Incredibly insightful comment Alison. Say, what exactly do you correspond about? Is it all just capes and asses to you?
For those of you just tuning in (welcome!), I issue a fair warning about this blog post: Gaming rant ahead. It might not be the greatest arguments ever assembled, but it should be a hell of a read.
I’ll start this rant by posing a question to all of you gamers out there: Are you completely and utterly fed up with being told you’re a subhuman moron, interested in only explosions and boobs? Well I am, and I think it’s about damn time we take a stand against this insanity, not only because it really holds the videogame medium back from its potential, but also because it makes all of us look like bumbling, idiotic, Mountain Dew driven, Neanderthals. And maybe you’re happy as a knuckle-dragging, fart-sniffing, salivating, misogynist, but friends, the Commodore IS NOT. Now let’s get started before my blood pressure reaches capillary busting levels (oh it’s coming).
Have any of you watched the G4 channel? In my mind (second only to Spike TV) this channel is perhaps the best (worst?) example of all that is wrong with gaming culture in our times. The next time you flip on the channel, give this a shot; temprarily remove your “audience” hat and replace it with your “critic” hat. Ask yourself some pivotal questions about what you’re being subjected to. Questions like:
With the content of the shows and ads, what kinds of assumptions are being made about the things I like?
What are they saying about me and what kind of life I lead at the moment, or want to lead in the future?
Out of each thought expressed on these shows what percentage is concerned with actual videogame substance?
What does the universe (or zeitgeist… I’m gonna say zeitgeist) of videogames look like after watching this channel?
Because all of you have at least half a brain, I’m sure you will find the answers unsatisfactory to say the least. I’d now like to offer you a glimpse into what shows and ads on channels like G4 have to say about gamers and gamer culture:
You play games? You’re lazy. You can’t possibly play videogames and remain productive in life. In fact as a gamer, you will do anything and everything, even resorting to astounding levels of lethargy to avoid being productive.
Actually having a real life is impossible, or even undesirable for you because all you want to do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is sit in your little cave and play videogames.
If you ever manage to find any initiative in your sad, pathetic life it will be to either go to college online (thereby never leaving your room) or join a “videogame college” (many of which have zero academic accreditation and are just looking for creative ways to take your money as a gamer)
You couldn’t possibly have a significant other. If you do have one, he/she is forever lampooning you because of your ridiculous love of videogames. And if you’re married… you still play videogames???
Samuel L Jackson is not an actor. He’s not an icon. He's not even a man. He’s the greatest single thing to ever happen to the universe. And no, I’m not using sarcastic hyperbole here.
Sex is a nonsensical and unobtainable concept to you. Oh, well that is unless you are playing through Bayonetta (or the like) where you are bombarded with a constant, unceasing barrage of sexual imagery because even though you’ll never experience it yourself, we’ll dangle it in front of you like a carrot to an unmotivated donkey so that you’ll eventually be convinced that real women actually should look this way. As a matter of fact, the only reason we’ve hired these women to be hosts on our channel is because they have breasts AND because we will do everything we can possibly do to draw attention to that fact at every opportunity (just watch the next intro they do for Olivia... they just can't get over it). To you, there is nothing hotter in the universe than a woman in a bikini playing Super Mario Brothers you sad, pathetic, loser.
In case that last one didn’t tell you this, all gamers are men. Women that are gamers are either goddesses that don’t really exist or social pariahs, except for on our channel and in commercials.
When you're playing a game, something has to blow up at least every 30 seconds. Otherwise you aren't interested. God forbid you actually use your mind to engage with a game rather than just senselessly blowing things up.
You love to hear everyone on our channel horrendously abuse l33t speak or gamer jargon incessantly so as to make no sense AND incite our pathetic attempts to reach out to you as a gamer. Teh Mountain Doos will have you epic winning in no times!!1! Gag.
In your life you should be constantly embarrassed to admit that you are a gamer. Society frowns on you but we don’t. We know videogames aren’t art. Let’s not try to change that.
