Blippo+ Celebrates the Lost Art of TV Watching

It's a quiet evening after a long day of work, or it could even be a lazy Sunday. You're keen to just sit back and watch something, and so you log into one of the many streaming services you've subscribed to. Except, you don't actually watch anything; instead, you cycle through menus and previews without really committing to anything.

In the past, when most of us used the old TV antenna or a cable box, this idea of non-committal watching was a bit more entertaining. Instead of cycling through the menus of a streaming app, we would do what was known as "channel surfing." We would jump from channel to channel and sample whatever came our way, and some nights all we did was burn an hour or two sampling random programs, but more often than not we did eventually commit to something... only to fall asleep.

Blippo+ is a strange release for the Nintendo Switch, because it almost feels like you're accessing a bizarre intergalactic TV station of some sort, but it is meant to be an interactive gaming experience. It's really about just consuming content, and while there is no traditional gameplay here, there is legitimate player agency involved, as you have the absolute power to change the channel as many times as you want.

It's essentially an FMV adventure game told via multiple disjointed TV programs. Eventually, the different programs and shows progress along, and there is a timeline, but getting through it involves the patience to sit and watch through hours of bizarre content. I personally don't recommend extended periods of watching, as some of the content may change the way you view the real world.

The main interface emulates TV boxes of old, and when you first boot up the game, it will spend a minute scanning for channels. Once you're all set up, there's a channel list and even a digital TV guide. Speaking of, if they ever do a physical edition of Blippo+, it better come with a printed TV guide.

There is an intranet built into the TV interface, mainly a text-based service where you can find dating classifieds, among other things. Long before the days of Smart TVs that connected to your WiFi, there were ways to connect your TV to certain satellite networks. Some of these services would even allow you to download games to your Mega Drive and SNES. It wasn't always practical or affordable to most consumers, but you'd be surprised how tech we take for granted today often has the most unlikely and surprising origins.

When it comes to the actual programming, to be honest, there isn't much here that will keep you glued. It's all very strange, quirky, and bizarre. The acting is intentionally campy, and the production values are clearly meant to look low-budget. There is variety in terms of the type of programs, everything from newscasters to music videos to exercise shows, but the actual content isn't enough to keep players engaged for hours. What's here is delivered in short bursts, but even so, committing to the full experience through repeated plays is difficult when the actual stories don't do enough to keep viewers interested. Weird and quirky TV can only go so far before wearing out its welcome.

At best, Blippo+ is a fun little diversion, and if you look into its history, the title was originally released as part of the Playdate seasonal library. If anything, the specialised handheld platform executes the design ambitions of Blippo+ much better than the standalone version for the Nintendo Switch. On Playdate, the programming was released over a period of time with content progressing in real time. The design feels much more suited to that setting than other platforms. The main benefit of the Switch version is having everything in full colour.

There was a time in gaming history when FMV games were seen as the future of gaming, expected to become essentially interactive movie experiences. Panasonic really tried to push for it with their ill-fated 3DO console, and SEGA tried to do the same with their Mega CD/Sega CD add-on for the Mega Drive/Genesis. It didn't quite work out the way game developers had hoped, as the tech at the time didn't stream the best video quality even by VHS (that's Video Home System to you kids) standards.

Still, FMV had a lasting impact on gaming by allowing developers to convey a story via cinematic sequences. Dedicated FMV games aren't entirely extinct today either, as numerous Japanese crime and detective thrillers work really well in this format as an interactive visual novel. And so, Blippo+ is a good example of how videos can be used to create unique gaming experiences. It's definitely on the experimental and off-kilter side, but the effort and dedication that went into creating its unique TV universe are still admirable.

The only thing that would complete the experience is a mandatory TV remote accessory, without which you wouldn't be able to change the channel. This could be the ultimate challenge in Blippo+: finding the remote.