Few months there was the rumour that E4 are bringing back Gamesmaster. Nothings come of yet. The best video gaming show was Sky One’s Games World. I would like Sky to bring it back with Lee Mack or Greg Davies as the host.
Does anyone remember bad influence that was the show with the super blast at the end where you needed a video recorder to slow it down, I thought that was well cool at the time though :-D
It's a notoriously fickle format to get right. Gamesmaster was the last real successful mainstream show, everything else failed, faded into obscurity or both. Even when I was younger and religiously watched Gamezville, I look back now and realise how cheap it was.
Most of the audience for this kind of thing is comfortably watching what they want online. Even when The Gadget Show tackle anything gaming related, it's either weeks out of date or painfully dumbed down. And you wonder why it's been reduced to a pre-recorded segment filmed in a bedroom.
Well worth watching a series by gaming YouTuber Kim Justice who, way back when, covered most of the history of gaming television shows in the UK, right down to the obscure ones on late night Channel 4 that nobody ever talks about.
I suppose it could be argued YouTube is the new Gamesmaster. If you're stuck on Level 4 of Harry Potter Goes To Town because you can't figure out how to get your wallet out of your pocket, either Google it or watch a playthrough on YouTube.
All kinds of walk-throughs, hints, tips and (for the wider sandbox/open-ended games like Cities Skylines and Minecraft) ideas on how to be creative and find new ideas on how to build things. And any Tom, Dick and Harry can do it these days with a screen recorder, the game in question and a microphone (and a video editing program). Many of those who do this sort of thing on YouTube started off with cheap crap microphones and eventually upgraded and now sound very professional indeed. So format wise, we probably don't "need" Gamesmaster as such.
The new GamesMaster will be a different format - celebrities :roll: playing games to be crowned series champion. Sound familiar?
Although the old show wouldn't work today, if nothing else it would look so out of place in the schedules because the younger audience that GamesMaster attracted and was aimed at has been forgotten about by broadcasters.
I get why there is a focus on making programmes that aren't topical so they can be repeated but there is an overabundance of shows on cooking and property that mostly only people of a certain age can enjoy.
Go 8-Bit with Dara O'briain was probably the last gaming related show on mainstream television. It was okay but nothing outstanding.
Gamesmaster was the absolute pinnacle of videogame TV shows. But that was largely down to Dominic Diamonds innuendo laden presenting style. The one series that he didn't present was frightfully dull.
Go 8 bit was disappointing. It could have been great but felt overly Dave-ified.
Ginx TV had great shows like Console Yourself, haven't watched since they changed focus to eSports and Challenge cancelled the show they commissioned from them
Was quite fond of Bits on 4Later, was pretty much the sister show to Vids. Looking back on it I think fancying the presenters as a teenager was part of my fondness!
And Cybernet too which was usually good for seeing gameplay footage of upcoming releases back before the internet really took off. Started life as a Childrens Channel programme I believe then made its way to the ITV regions as late-night filler.
If anyone isn't aware yet BTW, Dominik has a book about the making of Gamesmaster coming out soon after a very successful Kickstarter campaign. I slammed down 50 notes for a signed copy. Can't wait to get my hands on it for some bedtime entertainment!
I notice that tickets for the new series of Gamemaster on E4 are now on SRO Audiences, recording in October.
The venue is Crossness Engines Trust which having looked up looks a suitable kind of location for Gamesmaster.
In discussing how much coverage video games get, where is the line drawn between games and e-sports?
Aren't they the same thing? Esports is just professional video gaming.
That's kind of where I was going - isn't there an entire channel devoted to eSports on satellite? And there was plenty of coverage of it in lieu of the real thing during lockdown.
Steve in Pudsey post_id=40740 time= user_id=942 Wrote:That's kind of where I was going - isn't there an entire channel devoted to eSports on satellite? And there was plenty of coverage of it in lieu of the real thing during lockdown.
A lot of it streams on YouTube and Twitch and friends.