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G4 Drops TechTV Name
MrM writes "According to the latest press release from G4techTV, G4 will drop the TechTV name in mid-February 2005. This comes as a major step to the old TechTV viewers, as the focused content has become gaming-oriented once more. G4 also released a copy of their "redesigned" logo, but quickly pulled it off the web after release." The article also includes details of "two new series, "Formula D" and "Girls Gone Wired." Formula D appears to be coverage of Drift Racing (because obviously gamers love that), and unfortunately Girls Gone Wired appears to be exactly what you'd expect: Guys ogling video game characters in a beauty pageant.
I miss tech tv :( G4 is the devil.
Obviously G4 didn't learn anything when they lost most of their fan base. G4 buying Tech TV was the worst thing to happen in ages.
Now they are going further away from the right thing. Getting rid of more shows, and adding lame ones.
It's still my hope that the old TechTV crew will start their own network, that would be awesome. G4 has ruined everything they ever made me believe in (TechTV that is).
Not that this really suprises me teh whole network has gotten terrible. I guess just a guarantee they will never get my viewership back
This was a ploy by Comcast to get on satellite and on charter and Time Warner cable systems.
I have noticed (although have to admit I watch the channel maybe 15 minutes a week now) that Comcast is advertising.
Charter Communications has a large hub in my area and from what the "higher ups" have told me - they are quite angry.
I haven't understood why the former employees and show hosts don't ban together for a class action lawsuit for wrongful termination.
I also don't understand why us geeks (who don't want mindless gaming shows 24/7 and miss the older content) can't ban together and find an attorney that will sue Comcast for collusion and misrepresentation.
It's obvious (especially with this move) that Comcast had NO INTENTION to keep TechTv or any of it's content.
It's a shame Leo Laporte moved to TechTV in Canada!
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
When Patrick wore his utilikilt and the network actually taught people about computers.
* "I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer." *
1. Merge with well respected company with original content.
2. Destroy all original content and replace with mindless crap.
3. Disassociate yourself with merged company.
4. Profit??
I really miss the Tech TV of old. I was very suprised to see what G4 did to the Screensavers and all the other programming on the network.
So what exactly was the point with merging with Tech TV in the first place? Was it just to gut it from within?
Chewie does not get a medal. Come on, George. Can a Wookie get a medal?
I think my days of watching G4/TechTV or whatever they call themselves has come to an end. GAME OVER!
SPAM solution made easy: 1 spammer, 5 cords of rope, 5 hourses, and fireworks. Be creative.
Wow, you must be over 14 dude. In other words, outside of G4's demographic. ;-)
The big problem with G4's management is I think they rely too much on ONLINE demographic data such as the average age of game related message forum users, etc. Teens have the most time to waste and are the most fanatical, which makes them APPEAR to be the core demographic, but they're not.
Completely ceasing all TV watching was the best thing I ever did. Although I do like drift racing, I doubt that show will be very good.
You know, since there isn't any TV or radio for nerds like us, you think we would have made some already? I mean, just have people create video and audio content in an open source fashion. Collect it and place it in categories. Then by using a combination of RSS and BitTorrent, which is an idea everyone and their mother is implementing, voila nerd tv and radio. When someone doesn't make software we like, we make it ourselves. But when someone doesn't make television we like we whine and complain. Lets make it ourselves!
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Now it's clear. G4 bought TTV to put them out of business, plain and simple. No more competition.
Fine, they wasted their money. We're not out here *starving* for information on computers and gaming. There's lots of alternative places to go. The TTV viewers like myself won't start watching G4, we'll just be cancelling our TiVo season pass for the Screen Savers and move on.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
If g4 is for gamers, why is it so lame? I understand techTV is dead and phased out and it is all about games, but the shows are still incredibly bad.
I haven't cought them all since I don't watch tv too often and I can only stomach G4 for so long at a time. But the review show is terrable. There is one guy who actually makes sense on it, but he keeps getting talked over by his annoying co-host who yells out things like "YEEE HAWWWWWW". I am sure he's told to act like a jack ass, but I want to hear about the game they are reviewing, not all the guys stupid comments and bad jokes.
Why don't they give gamers what they want? We don't want to watch some no names play video games against each other. They showed some people playing Call of Duty and SOCOM against each other. I don't know the games, so all I see are random people killing eachother at unknown points in an unknown map.
But they can fix this so easily. First off, go talk to the major "pro leagues" for gaming, go to the cpl, go over to korea, whatever, get the people actually out there winning money to play games, who you know are really good. Now, film them playing.
