 |
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
« April 2007 | Main | June 2007 »
G4's new Saturday rerun festival of all the week's AOTSes features webcam commentary from Olivia and Kevin during the intro and outro's of each episodes. While I've never been fond of giant blocks of shows, it's a good time to catch any episodes you missed and the commentary, while short, is pretty cool.
How long until AOTS 2.0?
This is very old news, but if you've never seen it, it's new to you!
Way WAY back in 2004, Tommy Tallerico and Victor Lucas created "GameCaster" which was supposed to be a way to ESPN-ize major league gaming through use of special in-game cameras, in-studio crowds and professional announcers. The show hasn't really made it off the ground but it has aired a few specials on Gameplay HD (Dish Network, VOOM) including a Battlefield 2142 tournament back in September of 2006.
Who other to host the event than former G4TV.com host Tina Wood (and investor/POD Singer Sonny Sandoval)! While you can't see it without Gameplay HD, there is a trailer up on the website. The show looks like Arena but with much higher production values, it's a shame G4 didn't pick up on this show, claiming to be a video game network and not cashing in on major leaguing gaming is a head scratcher. Usually G4 is the FIRST to cash in on "the next hottest thing."
-KnuxSonic
According to the latest G4 promos, Free Stuff, which as the name implies, basically gives away free (mainly tech) stuff, is returning to G4's schedule, EVERY WEEKNIGHT at 10pm ET & PT starting June 4th . Who knows how long they'll run this thing (the site says it's summer only special) but stay tuned to the Free Stuff website and G4 for the latest. And of course, if anything new breaks, we'll try to be the first to bring to it to you.
In other news, straight from the halls of G4's WTF Dept* comes: COPS 2.0
Yes you read clearly, from the same department that brought you The Man Show, G4 is "2.0izing" the infamous police reality show, as G4 calls it. The G4 Cops website tells us a bit more, stating that Cops 2.0 will air every weeknight at 6pm ET starting May 29th, and will have many of the same features from Star Trek 2.0 and Star Trek: TNG 2.0, such as live chat, but new items like "expert commentary" and "iWitness accounts" (Sweet, iWitness. I like your trendiness, G4). To me this just looks like another way for G4 to milk the most it can out of the $16 million it paid to accquire the sydication rights to Cops. At least they didn't wait a year after its initial premiere to slap the 2.0 on it like they did with ST: TNG
Added Bonus: Cops Memorial Day marathon on May 28th starting at 12pm ET. This is G4's homage to G-Day, to any of those who remember that day...right...
*It cannot be confirmed if such a department exists at G4. Considering the recent consolidation of G4 into the E! Network's offices, this department may have been laid off.
It's been a few weeks since I've rolled out some retro video but today's offering is well worth your patience.
I present to you, a very special double-length episode of G4TV.com! This is the 2003 year in review episode which is the very first hour long episode. It features mostly clips from the first 2 years of G4TV.com, bloopers, outtakes and more. Major thanks to airkix72 for sending us this on DVD.
The link to download the high-quality full version (309 MB) is below. I will also post some clips of it on YouTube/Daily Motion as well, but not the whole thing.
Download "G4TV.com 2003 in Review" (WMV, 309 MB)
Merry Xmas,
-KnuxSonic
Gavin Purcell (AOTS Producer, 4 year G4 vet) has posted on the Attack of the Show forums that he would like suggestions on how to revive the G4 Forums. After many users suggested better user interaction and host participation, Gavin replied with the following:
"Thanks for this everyone.
Couple things:
1. The hosts do come on here. Kevin, Olivia, Layla, Blair, Zach & Wil all really do care what you guys think, sometimes too much in my opinion. That doesn't mean that I don't care ( I do) but trust me, your words really get to them. All the more reason to be nice.
2. I'm sorry that some of you are unhappy with the new forums. Change is hard and sometimes not so much fun. However, if it's bugging you, just remember that all forums share the same basic idea: it's a place to hold a discussion. And guess what, you can do that here.
3. I really would like to encourage more discussion and community here on Attack of the Show. You (that's right you) are a huge part of the show and things like Video Viewer Mail, the Feedback Loop (which I love) and the soon-to-return User Created are ways for you to get involved. You may not believe it but I really, really love hearing smart commentary from our viewers about the show. I was the one who suggested that we take questions from viewers yesterday here and I'll do it again. I would like to see a few more questions next time.
