G4 To Scale Back G-Phoria Game Awards Show

[JCalCGM]

It's looking like cable TV network G4 is scaling back their efforts on their annual G-Phoria video game awards show compared to the lavish Hollywood events they have had for the past three years. Check out what FiringSquad has learned so far right here (http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=11178).

G4 has been scaling back their video game based content for the past year with only X-Play remaining as their only regularly broadcast show devoted solely to games.

[MajSheppard]

Who cares, G4 is the biggest joke ever.

Anyone who considers themselves a gamer, stays far away from that network.

[Khash]

The G4 and Spike TV video game award shows are a joke. Last year they were giving awards to games that weren't even out yet.

[michaelwhite]

To sum it up, they basically acknowledge that they've ruined a network. But at least SpikeTV has UFC.

[Zacharai]

But at least SpikeTV has UFC.
Thank God for UFC.

[JazGalaxy]

I don't understand television.

Comcast buys Tech TV.

Comcast fires all the on air talent from Tech TV.

Comcast merges Tech TV with it's Videogame network to create a Tech and Games channel that in theory would play to the strenghts of both networks.

Comcast kills the Tech portion of the network.

Comcast kills the games portion of the network.

Mmmm... WHAT?

[doubtingthomas]

I don't understand television.

Comcast buys Tech TV.

Comcast fires all the on air talent from Tech TV.

Comcast merges Tech TV with it's Videogame network to create a Tech and Games channel that in theory would play to the strenghts of both networks.

Comcast kills the Tech portion of the network.

Comcast kills the games portion of the network.

Mmmm... WHAT?

Exactly. You could make the argument that a network about Tech and Games isn't profitable, due to a lack of interest and therefore advertising revenue, but then, why the hell did you buy/develop the networks in the first place.

[Wasson_]

Scaling back G-Phoria huh?

How about scaling back the sucking of donkey balls?

[michaelwhite]

I guess Tabasco sauce really does make anything taste good.

[cppcrusader]

I happened to be over at the view askew site the other day and saw an ad about Kevin Smith being on Icons. Icons, the one show besides X-Play I had thought was decent on there. A show that was supposed to be the behind the music of the game industry. I happen to notice what the two previous episoded were to the Keving Smith one, Mark Ecko and a Suicide Girl. What a waste.

[Freak705]

The actual 'Icons' show was renamed to be 'Game Makers.' Thankfully the Canadian G4 still has tech! Leo Laporte films new Call for Help episodes in Toronto, and there are several other tech shows. No Star Trek, no Fast Lane, no Man Show re-runs. Although there's still the crappy Icons, Filter, Attack of the Show (RIP The Screen Savers). X-Play is still decent. I seriously miss Unscrewed with Martin Sargeant, that show was great (despite it being non-tech or gaming).

RIP TechTV!

[Spigot]

Aye. G4 in Canada still has the Tech TV moniker attached to it and we have all sorts of tech shows to fill the spots in the G4 schedule now occupied by Star Trek, Drift racing shows and other crap.

I ranted about this before, but having non-gamer types on Icons is really a heresy given how strong that show was in the past. Even Filter, a show that I normally didn't care for, has gotten even crappier. Why a network ostensibly about gaming has a show that used to at least do top 10 lists about gaming related stuff is now having top 10 lists about the hottest guys and the girls you'd love to bang is beyond incomprehensible. Even if I wasn't a crusty old 30 year old with a mortgage and kids, I'd still rather watch that crap on MTV or something that is already proliferated by pointless shows about celebrities.

I'd rather watch pointless shows about the top 10 reasons Mario shouldn't shave his moustache, etc.

On topic here, I have never actually caught an airing of the previous G-Phoria shows, but they at least sounded somewhat better than the Spike VGA's. This whole subject irks me so much that I had to give Kef a bunch of questions about it to hassle Geoff Keoghley when he interviewed him a week or two ago.

What do the G's mean in G4 now that they've taken Gaming out of the equation?

[Wasson_]

....Gayness?....

[fitbabits]

I hated TechTV and I hate G4. Their marriage was like the coming together of mayonnaise and Magic Shell - which is to say, fucking stupid.

[TrackZero]

Fuck, G4 is such a waste.

[Dag Nasty Evil]

I mean were they just they just embarrased hat they made a network that catered almost exclusively to gamers and other geek sub-groups that they threw a bunch of shit about cars and putting up reruns of Star Trek (which is still for nerds)?
And yeah Unscrewed was great whenever I was up late enough to catch it :(

[MosBen]

You know, I don't catch it all the time, but I don't hate X-Play. Morgan Webb is hot and the reviews are occassionally funny. I've heard Attack of the Show isn't horrible either, but then, I hardly ever make it above channel 60.

[KarmaGhost]

I hated TechTV and I hate G4. Their marriage was like the coming together of mayonnaise and Magic Shell - which is to say, fucking stupid.Quote of the week/month!! I laughed pretty hard.

[OUX]

I used to watch X Play before I realize their reviews were almost all market driven. It makes me sad I would like to see a gaming network that, you know, knew shit about gaming. Now people in TV think it is a money losing venture when you just have to not have people that suck on the air.

[endrom]

I only really watch Attack of the show for "The feed" and the star trek episdoes. Anything else is poorly written garbage, I really would not miss it if the channel just dissappeared. Well Maybe except for the Icons episodes about jack buaer and other influential members of the video game

[Spigot]

I used to watch X Play before I realize their reviews were almost all market driven. It makes me sad I would like to see a gaming network that, you know, knew shit about gaming. Now people in TV think it is a money losing venture when you just have to not have people that suck on the air.
I'd rather watch Reviews on the Run, Judgement Day or Electric Playground over XPlay but I don't mind the Xplay when it doesn't get bogged down in stupid skits. There have been some times where I disagree with them in their verdicts but I can see where they may have derived the issues they had with the games.