I think you all know I could go on (for at least another 3 paragraphs). Instead I’d like to take a moment to reflect on some of the consequences of all of this nonsense.
Firstly, if these assumptions about gamers aren’t offensive to you, then I would say at the very least they’re upsetting that we as gamers are painted with such a broad and inaccurate brush. There are many gamers who are idiots. There are many gamers that are hounds for 3D graphic sexual fantasies. And as the news media likes to point out with ignorant and passing references to causality some people that murder other people also play videogames (or played a game once in 1990). But I’d like to think that in general these are far from the reasons we all like to play videogames. I’d like to think that we entertain ourselves with games like we entertain ourselves with many other media like television or novels. And I have to say that the status of videogames as a legitimate art form, and beyond that, a legitimate entertainment experience is incredibly hurt, or held back entirely, by the ways that gamer culture and games are presented in the media. If you want to make a statement about how legitimate games are in either of these arenas, the wrong way to go about it is to turn on G4 only to hear Kevin Pereira say “It totally rocks dude, because there is definitely boobs and explosions and stuff.” As a side note this show only comes on somewhere in between COPS reruns and some game shows about fake ninjas. Shows that have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH GAMES OR GEEK CULTURE. in other wrods, they're just included so they can show how stupid they think you are. Awesome context right? Stay classy G4.
It's Effin' Science!!! NO! It's Effin Stupid!!!
Secondly, we have to at least consider that we’re finding videogames here in their rightful place in society. Remember that after the crash of 1982, videogames became (at least in the eyes of society) mere toys for children as a part of a passing fad. Remember also that the only reason any of us are even talking about this today is because a company called Nintendo somehow convinced retailers to include their game system in the toy section because it came with a robot you controlled with it (they wouldn’t accept it any other way. It was a toy, or it wasn't going in the stores). The inescapable fact is that ever since, videogames have been view by society more as a toy than a pastime or an entertainment medium. Completing the insinuated connection here, we see why society tends to view videogames as childish or immature. (I mean even just the term ‘game’ is really connected to childishness when you think about it)
We cannot forget the fact that these kinds of games and representations of gamer culture would not be produced if there weren’t plenty of people buying them. Without jumping into theory here, let’s just say that we’re at least partially responsible for this mess because we helped to create and perpetuate it. Also, we have to realize that because it’s how big publishers and production houses come to see us as an audience that they continue to produce the same kind of crap over and over again. This really harms originality and stands in the way of making some truly creative and innovative games (but it also bankrolls most of the work for designers out there to be fair).
My point here today folks is to say that I’m sick of it. I’m ready to play videogames that celebrate my intelligence rather than treat me like an imbecile. I want to see games that have real substance over purely content if that makes any sense. Sure there can be explosions, headshots, and softcore porn protagonists. But I wish that these things were simply accessories to telling stories and offering immersive experiences rather than being the focal point through which the entirety of a game’s substance must be viewed. And I really wish that the media outlets covering these games were a lot more Joystiq than G4 if you catch my drift.
I hope we can eventually show that for every mindless, perverted, social freak out there, there are 100 or even 1000 of us gamers that are pretty damn normal. We just like to play videogames that offer fun and entertaining experiences. Maybe they give a glimpse into new worlds, help to teach us something, spark our own creativity and imaginations, offer escapism, explore our emotions and our reflexes, or even stretch the notions we have about reality.
I don’t have the delusion that playing Super Mario Galaxy will carry the same kind of intellectual weight as say reading Pride and Prejudice. But I don’t think we’re too far off from acknowledging as a society that videogame enjoyment is very similar to film or TV enjoyment. Or that they are therefore completely capable of offering the same kind of thought-provoking and culturally rich experiences as other media. We might not be at that point yet as a society, but one thing is for damned sure; G4TV or SpikeTV, or any of those other gaming outlets that cater to the dumb-masses are certainly not helping us get there any faster. And that just makes me angry. How about you?
