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MTV Making Better Gaming TV Than G4TV?
heartless_ writes "GamerGod.com has an interesting look into how MTV has shifted to provide essential gaming television in a way that G4TV never was and never will be able to. From the article: 'As G4TV now begins to fall off the gaming-centered line up and into a dull Spike TV rip-off, it is apparent that gamers would rather play games than watch TV shows about gaming. This doesn't mean all the shows on G4TV were horrible, but none of them can be considered any sort of success." I would disagree. X-Play, and Icons are both shows worth watching, but on a channel that at one point was 'for gamers', only two decent shows is pretty pathetic.
I like Attack of the Show. It's not really about games but it deals with a little bit of everything. Kevin P. keeps it entertaining. They jacked up the schedule though and I haven't watched it since.
I don't think I've ever seen an episode of Xplay that wasn't a rerun.
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X-Play is the only thing that has endured since the ZDTV days (Gamespot TV then Extended Play and now X-Play). And even that stinks now. TechTV was doomed when the smart people like Louderback and (to some extent) Dvorak who helped hold the network afloat left, and G4 removing Leo just signed its death knell.
...and that's all there is to it.
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That comic makes no sense.
100% fact.
I honestly can't remember when I saw a music video on MTV. Forget about games, when are they going to put music on? At the moment it's things like Cribs, Super Sweet 16, Pimp My Ride, and other stuff that's got nothing to do with music.
Icons was boring. It had a few intresting bits, but it was only 30 minutes. About 10 minutes, was commercials, 10 more minutes was bumpers telling us what was next, 8 minutes was pointless "chit-chat" segments. I never found more then 2 minutes of that show intresting, and I am being nice.
G4TVs first mistake was getting rid of the thoughtful shows like Call for Help and the Screensavers, and all the smart people who were on those shows. They replaced those smart people with stupid people with very little technical background. I would like to actually learn something about computers or games on TV, but that channel just went downhill after G4TV took over.
I am also tired of seeing the most popular games on that channel. I would like to actually learn about an underdog. I want to hear about some games I've never heard about before. There are hundreds of indie games released each year that are actually fun to play, but that channel only featured the top %5 of the game market. They just don't explore the entire gaming industry.
... who enjoys Judgement Day. Granted, I don't actively hunt the program down, but if I'm veg'ing in front of the TV and its on I'll watch it. Also dig X-Play (for the obvious reasons) but think Judgement Day does a pretty good job of game reviews as well.
I used to actually enjoy Portal. The two channels have deffinintly gone downhill since they merged them. On a plus note, I think they are showing the Canadian call for help with Leo in the mornings now.
No, it is not apparent. G4 has never, ever, actually tried to have a gaming oriented show that treated the source material honestly. Arena was a program where two teams competed in multiple games to see who won. The format was 5v5, but instead of having pro teams or even people who knew eachother, it was simply whoever came to the studio that day. On top of that, the gameplay footage was shown in 30 second clips with simply a summary of who did what and what the score is.
G4 is the first (and hopefully the last) channel that refused to actually show raw, uncut footage of the thing that it was geared around. Imagine a football channel that never showed a whole football game, but simply highlights and nothing else. Imagine a golf channel that never showed anyone actually playing golf, just fast cuts of people swinging at the ball, and it dropping in the hole. Imagine a cooking channel that didn't show any cooking because "that's too boring", and instead showed the person talking about cooking, and a quick 30 second montage of them making a pie or cake.
The reality is, G4 never, not once, took a gamble on showing people playing a videogame. I'd like to watch some good Counter Strike players play a map (and not the idiotic highlight videos that get released either), or watch any relatively skilled competitors go at it, really. Imagine if you could leave it on the in the background while you're doing something. Or, when a popular new game comes out, they run you through the first few hours so you can see some of the gameplay tips you can use down the line. I figured at least once, they would try airing just people playing videogames at 3am or something, in lieu of one of their paid programming/informercial slots. They never did.
People will watch fishing, cooking, billiards, poker, sports, fake courtrooms, eating bugs, fake reality shows, and home redecorating. To say that gaming is somehow more boring than these things and no one would want to watch it is pure crap. Movie files that show people playing games, being distributed on the internet, are simply too large because of the high resolution and the way that they compress poorly. TV is the perfect format for this (and some might argue, HDTV to really appreciate what's going on) and yet no one even tries.
G4 was a terrible channel that tried to be MTV without first establishing credibility. MTV started as a music video channel (that no longer shows music videos) but at least it had a 5-10 year period where that was how it made its money. G4 never actually tried making programming that showed, in context, people actually playing a videogame and that might engage the viewer. The cost of such content would have been very cheap, and if instead of focusing on trying to be like MTV, G4 could have easily been MTV - but the MTV of old, the one that was a favorite of bands and fans alike, not 14 year old girls.
