LoudmouthmanInsert Credit : From Gamemaster to Explosive Alan in over twenty years.
When news came down that Microsoft were pulling the plug on Inside Xbox I barely blinked; it was a boneheaded maneuverer by suits in seats whose appreciation of audience acceptance stopped at spreadsheets and stats. I guess over the last twenty years I had grown used to the ongoing frustration that comes with expecting TV shows, I would find entertaining, ditched in favour of reality TV or more syndicated sports. I am obviously not the target demographic for producers of smart content or smart shows and neither are the thousand of others like me out there.
Consider my experiences so far.
Gamesmaster , although aimed at kids ,which I was at the time , and suffering from the rather limited opportunities afforded by video games of the era. It made a good stab at acknowledging that children might be interested in more than Football and reruns of the Irish Why Dont You Gang. It didnt last.
Thumb Bandits arrived in the 21st Century it was smarter, it had followed the audience and recognised we had grown up ; I enjoyed it , I liked it , I realised it was not going to last.
The 1Up Show , was my first exposure to downloaded video podcast content. I consumed first on my PC then on my iPhone. It was as if the Videogame Show format was growing with me and now I had a show that talked to the grown up gamer that I was. It too was eventually cancelled.
CO-OP came along as the team , who had been left swinging in the wind by the end of The 1Up show, had followed through with Revision3 and a new show arrived but its heart had been gutted.
By now I was getting jade; I was at a place where I realised Video Game Shows were like Dr Frankensteins early creations, they did not want to live and would soon shudder , fumble and fall as they gave in or folded under duress.
A few years later and I see a new show on TV Ginx and soon enough it too is bounced, relegated and removed. Only to rebirth itself online as The Blurb. It was too good to be true, the inevitable bleeding of smart and clever people and the irregularity of delivery. Time of Death:2012.
Meanwhile on my Xbox Dashboard the symptoms began. The regular content of SentUAMessage from Dan Maher and Andy Farrant was stuttering. The production was stalling, I could see it clearly had little time left.
Which brings me to the reason for this post. I want to believe that there is a space and a chance for a collection of smart people to build a show about Video Gaming which can thrive in an online world with advertising and with an attitude that its audience is already smart and capable. I want to believe that there is space in the UK for a show that occurs at least bi-monthly and that can grow to become an network on the internet to compete with the likes of Geek And Sundry or Revision 3 and I want to see some of the old Inside Xbox team deliver on that hope.
Project Possum had a target of $10,000 and they have exceeded this with plenty of time to spare. With luck they will more than double it. I along with others have put my hand in my pocket to back the idea.
What comes next is up to them[1]
Thanks for reading
[1] though secretly I hope to get invited to join that team and help out.
Good blog mate! I watched Gamers Master religiously!!! I remember this lot too…
BITS 3 Girls + games = awesome – Channel 4
Movies, Games and Videos/Movies, Movies, Movies – ITV
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