You make many, many valid points commodore. I mean, I think the only really stupid gamers are casual gamers who will by any piece of sh*t game that is released with Mario or jewels in or on it.
To be honest of course I like boobs and explosions, but it's not what drives my life. And that fact that every gamer is dragged into the category of mindless idiot, makes me sick. Most gamers I know are intelligent and like to play games to experience something from the norm, experiencing a story can be much more fun then reading or watching a story. Gaming is definetly a legitimate art form, look at EarthBound, or Psychonauts. Pieces of art rather then meer games.
And I'll admit, being a teen that is usually locked up in my room doing nothing but browsing the web and gaming makes me somewhat of a social outcast. But I can still act normal in a social situation. I'm not totally, a shut in. And gaming is something a lot of people share in common. So it far from alienates us.
And gamers actually having a girlfriend/wife doesn't seem all that weird. Although I am alone :'(.
I hate G4 and Spike TV. They are extremly stupid. G4 used to be okay when they had shows that I thought were remotely interesting, like when they talked about a series of games and showed how it came to be. It's just a trash network now.
So yes, G4 is stupid and contains all the wrong ideas and makes us out as retards....
But what can we really do? Just proove them wrong, I guess :).
Well, I stopped taking this crap Personally years ago. The only show worth watching now on G4 is X-play wich I mean, yeah they do some socially awkward jokes, but they attack everything as far as that goes. (Movies I've noticed get a big piece of that).
As for the commercials, cops, and ninjas...well I could really give my two cents somewhere else. I hate Cops, Ninja Warrior is okay, and I dont watch the commercials anyway.
The more I think about it...there really isn't a place outsie of the internet that we gamers, geeks, and Nerds can go to that allows us to be ourselves without judgement or Steriotying (for them ost part.) It seems that in order to make something for Geeks, nerds, and Gamers you have to actually be a geek nerd and/or Gamer.
Once again I actually agree with you in absolutely everything :)
I have been a gamer since I was very young and when I was about 6 or 7 years old I felt the video game stigma as some class mates would make fun of me for enjoying them but not really a big deal, after all kids will make fun of everything that is different from them and I'm sure I was the same with other kids.
At this age my enjoyment of video games probably was the one that G4 targets as core gamer. Of course some people just play games for explosions and half naked female ninjas but I personally don't care about things like that. It's funny that you mentioned Bayonetta. I think that game is fantastic! It doesn't take itself seriously being sexy and fun but at the same time having much better controls than other action games that claim to be really deep. But people just make a big deal about the boobs and that is not only G4's fault (there must be a ton of dirty Bayonetta fan art floating the internet even a week before the game was released)
I believe that everyone in this forums is similar to me in their understanding of gaming culture (except when it comes to FF8 :) ... ) or else we wouldn't really enjoy the content that the CotGW makes for us. We didn't enjoy Mass Effect because it had sex scenes, we enjoy mindless fun as a fighting or racing game but we also love those dark intense story telling of our 16 bit rpg's , we are married,single,skinny,fat,retarded,smart,fun or boring and it has nothing to do with gaming. Maybe I don't know what it feels like to be looked down for gaming in high school as I was the drummer of a rock band and for some reason people will over look any geekness in someone who has something that is regarded as cool but I wouldn't care anyway.
I dont' like the portrayal of gamers that the media displays but I don't like the portrayal of sport fans, rockers or any portrayal actually. We have to fight to be ourselves always, and its if G4 is wrong as I know they are I'm sure they won't do very good over the years.
So I propose that we celebrate how wonderful it is to play video games instead of how terrible some people may think it is! :)
Title: Call me a treasure hunter or I'll rip your lungs out
Joined: 07/09/2009
Posts:
Re: G4 thinks you're stupid
Hiper: Great points all. Not much I can add to that.
