Has reality television finally eaten itself alive? It has according to Peter Bazalgette, Chief Creative Officer, Endemol (the company behind the Big Brother 'reality' TV show). He told news outlets today that, "We're told that people are starting to spend more time online than they are watching TV. Both markets are now important and this has huge implications for content creators."
And you'd expect a company with global sway of Endemol (which also produces such crowd pleasers as Deal Or Now Deal - the game show based entirely on desperate folk pretending there's actual strategy behind pure guesswork) to be in command of some reasonably accurate figures.
The statement of televisual defeat comes as part of a general "big up" to a new joint venture between the program developers and music label giant, Electronic Arts.
EA is teaming up with the Endemol group, the evil mastermind behind Big Brother, to produce a TV/gaming hybrid that will allow virtual participation in game shows.
The online platform, which is being prepared to launch with Big Brother, will supply “cutting edge avatar creation” using what EA promises is a “high performing, easy-to-use tool that creates astonishingly life-like cyber-clones.” It will then allow users to participate in virtual versions of TV shows “like” Endemol-owned programs such as Fame Academy and Deal or No Deal.
In short, then, EA is providing us with a way to make watching people mooch around a house and bitch even less interesting.
Gerhard Florin, executive vice president and general manager of EA International, said, “With Virtual Me we are at the forefront of a new, hybrid form of entertainment that takes gaming beyond the console. Endemol is a great partner to help us bring together the best of TV and video games for an offering that can appeal to mass market audiences and change the face of entertainment.”
The use of the word “new” in Florin's statement is questionable. Endemol already launched Big Brother in Second Life last year. In it, competing avatars had to spend a minimum of eight hours a day on Big Brother Island, while other people's avatars could vote on a winner. It is unclear exactly how Virtual Me will differ from Endemol's Second Life offering except that, based on the early screens below, the graphics are a massive improvement.
SPOnG has contacted EA to find out exactly how the platform's interaction with Big Brother and other shows will work. When we hear back we'll let you know. In the meantime, SPOnG will meditate on its vow that if Virtual Me becomes popular (which it probably will) it will declare society dead and move to a cave in the mountains to eat sticks and draw on the walls with its own waste.
The outbreak of (second) life-like virtual reality platforms is nothing if not widespread at the moment. SPOnG awaits the day it can go to the shops using only its Mii or simulate the effects of alcohol and a smoky pub with PlayStation Home.
Great, just what video gaming needed, to be dragged into the slough of mediocrity that is prime time television. Which shows do you most fear will be turned into 'virtual experiences' - tell us in the Forum.
And you'd expect a company with global sway of Endemol (which also produces such crowd pleasers as Deal Or Now Deal - the game show based entirely on desperate folk pretending there's actual strategy behind pure guesswork) to be in command of some reasonably accurate figures.
The statement of televisual defeat comes as part of a general "big up" to a new joint venture between the program developers and music label giant, Electronic Arts.
EA is teaming up with the Endemol group, the evil mastermind behind Big Brother, to produce a TV/gaming hybrid that will allow virtual participation in game shows.
The online platform, which is being prepared to launch with Big Brother, will supply “cutting edge avatar creation” using what EA promises is a “high performing, easy-to-use tool that creates astonishingly life-like cyber-clones.” It will then allow users to participate in virtual versions of TV shows “like” Endemol-owned programs such as Fame Academy and Deal or No Deal.
In short, then, EA is providing us with a way to make watching people mooch around a house and bitch even less interesting.
Gerhard Florin, executive vice president and general manager of EA International, said, “With Virtual Me we are at the forefront of a new, hybrid form of entertainment that takes gaming beyond the console. Endemol is a great partner to help us bring together the best of TV and video games for an offering that can appeal to mass market audiences and change the face of entertainment.”
The use of the word “new” in Florin's statement is questionable. Endemol already launched Big Brother in Second Life last year. In it, competing avatars had to spend a minimum of eight hours a day on Big Brother Island, while other people's avatars could vote on a winner. It is unclear exactly how Virtual Me will differ from Endemol's Second Life offering except that, based on the early screens below, the graphics are a massive improvement.
SPOnG has contacted EA to find out exactly how the platform's interaction with Big Brother and other shows will work. When we hear back we'll let you know. In the meantime, SPOnG will meditate on its vow that if Virtual Me becomes popular (which it probably will) it will declare society dead and move to a cave in the mountains to eat sticks and draw on the walls with its own waste.
The outbreak of (second) life-like virtual reality platforms is nothing if not widespread at the moment. SPOnG awaits the day it can go to the shops using only its Mii or simulate the effects of alcohol and a smoky pub with PlayStation Home.
Great, just what video gaming needed, to be dragged into the slough of mediocrity that is prime time television. Which shows do you most fear will be turned into 'virtual experiences' - tell us in the Forum.
Companies:
Electronic Arts
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Comments
Joji 16 Apr 2007 17:04
1/3
Strange these people at Endemol want to do this. True people are watching less tv but it's mainly because there's little on worth watching. Very few programs actually bother with real actors anymore or telling a story. Instead of reality tv becoming part of tv, its now taken over tv. Let's face it, half the time reality is boring, that's why we watch tv in the first place, to relax and escape.
This game won't sell when we're all playing our Wii's and 360s online. Gamers want to play games for fun, not have their avatar climb a sordid ladder of fame.
When Endemol can do something proper for tv, like Lost, Prison Break, Rome, BSG or Heroes, then they'll get my vote. I won't hold my water waiting for that day.
This game won't sell when we're all playing our Wii's and 360s online. Gamers want to play games for fun, not have their avatar climb a sordid ladder of fame.
When Endemol can do something proper for tv, like Lost, Prison Break, Rome, BSG or Heroes, then they'll get my vote. I won't hold my water waiting for that day.
InsaneJonny 16 Apr 2007 20:38
2/3
"Gamers want to play games for fun, not have their avatar climb a sordid ladder of fame."
Yeah we do, but what about average Joe Public, the kinda idiot that still eats up BB and the crap that's on tv nowadays, they'll love it.
Don't ever give them more credit then their due.
Yeah we do, but what about average Joe Public, the kinda idiot that still eats up BB and the crap that's on tv nowadays, they'll love it.
Don't ever give them more credit then their due.
James R 17 Apr 2007 03:36
3/3
Since when has EA been a music label giant?
A joint venture with a record company does NOT make them a music label.. EA is just a sweatshop for programmers
A joint venture with a record company does NOT make them a music label.. EA is just a sweatshop for programmers