G4TV vs MTV for gamers

In the past year I'd say that G4 has taken a serious turn for the worse. By no means is the channel all games all the time. There are several shows on now that have very little, if anything, to do with games. The Man Show seriously doesn't belong on G4 and neither does Star Trek :TNG (nor Street Fury, or Happy Tree Friends and Friends, etc.). There is less and less games related programming and more crud I don't care about. They seem to be following MTV's example. It's not as if you can expect to see a music video when you tune into MTV, and you're not as likely to see a show about games when you watch G4.



G4 was better before they took over TechTV. Sure, a lot of the shows repeated daily, but that just made it easier for me to watch it when I had the chance. G4 was a station that has long kept me a cable subscriber, but it's looking like that won't stay true for long.

I normally live off of G4 but i find that soon changing because the channel is becoming terrible. It's becoming less and less about gaming. They added the whip set, which consists of Street Fury which is pretty much some all pimpin cars show with no gaming what so ever, and Formula D thats about car drifting... not gaming. Now they're taking away shows like Filter and G4TV.com which are two big gaming shows. They added the classic Man Show which is a good show none-the -less, but belongs on a different station. They don't talk about gaming at all. Now they're adding Star Trek! STAR TREK!? I hate star treck!!! They're focusing on shows such as X-Play (from the picture you showed), but lately I have found X-Play to be terrible at game reviews. For one, it is bad to rate on a 5 scale if you don't use .5s, and theyr reviews mostly consist of making fun of a game and only providing one view on the game. I remember recently seeing the review of Chronicles of Narnia, even though I don't want to see the movie or play the game or want to defend it, but all they talked about was how gay the main character was and showing an animation of him climbing up and down poles. X-Play isn't even a G4 original and started on TechTV. Judgement Day on the other hand started on G4, and provides great reviews. It has two peoples opinions, they almost always have something good to say about a game even if it's bad, and recently it seems to be downplayed compared to before. I see plenty of new X-Play episodes and no where near as many Judgement Day. X-Play should stick to what it's good at, and is their segments which are based on games, but not reviewing, like maybe theyr machinema of Splinter Cell 3 or something. And way back when they had a show called Pulse. It was a news show all about games. It was great, they even extended it to an hour long, but soon enough it was cancelled. They have all these other shows like Braniac and Anime Unleashed and none of it makes sense. They better get their act together real soon or theyr gonna loose a lotta viewers.

They need a Morgan Webb channel. She makes me want to go rug snorkeling.

even if g4 itself sucks, X-play beats the entire, reality show infested, channel of mtv. they dont have a chance if there is as much games on the channel as they have music. (top 20 hip-hop countdown does not constitute music. its more like noise...)

G4 : games :: MTV : music



It's in the title of the channel, but not actually in the content on the channel. Both are sucking hard, but I find MTV more enjoyable due to the constant flow of CRAZY lame programs that are easy to laugh/make fun of.

G4 branching out to non-videogame programming is good. Yes, you read that clearly, it's a good idea. The article mentions videogame programming isn't enough to fill a whole day's worth of programming, and no one wants THAT much videogame coverage.



I think why so many people "hate" the non-videogame programming on G4 because shows such as The Man Show or Star Trek are taking the timeslots and budgets of G4/TechTV original programming. It's not a small thing, I mean, the Man Show takes the whole 10pm hour, every weekday(!), a former hour dedicated to the G4 gaming shows, which now, after Star Trek TNG premires, won't have a primetime slot (losing the 8 & 9pm hour to TNG) anymore!



If G4 would have managed to keep it's original content and more of the tech original content from TechTV together in primetime with the non-videogame programming, I'd bet more people would be happy, or atleast not so upset.

1. Judgement Day is enjoyable (re: Mark Korsak), and certainly one of G4's better shows. Though, Tommy Tallarico is an ass, and not someone who should be on TV reviewing games. He's every gamer I wish I could make put their controller down and stop making it profitable for publishers to crap out horrible titles month after month.



2. I forgot my other points.



3. Don't drink and type, kids!

That's easy, they are both terrible. Actually, most television is terrible. But especially this crap.

I totally agree with 1 and 2...I got so pissed off at the non-gaming/tech shows that I cancelled those channels from my cable provider. I was paying extra to get extra channels just for TechTV, but it just took a turn for the worse.



You guys also forgot that one cop show (I think it's called Fastlane) that couldn't hack it in prime time. WTF does that have to do tech or gaming. It's just a shame to see a once decent channel go down the toilet. They're as bad as MTV.

