For those who know of "the giggle loop," we're attempting not to succumb as we earnestly report this information. The Championship Gaming Series (CGS) announced it will begin airing 90-minute episodes exclusively on cable-station G4 beginning July 16.

During its inaugural season on DirecTV, CGS CEO Andy Reif says 50 million "cumulative viewers" watched the series. G4 president Neal Tiles believes the competition "is certain to appeal to our viewers." What viewers would those be ... wait, no, must not give in to urges. We wish all the best for the show's ratings on the network. People watch other professional sports, why not this?

If you find yourself in the mood to pay to watch G4's gamer-oriented line of television programming, you can now scratch that puzzling itch on the Xbox Live Marketplace, where several of the network's original television programs have been made available for download. These programs include Attack of the Show, snowboard documentary series The Block, and animated comedy series Code Monkeys (which includes a free sneak preview of the show's second season).

Oddly enough, X-Play is not one of the shows featured on Microsoft's service, despite the fact that the daily half-hour Sess-fest is one of the highest rated programs on the network. A shame, too -- we would actually dish out some Microsoft buckz to avoid wading through the countless reruns of Fastlane, Cops, Cheaters, and other "gamer-oriented" programs to watch the oft-renamed program. Alas, we must continue to suffer the seemingly limitless douchebaggery of Joey Greco.

In case our live coverage of the Game Developer Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival Awards wasn't enough to sate your appetite for GDC's prestigious ceremony, G4TV will be showing coverage of the event tonight.

A 30-minute recap of the two-hour event will air tonight at 8:00 PM EST (5:00 PM PST), as part of a special episode of G4's X-Play program. If you miss it, the episode will re-air several times on Saturday, March 1, Sunday, March 2 and Monday, March 3. Check out the episode guide for the full list of times.

For those with a distaste for digests, the award shows' organizers will be hosting full-length streaming video coverage of both events on their respective websites sometime in the next week. We'll keep an eye out for when those streams become available.

If you can't wait until Wednesdays to get your Zero Punctuation fix, G4's X-Play will begin showing "previews" of Yahtzee's adventures in game-review land every Tuesday beginning February 12 before the "uncut" reviews are posted on The Escapist the following day.

Basically, G4 will probably be showing a watered-down (i.e. censored) version of the profanity-laden reviews before The Escapist gives us our quality fix the following day. Although its nice that G4 is presumably giving Mr. Croshaw some extra cash to spend on hookers with genetic anomalies, perhaps X-Play (and its revamped format) could come up with something original to grab viewers instead of riding The Escapist's coattails? But, this is clearly a win-win for both sides.

In his first television appearance since his controversial firing, Jeff Gerstmann will appear at 8 p.m. tonight on G4's recently redesigned news show X-Play. According to a G4 press notice, Gerstmann will be discussing innovation (or the lack thereof) in Japanese gaming and will also "field questions regarding his previous position with Gamespot, as well as his current and future endeavors."

For those who've missed Gerstmann's calming presence on On The Spot, this will provide a great opportunity to see the big guy back in action. For everyone else, er ... there's another story right below this one!

Love it or hate it, GameSpot TV Extended Play X-Play remains the golden child of the Comcast-owned G4 network. Since the channel's rebirth in 2004, the program has kept its position as the highest rated show on G4 -- beating out reruns of Cops and Cheaters by what we can only assume is a narrow margin. Despite X-Play's pseudo-success, the show will see a major format change come mid-January.

Joystiq's own Kyle Orland got a chance to talk to Adam Sessler, X-Play's host of ten years (and G4's recently appointed Managing Editor, Games Editorial) about the show's makeover. According to the Sess, the show will now air five days a week, focusing its attention on gaming news in addition to its usual reviews and feature segments. This doesn't mean the show is ditching its hit-or-often-miss sense of humor: "The tone of the show isn't going to be some grave, severe thing, because at the end of the day this is video games," Sessler said.

Sessler goes on to defend G4's somewhat lackluster programming lineup, saying he would rather "see a network with a lot of fresh content that's not always consistent on one topic rather than the same three hours repeated ad nauseum." We agree that it would be difficult to come up with an entire day's worth of programming based on video games, but perhaps they could find something a tad more relevant with which to fill those grim interims than syndicated episodes of The Jamie Kennedy Experiment.

As the start of a week-long series on women in the game industry, MTV Multiplayer has a revealing Q&A with Morgan Webb, the curvier half of the hosting duo behind G4's X-Play. While the interview covers a lot of topics, perhaps the most persistent running theme is Webb's ambivalence about her status as a successful, visible female game journalist.

On the one hand, Webb says, "it used to really bother me that men ... would assume that I don't really know what I'm talking about or would know less than a man on the topic." On the other hand, though, Webb acknowledges "I wouldn't be where I am if I were a man, to be honest. I wouldn't be on the show. I wouldn't be writing columns for FHM. I wouldn't be considered just like a rare and interesting... specimen or whatever, if I weren't a woman. So I am where I am because I'm a woman and that's just the way it is."

While Webb is a big booster for the game industry, she says she doesn't necessarily see herself as a spokesperson for 'girl gaming.' "I don't think the world will necessarily be a better place if I get lots of young woman to play video games," she said. "If a woman wants to play video games, more power to her ... but I have a lot of girlfriends who couldn't care less about video games ... and I don't think their lives are missing anything for that."

The lengthy full interview is packed with more of Webb's thoughts on forum trolls, posing for Maxim and the effects of being both one of gaming's most prominent women and a minor TV celebrity. Take a few minutes and give it a read.

