Can Digital TV Games Make It In The States?

Thanks to GameZone for their interview with Colin Anderson of developers Denki, as they discuss "if interactive TV can succeed in the gaming world", following Denki's continued UK releases of games played on set-top TV-receiving boxes, with titles including Denki Blocks and an updated Super Breakout. Denki's Anderson suggests: "It's not that digital TV games haven't been successful in North America, it's simply that they haven't been available up until recently... the US [is] around 12-18 months behind Europe", and also points out the different target audience for the format: "The interactive television audience tends to be 50-55% female with the most popular age ranges being under 12 and over 30. It's a real challenge from a designer's point of view to build a product that appeals equally across such a wide demographic." Would you play games on your digital TV box?

Interactive TV

[AtariAmarok]

My experience with interactive TV began and ended when I threw a brick through the screen when I found out that "Dharma and Greg" had been renewed for a second season.

Re:Interactive TV

[PainKilleR-CE]

speaking of bad TV, I realized last nite why CSI is so damned popular: there's absolutely not a friggin thing worth watching on Thursday nite when CSI is on. It's like someone decided that no one watches TV on Thursday.

Oh well, I guess the fact that I just now realized this means that I don't normally watch TV on thursday nite, either.

[OT] D&G

[Jerf]

What's with the rancor that show generates? (Seriously.) I enjoyed it, I know it's not a piece of art that will stand for the ages but it's hardly any worse then any of the other tripe that's on TV every season. What's unique about D&G that makes it come up so frequently in this context? (Again, I mean this question seriously.)

Train wreck.

[AtariAmarok]

Watching "Dharma and Greg" was like watching a train wreck, except train wrecks overall are funnier. It made "Caroline in the City" seem like "M*A*S*H*" in comparison.

For that matter, the train being wrecked was ABC. Sub-UPN-quality sitcoms like this helped sink that network.

Pah

[DigitalBubblebath]

As the article mentions, we've had digital interactive tv for some time now in the UK. I've played a few of the games myself, but they really appear as nothing more than a passing gimmick.

A few of the quiz games are interesting and sometimes the programme tie-ins are fun but as for playing proper games; the "platform" just doesn't allow for reliable real-time interaction. There's like a 1/2 second delay on button presses for gawd's sake.

Anyway, the picture quality in Digital televsion doesn't match a good analogue signal (though maybe your HDTVs over there will allow something better?)

Re:Pah

[Quikah]

Yes, an HD signal beats the pants off a good analogue signal. Hopefully you will someday get to experience it yourself.

Only a small non-gaming market

[Randar the Lava Liza]

These sorts of set-top games are really only useful in homes that do not already have a gaming console. I don't really care if my cable box will let me play tetris, I have a gamecube for games on my TV. The demographics seem correct, this sort of device would only be used by people who don't have a traditional console.

It seems a bit like the N-gage. Games on cellphones are handy only if you don't have a gameboy sp. If my cell phone has a bundled game, I might play it once in a while if I forget my gameboy, but I wouldn't buy something like the N-gage just to play games. Similar with this. If my cable box had games and I didn't have a console I might waste some time on those games, but with a dedicated console, who needs it.

Idle N-gage point - when I was flying Delta this week coming back from Florida they announced that all cellphones and all cellphone games had to remain off for the entire flight. Another nail in the N-gage coffin...

Re:Only a small non-gaming market

[gl4ss]

**Idle N-gage point - when I was flying Delta this week coming back from Florida they announced that all cellphones and all cellphone games had to remain off for the entire flight. Another nail in the N-gage coffin...**

for other s60 phones(7650,3650) there are software to turn it into 'flight mode'(you need to remove sim though also), so that it doesn't transmit.

anyways, as for the tv games.. you'd be surprised how popular sms based (very expensive to play in the long run!) tv games can be on tv, alongsid

Re:Only a small non-gaming market

[Randar the Lava Liza]

for other s60 phones(7650,3650) there are software to turn it into 'flight mode'(you need to remove sim though also), so that it doesn't transmit.

For Delta though, they don't distinguish between flight mode and not. They have no real way to test every kind of cellphone to see if the radio's off or not, so they've enacted a universal ban on all cellphones operating during all flights.

Of course with the upcoming wireless gameboy adapters and the Sony PSP it'll be interesting to see if they get hit with a u

Re:Only a small non-gaming market

[gl4ss]

well, yeah.. but it's getting to a point where everyone has some such device with him..

hmm.

they should make some lead shielded small sections of the plane for people to use whatever they please...

Lessons from iTunes

[kneecarrot]

iTunes has been successful because: 1) It lets users feel like they own their entertainment. 2) It is flexible. 3) It is simple. On-demand gaming will not take off until it satisfies the same criteria.

not worth the money

[jkcity]

I used to play them sometimes but as others have mentioned they are really slow, and on ntl box's likely to crash it. The thing that stopped me going back was though they introduced charges, to unlock level 2 you must ring this number, its just not worth what they are charging to unlock the levels when you have a pc and can get similar games for free.

8-10 months?

[RzUpAnmsCwrds]

Ever remember WebTV Plus? It existed in 1998, and it offered "interactive tv". You could access games, quiz shows, weather, and more. It even programmed your VCR for you.

UltimateTV offered the same, so did AOL TV; and so does DirecTV Interactive and Dish Interactive.

It's not that we're behind, quite the converse, we have had "interactive tv". It's just that no one ever saw it as more than a cheap gimmic. It turns out, most people *don't* want to play along with their favorite quiz show, and they *can* use

Interactive TV is an oxymoron

[loyoyo]

Nuh uh. Many companies and investors including Microsoft, Comcast, have lost tons of cash trying to get Interactive TV going in the US. Because Euro networks were foolish enough to actually launch interactive TV doesn't put 'em ahead of us. Cellphones are another story, the Americas are far behind Europe and Asia on wireless networks, which is about far more than the narrow market for phone games. Remember VM Lab's Nuon? Tempest on a DVD player, woo-hoo! TV is a passive medium/device cannot compete w/g

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:It sucks.

[kneecarrot]

What was the business model for the games part? Did they charge for each play? Did you rent by the week or month?

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

They were moderatly successful in the US

[GOD_ALMIGHTY]

Americast, GTE's move into cable back in 96 or 97 had digital TV that came with games. The games were text-based and multiplayer. They were in the vain of trivia games you find at some sports bars where they are interconnected with other sports bars via satallite.

On Americast you could play these games on the network, against other people. I found myself playing at peoples houses when we would get together. It was at least as fun as playing at a sports bar.

The price was included in the digital cable tier.