MTV hasn't been about music since the '90's. TectTV and G4 were both better before they became one (by that, I mean before G4 ate TechTV). Personally, I turn to IP TV and the like for my gaming content. MTV's overdrive or whatever actually had some good content on it. G4's gaming content is 95% console, I am a PC gamer. They had the CPL championships on overdrive, which was awesome.

Bring back "Game On" !!!

When I first saw this channel three years ago, I was happy, finally, to see a channel for gamers & gamers only. No music. no street cars, man show, or bad tv shows that nobody looks at like Fastlane. Nothing but the makers, developers, news, reviews & history of video games. I liked that they teamed up with Techtv because I love computers too. Now you could be a gamer & a tech geek & learn how to fix your computer at the same time. I didn't mind that they would repeat shows like G4tv.com or judgement day every week. If I missed one episode I would catch it the next one on a wednesday or Friday. The channel had a homey feel to it. It wasn't trying to be a MTV or a Spike TV or any other channel on cable. You always had the feeling that the people on their shows actually had fun doing what they doing. They didn't care if they acted a fool in front of the camera or looked silly giving a review about a game, at least I, the viewer, had fun watching them on tv, Loving the job that I wished I could do. Now with shows gone like Arena, Starcade, Pulse, Fighting Machines. And now recently G4TV.com & Filter. It seems to be less about games & computers & more about Star Trek, street cars, blinging, & celebrities. Who knows when X-play will stay around or judgement day, Icons, and my favorite show Cinematech will be on? I just know that I don't look at the channel no more. It's just too damn depressing to see a channel that I use to loved turn into something I don't even recognize anymore. Shame, they never gave it a chance to grow. It was really starting to grow on me. Now it's just another station that I don't subscribe too anymore. Let MTV or Spike have it. I'm just glad that I saw it 3 years ago then to what it is now. A MTV/SPIKE wannabe. I hope that the there will be another video game channel that won't be bought off like G4 did by corporate greed. Thanks for the 4 yrs G4 & Techtv. R.I.P.



"Don't know what you got until it's gone"

Joni Mitchell

Wow, I am not alone. I wondered if I was one of the rare few who hated the programming changes G4 has made in the last year or so. When I first discovered the channel 2 and a half years ago I was thrilled to have a place to go to hear nothing but video game talk. Now I have to wade through shows about cars, cops, and other useless junk just to get a bit of info. about the Nintendo Revolution. I do find myself tuning in less and less. Perhaps it is making their overall audience larger, but it sure is losing their longtime viewers.



The garbage on G4 nowadays are the same things that made me stop watching a lot of TV 5-10 years ago.



Concentrate on games G4. Please. Otherwise someone else will... and I will watch that.

G4 went to shit after they merged with Tech TV and axed The Screen Savers. The Screen Savers was where it was at.

Neither, they're both real stupid crap.



Gamers, as far as I'm concerned, don't wanna watch people playing and reviewing games 24/7 days a week. There needs to be insight, game related shows, and just general geeky stuff.



Reviews are boring anyone can say that X game is good and Y game is bad. The real content comes from opinions, interviews, game related shows that aren't entirely based on games, more on geek stuff as well (aots for example). I still think that the old Tech TV days were better, if you disagree then well, you're a dumbass.

Wasn't Screen Savers changed to Attack of the Show? I don't remember SS much.



I like some of the changes. X-Play is their core show, good. Attack of the Show, good too. Man Show, thank you. Star Trek, eh ... okay. Get rid of that "Fast Cars, Rapper-wannabees and Their Slutty Asian Models" show. Get rid of Fastlane ... or is it already gone?



MTV ???? What the? And we call ourselves gamers? Or in their words, "GAMER0RZ?"

#15 - Yes, it was technically changed to AotS; however, the concept of the show completely changed when they did the switch. It used to have interesting concepts, but then turned into a pile of nothing. There's a reason most of the original cast left.



Same thing with X-Play; it used to be good, but once G4 assimilated TechTV, they dumbed everything down. Now the reviews on the show are terrible (and can hardly be called reviews). Sad

MTV and g4tv suck mtv shows that dumbass laguna beach show and g4 shows that supid anime stuff and dumb cars.there are only a few good shows on g4,like cheat which actually has something to do with games and icons whitch has to do with the people who make games.i dont know about x play though,they show dumb animations and dont rate the games that good either.judgment day is a good show too.mtv sucks now too all they show is rap videos and dating shows.they dont even play metallica no jazz no classic rock no beavis and butt-head.i see no reason for mtv 2 either they dont play no music, only rap videos and wildboyz and stupid sharts.