Crashing down any hopes that G4 might turn itself around and work at producing quality video game and tech television, the network spent big money for the rights to air reruns of LOST. The series will begin airing in the fall of 2008, joining other nails in the former tech and video game station's coffin like COPS and Star Trek.

Sci-Fi also picked up the rights to LOST, but at least that makes sense, because we all know the castaways are actually encapsulated in a glass bubble floating through space. G4 plans to redo LOST like they did Star Trek by creating "LOST 2.0," which will offer interactive elements and display factoids during the broadcast. G4 and Sci-Fi allegedly paid $200,000 per episode for the series -- although Sci-Fi footed most of the bill. Although it's sad to see G4 continue down this path toward becoming the poor man's Spike TV, at least we've got GameTrailers making good video game retrospectives. It could also be worse, G4 could still be doing that whole The Whip Set thing. Don't remember what that was? Check out the trailer after the break.

We've given G4 a hard time in this very space before, but when they get one right, we've got to give it to them. And this is one of those times. We're not sure if we're alone in this, dear reader, but we got some chuckles out of their new "Red Ring of Death" music video by Distended Warranty (disclaimer: We doubt that's a real band).

So, yeah, they're just a touch late to the party on this this one. But come on, "console's hotter than a dragon's breath"? That's funny. ... Well, it's funny if your 360 never broke. If you're among the unlucky more-than-a-few who've rode the ring you're probably pumping your fist in the air with the tragic sincerity of a new father listening to Creed's "Arms Wide Open" in the late 90s. Put your hand down, man. You're depressing us.

Have all the game delays got you down? Put a relaxing cap on your Tuesday workday by watching Joystiq's own Kevin Kelly explain why Uncle Niko won't be able to visit this Halloween, why Blacksite might be here for Thanksgiving and why nothing short of a Christmas miracle will get Spore out the door before the end of linear time, generally speaking.

If you're still not cheered, you can thrill as Kelly storms into the G4 studios and beats the intellectual bejeezus out of Rebecca Swanner, Senior Videogames Editor for Penthouse Magazine! ... And by "beats the intellectual bejeezus out of" we mean "politely disagrees with." Sorry for any confusion. Check the small-ish video out after the jump.

Is this video kind of silly and chock-full of groaners? You bet. But there are still some choice moments in G4's True Hollywood Story treatment of everybody's favorite Spartan, especially his Hasselhoffian drunken burger binge.

Interestingly, the video is much more entertaining than the Halo film's true Hollywood story, which could be summed up as "What's Halo? They want how much? Who's that guy? It's canceled." That's not even worth posting on YouTube.

We know you're worried that without the Internet to act as a filter between you and Reggie, your head might explode. It's an understandable concern. We've lost a few too many bloggers who didn't have their skulls properly reinforced with titanium. We'd suggest watching G4 while you read Joystiq, allowing your laptop to act as a shield between you and messages of corporate synergy. Of course, that's just us. (Side note: G4 gets adorable points for proudly pointing out how relevant their coverage is now that E3 is "closed to the public." ... Shh, we won't tell them if you don't.)

Our expectations for G4 television aren't particularly high, but we admit to having thought for a moment that their new video game-oriented cartoon show Code Monkeys would at least be entertaining. Between having a theme song by geek folkster Jonathan Coulton and cameos from the likes of Steve Wozniak, Nolan Bushnell, and David Jaffe, there was hope that G4 could deliver something actually watchable. It isn't.

Edgy video site Break.com is hosting the pilot episode of Code Monkeys, which will premiere on G4's cable network on July 11th. The show, which uses an "8-bit" animation style, focuses on two video game programmers working at a company called Gameavision in the 80s. Peppered with crude drug humor, pop culture references, and bizarre video game-isms, Code Monkeys is oddly reminiscent of the film Grandma's Boy, and that's not meant as a compliment.

Those with the time and brain cells to kill can check out the entire 20-minute pilot episode here. Everyone else can take a peak at the NSFW preview after the jump. Don't say we didn't warn you.

If you've been watching G4 lately (and if so, may we ask why?) you've probably seen a couple thousand 30-second spots promoting a mysterious, retro-stylized game company called GameAVision. The viral marketing got even weirder yesterday with an e-mailed press release that touts the two advertised games, Crosswalk and Bar Fight, as "featur[ing] movable character, sound, and several exciting colors." The ads and the release both direct players to the GameAVision web site, which includes some unplayable, Atari 2600-style Flash games and some amusing help wanted ads, among other things.

What's going on here? Turns out the cryptic campaign is for an upcoming animated series that G4 commissioned last year. According to the October 2006 press release, the show will feature "Dave and Jerry, two video-game programmers whose lives are turned upside down when GameAVision, the freewheeling company at which they've spent their whole careers, is purchased by Bob Larrity, a crazed Texan businessman who knows nothing about video games except that they 'sell good.'"

The premise actually sounds interesting, and the involvement of Minoriteam creator Adam de La Pena is encouraging. It's also nice to see G4 filling its schedule with some new, vaguely game-related programming instead of more reruns of Cops or something. Here's hoping the show lives up to its promise.

It's about time Luigi got some love. It's all been focused on his more media-prevalent brother lately. Find out about the dark secrets that led these two plumbers down separate paths in this E! True Hollywood Story expose.

This video is definitely a few minutes longer than the normal fare we serve up, so grab your morning coffee, put your phone on hold, and take a short break. Again, are you listening G4? This could turn into an entire series of vignettes on video game characters.