Dragon: Interesting that you note that there's no place outside of the internet (except for some conventions, of course) where geeks can conregate without fear of reprisal. One could argue that G4 trying in their oh-so-rediculous way to appeal to geeks shows just how inept traditional forms of media are are capturing that lightning in a bottle that these geek communities on the internet have facilitated.
The main issue I see with the media stations like G4 and Sci fi (or SyFy) is that they have good intentions at first...but then over time, they seem to degrade into the same old crap you see everyday with the one or two exceptions. I mean, Like Comodore said, I would love to know how Cops relate to Geek culture in a significant way. I understand there intentions with Ninja Warrior to an extent. But hear me out for this one. How are hot woman from around the world actually Nerdy at all? I mean don't get me wrong. I like me a good looking gal like the next guy, but Im not gonna subscribe to a show because of that alone. It seems pretty tasteless and If I do want to see a girl jiggle her Tat Tat's I can look somewhere else.
It's not that they try in the worst way possible, it's because they make stupid decisions and can some of there best shows, seemingly, for no reason. I mean, when G4 first started off, they had some pretty good shows that appealed to most gamers out there and they wern't trying to be little us back then. however, something happened and they messed up big time somewhere and now they have........well........what they have now.
I guess what Im saying is that they are good places for us Geeks at first glance. But after a while, they become more like your child hood friend who discovers sports, stops hanging out with you, and eventually just becomes one of the crowd. It's not that you hate them...it's just, you grew apart and they thought it would be better to have more friends despite them being much les loyal than you. (Can you tell I've had that happen to me in RL? lol)
I... I think I love you now Commodore. Seriously there is not one thing you said here that I don't agree with and have dealt with repeatedly when trying to just be me and make friends. "Ooooh you play video games? How *cute*."
As for G4, it sucks the hair on my ass. Not sure what cops have to do with anything on a channel devoted to tech and gaming "culture."
I like ninja warrior cause I like watching all those people fail, but again it has nothing to do with the channel and it's format.
That goes for any of the bullshit you see that they shove down your throat and tell you to take it like a good lil' boy.
This channel in general treats you, the viewer, like you don't know anything and you'll never have as cool a job as these nerds do. This really only points out how sad these peoples lives must be to act this way on tv.
It's buulshit that everytime I tune into G4, I'm treated to Escape from New York or a Bond film. You know i can understand maybe onmce and awhile, like on a saturdays or something G4 fills a time slot wit ha movie that features gadets and teh future of tech...but everyday? wtf...
OK, two things I can note about that program trailer
It's basically Braniac: Science Abuse (I even recognise some of the experiments from the trailer)
that was out in Britain a few years back, except with a different name. And worse hosts.
They decided "Hey, let's make this show look as amateur and idiotic as we can".
Mythbusters breaks the fourth wall to explain things to you, or if something happens to the cameraman/crew accidentally. These guys break the fourth wall
on purpose continually. Putting other cameramen in the shot isn't cool.
Telling us what the hosts "Roles" are isn't a good idea. And intentionally mowing
down your crew is not funny.
And I'm sorry, but you saying we need to watch the show because you're on it is not a good enough reason. Especially when you admitted, not 10 seconds before that, your only there to be eye candy.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see a cement truck disintergrated repeatedly in slow motion. Later guys
I think a lot of us who post here are the exceptions to the G4 rule. The demographic they aren't looking for. Most of us here (at least most of us) are old school gamers, have productive lives and maintain healthy relationships.
I mean, personally, I don't work at Pizza Hut part time while my mom makes me delicious sammiches. Nor do I have a basement. I live in a two-room house (just moved in), and although I broke up with my girlfriend of the last few years, my V-card was taken a long time ago. Hell, I'm also a working professional.
To be honest, G4 became incredibly effete when Ziff Davis lost the copyrights. I truly enjoyed watching Leo Laporte's Call For Help, The Help Department, Silicon Spin and other quality shows. Once Unscrewed! became AotS, the station was doomed. In much the same way FX was once a live-to-tape network in what is now the Times Square MTV apartment, G4 is rapidly going the way of the dodo. I think the move from Silicon Valley to LA really dropped the network's production values as well.
