G4 And Gamespot Team Up

Kyle Orland (the video game ombudsman) has a new site, VGM Watch, and today he has commentary and and interview on a team up between G4TV and Gamespot. Given the tone of the interview, there will be more collaboration between the two businesses in the future. From the article: "Usually, the worlds of online games journalism and televised games journalism remain relatively competitive. Sure, an online outlet may report on the latest televised game awards show and members of the online media may sometimes appear on TV, but usually the two media are competing for the same eyeballs, rather than collaborating to create joint content. That changed this week, though, when GameSpot and G4 teamed up to produce four half-hour episodes of Cinematech (the shows premiered over the past two days, but this is G4, so there will be at least 50 repeats in the next week). I talked to Gamespot's Greg Kasavin about the G4 collaboration, the differences between TV and the Web, and the future of putting video into video game journalism."

Comments

Noo!

[Anonymous Coward]

RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!

Did you see what they did to TechTV??? Run before it's too late gamespot!!!!!!!

Oh wait, gamespot already sucks, maybe if G4 swallows them they will explode.

New program?

[NJVil]

Will G4 and GameSpot have the foresight to mutually produce a show called G-Spot?

Of course, most Slashdotters won't get it.

What?!?

[rAiNsT0rm]

People actually WATCH G4?!?

They could have 12 women orgies with a donkey and a floor-lamp and I still wouldn't watch that channel. "Sean Baby" is enough to make me throw up, let alone the sickly little blonde dude and his emo/lame chick sidekick.

As my girlfriend puts it, "I'd rather watch someone just play a game for an hour than this crap." The only exception was their "Johnny Extreme!" E3 bit, and even that was only funny because I was there and saw it going on. TO THE MAX! IT'LL PUNCH YOUR BALLS OFF! EXTREME!... and SUPERFULOUS!

Re:What?!?

[jayhawk88]

"Sean Baby" is enough to make me throw up

Man that ain't no lie. I watched some of those Video Game Vixen shows, with that lame VH1 guy hosting. Seanbaby, you're website is probably one of the 5 funniest in the history of the web, but damn dude, stay off the TV.

Re:What?!?

[rAiNsT0rm]

Word. He definitely has a face for radio, I guess in his case a face/personality for the web.

God I tried to repress that, but I never felt so sorry for people than seeing a bunch of lame people oogling "Videogame Vixens" and awards for best jiggle, etc. That was pretty low and even some of the most hardcore parent-basement dwelling dorks would have more self-respect than to be on TV discussing the jiggle of a videogame boob.

I seriously weep when I flip past G4 and realize that they have basically done nothing to help raise the image of gamers/geeks, they manage to play into every stereotype and then go even lower. I shudder to think of the average joe's opinion after watching 5 minutes of G4.

A videogame network could be so cool with such little effort. Have people playing multiplayer online games and just televise it with maybe some commentating. Hell I'd flip it on to watch a cool deathmatch or Mario Kart or basically anything *other* than what is currently on G4. And the chance to get to play and have it televised would be pretty neat for gamers.

Re:What?!?

[rAiNsT0rm]

Exactly. Not all games are made for this, and most games require you to know the game for it to be any more interesting than paint drying.

But say you get four people together (they could be celebs or regular schmoes, or some of each) do a little bio/background on each one so people have some peronal attachment and are engaged beforehand. Then have them go at it in say MarioKart. You need to pick games that are fairly quick and allow for some hilarity to ensue. No one wants to watch a RTS or RPG for sure.

The thing is games are only fun because of the fanatasy and interactivity... just like when you were little and yelled at your sister for pushing the buttons on her controller while she waited to get back in the game. No one wants to just WATCH a game being played, you need to add an element of personal attachment to the players, humor (no one likes to watch people who are too serious play a game), and fairly quick paced action (not too fast or else viewers can't keep up). Mario Kart, Guild Wars PvP battle, even tetris/bust-a-move puzzle games wouldn't be bad.

The thing is just as I said G4 has it all wrong. There are so many opportunities and ways to make it interesting and fun, just typing this reply I've had probably a dozen ideas that are all viable.

Re:How is this new?

[bigbigbison]

This is correct, X-Play was originally called GameSpotTV, however, this is because, at the time, the channel was called ZDTV and ZDNet owned Gamespot.

Since then, however, the channel formerly known as ZDTV has been sold twice (first to Paul ALlen's Vulcan Ventures and then to G4TV) and Gamespot has been sold to C|Net.

I would be surprised if anyone still working at either company (besides Adam Sesler and perhaps original GameSPotTV co-host Lauren Felder(? was that her name?) were working there back then.

The Damage Is Done

[Shihar]

I don't think it matters at this point. After killing TechTV and replacing TechTV programming with that shitty, shitty, awful G4 line up... nothing can bring that station back. What bugs me worst about the G4 line up are the fucking stupid people they manage to drag onto these shows. You watch X-Play and you see true gamers having fun and doing their thing. You watch any of their shitty shoes and it is pretty apparent that they have pretty looking women who couldn't get a job anywhere else staring at a teleprompter with such cues as "laugh cute". Then they filled their channel with the must mind numbing crap they could find. "Cheat!" !? For fucks sake, anyone who doesn't know how to use the Internet to find cheat codes to their video games is a fucking idiot. Then you have the stupid fucking car shows. Yeah, I got it. Cars and Asian chicks that look like they have been drugged into a permanent state of mental retardation. Gee, you found my nerd fantasy. After that sort of crap "Video Game Vixens" some how manages to further lower the bar, which is a feat in it of its self.

I just can't believe that sort of crap replace ScreenSavers, Body Hits, and all the other awesome programming that TechTV had. Gah. I hope G4 goes bankrupt. The only thing worthwhile about G4 is that if I am bored, I can be sure that they have an X-play rerun. G4, you fucking suck. Grow up.