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The UK is getting a dedicated gaming channel - My thoughts

By FLStyle 15 Comments

Details

 
  • It's called Ginx (I don't know what this means)
  • It's by the people who did/still do the UK gaming programme "Gameface" on the Bravo channel which wasn't unwatchable
  • It launches this November
  • It's being billed to do for games what MTV did for music (presumably when it was actually about music and not reality TV) which the guy in charge would know about as he's the former head of MTV Europe
 

Revenue

Gaming ads are on TV more than ever so they should be able to make a bit of money, music albums, film trailers, even sports, all fine. Hopefully it won't drift into Disney channel adverts, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. I don't know what sort of subscription services they could implement, it seems a lot easier to do that sort of thing for websites. On the other hand you could go the porn route late night. I really hope they don't do that. 

Shows

 Anything that doesn't follow awful gaming shows of the past I'm happy with. Yes I'm talking to you Gamezville, with your tournaments starring kids who don't know how to play the games they're on and the apparently constantly high Game's Guru who would answer emails on cheats and gaming history.
 Gamezvile's
 Gamezvile's "Games Guru"
There was only one good UK gaming show and that was Gamesmaster. Reruns of that show would be great, but I would like show good original content. The problem lies in the fact that even with their studios and producers and money I don't believe for a second that they could do anything on Giant Bomb's level. But Gameface gives me hope that they can repeat that level of success and intregrity. I remember once seeing a decent five-minute seqment comparing the pros and cons of Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2. It was pretty obvious stuff, DA:O's story and characters and more developed but Mass Effect 2's gameplay and overall experience is superior (in their opinion, not mine, I love all things Dragon Age and haven't gotten around to trying Mass Effect 1 and 2) but they were far from ignorant.
 

Will the UK mainstreamers "get it"?

And by mainstreamers I mean people who don't visit this site or any IGNs and Kotakus, people who walk around swearing in public as much as they do on Modern Warfare 2. I wouldn't want them to have any influence on a starting gaming TV channel, but you know that it won't survive without them. So put some FPS content in there and they should be satisfied. If they can give me some RPG time in HD I can make the compromise.
15 Comments

15 Comments

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B0nd07

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Edited By B0nd07
@SlashseveN303: Indeed you did, as did anyone else that missed out on early G4.  I think the reason for that was because both weren't available on all markets.  I'm pretty sure I never heard of TechTV before the merger.
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ReyGitano

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Edited By ReyGitano
@B0nd07 said:
" @SlashseveN303 said:
" Wasn't G4 suppose to be a dedicated game channel when they changed it from TechTV (Which I so sorely miss) all those years ago? That turned out great... "
Close.  G4 and TechTV were separate channels that eventually merged (why, I can't remember exactly).  But yes, G4, in it's first two years of existence, was purely a gaming network.  It started going downhill after the merger and never recovered.  I miss the early days of G4.  I used to watch it almost exclusively.
 
@FLStyle: I hope, for all of the UK's sake, that Ginx doesn't go the route that G4 did and stay true to it's purpose. "
That's pretty crazy, I remember loving TechTV before the merger, then came in the flood of god forsaken shows. Don't remember ever seeing G4 before then, sounds like I missed out.
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ErEl

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Edited By ErEl

What about Lan Jam on CITV? That was pretty good.

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Colin

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Edited By Colin

I used to like the channel that showed team fortress tourys but that's about all i liked in gaming channels.
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B0nd07

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Edited By B0nd07
@SlashseveN303 said:
" Wasn't G4 suppose to be a dedicated game channel when they changed it from TechTV (Which I so sorely miss) all those years ago? That turned out great... "
Close.  G4 and TechTV were separate channels that eventually merged (why, I can't remember exactly).  But yes, G4, in it's first two years of existence, was purely a gaming network.  It started going downhill after the merger and never recovered.  I miss the early days of G4.  I used to watch it almost exclusively.
 
