I'd like to thank you for raising such an interesting topic to discuss about Daniel.
A television channel that is about gaming is certainly doable though a bit difficult as you must face problems that can potentially destroy the whole channel in a matter of months. The channel must be so that it will garner the interest of those who are new to gaming and those who are already veterans because the first group must get interested into gaming in the first place while the latter group must be shown that the channel can be interesting despite the myriad of gaming sites, streams and what not is available on the internet. These problems may be big and bulky at first but with the right people, the right mind preset they are but stepping stones to glory unmatched.
I've been thinking about a channel that would be all about video games for quite a while now. To be honest ... since I was a child. I'd love to see a quality program about my favorite hobby and I think that many would too. The material is certainly here, heck there is so much material for such a channel that I fear it could become too convoluted for it's own good.
You could have for instance, as some have already said, interviews with the biggest leaders of the gaming industry or those that have left a significant mark on it. Interviews with the best players of games that house international tournaments (CS, SC, WC, WoW? etc.) and cover the most known tournaments. Though you'd have a lot of competition I think that if you'd come with original commentators, good coverage you could win against them. Competition is good in it's own way because it would force the channel to become better than them and thus raising its quality in the process. You could cover the best matches of a certain tournament showing the key points of the match and how x player has won over y player with the z move made in t time point. You know what I mean ... with a bit of imagination you could easily make an interesting program that lasts over 8 hours with a tournament a lone.
Than you could have talk shows where you invite the CEO's or game designers of certain companies and fans to it and let them talk over certain games where the fans voice their likes and dislikes over certain things and games and the CEO's and designers explain why they made such choices, how will the peoples voice affect their next game etc. It could spark interesting conversations that could lead to raising a bar in the next games quality department. The talk shows could host those 'pro and contra' stuff where people discuss if it is well for games to have sex, drug references in them, religious symbolism and etc. in them or why not. If games really make people more violent, more probable to taking drugs etc. ... you know what I mean and are probably sick because of it too. It could help games to finally make those idiots that shout that games are the next thing to Satan shut the fuck up for once in a while once they realize that all is not that bad as they make it out to be.
A program about gaming jobs could also be added where we would see how a designer works, a CEO, artists, musicians ... much like the stuff on Discovery. And I'd love a history channel that would document the glory and dark days of gaming. Like why video games have become so popular these days or what caused the incident with all those destroyed ET games Atari made in the past. What was the consequence of that, what could have been, what is, what do 'historians' have to say about this ... you know like how these history channels do.
I also saw a nice documentary on the life of Mr. Lewis, the man who wrote Narnia, the other day and I must say that I was impressed. It was beautifully done and really showed nicely the life of the man who wrote, in my opinion, an awesome series of books. The same could be done about the life of Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima, Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson etc.
Of course you could also have programs that could show you the games awesome music and the people who remix it and sometimes make it even more awesome (I'm looking at you OC Remix) and show people the most beautiful gaming scores. Like the classical Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Donkey Kong tunes or the sad ballads like Old Snake, Hopelessness from Golden Sun, Reminisce songs from the Attorney series and many, many others (I just said these because they were from the top of my head) because there are of course many, many others that are awesome. And have those who make them comment on their works like Motoi Sakuraba, Nobou Uematsu etc.
Then programs about video games in real life. You could show ordinary people and have them comment on their favorite games and why they are such, the hard core crowd and show their 12 foot tall statue of either Master Chief, Kratos, Mario, CoD blah, blah, blah and even the oldies who started playing games before we were even born (Tetris, Pong people) and try to find old people that still play newer games. A grandpa playing CoD BO, kicking ass whilst commenting? Yes please.
Than programs that the channel could make itself. Like making the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and other console spring to life and a little television show about it calling it 'Console wars' and each console could have its distinct personality. Other consoles would then have cameos or be even in the said show. All what I'm saying is more or less brainstorming. It could sprout a nice little comedy show that would not have the quantitative budget but it would still be a quality show. Heck you could even show babes or 'stars' playing games if you wish but add a twist to check if their real gamers by asking them questions (normal ones mind you and not those, how many swords does Cloud have that are bigger than a telephone pole (answer: all)) made by the viewers and let the viewers see if they are really genuinely into gaming or a just ... camwhores looking for attention. A bit blunt and if I offended someone, sorry in advance.
The channel could organize tournaments where old school games would be played, those that were once on the arcades, they could organize concerts where video game music in live could be played and so much more.
I could write about this for hours because it just my point ... the material for such a channel is certainly here but you need the right people for it. The people that love gaming and would like to share it to others. The second a big ass corporation would take over and do it just for money it would more or less mean doom for the channel or a certain site *cough cough*. I know that money is important, don't tell me this but I still believe that you can maintain a soul whilst making money. Don't have to sell it FOR money.
To sum it up ... for those for whom I made a too long post. A channel is certainly doable, is certain to survive even in these days if it will base on one simple principle:
BY GAMERS FOR GAMERS.
My humble two cents. Hope you like.
