The Red Smoking Jacket.
The latest edition of Edge magazine has covered, in brief, the broadcast of Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe on BBC4 a few weeks back. They took particular exeption to the fact that it explained what each genre was and seemed more of an introduction to those new to gaming rather than a reflection of its core audience. Regardless of this I found the show to be promising because, generally speaking, it was far better than most of the garbage gamers have had to endure over the years as far as TV coverage goes.
The original (and some would argue still best) video games show was Gamesmaster which aired in the mid 90's on Channel 4 in the UK. Not only was it the debut of the soon to be gaming celeb Dominic Diamond.
The first couple of series worth of Gamesmaster from about fifteen years ago now seem from another galaxy never mind another time. The struggle at the time was not only that gaming had never been televised to a mainstream audience but that it wasn't even played by anything approaching a mainstream audience either. The show initially displayed what can only be described as 'schoolboy humour' based on the waggling of joysticks in the privacy of bedroom all around the country. Each episode would usually feature a couple of challenges, a few 30 second reviews and a good few examples of celebrities who really didn't have the basic clue what they were doing.
Patrick Moore, as the Gamesmaster himself, would often give out advice to hapless souls who had lost thier way on Sonic the Hedgehog. Mostly such souls comprised of near teenage boys firmly in the grip of a hormonal rage brought on by puberty. Viewing the show at the time this was never a problem as I was also a near teenage boy firmly in the grip of a hormonal rage brought on by puberty. This sadly didn't transfer well to TV as many contestant mumbled their way through a Dominic led questioning. There was also the obvious point of wondering if Patrick Moore actually had a clue what he was reading when the script came his way.
So it's obvious in retrospect that Gamesmaster had some major faults but it was just about the only thing on TV if you liked video games in the days before Sony were installing Playstations in Ministry of Sound. If you've never seen Gamesmaster or just fancy a bit of a nostalgia trip then click below.
Part 2 coming up soon, featuring Bad Influence and Games World
The original (and some would argue still best) video games show was Gamesmaster which aired in the mid 90's on Channel 4 in the UK. Not only was it the debut of the soon to be gaming celeb Dominic Diamond.
The first couple of series worth of Gamesmaster from about fifteen years ago now seem from another galaxy never mind another time. The struggle at the time was not only that gaming had never been televised to a mainstream audience but that it wasn't even played by anything approaching a mainstream audience either. The show initially displayed what can only be described as 'schoolboy humour' based on the waggling of joysticks in the privacy of bedroom all around the country. Each episode would usually feature a couple of challenges, a few 30 second reviews and a good few examples of celebrities who really didn't have the basic clue what they were doing.
Patrick Moore, as the Gamesmaster himself, would often give out advice to hapless souls who had lost thier way on Sonic the Hedgehog. Mostly such souls comprised of near teenage boys firmly in the grip of a hormonal rage brought on by puberty. Viewing the show at the time this was never a problem as I was also a near teenage boy firmly in the grip of a hormonal rage brought on by puberty. This sadly didn't transfer well to TV as many contestant mumbled their way through a Dominic led questioning. There was also the obvious point of wondering if Patrick Moore actually had a clue what he was reading when the script came his way.
So it's obvious in retrospect that Gamesmaster had some major faults but it was just about the only thing on TV if you liked video games in the days before Sony were installing Playstations in Ministry of Sound. If you've never seen Gamesmaster or just fancy a bit of a nostalgia trip then click below.
Part 2 coming up soon, featuring Bad Influence and Games World