You're right though. Rather than get people who knew stuff about games and gaming culture, they seemed to hire more and more pretty faces that would read ad copy off a teleprompter. Again, the Elec Play team, even Tommy, have at least built up many long years of credibility. Most of the G4 stuff nowadays has about as much veracity as an infomercial.

[PixelSamurai]

Anyone defending X-Play must not be watching the same fucking show I am. Some of the worst writing in cable television exists right there. Half the show is extremely, extremely lame, unfunny sketches involving their interns. The other half is 50% commercials and 50% script-read reviews that try way too fucking hard to be edgey with celebrity photos talking over the game-footage like some really bad junior high version of Conan O'brien.

[Spigot]

Half the show is extremely, extremely lame, unfunny sketches involving their interns.
That seems to be a problem that really plagues most of the shows on G4. It's like they ran out of news/scripted reviews and had another 20 minutes to fill. Heck, they could just review a few more games in that time instead of subjecting us to that dreck.

It might just be because I'm only able to watch G4 every month or two for a day or two at a time, but I am still able to stomach some of these shows (X-Play being one of them) because I just don't get a chance to watch game review shows for hours on end when I'm at home. But yeah. They're pretty dreadful. Worst offender: The X-Play Christmas episode. *shudder*

[Asmodan]

To sum it up, they basically acknowledge that they've ruined a network. But at least SpikeTV has UFC.


And don't forget MXC!

[Hemalin]

Was X-Play always like that? I don't seem to remember there being so many crappy sketches when I watched it on TechTV, or do I have a crappy memory

[Spigot]

Was X-Play always like that? I don't seem to remember there being so many crappy sketches when I watched it on TechTV, or I have a crappy memory
They definately upped the sketch quotient once they hit G4. Even I, a very irregular watcher of the show, have noticed that there have been a lot more sketches in the last few months than there were even last year.

[Freak705]

I loved the Christmas episode of X-Play :p

[tombofsoldier]

Does anyone still watch this channel for anything aside from laughing at their patheticness? Last time I watched was a year ago, and that was when me and my friends were taking a break from Halo 2. We couldn't stop laughing at them as they reviewed razors.

[Wyrm]

Things like G4TV are the reason why the game industry still isn't being taken more seriously. They need to be taken the fuck off the air, or done by a more professional group of people. Now, I'm not saying they should eliminate the fun, but go grab some of the writers for EGM, and grab some people who know how to write comedy, and throw some shows together.

You can do review shows, preview shows, machinima shows, music showcases, technology showcases, game company tours, etc.. and you can have shows that gamers like, such as BSG re-runs, or Family Guy. Hell, if Adult Swim had some video game stuff attached to it, I probably wouldn't watch anything else.

[Spigot]

Things like G4TV are the reason why the game industry still isn't being taken more seriously. They need to be taken the fuck off the air, or done by a more professional group of people. Now, I'm not saying they should eliminate the fun, but go grab some of the writers for EGM, and grab some people who know how to write comedy, and throw some shows together.
You're exactly right.

If the network that is ostensibly THE gaming television network make it seem like the only people who play games are brain-damaged 13 year olds, of course people who tune in won't take we, the gamers, seriously. I realize that a lot of people who watch are in their teens and early 20's, but they aren't stupid (well, most of them aren't). You can still have humour in your show without resorting to scatological humour every 3.8 minutes.

Again, I think that the Electric Playground guys really got the mix right. They do some goofy things but they never resort to painfully unfunny sketches that make a kindergarten talent show look like high art, unlike most of the shows on G4. They throw in some nerd references that make us feel all tingly inside and show a genuine joy (or disappointment) with a game as opposed to reading ad copy.

Really, the Elec Play/Judgement Day/Reviews on the Run shows need to be used as the absolute minimum in quality for the network and everything else should be BETTER than them if they want to be taken seriously as a gaming network. Of course, evidence seems to show that gaming is not what G4 wants to be known for. Looks like we're back to having 30 minute shows here and there at odd hours on seemingly unrelated stations. It was kind of nice while it lasted.

[Spigot]

I loved the Christmas episode of X-Play :p
YOU!

You're what's wrong with the world today. And you live in Guelph. I'm going to drive over there tomorrow night and give you a slap!

[Cubfan]

Yes, they've fallen pretty hard when an episode of 'Attack of the Show', with a segment where a guy shaves his pubes.

[cppcrusader]

I'm guessing they must have realized they've run the network into the ground and are trying to salvage it by emulating Spike, but there can only be one Star Trek/CSI channel after all.

[smashism]

I'm guessing they must have realized they've run the network into the ground and are trying to salvage it by emulating Spike, but there can only be one Star Trek/CSI channel after all.
and max x and worlds wildest police videos. I could seriously live off those 2 shows alone.

[atariv8]

I was, and still am, developing an intelligent game show (that I will post the pilot here when it's done to get feedback,anyway) and our development department called G4 about submission policies and procedures and they said they're not looking for video game shows any more; they're looking for adult swim type programming. They better run faster after that bandwagon...

[Spigot]

I was, and still am, developing an intelligent game show (that I will post the pilot here when it's done to get feedback,anyway) and our development department called G4 about submission policies and procedures and they said they're not looking for video game shows any more; they're looking for adult swim type programming. They better run faster after that bandwagon...
Good thing they were able to take Tech TV down with them while they completely abandoned their original mandate.

Yeesh. It's even sadder that they admitted it. Kind of like EA admitting they didn't release any good games lately, just crappy ones.