Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe

Just caught this tonight, didn't even know it was on - thank goodness I did some EPG surfing after Chuck.

For those that didn't see it, Charlie was his usual ebuliant self and the retarded poor man's Jonathan Meades gave us a brief overview of the entire video game genre in a very even handed manner.

Highlights were Dara O'Briain talking about how no other genre makes you work for your content and Graham Linehan discussing the poor storytelling aspects of the digital narrative.

Low points were some hippy chick singing about the game Madworld on the Wii with the same disdain she might have for a hairy arsed Geordie builder taking a dump in her pretty pink bathroom and two weird Scottish blokes who looked liked they belonged to some bizarre homosexual S&M cult.

Best moment was when Brooker was showing off GTA IV and killing a taxi driver and then waiting for the passenger to get out and killing her too.

I don't know why we get endless trails for life sucking garbage like Lunch Monkeys but no adverts for this. If you've not seen it, check it out on iPlayer - or wait a week and it will be repeated on BBC Four forever and ever like all of Brooker's shows.

I saw half of it, and parts of it were semi-enjoyable, but what I'd feared seemed to be right, if you're not into games, it was pretty boring stuff.

Charlie had said everyone would enjoy it. He liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiied.

Bring back Screenwipe for gawd's sake.

(He can do a few Game ones now and then for you Game-heads I suppose.)

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ September 29 2009, 11:04 PM BST

Just caught this tonight, didn't even know it was on - thank goodness I did some EPG surfing after Chuck.

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I'll do this nicer than Mark or Aaron: *cough, cough* www.comedy.co.uk

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ September 29 2009, 11:04 PM BST

Highlights were Dara O'Briain talking about how no other genre makes you work for your content and Graham Linehan discussing the poor storytelling aspects of the digital narrative.

Best moment was when Brooker was showing off GTA IV and killing a taxi driver and then waiting for the passenger to get out and killing her too.

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I felt so sorry for Dara in his GTA IV and 'Gears' misadventures. I had trouble in the same places but managed to get through eventually.

That was funny.

Quote: Nil Putters @ September 29 2009, 10:53 PM BST

Waiting for Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe to start on BBC Four.

"We all live in a yellow, red, blue, green."

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Quote: Badge @ September 29 2009, 11:07 PM BST

I'll do this nicer than Mark or Aaron: *cough, cough* www.comedy.co.uk.

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Yes, I should have checked the home page first instead of going to the Forums. Still, aside from the BCG, the promotion for this show was almost non-existent.

Quote: zooo @ September 29 2009, 11:06 PM BST

I saw half of it, and parts of it were semi-enjoyable, but what I'd feared seemed to be right, if you're not into games, it was pretty boring stuff.

Charlie had said everyone would enjoy it. He liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiied.

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Maybe on the next one, he can some celebrities in sequined costumes having a bit of dance. Would that make you happy zooo?

Know nothing about computer games, and care less, but the hippy chick was cute.

For a non-gamehead I found this great fun and an interesting catch-up on what I've been missing/not been missing. It made a lot of decent points about what turns me off modern day gaming - i.e. lack of story-telling and style over substance.

I'd almost forgotten about 'Chuckie Egg', a game I spent hundreds of hours of my youth playing. Oh, and the marble world game I remember being brilliant and very challenging. Glad someone finally stated on TV that 'Jet Set Willy' was actually impossible to ever complete. (This was more due to programming glitches than by design. Back in the good old days when a whole game would be created and coded by one person.)

As well as the nostalgia though, it did make me think that I perhaps should find some time to explore getting back into gaming. Never been a huge shoot-em-up or blood and gore fan, but looks like there is still something for everyone out there.

Oh, and Dara was very funny. Graham made some very valid points.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ September 29 2009, 11:13 PM BST

Maybe on the next one, he can some celebrities in sequined costumes having a bit of dance. Would that make you happy zooo?

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Yes that certainly describes all my favourite shows...

Hee, I enjoyed this and want more.

I saw most of this thanks to the estimable guide on the front page of BCG.

It was on the front page of iPlayer last night. Not often a BBC Four show gets that kind of exposure.

Quote: Kevin Murphy @ September 30 2009, 10:29 AM BST

It was on the front page of iPlayer last night. Not often a BBC Four show gets that kind of exposure.

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Isn't iPlayer kind of personalised though, i.e. when you access it, it tends to promote the kind of shows you've been using it to watch? Or am I just paranoid and deluded?

EDIT: Having looked again at iPlayer I realise I'm talking bollocks. However, there are in fact 25 shows strapped at the top at any one time. So it's perhaps not that surprising that BBC Four's only major original entertainment show of the evening gets a plug.

Quote: Tim Walker @ September 30 2009, 10:32 AM BST

Isn't iPlayer kind of personalised though, i.e. when you access it, it tends to promote the kind of shows you've been using it to watch? Or am I just paranoid and deluded?

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Not as far as I can tell. I watch Pointless every day, to my shame, and it's never once put it on the top scroller. And yet f**king Top Gear is there all the time.

As someone who was once addicted to Crash Bandicoot but now only plays sports on the Wii - shall I bother with this show?

Quote: Dolly Dagger @ September 30 2009, 10:47 AM BST

As someone who was once addicted to Crash Bandicoot but now only plays sports on the Wii - shall I bother with this show?

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Yes, definitely. It's structured as a guide to video games more than a review show of anything current. And it's funny.