@FLStyle: I hope, for all of the UK's sake, that Ginx doesn't go the route that G4 did and stay true to it's purpose.
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Butchio

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Edited By Butchio

there have been a few dedicated gaming channels in the uk on sky. they have all failed as they were all shite. nothin but replays and full of bad reviews. i dont look forward to this one at all

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Sin4profit

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Edited By Sin4profit
@Jazz: 
holy hell this show's great!
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Edited By Dalai

I'm sure this gaming channel will eventually spiral down into a network of stupid reality shows and syndicated programming only loosely based on gaming. 
 
I give it 5 years.

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GunstarRed

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Edited By GunstarRed
@Jimbo: 
Yeah Bits was ace. and Thumb bandits that came after it was pretty good also, it was the first place I ever heard about Ico. 

There was already a game channel on the tv at one point, it was full of tournaments and stuff... it had some of the most punchable  presenters I had ever seen. Gameface is pretty fucking horrible, it gets so much wrong and it's insistence on lame techno and  awful metal over the actual  ingame music drives me insane.Oh and its VS sections Fallout 3 VS Mercenaries 2.....what, because theyve both got guns or something? That said, The presenter  really does love videogames like the rest of us. I hated her to begin with but hearing her on the Gamespot UK podcast really changed my opinion of her. 
 
I wish I had more interest in a gaming channel but  it's boring watching video games on the tv, I'd much rather be playing them myself.
 
Id love more Consolevania stuff though... the Indipendint charles show on xbl  just isnt enough. 
 
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ReyGitano

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Edited By ReyGitano

Wasn't G4 suppose to be a dedicated game channel when they changed it from TechTV (Which I so sorely miss) all those years ago? That turned out great...

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rinkalicous

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Edited By rinkalicous

Gamezville... God, I remember that show. 
 
Anyway, in the unlikely event Ginx comes to Freeview, I'll probably watch it once, feel embarrassed, and never switch to it again.

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Jazz

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Edited By Jazz

Pfffft 
Consolevania was by far the best 
     

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Jimbo

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Edited By Jimbo

Pfff, 'Bits' was by far the best gaming show, UK or otherwise.

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MysteriousBob

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Edited By MysteriousBob
@FLStyle said:
"There was only one good UK gaming show and that was Gamesmaster."
Hahaha, wrong. Put your nostalgia aside and it was even worse than Gamezville.
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FLStyle

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Edited By FLStyle

Details

 
  • It's called Ginx (I don't know what this means)
  • It's by the people who did/still do the UK gaming programme "Gameface" on the Bravo channel which wasn't unwatchable
  • It launches this November
  • It's being billed to do for games what MTV did for music (presumably when it was actually about music and not reality TV) which the guy in charge would know about as he's the former head of MTV Europe
 

Revenue

Gaming ads are on TV more than ever so they should be able to make a bit of money, music albums, film trailers, even sports, all fine. Hopefully it won't drift into Disney channel adverts, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. I don't know what sort of subscription services they could implement, it seems a lot easier to do that sort of thing for websites. On the other hand you could go the porn route late night. I really hope they don't do that. 

Shows

 Anything that doesn't follow awful gaming shows of the past I'm happy with. Yes I'm talking to you Gamezville, with your tournaments starring kids who don't know how to play the games they're on and the apparently constantly high Game's Guru who would answer emails on cheats and gaming history.
 Gamezvile's
 Gamezvile's "Games Guru"
There was only one good UK gaming show and that was Gamesmaster. Reruns of that show would be great, but I would like show good original content. The problem lies in the fact that even with their studios and producers and money I don't believe for a second that they could do anything on Giant Bomb's level. But Gameface gives me hope that they can repeat that level of success and intregrity. I remember once seeing a decent five-minute seqment comparing the pros and cons of Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2. It was pretty obvious stuff, DA:O's story and characters and more developed but Mass Effect 2's gameplay and overall experience is superior (in their opinion, not mine, I love all things Dragon Age and haven't gotten around to trying Mass Effect 1 and 2) but they were far from ignorant.
 

Will the UK mainstreamers "get it"?

And by mainstreamers I mean people who don't visit this site or any IGNs and Kotakus, people who walk around swearing in public as much as they do on Modern Warfare 2. I wouldn't want them to have any influence on a starting gaming TV channel, but you know that it won't survive without them. So put some FPS content in there and they should be satisfied. If they can give me some RPG time in HD I can make the compromise.