Shmups discussed on TV tonight - webcast to follow

Post by **spadgy** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:45 pm

Hope this isn't meant for off-topic. Shmups are being discussed by the panalists on the Gamesnight show on X League TV, a UK TV channel on Sky 279 at 8pm, tonight, Thursday 24th January 2008.

Soon there'll be a web based version of the show for international viewing, so I'll put that up when it comes.

Probably be very breif but hey, at least the genre's getting some more mainstream recognition.

Post by **spadgy** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:44 pm

Nobody watch it? Oh well. Here's a weblink to the section of the show about shooters...

link

Post by **Dave_K.** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:05 pm

Hey thats Spadgy on the panel!

Nice job representing the shmups community by putting in a plug for Cave.

Post by **spadgy** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:15 pm

Dah - you noticed (but how)! I was hoping for some nice objective comments on the shmups coverage on a very mainstream TV games program. I've never watched one as it's weird, but I wondered how people might react without knowing it was me.

I hate being in front of a camera, but they pay OK, and I only do it once a month, plus it works nicely to promote your name when you work as a freelance games journalist.

And yes, it was me that suggested to the program makers to include shmups as a topic...

Motorherp · Post by **Motorherp** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:21 pm

Hehe, I noticed how you kept trying to make the destinction between scrolling shooters and arena shooters. That tends to get to me too, the huge swell in popularity of arena games which sadly just isn't spilling over into support for the scrolling variety as much as I'd hope. Perhaps that's a good thing though since like you say, its very easy to make bad shooters.

doodude · Post by **doodude** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:48 pm

spadgy wrote:Nobody watch it? Oh well. Here's a weblink to the section of the show about shooters...

link

Just watched the interview & really enjoyed it.

Uh...which one is Spagy?

And how come them boys is talk'in so dang funny!?

..

Post by **Dave_K.** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:57 pm

Haha! Sorry to spoil the surprise Spadgy. Between the shmups picture thread with your wedding cake shot (awesome!), and the one thread where a guy used your real first name (lol), I put 2 and 2 together.

Post by **spadgy** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:32 pm

Dave_K. wrote:Haha! Sorry to spoil the surprise Spadgy. Between the shmups picture thread with your wedding cake shot (awesome!), and the one thread where a guy used your real first name (lol), I put 2 and 2 together.

Oh yes - the old arcade cab wedding cake - that was a beauty!

No worries about spoiling the surprise! And yeah - I never worked out how that guy knew my first name. Doesn't matter at all, but very curious...

jpj · Post by **jpj** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:07 pm

good work spadgy

i hope steve didn't pay for that haircut

Bloodreign · Post by **Bloodreign** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:44 pm

Good program, nice seeing some good chaps speaking about gaming's best genre, nice job.

Aquas · Post by **Aquas** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 12:41 am

Cool. Poor SoldernX being used as an example of a poor shmup, yet funny that it's poor quality was used a distinction to appreciate the more intricate and complicated shmup.

Yay for purity.

Post by **spadgy** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:25 am

jpj wrote:good work spadgy

i hope steve didn't pay for that haircut

From what I know of Steve, I think he's had that hair cut for a long old while.

Nate · Post by **Nate** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:53 am

When did Bill Paxton turn British and get a fucked-up mohawk?

Ex_Mosquito · Post by **Ex_Mosquito** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 3:07 pm

That was excellent. Im guessing you were the first guy with the tattoos? You came across as the most passionate about shooters/games. Well done.

Post by **spadgy** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 3:10 pm

That's me - half finished Raidbow Island/Bubble Bobble tattoos all over me long skinny arms! Glad you all liked it. Must admit I wasn't sure I'd do the humble shmup justice on TV, but glad I did manage to make it a topic of the week for the show (EDIT: which is actually quite a good show all in all, as UK game shows go. A pleasure to be involved with).