Of course, that isn't to say I don't owe ZDTV, TechTV and G4 anything. Sure, the network originally catered to day traders and not gamers, but Leo Laporte single-handedly taught me computing, and he didn't even know it. Hell, my very first wet dream was about Lauren Fielder, the original co-host with Adam Sessler on Gamespot.TV, which is now X-Play. Why I still remember that, I don't know.
I remember watching that when it first started and up and until they stopped doing the live shows.
The only thing that still survives from the original is the Fox News Channel which got it's start as news breaks in the live programming. I was watching when FNC started broadcasting. The top story, I think, was that Fox now had a news channel.
I pretty much stopped watching FX after they stopped doing the live stuff. I still watch a couple things here and there, like Rescue Me and 30 Days, but USA takes up much of my watching time, now.
I never had G4 to watch on a regular basis, but if they are showing things that don't seem to fit their original model, it's probably because it takes money to run a network, and when they start taking money from game developers in advertising revenue, the developers have certain expectations as to how often the network covers their games.
Eventually, they become the Warcraft Network and their viewer base becomes very limited.
However, from what I'm hearing, it sounds like they could be making more sound programming choices.
Like MTV could stop being the Crappy Teenage Reality Show Network and actually show programming that relates to music, or do what TNN did and rebrand themselves when the name no longer fits the programming.
As a Management and Marketing major back in college this phenomenon annoys me to no end.
G4 how I don't like you. I liked TechTV good show especially the shows that Leo Laporte was in and as Mr. K said "Leo Laporte single-handedly taught me computing" same here, but when G4 took over TechTV all TechTV show disappeared, there were good G4 shows but they changed for the worse over time.
This is one reason I prefer to watch videos online made by video gamers. What TV channels show are all the same and lean towards what will make them money.
Commodore128
You make many, many valid points commodore. I mean, I think the only really stupid gamers are casual gamers who will by any piece of sh*t game that is released with Mario or jewels in or on it.
To be honest of course I like boobs and explosions, but it's not what drives my life. And that fact that every gamer is dragged into the category of mindless idiot, makes me sick. Most gamers I know are intelligent and like to play games to experience something from the norm, experiencing a story can be much more fun then reading or watching a story. Gaming is definetly a legitimate art form, look at EarthBound, or Psychonauts. Pieces of art rather then meer games.
And I'll admit, being a teen that is usually locked up in my room doing nothing but browsing the web and gaming makes me somewhat of a social outcast. But I can still act normal in a social situation. I'm not totally, a shut in. And gaming is something a lot of people share in common. So it far from alienates us.
And gamers actually having a girlfriend/wife doesn't seem all that weird. Although I am alone :'(.
I hate G4 and Spike TV. They are extremly stupid. G4 used to be okay when they had shows that I thought were remotely interesting, like when they talked about a series of games and showed how it came to be. It's just a trash network now.
So yes, G4 is stupid and contains all the wrong ideas and makes us out as retards....
But what can we really do? Just proove them wrong, I guess :).
AMEN, Commodore!
Well, I stopped taking this crap Personally years ago. The only show worth watching now on G4 is X-play wich I mean, yeah they do some socially awkward jokes, but they attack everything as far as that goes. (Movies I've noticed get a big piece of that).
As for the commercials, cops, and ninjas...well I could really give my two cents somewhere else. I hate Cops, Ninja Warrior is okay, and I dont watch the commercials anyway.
The more I think about it...there really isn't a place outsie of the internet that we gamers, geeks, and Nerds can go to that allows us to be ourselves without judgement or Steriotying (for them ost part.) It seems that in order to make something for Geeks, nerds, and Gamers you have to actually be a geek nerd and/or Gamer.
