Building the Ultimate Gaming TV Channel

January 23rd, 2008

A few weeks ago Gloria from Girls Don’t Game posted up an article titled The Rise and Fall of G4 and Gaming TV where she shared her thoughts on the lack of quality video game coverage on TV. Considering that I’m an Australian gamer and am unfamiliar with shows such as G4 and X-Play I found the article very insightful but it also got me thinking about what would make a great Gaming TV channel.

So I spent a few minutes to ponder this question while I was reading the comments that were left in the article. It wasn’t long before I had compiled a list of popular internet gaming shows and a few other ideas that could make up the TV channel. So I put all of these ideas together in a timetable to form my own program for one day of broadcasting.

So here is a break down of my fictional TV channel:

gamer tv program

Further Clarification

Most of the shows on the list are taken from some of my favourite pre-existing internet gaming shows. You can find links to all of the shows below.

Modification Show

Some of my own ideas such as the modding show and pro gaming competitions have a lot of potential for success on a television network. There is such a variety of options available for a game modification show. Ideally the show would feature a series of DIY modifications. So everything from tweaking your PSP to access more media to ripping apart consoles and putting them into other devices. There are plenty of possibilities. I think that a show like this would work well in a Tekzilla like template with reader questions etc.

Pro Gaming Competitions

Another show with plenty of possibilities infact so much so that the ESPN has recently tapped into pro gaming. With gaming competitions regularly occurring worldwide every week there is never any shortage of content. Also with the rise of gaming commentating and shout casting quality presenters are never too far away.

Late Night Time Advertisements and Trailers

Basically once the majority of viewers go the bed the network could just run game trailers and advertisements in order to real in their income.

Further Possibilities

There are loads of other internet shows and reader videos that could be tapped into for a video game TV station. The timetable that I made up is just an example of shows and ideas that I am familiar with. If you there is anything that I’m missing then please let me know via the comment box.

Internet Shows

1up Show
ScrewAttack
Mega 64
Bonus Round
Zero Punctuation
Game Head
Red Vs Blue
Pure Pwnage

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VG Media Network

January 19th, 2008

Hey Guys, I’ve been pushing myself a little too hard lately so I’m going to take a break and talk about a network of blogs that I have recently become a member of.

VG Media Network is a new network of quality video game blogs with the aim of working together to improve the quality and popularity of the blogs within the network.. As you would expect I think its an awesome idea, its great to see bloggers in this niche come together to form a community.

I’ll just quickly run through the current blogs in the network:

Draining Souls
The Server Is Down
Girls Don’t Game
Write The Game
The Hunter’s Mark
Tank Hard!
Press the Buttons
Consolation Prize

Unfortunately I’m not really into the MMO RPG scene just yet, so I can’t say much about The Server Is Down, The Hunter’s Mark, Tank Hard! and Draining Souls. I’ll have to read over them to improve my knowledge on the subject.

If you have a keen eye then you probably aready know that I’ve been affiliating with Press the Buttons for a while now. Matt’s blog is a great read, I always enjoy his Nintendo themed articles. I’ve also been reading Girls Don’t Game for a few months now, they have a great variety through articles from every corner of the industry. Admitably I haven’t had the time to read much of Write The Game and Consolation Prize but from what I have read they seem like very respectable blogs.

So, be a good man or woman and be sure to check out all of the sites in the network.

I’ll be adding these links in a special area under my blogroll. Since I need to custom code it expect it up in the following days. I’ll be back to the usual schedule soon, have a good weekend.

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DP’s Retro Gaming Compilation Wishlist

January 17th, 2008

retro gaming compilation

If you own a farily new video game console and love retro gaming then chances are you’ve indulged in at least one of the many old school gaming compilations that have hit the consoles in recent years. There really has been an impressive slew of titles. Some of the best include:

As well as a never ending slew of arcade compilations by Midway, Capcom, Namco and other developers from the 80s. The compilations just never seem to stop.

Why Retro Compilations?

Retro game compilations took off a few years back and became hugely popular in a short matter of time. Its no surprise really as they:

What Could Stop the Greatness Retro Compilations?

There is only one thing getting in the way of retro compilations becoming even more popular, that is digital distribution games. Every next generation current generation home console has a service where individual retro games can be downloaded from an online store. Because gamers buy each game individually game publishers can ramp up the price and get away with it. So far developers seem to support both options which is the best outcome for the consumers as it gives us more choice.

DP’s Retro Compilation Wishlist

There is no denying that there are plenty of great Retro Compilation games that I could (and after this) will dream up. But more importantly, I want to see some already existing compilations be released in PAL regions. Now I know that this isn’t going to happen as many of these games came out years ago. But thats why its a wishlist right?

PAL Wishlist

Its absolutely ridiculous that Capcom won’t bring these games out into PAL territories. We ‘ve got Street Fighter Alpha Anthology so it makes no sense for them not to release Street Fighter Anniversary Collection . What this means is that the only legal means that anyone canryu street fighter play a PAL version of Street Fighter III in PAL territories (the UK, Australia and New Zealand) is to either play it on a Dreamcast or in the Arcades. So lets see, the Dreamcast is extinct and the price of playing in the arcades is 10x the price that it was fifteen years ago (and then you need to find the actual machine). This is just ridiculous.

As for DarkStalkers and Megaman well they also should make the jump, its just common sense.

I’d also like to know what happened to Ninja Gaiden Trilogy. I’m not sure if this had a PAL release or not but I can’t find a PAL version of the game so I assume that it didn’t.

General Wishlist

Sega Saturn/Dreamcast Collection

Sega Megadrive Collection was an absolutely awesome compilation of Sega’s brightest titles for the Megadrive. With 27 top titles and only a few duds, this was essential gaming. So, if Sega can make a compilation for the Megadrive then why not the Saturn and Dreamcast as well? Sega have already proven to us that they like to re-release their old games. For example the re-release of Nights for the PS2 in Japan, Crazy Taxi 1 + 2 on the PSP, Sonic Adventure 1 + 2 on the Gamecube and now House of the Dead for the Wii. So you get my drift. With the massive size of a Blu-ray disc and Sega’s obsession of re-releasing old content it all makes sense.

Any Sort of Nintendo Compilation

Something which doesn’t make any sense is Nintendo making any sort of game compilation. The last decent compilation that they made was Super Mario All Stars on the SNES (Game and Watch Galleries don’t count). Remember how awesome this game was? Such value for money. Its a pity that the Virtual Console and the stacks of dough they can make from the GBA/DS re-releases practically ensure that we will never see a Nintendo game compilation ever again.

Just for the sake of it a Mario/Metroid/Zelda compilation would obviously be fantastic. But what I think would even better is a compilation of all of the Japanese Nintendo Wars and Fire Emblem games that never saw a release out side of Japan. This would be an absolute dream for the fans of both game series.

TMNT Collection
tmnt group
TMNT are awesome and furthermore their video games were some of the best licensed games ever made. Some sort of compilation of all the great TMNT games like Turtles in Time, The Arcade and Tournament Fighters would be absolutely sweet. Most of these games go for ridiculous prices on eBay or are just too hard to find.

Theres only one problem with this dream. It would take multiple game publishers to team up in order to get this compilation out on the shelves. There are far too many implications for this to be worth the effort for publishers.

Others

Theres a few more ideas that I have for the wishlist but I can’t write much about them so heres a list:

Conclusion

So after reading this you probably have a few ideas of your own compilations that you’d like to see be released (well, you must because I could go on for days ^_^). So go ahead and let me know by posting in the comment box.

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