That post has to be the most stupid thing I ever heard!



You say that gaming 24 hours doesn't work with gaming? Who freaking watches TV 24 hours a day in the first place? No basis. NO BASIS. MTV sux. G4tv almost sux. If you want real TV, turn to CNN, not that's entertainment! plz add basis to your claims(wether it's yours or those of the article). Why post this crap in the first place?



ANyway, I LOVE JOYSTIQ AND ENGADGET. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!

Well up here in Canada, we have "G4TechTV". So we still have some good Tech shows and none of that Star Trek crap. After the TechTv buyout, the channel has gone to hell. The only thing keeping it alive really is Xplay. They ruined TSS, or now AOTS.

Ok, basically, G4 is changing from a gamer channel to a nerd channel, and what I mean by that is that G4 used to be all about video games. Then they merged with TechTV. Now in a way that was good because I saw X-Play and I think they are really funny. Now if you start saying Xplay sucks, thats because they gave your favorite game ( most likely Barbie Horse Adventures) a 1 or 2 out of 5.But! TechTV was killed by G4. Then whatever people that worked at TechTV struck back and started making shows on there like Fastlane, The Man Show, and Braniac. I have never watched Star Trek, but I actually think that may be for the better because like I said, maybe this channel is supposed to be for nerds. But still, the Man Show is a waste of space as is Fastlane. I want Pulse back and I also want the recently taken away G4TV.com . Oh yeah, Filter is seriously screwed up now too. They do more Tech top tens than games! And if they take off Icons I will be seriosly pissed.

here's free programming advice for the president of g4:



Reruns in the mornings:

+Ghetto mario shows and old 80's/90's cartoons that aren't Pokemon or Yu-gi-ohno.

+That one old nickelodeon show where the kids had to manuver thrue the maze and position themselves in front of a blue screen to win a shitload of nes/genesis games.

+Three minute blocks of old ass game commercials inserted here and there



New Shows for the rest of the day:

+MMO players behind-the-avatars documentary series

+New version of "Game On" for only Live players (then later, NiWiFi and Sony)

+Developer interviews, studio/office access.

+A news/blog show for Joystiq (and maybe Kotaku)

+"Fanboy Exploitation Hour", where the hardcore rep it up and show their devotion by vandalizing or doing something a-la jackass for their company

+National game tournaments hosted and broadcasted



Late Night:

+A skit comedy show for the Mega64 guys and others like them.

+Foxy Boxing/Mud Wrestling/Langerie Football or Man Show

+No award shows



Good, but needs refinement:

"Icons"

"Cheat!"

"Attack of the Show"



Bad: everything else

Playboy needs to back up a money truck and dump it on Morgan's front lawn. I'd pick that issue up for sure. Ok, maybe I would just read it in the store and then put it back on the shelf so I didn't have to waste my money on it. :-)

G4 thankfully isn't 24-hours. I mean, they show The Man Show hour 3 times a night. I couldn't take another showing. I'd rather see X-Play repeats. They provide better lame comedy.

MTV needs to die

I never watched much MTV up here in Canada. I only saw their urban feel count down to new years program for the most part. But I have a feeling that anything is better then G4's programing. I seen also Judgment Day on there only once and the show is good but the only thing wrong with it is Tommy Tallarico. He pisses me off.

Attack of the Show, G4TV.com, Filter, X-Play have all either gone, or gone to shit.



AOTS:

1) good, until Kevin Rose left

2) moved to 2pm/12am timeslots? no good

3) replaced by happy tree friends and brainiac? wtf.



G4TV.com:

1) this show sucked

2) dont lie to yourself

3) tina wood is not _that_ hot



Filter:

1) this show was cheeky at best

2) the top 10, top 20, top -1234123141e1 of last week lists get old fast.



X-Play:

1) good show pre-TechTV buyout

2) now they spend more time kissing sponsors assholes than reviewing games.

3) jokes are corny as hell and the mentality of the show has dwindled from a 20-something gamer show to a 16-something gamer show.



the fact of the matter is that G4 is seeing that this shit we enjoy doesn't pay bills, bringing on the man show, "the biscuit", etc to replace that programming during primetime slots is what WILL pay the bills... and i'm sure their market analysts are looking directly at SpikeTV and saying "how can we do THAT without buying episodes of MXC?"



i expect the channel will be nigh unwatchable w/in the next year.

Can we agree that they both suck?