Once again I actually agree with you in absolutely everything :)
I have been a gamer since I was very young and when I was about 6 or 7 years old I felt the video game stigma as some class mates would make fun of me for enjoying them but not really a big deal, after all kids will make fun of everything that is different from them and I'm sure I was the same with other kids.
At this age my enjoyment of video games probably was the one that G4 targets as core gamer. Of course some people just play games for explosions and half naked female ninjas but I personally don't care about things like that. It's funny that you mentioned Bayonetta. I think that game is fantastic! It doesn't take itself seriously being sexy and fun but at the same time having much better controls than other action games that claim to be really deep. But people just make a big deal about the boobs and that is not only G4's fault (there must be a ton of dirty Bayonetta fan art floating the internet even a week before the game was released)
I believe that everyone in this forums is similar to me in their understanding of gaming culture (except when it comes to FF8 :) ... ) or else we wouldn't really enjoy the content that the CotGW makes for us. We didn't enjoy Mass Effect because it had sex scenes, we enjoy mindless fun as a fighting or racing game but we also love those dark intense story telling of our 16 bit rpg's , we are married,single,skinny,fat,retarded,smart,fun or boring and it has nothing to do with gaming. Maybe I don't know what it feels like to be looked down for gaming in high school as I was the drummer of a rock band and for some reason people will over look any geekness in someone who has something that is regarded as cool but I wouldn't care anyway.
I dont' like the portrayal of gamers that the media displays but I don't like the portrayal of sport fans, rockers or any portrayal actually. We have to fight to be ourselves always, and its if G4 is wrong as I know they are I'm sure they won't do very good over the years.
So I propose that we celebrate how wonderful it is to play video games instead of how terrible some people may think it is! :)
Hiper: Great points all. Not much I can add to that.
Dragon: Interesting that you note that there's no place outside of the internet (except for some conventions, of course) where geeks can conregate without fear of reprisal. One could argue that G4 trying in their oh-so-rediculous way to appeal to geeks shows just how inept traditional forms of media are are capturing that lightning in a bottle that these geek communities on the internet have facilitated.
The main issue I see with the media stations like G4 and Sci fi (or SyFy) is that they have good intentions at first...but then over time, they seem to degrade into the same old crap you see everyday with the one or two exceptions. I mean, Like Comodore said, I would love to know how Cops relate to Geek culture in a significant way. I understand there intentions with Ninja Warrior to an extent. But hear me out for this one. How are hot woman from around the world actually Nerdy at all? I mean don't get me wrong. I like me a good looking gal like the next guy, but Im not gonna subscribe to a show because of that alone. It seems pretty tasteless and If I do want to see a girl jiggle her Tat Tat's I can look somewhere else.
It's not that they try in the worst way possible, it's because they make stupid decisions and can some of there best shows, seemingly, for no reason. I mean, when G4 first started off, they had some pretty good shows that appealed to most gamers out there and they wern't trying to be little us back then. however, something happened and they messed up big time somewhere and now they have........well........what they have now.
I guess what Im saying is that they are good places for us Geeks at first glance. But after a while, they become more like your child hood friend who discovers sports, stops hanging out with you, and eventually just becomes one of the crowd. It's not that you hate them...it's just, you grew apart and they thought it would be better to have more friends despite them being much les loyal than you. (Can you tell I've had that happen to me in RL? lol)
I... I think I love you now Commodore. Seriously there is not one thing you said here that I don't agree with and have dealt with repeatedly when trying to just be me and make friends. "Ooooh you play video games? How *cute*."
Thanks for the enlightening read.
But my only interests are boobs and 'spolsions...
As for G4, it sucks the hair on my ass. Not sure what cops have to do with anything on a channel devoted to tech and gaming "culture."
I like ninja warrior cause I like watching all those people fail, but again it has nothing to do with the channel and it's format.
That goes for any of the bullshit you see that they shove down your throat and tell you to take it like a good lil' boy.
This channel in general treats you, the viewer, like you don't know anything and you'll never have as cool a job as these nerds do. This really only points out how sad these peoples lives must be to act this way on tv.
