Ladies and Gentlemen: I am a video gamer; it is something I take very seriously. I have devoted much of my short life to this art form and, to a lesser extent, technology (for obvious reasons). I can’t name the actors who played in ‘Sewer Shark’; but I’ve played Sewer Shark and to this very day I believe it should get a sequel, that’s right, I’m hard core. This isn’t about the unfair treatment of an overlooked gem, no this particular rant has ‘G4’ written all over it. Let’s go back in time to the year 2002, Comcast (yes that Comcast) and Insight Communications revealed to the world a TV network that focused on the gaming industry. Well when news of that hit my ears I had to get it, no matter what. When I did, it was like the Super Nintendo all over again, pure nirvana.
For a while, life for a gamer was pretty good – sure the shows were a little green but they were good. My personal favorite was Portal; a scripted show about MMORPG’s, funny and brilliant.
In time I figured their shows would improve greatly and give creditability to video games as a true art form to the masses, but sadly they would never get a chance. In March 25, 2004 (almost 4 years anniversary now) the powers that be decided to combine the networks of both G4 and ‘Tech TV’ (another cool network I used to watch) to into one super network. Now on paper it’s a beyond excellent idea, especially for me; the best of both networks on one channel – win/win right?
Well little did I (and the general G4 viewership) know that this was beginning of the end. No sooner did the ink dry on the paperwork, they started making changes. Not the kind of changes that means move to a different time slot, but the kind that guts all that was good about both networks and replace them with B.S. which the world has never seen before. 'Attack of the Show' is the best example of this. It tries to be ‘cool’ or ‘generation now’ but all I see is a bunch a jack-offs who got lucky. Seriously I think they’re high half the time; they would have to be to come up with the warped segments on their show.
Don’t get me started with the hosts either, a 2nd rate model with a dude who makes anyone else look good by comparison only completes the bastardization of this show. The things that come out of their mouths make even our 43rd president’s own words seem intelligent.
This is the stuff I have to content with every time I change to G4 now; and remembering how it uses to be - makes me even more upset! Instead of creative, game-centered programming; I get freakin’ 'Cops', 'Cheaters' and soft-core porn (after 11 pm)! The only reason I still pay $45.00 extra every month for it, is that still provide small residue of tech and gaming information in the form of X-Play and other news bites. I’ll give the devil its due too, not everything in this G4 is complete P.O.S. The foreign T.V. shows ‘Ninja Warrior’ and ‘Unbeatable Banzuke’ are interesting, but I would gladly trade them both to get old G4 back; or at least the Canadian version of G4, because unlike here in the states, they wisely keep a lot of the Tech TV / G4 programming. The main reason they changed G4, is to focus their target audience to male viewers like ‘Spike TV’; to create a network ‘inspired’ by video games.
This is simply NOT the case.
All this network is now is a mish-mash of random shows, pointless commentary, you-tube trash, & questionable commercials. It’s like a popular child actor who has fallen of hard times, no longer the ‘TV 4 gamers’ (Their former motto) now the ‘TV for who the hell knows’.
*sigh*
Oh well, we’ll always have Portal…
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