After kevin left AOTS(the cool kevin, mr rose), I've pretty muched stopped watching and just download the xplay reviews via itunes. As for Xplay vs Judgement Day, tommy talarico _is_ an asshole and completely agree with the comment about how/why the game industry is spiraling towards another crash like post-atari pre-nintendo. (on that note, tommy probally likes dynasty warriors, all 123 or em, be funny to know his thoughts on xplay's constant bashing of it). But xplay does need a bigger scale.



GOD DAMN YOU G4!

G4's weakness is its lack of integrity. Does the channel have a mission statement? Not as far as I can tell.



Furthermore the channel's in need of better talent. X Play is pathetic b/c the hosts always seem to be pleading to be relevant, yet they're a good deal better off than the other mindless tools on the network. It wouldn't be so hard to find real gamers eager to speak their minds, keeping their ears to the ground, knowing what's current in an industry they love, but G4 opted for a motley crew of unlikable people and shows to keep the network afloat.



An all gaming channel isn't so bad at all, it just needs to be relevant as far as its purpose is concerned.

Clearly, G4's management decided there were two ways to go with the channel: appeal to the nerds or appeal to the boys in puberty. They've been going with option 2. But let's be clear, here...G4 wasn't exactly highbrow to start with. Filter's pathetic pandering was the stuff of eye-rolling silliness. Judgement Day's reviews included such stunning analysis such as "this games has lots of great boobs...they boob physics are pretty cool." Honest: I suppose so.



First off, Stop trying to be Spike TV. You're embarassing yourself. If you're supposed to be about video games, start doing it and stop with the sniggering booby jokes. I have the Internet, and IT HAS BETTER PORN THAN YOU DO.



Next, just because there isn't enough material to fill a full 24 channel with material doesn't mean you can't make some relatively inexpensive shows to cover much more than you currently are. I don't need Hot Chix to enjoy a show. Talking head shows are astonishingly cheap, and couldn't be much more expensive than some basic cable reruns or failed network shows.



Example: A round table of professional developers hosted by a smart geek discussing gameplay and industry issues. A debate over the new Revolution controller with Gabe Newell, Shigeru Miyamoto and others, for example. A debate between John Carmack and John Romero over game design. A faceoff between Reggie and Kaz. People would watch this.



Stop dumbing down the content. AotS is The Screen Savers for Dummies. Your audience is (or at least, USED TO BE) highly technically savvy nerds. If these people can build a system from scratch, make custom mods and navigate the latest technologies...I think they can navigate the web.



Give Fark.com a half-hour show.



Make a geek news show. Not just the mini segments that AotS offers...but a real full blown news show. Cover things like comics2film, aintitcoolnews and other sources.



There are tons of things that G4 COULD do to improve it's lot without incurring a huge amount of money for programming. Emulating channels that do it better isn't one of them.



And please Please PLEASE stop making your programs shill for other companies during the show. The forced EB/gamefly ads during X-play are just irritating (although the games for cheap bastards segment is just fine...just stop being so blatant about it).

I wouldn't give MTV credit for anything. First and foremost they are supposed to be a music channel and I never even hear music on it anymore, so I don't watch it anymore. G4tv is going down the same route, they are getting more away from gaming programming and more into shows appeal to a stereotypical gamer. The Man Show, what does that have to do with games.



I fully believe that an entire channel dedicated to video games is possible and when G4 first started they had the right idea, but they are making the wrong adjustments to fix their problems.



I think that the shows on G4 are just perpetuating the stereotypes that just aren't true about all gamers.



I was supportive of G4 when I first watched them, the first year they were on television. They have gone to pot.



As far as MTV goes, I wouldn't watch it to save my mom's life.



I guess I'll continue to get my mass media exposure to games from people like the friendly folks at Joystiq.

I have to admit, G4 has gone down the tubes... I watch less and less of it. The programming was best right after they merged with TechTV. It was perfect, technology and gaming shows. Now, there is almost nothing to watch.

I enjoy Cinematech (especially when they highlight 16-bit games) and Icons very much. X-Play makes my head explode, especially their reviews of games which consist of simply insulting the game and attaching an arbitrary number. In fact, I've always felt that G4 hosts treated their viewership as either lazy, stupid, or both.



My advice? Blow up the whole thing and start from scratch. No Man Show, no Star Trek, no Fastlane, no other stupid crap. For that, I can watch SpikeTV. Is it so bad that a video game channel would just talk about and show video games? Repeat your programming over and over, it works for ESPN, doesn't it?

