Editing GamesMaster (section)

==Relationship with the games industry==
Prior to ''GamesMaster'' appearing, games companies had very few TV programmes on which to have their titles featured. UK broadcasters had shown sporadic interest in the scene, normally confining coverage to segments within Saturday morning children's programming. From time to time, news programmes would report on one of the very successful British games studios, but in contrast to programming involving films and music videos, there was no regular showcase for video games.

''GamesMaster'' was first broadcast in 1992, during the [[History of video game consoles (fourth generation)|fourth (16-bit) console generation]] - after the launch of the [[Mega Drive]], but before the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]]. [[Sega]]'s success in the early 90s (with both the [[Master System]] and Mega Drive, as well as the huge hit game [[Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]) helped cause a video game console boom in 1991, bringing gaming into mainstream UK culture, which would only increase following the arrival of consoles with more advanced graphics capabilities, such as those found on the [[PlayStation]]. That ''GamesMaster'' regularly drew in audiences in the millions proved that there was a huge and so far untapped audience.

Despite competition with specialist gaming magazines, the programme managed to secure several exclusives over the series, showing games that were months or even years away from being finished. Because ''GamesMaster'' was largely a challenge-based programme, games studios could, for example, present a single level to be used for these competitive segments. ''[[Blast Corps]]'' is one example of a game that was demonstrated long before it, or even the [[Nintendo 64]] that it played on, were released.

Occasionally, games studios made levels specifically for use on one of the challenges. [[Shiny Entertainment]] were one such studio when they put together a special level of ''[[Earthworm Jim (video game)|Earthworm Jim]]''. Though this worked out well for both game studio and the programme, the experience was somewhat soured when this code ended up being leaked on the Internet. It is believed that the only way for this to have happened is that one of the staff on the programme must have had links with online [[ROM image|ROM]] crackers. It led to a great deal of embarrassment and likely upset the trust that existed between the producer, Shiny Entertainment and their publisher, [[Virgin Interactive]].