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The BBC adds a slew of new podcasts
The BBC is about to seriously boost their podcast offerings. By the end of the month, more than thirty shows will be made available as podcasts from the BBC, including:Woman's HourStart the WeekBroadcasting HouseToday in ParliamentFront RowFire up your iPods, UK!* Time to start downloading.Update: In the name of international relations, I have edited this sentence to read "Fire up your iPods, UK!" instead of "Fire up your iPods, England!" I guess I should have paid attention during geography class, eh?
BBC release full stats on UK gamers
We've already covered the BBC's summary report of their investigation into UK gamers. Now a full report has been released which goes into much more depth, revealing more about gaming as a national hobby on this side of the pond.One of the trends observable from the report is UK gamers' platform of choice--every age group surveyed featured the PS2 and PC prominently as the top two gaming platforms, though the ordering differed across the generations. Mobile gaming also featured very heavily, possibly because the survey labelled those who played Snake on their phone occasionally as much a "gamer" as nightly Halo 2 addicts.Other interesting data comes from the proportion of female gamers in each category. While male gamers outnumber females in every age group, the ratio ranges from 44:56 to 48:52--this seems counter-intuitively high, despite attempts by various groups to make the female gamer more prominent as a consumer. From the report:"Female gamers display a stronger attraction to certain genres and are searching for their gaming choices across a wider number of platforms, which may indicate a lack of appealing material on the popular consoles" These statistics alone aren't overwhelmingly meaningful, but if commissioned at regular intervals, we could map out the state of the "gaming nation" over time very easily. The report shows a lot of promise for gaming as a mainstream hobby in the UK, but with 41% of the British population seemingly not gamers, the industry still has to work for its custom.
BBC broadcasts Newsnight from Second Life
Adding to a library of evidence that points to the BBC being totally addicted to online games, comes the news that a section of the BBC's Newsnight program was broadcast from within the popular MMO, Second Life. Beyond the novelty of a MMO based TV program, the report takes a look at the many aspects of online games: from online economies to "hired gamers" which are paid to level up characters in games like World of Warcraft. The whole segment was born out of an off-hand comment to the program's editor, "why don't we broadcast Newsnight from inside a computer game." Whatever next? A news report from the war-torn land of Battlefield 2?[Via Wonderland]
BBC Nintendo documentary
This Outrageous Fortunes documentary from BBC Three, released on Google Video, takes a look at Nintendo--the company and the "Mario culture", as well as its "shady secrets". As the commentary on Google explains, it's an opinionated piece; one of the highlights is an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, dubbed by a chirpy Northerner, although presenter Libby Potter seems unfamiliar with the questions she asks. There are no tidbits of news about upcoming plans from Nintendo, but it's an interesting slanted look at the company's past, if you keep in mind that the point of the Outrageous Fortunes series is to investigate the dark side of companies' financial successes.
Putting virtual driving skills to the test
Jeremy Clarkson from the BBC's Top Gear programme recently put his hard-won Gran Turismo 4 driving skills to the test in California on "the most fearsome track in North America", Laguna Seca. Driving the same car in-game and for real -- a Honda NSX -- Jeremy tried to match his GT4 time on the real raceway, with surprising results.This video clip catalogues his adventures, and is sobering viewing for anyone who thinks that excelling at PGR3 or GT makes you a top-notch race driver. The Top Gear episode is repeated on BBC2 at 7pm on New Year's Day for UK viewers.Choice quote: "That's not a corner on the PlayStation!" [Thanks, dutchhenk]
