I’m not a fan of cars, really. I don’t even care much for driving. They are a necessity for travel, especially in modern America where no one believes in sidewalks or wide enough shoulders for bicycles. Still, I never cared much about horsepower. Open the hood of one and I’ll point to the biggest object in there, guessing that is responsible for making things go vroomy-vroom.

Yet I enjoy watching Top Gear when it is on. For those not familiar, Top Gear is a BBC television show about cars. During the show they review and discuss new vehicles and test drive them, as any show about cars likely would. However, the key difference is the three hosts and the personality they bring to it. Each of them has expert knowledge of cars as well as a deep passion, but they also have very different preferences and styles. One is even called Captain Slow because he prefers a more calm and tame style of car compared to the garish high-speed luxury vehicles.

Even then, the real draw is the different events and ideas the group has. One week they’ll be racing across Europe on a single tank of gas, and another they’ll be figuring out why 17% of the English population goes to RV Camps for vacation. While the concepts may seem boring, the personality that each host brings results in pretty humorous episodes that anyone can laugh at. All the car jargon is there for other people with a passion for vehicles, but the hosts and their ideas present enough for people like me to enjoy as well. I still could care less about cars, but I might actually learn something about them from a show like this.

What does this have to do about video games? Well, I wanted to somehow see if I could get my family interested in Brutal Legend as the release neared. I know my mother is a fan of Jack Black, so I imagined I might be able to get her curious about it. I recorded the X-Play special on it on my DVR and played it back for her, but as it went on I began to flinch. The jokes fell flat and the presentation only confused her. I had to shut it off before it was even halfway complete. There was no way I could get my mom to even understand what Brutal Legend was, let alone her interest. X-Play is designed for an audience completely comprised of adolescents and a scant few adults that are already familiar with games. After all, they’re gamers.

I began wondering what you would do to develop a television show for non-gamers, but could try and present them similarly to X-Play. However, that’s not the appropriate model to use. Instead a television show that brings a niche topic to a wider audience should be used as the base model. While cars may not seem as niche as video games are, there are few people that truly have the knowledge of actual car nuts. Few people go out of their way to read car magazines or websites, considering expert reviews in their next purchase of a machine. We’re reaching an age where video games are entering the mainstream consciousness in the same fashion. Some company names are recognized, but most consumers don’t keep up with the latest news or reviews. Their purchasing decisions are completely different from the video game nut.

A proper video game show on television should follow a similar model as to Top Gear. It shouldn’t simply be about covering new games and reviewing titles, it should present them in an interesting fashion. The hosts should be knowledgeable of the entertainment medium, but give them separate tastes. Instead of doing typical reviews, have each host select a game they favored and pass it to one of the other hosts. Have the shooter and action fanatic pass on a game to the casual gamer, who then passes a game on to the PC strategy and role-playing game specialist who then passes his title to the shooter and action player. Cover concepts that a mainstream audience may care about, such as the latest controversy over sex in random-game-X. Don’t be insulting, but light-hearted and informative. Have a variety of guests on. Not only industry members but big name actors and singers as well. Challenge them to a game and see what happens, but always be sure to cut out boring parts.

There’s a slew of ways such a show can be executed and recorded, but overall the general premise is the same. Focus on the hosts, not the games or their content. While in the end a general verdict of the games should be provided, a five minute review isn’t required. The commentary of a casual gamer trying to figure out the controls and HUD of the latest space shooter should provide humor for a mainstream and hardcore gaming audience alike.

Then, over time, that mainstream audience will build an understanding of video games and begin to have a more informed opinion on them, which is the overall goal. A way to introduce our family and friends to a hobby we love so much, just as my car loving friend gave us some mutual ground for motorvehicles by introducing me to Top Gear.

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