BBC Radio 1 to Have ‘Big Gaming Weekend’
From 22-25 May, BBC Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra are holding the ‘˜Big Gaming Weekend’. How exciting! So, what can we except from the media giant? Well, there will be game tunes played on air, leaderboards for the station’s DJs and game reviews. Not only that but the BBC have compiled a list of the top 100 games of all time from ‘˜industry experts’. Listeners will then be able to vote for their top three through the station’s website.
In seriousness though, this event does not sound particularly amazing. Who honestly cares about which Radio 1 DJ is the best ‘˜gamer’? My main problem with this though is that it’s being held on Radio 1. As a station best known for featuring the likes of Chris Moyles and Fearne Cotton, hopes for well thought out gaming discussion should be fairly low from the outset. If they discuss anything more than the Wii I will be quite shocked.
Also, considering the station’s emphasis is on ultra popular and urban music, I can only see a small selection of games being covered. Namely: FIFA, Halo, Call of Duty and various Wii releases. Granted, this is probably more for the casual gamer than the hardcore but I can’t see gamers being put into a particularly good light. I already imagine that a slew of 12 year olds, fresh from screaming at someone over Xbox Live, will be the sole representation of gamers. I’ll be truly surprised if Radio 1 does anything that doesn’t perpetuate the gaming stereotype. But, with that being said, this can’t be any worse than Microsoft’s legendary Xtival, can it?
Via: CVG
News Tags: BBC, Casual, event, gaming, radio
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Radio One do have a games reviewer who sometimes appears on Jo Whiley’s show (or Edith Bowman, it depends) so they do, at least, discuss something other than the Wii (although Jo Whiley has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about). Obviously it’s not that in-depth, but I wouldn’t expect that from a mainstream radio station.
I remember that there were quite a few features on GTA IV before its release, but that was probably because it was a hugely anticipated game.
It’s obviously always going to be geared towards the casual gamer, so us hardcores can’t really expect in-depth discussion from Radio One. However, I do appreciate game tunes being played on a mainstream radio station!