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 5:38 pm

It's great to see someone so knowledgeable on a UK games TV show. Even better was hearing Cave getting a quick mention: it's cool to think that people will hopefully look into better stuff after watching the show. Nice one.

jpj · Post by **jpj** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:01 pm

it was quite spinny actually, because the day i read this thread, i'd just picked up the new gamestm, and the forum gets mentioned in there too

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:06 pm

jpj wrote:it was quite spinny actually, because the day i read this thread, i'd just picked up the new gamestm, and the forum gets mentioned in there too

In the review for Soldner X, yeah? I though that was a pretty awesome review for a mainstream games rag. It pretty much ripped it apart for being a euroshmup, for having a lifebar and a shitty scoring system, all of which is what you really want to know about when reading about a shooter. Hats off to the reviewer.

Post by **spadgy** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:57 pm

I'd say out of all my games journalist colleagues (or I guess rivals, as we're mostly freelance or from different publications, but we all get on lovely like) I might be the most dedicated to shmups, but there's a surprising number of shmup fans in the industry, so it's a shame the genre doesn't get more coverage.

The old editor of Sega Saturn Mag UK Gary is pretty shit hot it seems, and the guy on the sofa next to me on the show knows his shit. One of the Gamespot UK team too. Actually - there's a few in the industry too. In the office where they made Heavenly Sword one of the guys who runs the company, who is really nice, has a cab or two (Egrets if I remember rightly) with Ketsui and Pink Sweets running for the staff to use in breaks.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:36 pm

Forgot to post this, but yeah those guys on the show are actually professionals.

Very intelligent people.

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:09 pm

Good Stuff!

I like the fact that the panel mentioned skill and high score and of course spadgy's Cave plug

.

Post by **spadgy** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:03 pm

Fighter17 wrote:Forgot to post this, but yeah those guys on the show are actually professionals.

Very intelligent people.

To me the notion of me being professional seems real odd! And very intelligent? Well... I'd contest that.

Unless you're taking the piss

And yeah, I did have to get Cave a mention. Could of talked a lot more about shmups too, but I think we got seven minutes.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 12:50 am

spadgy, you are a cool dude- at least, you could beat up all those "arcades are dead" losers

Post by **spadgy** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:06 pm

Well, I'm not sure if I'm 'cool', but thank you greatly for the compliment. Much appreciated!

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 11:48 pm

Well done. But you should have smacked that guy who said Xenon 2 was good.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 1:02 am

spadgy wrote:To me the notion of me being professional seems real odd! And very intelligent? Well... I'd contest that.

Unless you're taking the piss

And yeah, I did have to get Cave a mention. Could of talked a lot more about shmups too, but I think we got seven minutes.

Well let me say this:

The guys on the show had a real discussion of a game.

If I was into modern gaming I would personally watch the show whenever it comes on.

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 1:03 am

I couldn't decipher much from the show due to how British people talk (a bit too much of an accent for me as a foreigner), but based on what people said here, good job. It would be better if there was more game footage, though, very illustrative as it is.

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:35 am

Very nice. I was having a good time watching it until that one guy started mentioning 'the zone' and staring at those eye-puzzles. Then I started paying attention when he stopped talking.

stuntman · Post by **stuntman** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:04 am

moozooh wrote:...It would be better if there was more game footage...

Just what I was thinking. No amount of talking will change some people's preconceived idea of what a 2D shmup is. Try as I might to explain to the kiddy I work with, he doesn't seem to realize the genre has evolved beyond Space Invaders

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 2:22 pm

Well voiced Spadgy.
Intelligent discussion and some nice plugs you made there. A little bit more gameplay footage would make it a bit more interesting to watch though.

Still, quality stuff imo.

Ceph wrote:Well done. But you should have smacked that guy who said Xenon 2 was good.

I knew someone would be over that the second I heard it.
Let's be honest though, gameplay and level design aside (which suck indeed), it did have amazing graphics for it's time and I'll admit liking the soundtrack quit a bit.

So though it's far from a good example of a properly made shmup, it does have it's plus points.

Nice mention of the quality of PCE shmups too.