Charlie Brooker to host new video games show

Writer and comic (and former games journalist) Charlie Brooker is to host a new TV show about video games.

It’s called How Video Games Changed The World and will be aired on Channel 4 at the end of November as part of a themed night dedicated to video games.

Endemol’s one-off documentary will last two hours and chart the history of gaming and its impact on society. It will feature the likes of famed developers Nolan Bushnell and Will Wright, writer Rhianna Pratchett as well as celebrity gamers Jonathan Ross, Dara O’Briain and Labrinth.

How Video Games Changed the World provides an intelligent, funny and entertaining look at some of the most influential and iconic video games in history (even the absolutely dreadful ones),” the blurb reads.

We will be reminiscing back to the launch of Pac-Man and the birth of the first electronic icon for 80’s popular culture. Moving through to the booming nineties we will be looking at video games’ first credible female character, digital cover girl and tawdry teenage boy fantasy – Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft.

Now in the 21st century we take a critical look at how Minecraft and its fan base of armchair architects are reshaping the world one brick at a time, whilst shoot-fest franchises like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto are easily outselling other forms of entertainment on a day to day basis.”

MCV interviewed Brooker about his one-off Newswipe spin-off Gameswipe back in 2009.