I've been to korea, and they have several channels dedicated to gaming, and gaming only. The format of the channels is different then the ones in the states. Much of the channels, basically show people playing starcraft and warcraft against each. Other games that are popular, however, are also shown (FIFA soccer, counter strike, some fighting games, even worms type games). The difference, I believe, is that over there, they treat games pretty much like a sport. They try to find the best way to display the action going on during the game. Additionally, they have pretty decent commentators that know the ins and outs of the game that they are commentating on. Anyone who's seen early UFC commentating vs recent ones (or pride fighting with Bas Ruten) knows how a good commentator can really enhance the viewing experience. I watched it because i enjoyed watching the top level pros showing their stuff, with perhaps the opportunity to learn a thing or to. I honestly don't think I ever saw a review. I did see some interviews and specials with the more popular players, things that were personal than the mtv style that has been done with fatality. In they end, I think the major difference between gamers and gamer shows in America is that the game shows don't really seem to take gaming seriously. I get the sense that they treat it as either a fad, a novel hobby, or something that is still for kids. If they treated the subject matter more seriously, I think the that the quality of the shows would improve.

G4 is to gaming just like MTV is to music, both suck royal butt at what they "claim" to be all about.



G4 has TWO good gaming shows, Xplay and Icons, both TechTV holdovers.

MTV has NO good shows at all. They have music videos...if only they'd actually PLAY them sometime...



All this crap like Street Fury and the Man Show just proves that G4 is NOT "gaming television", it's "television targeted at the gaming demographic", i.e. 12-22 yr old males.



Having a dedicated gaming channel is a WONDERFUL concept. G4 is NOT that channel however...

I'm appalled by how much hate ST:TNG is getting; I'm into games, i'm into tech stuff, AND i'm into all that sci-fi stuff as well. I think G4 is moving towards the right direction but I agree they DO need to trim down the fat on their programming; have a good mix of game related content, techie stuff, and good old-fashioned classic shows like ST:TNG (and maybe throw in some Quantum Leap haha). Get rid of shows like Fastlane, The Man Show (albeit a good show ;), and whipset or whatever.



I think they're trying to please too many types of viewers all at once to make up for their lack of game content. I agree nobody watches TV 24/7, much less 'gaming' TV; variety is good but so is focus on content. I'd like to see X-Play stay, as well as AoTS, Filter (yes Diana tries too hard sometimes, but she's still cute), and Judgement Day. New content would be cool too.



In the words of Cpt. Picard, "Make it so....b17ch3s"

(ya i threw in some rick james ;)

BarbedWire Biscuit (Happy Tree Friends and Friends, Braniac) are the only reason I watch G4. Xplay is ok, but I'm not that big into games. Atack of the Show sucks ass sence Kevin Rose left/sence Kevin Pereira joined.

G4 is turning into a Spike TV clone. The recent additions of The Man Show and Star Trek TNG are uninspired. What's next, reruns of The Joe Schmo Show?

Am I the only one who thinks Attack of the Show is awesome? I for one was happy with the TechTV/G4 merger. Neither network had enough programming to fill 24 hours. Yes, G4 is aimed mainly at nerds who love anything out of the mainstream, but they do seem to have a little of everything. I wouldn't sit and watch a game network for 24 hours a day, but I do tune in to AotS every day and enjoy seeing Icons and Judgement Day on the weekends.

G4 is not all about gaming its about dumb things.
It used to be about gaming, but now it not. They suck now.

I suprised that no one is talking about how G4 is becoming more like Spike TV, I don't think G4 is becoming more like MTV, eventhough they are trying to get gaming shows, hell G4 can't even get 1 million viewers to watch the channel. Not only that, but I wouldn't be suprised if later this year that all the so called gaming shows will only be on weekends and all the other crap is during the week. It is REALLY sad when G4's most viewed show on that channel is The Man Show and that show is all reruns! Not only that, almost all the shows I watched on G4 got taken off, like Judgment Day and Call For Help (again). this is one of the reasons why I think downloading video from places like iTunes and even podcasting is getting real popular because of the fact that channels like G4 and other networks are just taking shows off the air for no real reasons or because people now are not getting the information they want from the tv anymore. Even when The Screen Savers was on, that was the best show on TV and then went to AOTS, WTF is this crap thats the reason why Kevin Rose leftbecause the new show sucked and because G4 wouldn't let him do the things he wanted to do before on the screen savers. TechTV and G4 was the reason why I have a cable box because 90% of the things I watch is on basic cable and the other 10% was on those two channels, now that they went to the ground, I don't see a real reason to keep the box.