As far as I know, the only place videoGaiden ever aired was in Scotland. And even then, I only noticed it when the Christmas Special just so happened to bring the venerable Dominik Diamond – with appropriate fanfare – to my screen while channel surfing. “What on earth is this?”
Way back in the 1990’s: GamesMaster was teenaged geek’s must see TV. I remember complex discussions the next morning in German class at school about whatever games had been dealt with in the last night’s episode. That must have been 1992! It only seemed natural that gaming deserved its own early evening blockbuster. It had the shelf space at the newsagents, and the cavernous bunkers in the high street record shops, so why not? And yet when the show was finally axed after its seventh season, there would not be a replacement. There still isn’t.
Despite the thriving place gaming has today, you have to go online to see it talked about.
Meanwhile, for the last few years, BBC Scotland – the local division of everyone’s favourite state-run media conglomerate – had been sneakily airing this little gem where I’d never notice it. It wasn’t just me either: you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who’s aware of its existence even in Scotland! The special which I fortuitously saw was itself on at some daft time, and our meeting was pure coincidence. But it didn’t take long at all to realise there was something to this that I liked. Best of all, they keep all their stuff on the website. (If your IP address is in Britain, apparently, or of course YouTube may be able to help.)
Another new fan of the show just so happens to be Stephen, the friend who made last month’s machinima with me. After going through the show’s archives – and its online-only predecessor Consolevania too – we had enough to go on to give The Movies another try. Hunter and Rayorg in particular inspired our little endeavour, if you’d like to check it out.
Do beware though: the in-jokes for those not already familiar with Jeff Gerstmann’s infamous departure from GameSpot (and subsequent project: the Giant Bomb), Rab and Ryan’s games critique style, and said Hunter and Rayorg’s great saga; may prove mildly bewildering. We did though ensure that the Scottish dialect component was up to scratch, so if you can put up with twisted textual swearing: have at it.
A message to BBC Scotland: if you keep us plied with videoGaiden, I can forgive you Newsnight Scotland. Do not try my patience! Perhaps putting it on sometime a little less daft – and maybe advertised before its last / maybe even last ever episode – could help bring in those rare viewers? Just a thought.
