I started a thread about a month ago on a future trend called GAME TV- and now the History Channel (my favorite cable TV hang-out) is starting a series on this exact subject: COMMAND DECISIONS- Friday, Jul 23, 2004 (Check your local listings) The series uses Game Engine Animation tools and effects to re-create famous historic battles, both ancient and modern, and puts viewers in the position of actual decision makers to determine the outcome of the battles. I've seen the previews, and they create huge battle scenes with massive numbers of warriors-soldiers using state-of-the-art game engine animation, and I think it is something that will actually be a regular Cable-TV series- Games that you can play and CONTROL from your own TV via two-way cable links. (This already happens now on internet game sites) My own cable supplier- Road Runner, is already able to do this as they supply both analog and digital video, as well as broad-band internet services- so this is VERY LIKELY to happen in the near future on Cable TV. Watch the show and see the future of Cable GAME TV!

Attached Link: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040719/195084_1.html

Having gone to the History Channel website to read up on this I learned that they will also be broadcasting another show called "Decisive Battles" (which will precede the other show)and which also uses the same game technology to re-create ancient battles. There will be a viewer interactivity experiment using cell-phones. If you feel like participating read the press release on the web link...

hmm I see they changed the name.. this has been shown already on BBC2 in the UK.. it's not bad, tho the teams can be annoying..

I've seen quite a few good BBC produced shows on the History Channel, which re-packages them for the U.S. audience- including commercial breaks- which I guess they don't have on the BBC networks. There's also the History International Channel, which I have never seen but assume it has affliates in Europe and Asia and is carried on regional cable or satellite channels. I think we will see current "kid" action games evolve into more sophisticated and historically accurate games. It has HUGE growth potential, I believe, especially among an "older" audience...