Except, for the big final games, give me the whole experience. I don't want a 30 second recap of watching someone die. I want to see the whole match, how he set up, where he moved. I want an announcer to point out to me the clever things he did to get where he is, and how he set that guy up for the kill. How close was he to dieing. So show me the whole game, not a meaningless string of people shooting each other.
So this pro show is great, because you can probably cover a match in 30 minutes, and there are lots of pros in lots of important matches in a variety of games. Call it "Pro MatchX" (X for extreeM!!!)
Next they need a show about teaching you to play games better. Take a multiplayer game, they hang around longer then singleplayer ones, so the show can get out while people are still playing the game. Then, get to showing me how to win pub servers. I didn't get what was going on in call of duty. So, pick a map, show me where I spawn in on a map, show me where to go for choke points. You can go one of these three routs to the other guys flags. When you run this rout, bad guys start appearing at these sections. The stairs here are a choke point. Show me these things, from start to finish. Show me where people camp. Show me great places to plant mines to trick people.
So there are two shows I'd watch. Ones that tell me how to get better at a multiplayer game, and run through some maps. Another showing me the worlds best playing games, with real coverage of the game and not just some joe schmoe at the point of the kill message. Create some suspence for the kills at liest and do it half a second before it happens.
I don't think these shows would be any more difficult to create then what they already have, and would make a lot better gamer television.
I sincerely hope someone steps up and resurrects some of this content.
Leo Laporte is still doing Call for Help on G4TechTV Canada. We still get a bunch of the content from the US G4TechTV though. Is it illegal to own a Candian satellite receiver in the US?
Do you even know anything about perl? -- AC Replying to Tom Christiansen post.
I am clueless on sports, and when I watch ESPN I feel even more clueless. The deluge of statistics, rules, various sports overwhelms me. Yet, how many ESPN channels are there? Like 20, each more categorically detailed than its parent channel? ESPN is unarguably difficult to "get" into. If you don't know sports, ESPN is a morass of numbers and names and terms you know nothing about.
Kind of like video games and computing. Video games and computing on TV have more in common with TV sports than any other form of entertainment. There is something of a learning curve for video games and computing, and like sports they have generally appealed to a specific demographic. But what G4 is doing is the exact opposite of ESPN. They're trying to be more mainstream, instead of appealing to the niche like ESPN does. The fact is that ESPN makes the niche look so cool, and they do it so well, that the niche becomes mainstream. G4 is trying to be mainstream without appealing to the specific demographic of people who love - really love - video games and technology.
I guess one could ask why the hell they're parading "the best of 2D and 3D girls" if they're trying to go mainstream. But it's like the kid in high school wearing the Walmart Wranglers jeans and knockoff brand jacket trying to fit into the cool clique. It's obvious that G4 is trying too hard. X-Play is the only thing they have going for them. Adam and Morgan* appeal to the niche, but at the same time they do it so well that it becomes cool. Friends who have no love of video games love to watch X-Play.
G4 should be modeling ESPN, not Fox. The channel should cater to the people who love video games and technology, not shun them by canceling their favorite shows.
* Ok, plus, Morgan is hot. But what she is not is a "2D or 3D girl." How lame.
I'm in the UK, so I have never seen TechTV. However, it seems we have lost a record of computing culture. There are dozens of sites dedicated to the preservation of computing magazines, but no one has considered the importance of TV coverage. What happens to these TV series after they are taken off the air? Unless it is speculated in the original contract, they are never reshown and sit in a TV archive gathering dust. I wish production companies would make older shows available on the web. The cost of streaming/downloading 100Mb+ videos and legal implications make it a risky proposition, but I believe there is a market. As a fan of retro nut I would gladly pay for DVDs containing old episodes of Micro Live, Gamesmaster, Bad Influence, Bits or any of the other shows shown in the UK. Tutorials, such as those shown on TechTV, have a wider use for people trying to learn a new application. It may even create a demand for the show to resurrected a few years later.
In the absence of official support I would hope fans would make an effort. P2P networks are a possible option, but most people seem to prefer the latest episode of Enterprise to a Photoshop tutorial.
the TechTV people never knew what was going on. I've been watching them a while. I think Yoshi is the only guy who can do anything decent. At least they got rid of that annoying little dork dude that was on there a few years back.
I welcome G4. They have some decent shows about games. Drop that lame shit like the screen savers. Tech Live was utter crap. Who cares about random stupid ass gadgets for assholes who want to waste their money and an addiction to fads. This isn't Japan we're supposed to be smarter than that (yea right).
Bring on the games, bring on the stories, bring on the interactivity. Screw the rest.