4. I've been with the show for 2 1/2 years (been with G4 for over 4). I've seen the show go from here to there and back again. But guess what? I think we're making some really good shows right now. I'm really happy with all the people on the show and the work they're doing. You, however, might disagree. And that's totally okay. What's most important is that you're participating in the discussion. Thanks. Really.
One question for you: If producers (like myself) posted here more, would you like that? I know that everyone wants hosts to post more but what about show staff? More interesting to hear from them here or on the blog or not at all? Just curious.
Again, thanks for watching/participating in AOTS. You rock.
-Gavin"
I have to give props to Purcell for coming to the community for answers, few shows out there would do this for their viewers and this is EXACTLY what my editorial yesterday was talking about. While I can't agree with Gavin that AOTS is in it's top form right now, I commend him for giving the viewers a voice. The mini-bombshell in this post is that User Created is returning to AOTS, many users vocalized that they would like to see it return.
File this one in the "Steps Forward" department.
-KnuxSonic
We all have good fun complaining about G4's lack of programming guise and their total lack of respect to fans, but where's the fabled "right-track" and how does a network that has no solid fanbase connect to a very reserved, very critical group such as ourselves?
While I know nothing about running a profitable television station, I do know something about rambling incoherrantly on the internet. Here's G4 Rewind's Official "Road to Glory - An Enjoyable G4 for All by 2008: First Edition: Chapter 1"
Hosts are pretty much your link to the audience. If your hosts are stiff and uninteresting, then your audience gets bored fast.
Let's jump back to 2002 for a minute. If you watched G4, it would appear to be pretty low budget, but the hosts in general were EXCITED and seemed to genuinely care about what they were talking about. Not only that, you could hop on the Portal forums and read multiple threads and posts from Dave, the show's host or you could go to the IRC chat room and discuss gaming with Scot Rubin or Cory Rouse hosts of G4TV.com and Cheat, respectively. The hosts remembered people's names, they responded to emails and they liked to hear what people had to say. On-air, there was games, polls, live callers, forum quotes and more involving viewers and free schwag was abundant.
Flash foward to 2007. Have you ever seen Adam Sessler post on the X-Play boards? Has Kristin Holt ever visited ANY chat room? Sure, Attack of the Show has a poll every now and then and one in a blue moon the hosts will post on the message board, but do any of them even really care? The answer is a firm NO. Do you think Olivia Munn cares about or even PLAYS Halo? Has Kristin Holt even heard of any of the games she gives you walkthroughs for? I'm sorry to say, if you believe they do, you're kidding yourself. Most of the network's personalities are just in limbo, working G4 until they make it big or finally give up and change careers. G4 is just a stepping stone for them.
That's not to say this wasn't the same back in 2002, but hosts like Cory Rouse, Tina Wood, Laura Foy, Scott Rubin, Dave and Diane Mizota put themselves into their work and made themselves at the very least APPEAR much more genuine than today's teleprompter reading, "what club am I hitting up after work" hosts. A more appropriate word would be actors. These aren't hosts, they're actors. They've been hired for eye candy or because they can read a script with moderate enthusiasm. The only exception could be Kevin Pereira who has been with the network forever, but his former rather geeky tendencies and delights seem to have been suppressed in recent years.
The bottom line is this: unrelatable hosts mean alienated audiences. Bring back people who care and maybe we'll start to.
Because I'm in the middle of finals, I haven't had a lot of time to edit videos. Rest assured I've been mad-capturing stuff with my brand new refurbished DVD Recorder. Here's some stuff forum member twister found, I've uploaded to Daily Motion (they'll be downloadable on the site later).
Blister Clip: Mechassault
Cheat! Clip: Medal of Honor Frontline
Judgemend Day Clip: Animal Crossing
Once again thanks to twister for finding these.
-KnuxSonic
Much to our dismay, G4 is doing another season of Street Fury. This is from their newsletter:
Hey Street Fury fans! Big C is busy shooting new epsiodes for ya, including footage from dope trips to Amsterdam and Guam, so stay tuned for new times and dates.
They're also cross-promoting their web show, Freestyle 101, which is about freestyleing hip hop/rap. Further proof that G4 continues to go after that huge "geeks that love hip-hop and racing" market, I'm sure that's a winner.
-KnuxSonic