Game Trailers TV Critiqued (and it doesn't like the Wii).

[mike_intellivision]

Found a review of GameTrailers TV when searching for Wii news.

http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2008/03/03/LifeArts/gametrailers.Tv.Fails.To.Provide.Organized.Accurate.Content-3247212.shtml

"Gametrailers TV" is a bad show on a road paved with good intentions. While it attempts to encapsulate relevant gaming news and analysis into a half-hour segment, it fails on both counts. The latest from the Spike network, "Gametrailers TV" is meant to offer a new way to "tap into the gaming culture." Unfortunately, the breakneck pacing and unfocused format are likely to leave viewers reeling.

While commentary comes from generally respectable sources, some appear uninformed about certain subjects. Shane Satterfield, editor-in-chief of Gametrailers.com, is particularly noteworthy.

"No one buys the Wii as their primary console," Satterfield said of Nintendo's popular platform, ignoring the company's appeal to a demographic that doesn't usually play video games. Satterfield insisted that the Wii is bought largely in addition to competing consoles rather than on its own.

As it happens, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 system sales dropped this year relative to the Wii's, according to an analysis of 2007 hardware sales by Matt Matthews of "Next Generation."

Meanwhile, the show's featured previews are essentially ads. A segment for "MLB '08: The Show" adeptly points out, "Baseball wouldn't be baseball without the teams, players and stadiums." Perhaps most telling is the narrator's suggestion that the game will drop "just in time for the new season." Each preview also points to more substantial coverage at the program's partner site, Gametrailers.com.

Host Geoff Keighley has proven himself elsewhere as a competent proponent of video games as a respectable medium. On a Fox News segment in January, he succinctly defended the space epic "Mass Effect" against assumptions and accusations that it depicted full digital nudity and let the player actively take part in graphic virtual sex. Heartbreakingly, "Gametrailers TV" lacks the same spark that gave many gamers hope when Keighley managed to get three little words in edgewise amidst the cacophony of misinformation that is Fox News:

"That's completely incorrect."

"Gametrailers TV" airs Fridays at 1 a.m. on the Spike network.