G4 never tried to treat gamers, or its audience, with respect and simply show people playing games. And for that, it failed, and it deserved to.
Why would I want to watch games when I can play them? Sure, I frequent sites like Gamespot to read about games, but usually only when I'm at work and thus have to settle for that weak semi-fix. On the rare occasion I'm not using the television to play games, sure, I'll watch a show like X-Play - but the majority of my TV usage does not involve actually watching television, which I'm willing to bet is the case with most other gamers. That makes targeting the gamer demographic with an entire channel a bad business model. I enjoy X-Play, but given the choice between watching it and playing a game...the game is going to win 75% of the time.
Yahoo, as much as I think professional gamers are losers with no life, and lack of opposite sex partners.... I think watching a show about them is even worse.
G4TV makes better music TV than MTV.
Gamergod Writes: "it is apparent that gamers would rather play games than watch TV shows about gaming"
No, it is not apparent. G4 has never, ever, actually tried to have a gaming oriented show that treated the source material honestly. Arena was a program where two teams competed in multiple games to see who won. The format was 5v5, but instead of having pro teams or even people who knew eachother, it was simply whoever came to the studio that day. On top of that, the gameplay footage was shown in 30 second clips with simply a summary of who did what and what the score is.
G4 is the first (and hopefully the last) channel that refused to actually show raw, uncut footage of the thing that it was geared around. Imagine a football channel that never showed a whole football game, but simply highlights and nothing else. Imagine a golf channel that never showed anyone actually playing golf, just fast cuts of people swinging at the ball, and it dropping in the hole. Imagine a cooking channel that didn't show any cooking because "that's too boring", and instead showed the person talking about cooking, and a quick 30 second montage of them making a pie or cake.
The reality is, G4 never, not once, took a gamble on showing people playing a videogame. I'd like to watch some good Counter Strike players play a map (and not the idiotic highlight videos that get released either), or watch any relatively skilled competitors go at it, really. Imagine if you could leave it on the in the background while you're doing something. Or, when a popular new game comes out, they run you through the first few hours so you can see some of the gameplay tips you can use down the line. I figured at least once, they would try airing just people playing videogames at 3am or something, in lieu of one of their paid programming/informercial slots. They never did.
People will watch fishing, cooking, billiards, poker, sports, fake courtrooms, eating bugs, fake reality shows, and home redecorating. To say that gaming is somehow more boring than these things and no one would want to watch it is pure crap. Movie files that show people playing games, being distributed on the internet, are simply too large because of the high resolution and the way that they compress poorly. TV is the perfect format for this (and some might argue, HDTV to really appreciate what's going on) and yet no one even tries.
G4 was a terrible channel that tried to be MTV without first establishing credibility. MTV started as a music video channel (that no longer shows music videos) but at least it had a 5-10 year period where that was how it made its money. G4 never actually tried making programming that showed, in context, people actually playing a videogame and that might engage the viewer. The cost of such content would have been very cheap, and if instead of focusing on trying to be like MTV, G4 could have easily been MTV - but the MTV of old, the one that was a favorite of bands and fans alike, not 14 year old girls.
G4 never tried to treat gamers, or its audience, with respect and simply show people playing games. And for that, it failed, and it deserved to.
A dull Spike TV rip-off?
Ouch. Kick 'em when they're down, I guess.
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I haven't seen X-Play since the merger of G4 and TechTV, but that show was crap. Adam the Spazz (c) and Pretty Girl Who Dyes Her Hair a Different Color Everyday and Can Not Read a Cue Card (c), made each episode unbearable. Hopefully the show has changed since the last time I saw it...
1. Observing game servers live with (witty) commentary.
2. League play from top game leagues. The ESPN of gaming.
3. Interviews with Game Developers. Um HELLO. This was a slam dunk.
4. Highlight films from invitational LAN PARTY tournaments.
5. Um... get cuter girls talking about games.
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MTV Making Better Gaming TV Than G4TV?
It wouldn't be that hard considering G4 is showing reruns of The Manshow, whatever the hell that street racing show is, and showing Star Trek:TNG (Don't get me wrong... I like Star Trek as much as the next guy, but the last guys who played it were Spike TV and I don't find reruns of James Bond 24/7 all that entertaining).
I will give them the benefit of the doubt because Xplay, Attack of the Show, and that Anime thing (Barbwired Biscuit) are fairly entertaining... But I miss the days of TechTV.
