Besides obviously being a social menace and devourer of souls, television has always acted as a kind of cultural barometer, its broadcasts mirroring the trends and preoccupations of the societies tuning in to them. As television has become more widespread through more channels, services and broadcast hours, its cultural net has widened too. TV has become more open to coverage of new phenomena and social developments – technologies, fads, hobbies and so on.

Video games unquestionably represent one of the biggest sociological and cultural trends of the modern era, and one that continues to emerge. Already, since its comparatively recent birth in the 1970s, gaming’s unique level of interactivity has lead to it making a major impact on the developed world’s general consciousness, particularly on young people. Surely, then, the up-to-date people behind the creation of television media would have made coverage of video games a top priority?

Charlie Brooker’s Gameswipe achieved both critical acclaim and ratings success.

In the UK, the recent broadcast of Gameswipe on digital channel BBC Four was a pretty major event for those interested in gaming. Presented with the razor wit of Charlie Brooker, the one-off show was an oddity: an entire programme dedicated to video games, aired on British national television – on the BBC, no less! Whilst British TV has covered gaming in the past, notably on 90s cheat-packed shows like GamesMaster, modern-day coverage of gaming remains an extremely niche market as far as TV executives seem to be concerned. This is despite the continued and explosive national growth of games’ popularity and profitability, with the non-gamer increasingly becoming a rarity. Indeed, one odd factor of note is that the Wii and Nintendo DS, popularisers of games to those who were previously uninterested in gaming, rely heavily on TV advertising for their success. Yet, despite this willingness of games companies to use TV, there seems to be no enthusiasm coming in the other direction.

Gameswipe’s apparent success offers an opportunity to reassess games on television. After all, the show was actually as much about gaming on television as it was about gaming itself. It included clips of the likes of GamesMaster, as well as ones of more mainstream science offered disdainful outlook on the worth of the medium. In the show’s introduction, Brooker also offered an explanation as to why games rarely feature on TV, suggesting that gaming is still seen as a sedentary, mind-rotting activity pursued only by emotionally and sexually inexperienced loners. Whilst it’s true that such perceptions probably still exist among some of those behind the TV shows we watch, it doesn’t go all the way to explaining why TV appears to shun our past-time, nor does it excuse what is ultimately a failure to give the audience what they want.