The X Factor: Inside Microsoft's Xbox. A second documentary from the same producer, Los Angeles-based FilmOasis, will focus on the highly anticipated game Halo 2. The show is expected next year.
If the nation's largest cable carrier, Comcast, purchases TechTV -- a transaction that has not been confirmed by either party, despite widespread media speculation -- video game programming likely would get a further boost. If a purchase is finalized, Comcast is expected to combine San Francisco-based TechTV, which reaches 40 million homes, with its Los Angeles-based video game channel, G4, which reaches 11 million homes.
Such a combination would give dedicated video game programming a much larger TV presence. G4 produces 17 shows that focus on video games, while TechTV produces one, X-Play.
Among broadcast networks, Fox appears to be taking a hard look at game-related programming. The network signed a deal with The Sims creator Will Wright that gives Fox the first opportunity to purchase original TV projects currently in development. Although the deal is not specifically for game-based content, it is the first door opened to video game creators looking to shift to network television production.
UPN also has entered the game market with Game Over, a prime-time, computer-generated program set to debut by March 2004. The half-hour comedy, which features the voice of Lucy Liu, takes place within a video game universe in which race car drivers and archeologists come home after a long day's work and deal with life in the suburbs and raising kids. The show focuses on a nuclear family called the Smashenburns.
"There's this huge misconception that games are only played by kids. We grew up playing games and this show will appeal to the older gamers out there," said David Goetsch, executive producer of Game Over.
"The thing that excites me most about video games today, and I've been playing since the days of Pong, is that visually, games are entertaining just to watch," said David Sacks, another executive producer at Game Over. "We have a big-screen TV in the office and there's always someone playing the latest game on it. You can't help but stop and watch the games these days."
Those visuals will only get better as the next generation of gaming systems like PlayStation 3 and Xbox Next are expected to debut by 2006.
As for now, the age-old defense from veteran Hollywood producers and TV executives that "no one wants to watch people playing video games" has been tossed out the door with the huge success of poker TV shows.
If people can watch poker players sitting around the table, they certainly could watch the vibrant worlds of video games come to life in new and interesting ways. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
- wired news
my two cents. if g4 and spikeTV's shows are any sign ... find shelter (although tech tv's x-play isn'y haf bad, especially when it comes neatly packaged with the screen savers and call for help)
so, do you think history will repeat itself again?
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Television networks are trying a new tactic to convince game-addicted young people, particularly males, to spend more time in front of the tube.
Top cable networks like Spike TV, MTV and Game Show Network are focusing on original programming that revolves around video games in an effort to regain the loyalty of an audience segment coveted by advertisers.
The programs, most of which were launched recently or are in the pilot stage, include comedies, adventure series, awards ceremonies and interactive shows produced in conjunction with gaming websites. While it's unclear what kind of following the gaming-driven programming has generated so far, network executives hope the shows will strike a chord with sought-after male viewers between the ages of 18 and 34.
"Before we got into video game programming, we went out and talked to guys through focus groups," said Kevin Kay, vice president of programming and production for Spike TV. "The No. 1 answer for how they spent their leisure time was video games. So it seemed like a reasonable thing to get into."
"We want to plant the flag with male gamers with the (awards show). If you want to see programming about video games, come to Spike TV," Kay said.
The channel, which reaches 87 million homes, will have a two-hour block of video game programming by late next year, if all goes according to Kay's plans.
In addition to a weekly Entertainment Tonight-style show covering Hollywood's activities in the video game industry, the network has licensed television programming rights to a game that ships next Christmas, Kay said. He declined to name the game, on which Spike TV is planning to base a half-hour adventure show.
Game Show Network, meanwhile, launched a two-hour video game block in October. The weekly block includes one episode of Gamer.tv and two episodes of Game Sauce every Saturday at 2 p.m. Both half-hour shows are produced in London by Gamer.tv, a video game production house and online gaming site that is a joint venture between TWI, the television arm of the IMG group of companies, and PCCW, one of Asia's largest communications companies.
MTV already has aired video game content through its True Life series, which tracked a trio of gamers during an hour-long segment. Now, the network has at least five game-themed programs in the pipeline, including the "Ultimate Videogame Countdown," which airs Jan. 2. That program was created in partnership with video game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly. Another pilot is in the works from g-Net that will reposition various game characters into a comedy show.
"The pilots we're working on for Spike TV and MTV allow the video game publishers to showcase new and old games and game characters to a huge TV audience without running a review or preview," said John Rosenberg, president of g-Net. "On the TV side, we're taking existing content and giving it a new entertainment context. If these shows are successful, we're satisfying two masters."
The Discovery Channel, which reaches 87 million homes, already has aired one documentary on the creation of Xbox video games, called The X Factor: Inside Microsoft's Xbox. A second documentary from the same producer, Los Angeles-based FilmOasis, will focus on the highly anticipated game Halo 2. The show is expected next year.
If the nation's largest cable carrier, Comcast, purchases TechTV -- a transaction that has not been confirmed by either party, despite widespread media speculation -- video game programming likely would get a further boost. If a purchase is finalized, Comcast is expected to combine San Francisco-based TechTV, which reaches 40 million homes, with its Los Angeles-based video game channel, G4, which reaches 11 million homes.
Such a combination would give dedicated video game programming a much larger TV presence. G4 produces 17 shows that focus on video games, while TechTV produces one, X-Play.
Among broadcast networks, Fox appears to be taking a hard look at game-related programming. The network signed a deal with The Sims creator Will Wright that gives Fox the first opportunity to purchase original TV projects currently in development. Although the deal is not specifically for game-based content, it is the first door opened to video game creators looking to shift to network television production.
UPN also has entered the game market with Game Over, a prime-time, computer-generated program set to debut by March 2004. The half-hour comedy, which features the voice of Lucy Liu, takes place within a video game universe in which race car drivers and archeologists come home after a long day's work and deal with life in the suburbs and raising kids. The show focuses on a nuclear family called the Smashenburns.
"There's this huge misconception that games are only played by kids. We grew up playing games and this show will appeal to the older gamers out there," said David Goetsch, executive producer of Game Over.
"The thing that excites me most about video games today, and I've been playing since the days of Pong, is that visually, games are entertaining just to watch," said David Sacks, another executive producer at Game Over. "We have a big-screen TV in the office and there's always someone playing the latest game on it. You can't help but stop and watch the games these days."
Those visuals will only get better as the next generation of gaming systems like PlayStation 3 and Xbox Next are expected to debut by 2006.
As for now, the age-old defense from veteran Hollywood producers and TV executives that "no one wants to watch people playing video games" has been tossed out the door with the huge success of poker TV shows.
If people can watch poker players sitting around the table, they certainly could watch the vibrant worlds of video games come to life in new and interesting ways. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
- wired news
my two cents. if g4 and spikeTV's shows are any sign ... find shelter (although tech tv's x-play isn'y haf bad, especially when it comes neatly packaged with the screen savers and call for help)
so, do you think history will repeat itself again?
Comments
edit: in that case ... nevermind (although i did have a responce to your previous statement)
If they can play like Morimoto its definatly worth watching.