It's buulshit that everytime I tune into G4, I'm treated to Escape from New York or a Bond film. You know i can understand maybe onmce and awhile, like on a saturdays or something G4 fills a time slot wit ha movie that features gadets and teh future of tech...but everyday? wtf...
OK, two things I can note about that program trailer
It's basically Braniac: Science Abuse (I even recognise some of the experiments from the trailer)
that was out in Britain a few years back, except with a different name. And worse hosts.
They decided "Hey, let's make this show look as amateur and idiotic as we can".
Mythbusters breaks the fourth wall to explain things to you, or if something happens to the cameraman/crew accidentally. These guys break the fourth wall
on purpose continually. Putting other cameramen in the shot isn't cool.
Telling us what the hosts "Roles" are isn't a good idea. And intentionally mowing
down your crew is not funny.
And I'm sorry, but you saying we need to watch the show because you're on it is not a good enough reason. Especially when you admitted, not 10 seconds before that, your only there to be eye candy.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see a cement truck disintergrated repeatedly in slow motion. Later guys
G4 sucks as a show, the only reason it's still up is because of Olivia Munn
I think a lot of us who post here are the exceptions to the G4 rule. The demographic they aren't looking for. Most of us here (at least most of us) are old school gamers, have productive lives and maintain healthy relationships.
I mean, personally, I don't work at Pizza Hut part time while my mom makes me delicious sammiches. Nor do I have a basement. I live in a two-room house (just moved in), and although I broke up with my girlfriend of the last few years, my V-card was taken a long time ago. Hell, I'm also a working professional.
To be honest, G4 became incredibly effete when Ziff Davis lost the copyrights. I truly enjoyed watching Leo Laporte's Call For Help, The Help Department, Silicon Spin and other quality shows. Once Unscrewed! became AotS, the station was doomed. In much the same way FX was once a live-to-tape network in what is now the Times Square MTV apartment, G4 is rapidly going the way of the dodo. I think the move from Silicon Valley to LA really dropped the network's production values as well.
Of course, that isn't to say I don't owe ZDTV, TechTV and G4 anything. Sure, the network originally catered to day traders and not gamers, but Leo Laporte single-handedly taught me computing, and he didn't even know it. Hell, my very first wet dream was about Lauren Fielder, the original co-host with Adam Sessler on Gamespot.TV, which is now X-Play. Why I still remember that, I don't know.
Don't even get me started on Sumi Das. Mmm. Sexy.
FX was awesome back then!
I remember watching that when it first started and up and until they stopped doing the live shows.
The only thing that still survives from the original is the Fox News Channel which got it's start as news breaks in the live programming. I was watching when FNC started broadcasting. The top story, I think, was that Fox now had a news channel.
I pretty much stopped watching FX after they stopped doing the live stuff. I still watch a couple things here and there, like Rescue Me and 30 Days, but USA takes up much of my watching time, now.
I never had G4 to watch on a regular basis, but if they are showing things that don't seem to fit their original model, it's probably because it takes money to run a network, and when they start taking money from game developers in advertising revenue, the developers have certain expectations as to how often the network covers their games.
Eventually, they become the Warcraft Network and their viewer base becomes very limited.
However, from what I'm hearing, it sounds like they could be making more sound programming choices.
Like MTV could stop being the Crappy Teenage Reality Show Network and actually show programming that relates to music, or do what TNN did and rebrand themselves when the name no longer fits the programming.
As a Management and Marketing major back in college this phenomenon annoys me to no end.
G4 how I don't like you. I liked TechTV good show especially the shows that Leo Laporte was in and as Mr. K said "Leo Laporte single-handedly taught me computing" same here, but when G4 took over TechTV all TechTV show disappeared, there were good G4 shows but they changed for the worse over time.
This is one reason I prefer to watch videos online made by video gamers. What TV channels show are all the same and lean towards what will make them money.