Im not too sure about this G4TechTV thing.

jblank · Post by **jblank** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 9:08 am

When I first heard about the meger of G4 (a channel I didnt have as a Charter cable subscriber), with the struggling, downward spiraling Tech TV, I got excited. I thought wow, a channel almost completely devoted to gaming. To some extent, thats true, but they have big, big problems.

Having given it a very fair shake, watching alot of it during the last month, there is one gigantic problem that is going to completely kill this channel unless they fix it. What is this problem? Well, how about the fact that they only seem to have about 12 episodes for the game "review" programs, and they....repeat....all....too....often. Also, many of the shows offer very stale information and reviews. Would you believe that I saw an Electric Playground episode where they were talking about the UPCOMING release of MVP Baseball 2004, a title that came out in March of this year....YIKES.

In addition to the repitition of Xplay, EP, and Judgement Day, is the one man, that I am beginning to hate more than any other person.....Tommy Tallarico. This 170 lb lump of Italian arrogance, drives me nuts. I would just love to walk up to him, and scream into his face YOU ARE NOT FUNNY!!! He is arrogant, a jerk, self centered, overly facetious, and so inept at rating games that I am starting to disbelieve that this guy is actually thought of in semi-iconic ways within the video games industry (He gave EA's NHL 2005 a 9.5 out of 10).

Maybe the moral of the story is be careful watch you wish for, you just might get it. I always thought a video gaming channel would be awesome, well, I got one, but its production values, talent, and effort, are so woefully lacking, that I am not sure its going to last. Am I the only one that feels this way?

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 9:15 am

I predicted years ago when I first heard about this channel that it wouldn't last. I still haven't seen it, but I stand by my prediction. Too few people are dedicated gamers, and of those, fewer people want to watch it on TV.

It's possible that making it a subset of TechTV will make it viable, though. Having a focus on general technology gives it a much larger potential audience.

Sith

Grievous Angel · Post by **Grievous Angel** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 10:04 am

Pretty much the only thing I watch here is X-Play, which I've always thought was a pretty decent reviews show. There was an hour-long news show that I've seen once or twice and liked, but I can never seem to find it when it airs.

Teggy · Post by **Teggy** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 10:47 am

As a former Comcast subscriber (I picked up RCN when I moved a few towns over recently), I had G4 since its inception - I wound up watching it a lot at first because I contracted mono for a month 2 summers ago. I thought the shows were generally lacking in talent and production value, and I don't understand why they swapped out some of their early hosts (the guy who hosted Sweat for uber-annoying Rossi Morreale who has apparently leveraged being a contestant on Temptation Island in tv gigs, and Wil Wheaton and friend, who were really entertaining on the early episodes of Arena, which has since been hosted by similarly talentless folks). But as someone who really just enjoys video games, I found it to be really good background material. I would leave it on a lot if I was just taking care of things in my room or surfing.

I had always wanted techtv, but it wasn't in my package, so I was excited when the merger happened. I especially enjoyed the older episodes of the Screen Savers they were showing, but at this point I have to say that Comcast has really blown it. I know they are trying to skew to a younger crowd, but they have basically gutted TechTv of any value that it had. On the new episodes of the screen savers, which I tivo, I probably fast forward through a good 50-60% of the show. They've swapped out segments on hardware and technology with celebrity interviews and reviews of soft drinks. X-play looks to have survived intact, but I think the channel in general needs a real overhaul if they expect to hold on to any of the techtv viewers.

DiscoJason · Post by **DiscoJason** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 10:52 am

Grievous Angel wrote:Pretty much the only thing I watch here is X-Play, which I've always thought was a pretty decent reviews show. There was an hour-long news show that I've seen once or twice and liked, but I can never seem to find it when it airs.

X-Play is all I watch on the channel as well, but, to be honest, I haven't tried watching any of the other shows. Maybe I will get Tivo to tape a couple for me. In fact, I am surprised Tivo hasn't picked a couple up seeing as how I have a Season Pass for X-Play.

Debris · Post by **Debris** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:31 am

Why watch TV about playing video games when you could be doing something fun like actually PLAYING video games?

I did sat down once and tried to watch a show when we first got Tech TV. I could only stand about 10 minutes of it before I had to change it to something a little more interesting.

I can see why it won't be around much longer.

Tscott · Post by **Tscott** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 12:22 pm

X-play's also the only thing I'll watch, and that's pretty rare that I do. I've tried to watch the new The Screen Savers, but that hasn't lasted for more than a couple minutes at a time.

And speaking of X-Play...
http://www.jonmega.com/albums/Morgan_We ... oshoot.swf
(warning: contains sound and Morgan Webb in sexy outfits!)

Rich in KCK · Post by **Rich in KCK** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:18 pm

Here's a quick wallpaper I made from Morgan's FHM shots.

snoleopard · Post by **snoleopard** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 4:17 pm

I used to watch TechTv, and pretty much liked The Screen Savers, Call for Help, and X-Play. I was a Comcast customer then, and they suddenly decided that TechTV was going to be a premium channel. I liked the show so much that I switched to WOW cable and internet service. Then, they were taken over and became G4TV, and even though I tried to like it, it just isn't what it once was. I still watch X-Play sometimes, but mostly not.