On the other side, MTV's quality programing leaves nothing to be desired except for the strong desire to turn the damn TV off and throw it out the window.
I was really bothered when I found out over the holidays couch potatoing that MTV2 isn't showing that many videos anymore but reruns of Jack Ass and Bam. WTF?
Do people not watch music videos anymore?
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I'll admit I don't watch that much G4 and don't know much about the shows that are aired but has G4TV ever tried to pick up a show like Red Vs Blue? Seems like if they aired episodes of that or something like that it'd do pretty well.
"X-Play, and Icons are both shows worth watching, but on a channel that at one point was 'for gamers', only two decent shows is pretty pathetic"
You would have thought they would realize their failure when they needed to buy another station just to deliever the content they were created to have.
Brian
Recently I took a new job in a new city, and until I found a home for the family I stayed in a corporate apartment with a modest cable lineup, which included G4. I caught myself watching X-Play quite a few times, and thought it was actually a pretty good show (and this coming from a guy who hasn't bought a video or computer game in years), especially the reviews of the awful games.
Very true, however, that the ScreenSaver/Call for Help purge wiped out any chance the channel had of staying relevant. But hey, give me X-Play and a rerun of the Man Show and I'm happy for an hour or so...
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Again, who needs gaming TV anyway?
Gamespot has free streaming video. You'll see reviews for games you're actually considering.
Gamespot is constantly updated and overflowing with content. The internet is the only medium that can possibly cover the games industry. Watch a rerun review for, say, KOTOR II over half a year after the game has come out (and after half the sites worth trusting have reviewed it) and you'll be reminded what a complete farce G4tv is.
The third rate L.A. actors posing as gamers?? I can actually beleive that the editors at Gamespot could beat Ninja Gaiden, or school me at Street Fighter II. Conversely, I have trouble beleiving Morgan Webb could beat herself at pong.
It's hilarious to watch G4tv chase down their demographics like a 14 year old changing his identity from week to week. Reeks of out-of-work showbiz folks. Did I mention that the lead times in television are far too slow to accuratley cover the games industry? G4tv. Stick a fork in it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/tv/videogaiden/
I think that what Tech TV is what it should be. That was the best version ever. You had your shows for gaming, techies, and even shows for non techies who wanted help. It was great! I absolutely love watching about Gates, Dell, Jobs, & company. But the one thing I loved the most was the other show series that appealed to geeks like Thunderbirds, Max Headroom(it took me a bit to like it but I loved the idea), and the movies they would show.
In contrast, I see what G4 is trying to do but it wont work that way for gamers. They are trying to link racing, sex, and violence to gaming. 1 and a half of those dont work with gamers. Racing sure is a good portion of gaming now and days... but honestly, we dont need to watch a large number of MTV like show about it. And most gamers are interested in sex, its great and all, but how many games involve it?(Ok, this side of the pond in america, I know its in great numbers in Japan.) I have a feeling they are trying to apeal to people who think they might be gamers and try to convince them that they are. But while doing all of that they alienate the "True Gamers". We all know who the real gamers are... those of us who game for extended amounts of time. We dont need people saying "YEA YO GOT GAME! YO GAMMER MAN!" And thats what is getting stuffed down our gullets.
I would like to state one for the record though: If MTV starts getting good game shows, I will watch it. But the moment they put a hip-hop feel to it... they lose all credibility. This is why I like X-play.
2. League play from top game leagues. The ESPN of gaming.
Um...am I the only one who thinks that is an awesome idea?
Why do people who get PAID to program Network TV never think of these things?
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It's just one big ad for movies, music and games. What crap.
Everyone here is talking about how great X Play is. Am I the only one who doesn't like it? /5 rating system is pointless and rarely corresponds with what they've actually said about the game. They basically said they'd be surprised if anyone ended up enjoying the latest RPG Maker game. Its score? 3/5. That's 60% for something that, in their opinion, is completely unplayable and has terrible graphics.
The reviews are amazingly useless. For example, the Nintendogs review went on for about 10 minutes and featured nothing but the same "Chinese people eat dogs, lol!" joke over and over again. They concluded it with, "In the end, this game basically works. 4/5." In the time it took me to watch that I could have read useful reviews for 5 or 6 different games, from competing sources.
It's pretty hard to get "deep" about video games in a TV show, but it's only acceptable if the show ends up being entertaining. These jokes are pathetic.
That, and the
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I haven't watched since they canceled starcade. That show was awesome. they took 80's arcade games, put people in 80's clothes, and got 20 year old TV cameras and filmed. Incredible.