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« July 2008 | Main | September 2008 »
Both of these stories are are a little late being posted but I figured some may not have seen the news yet.
#1 - Comcast has announced that all of it's networks will be going HD December 8th of this year including G4!
#2 - Mel Brooks' highly belated cartoon adaption of Spaceballs will FINALLY arrive this fall. G4 will be airing a behind the scenes look at the series Sunday, September 21st at 5PM EST.
SpikeTV, the network that formerly advertised itself as TV for Men, seems to be taking aim at the network that formerly advertised itself as TV 4 Gamers.
Spike announced the promotion of ex-G4TV.com host and gaming journalist guru Geoff Keighley to an executive position at Spike which would allow Spike to grow their gaming content on their channel, including more game-specific launch specials, weekly wrap up style shows and the expansion of the VGA's, which are becoming "more gamer oriented and less Hollywood."
"This executive promotion allows me to be more strategic in what I do," added Keighley. "What we want to do here is that we have this cohesive unit and a 365 day coverage and now I have all the resources of MTV to promote these games in the biggest way possible. That's what excites me, and I give a lot of credit to Spike and their commitment on video games."
Keighley will continue to host the weekly GameTrailers TV which airs late Friday nights in addition to his new job.
"I say this to gamers reading this: please support this content and let us know what you want to see! We want to be the network for game related content and we can't do it without you guys!"
A very interesting move indeed, could this signal a shift by Spike to become a gaming-oriented network? What could be more interesting is G4's reaction to a much bigger network moving in on their territory.
Either way, congrats to Geoff who is quickly becoming "kind of a big deal!"
Thanks to forum member Tiki for finding this story! Click here to read the full story at GameDaily, then click here to discuss this story in our forums.
Incase you've gotten out of routine or have school/work, tomorrow G4 Rewind will be airing the final episode of G4TV.com (titled "Goodbye") which features lots of retrospectives and a full crew/cast sendoff to song written for G4TV.com by Johnathan Mann (Mario Opera, X-Play Musical).
A few weeks back we reported on some exciting news that Greedy Production's Electric Playground was becoming a daily show, followed by the depressingly sad news that the show would not air in the USA for now and we would have to make due with clips from G4 USA's site.
Today, forum member IrishCommander brought us some good news, in that the Electronic Playground's site has been remodeled and includes FULL STREAMING EPISODES!
The new format is very similar to the old weekly EP format, however it now includes comic/movie news. Sadly, still no Tallarico.
Check out the episodes on EP's site, elecplay.com!
For 13 years, Scot Rubin has hosted some type of daily gaming show in some form or another but last Friday was his last, at least for now.
Rubin, host of the daily "All Games Interactive" show and former host of G4tv.com announced last Wednesday that he was leaving the show for a new unnamed job. While Rubin did say the job was connected to the games industry and an amazing opportunity, he was not able to reveal any details.
Rubin assured that the All Games site, 24/7 web stream and AGI itself would continue and that he will remain at All Games, just not behind the mic. He did speculate on some type of weekly show later on.
So what is this new mystery job? G4 Rewind is crossing it's fingers for a G4 2.0!
G4 has announced a new show to debut this fall, called "Human Wrecking Balls," about two brothers who destroy things, using only their bare hands.
I'm not saying anything... I'm not saying anything... I'm not saying anything...
From the post on TheFeed:
The Pumphreys are strategic in their passion for dismantling things. For each challenge, they join forces with a team of experts in material science and engineering to review the object of their destruction from every possible angle before taking it apart, using physics and know-how to determine the most effective approach. The duo also enjoys a little friendly competition throughout the challenges such as who can break out of a jail cell the fastest and which Pumphrey makes a better bouncer based on who can most successfully destroy a bar.
I will not judge something before I see it, I will not judge something before I see it... I will not...
G4 has announced X-Play will join AOTS, The Block (did they ever finish airing that?) and Code Monkeys on the Xbox Live Marketplace in the form of a best-of episode that will drop once a week.
You expect the episodes to be stripped of all Wii and PS3 content, though, as I doubt Microsoft would approve of news/reviews from "heathen" systems appearing on their online service.
Check out the full press release, by clicking the link below.
G4 TEAMS UP WITH MICROSOFT TO LAUNCH POPULAR VIDEOGAME SERIES "X-PLAY" ON XBOX 360
Los Angeles, CA, August 11, 2008 - G4, the multi-media destination that feeds young guy's addiction for the latest technology, web culture, animation and videogames, announced today an agreement with Microsoft for the network to offer a special weekly episode of television's most watched videogame series "X-Play" on the Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system. "X-Play Weekly" will be available for download at the Xbox LIVE Video Store starting Thursday, August 14.
Hosted by Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb, "X-Play" features unparalleled live demos of the titles gamers are most excited to see, exclusive interviews with the biggest names in videogames, all access sneak peeks at games still in development and behind-the-scenes profiles with developers highlighting what it's like to work in the world of videogames. "X-Play" continues to show tremendous growth among its core men 18-34 audience.
Other G4 shows currently available for download at the Xbox LIVE Video Store include animated comedy series "Code Monkeys," snowboarder reality series "The Block" and a special weekly episode of "Attack of the Show."
About Comcast Entertainment Group
Based in Los Angeles, Comcast Entertainment Group operates E! Entertainment Television, the 24-hour network with programming dedicated to the world of entertainment, and E! Online; The Style Network, the destination for women 18-49 with a passion for the best in relatable and inspiring lifestyle programming; and G4 offering the last word on gaming, technology, animation, interactivity, and "Internet culture" for the male 18-34 demo. E! is currently available to nearly 94 million cable and direct broadcast satellite subscribers in the United States. In 2006, E! launched the E! Everywhere initiative underscoring the company's dedication to making E! content available on all new media platforms any time and anywhere from online to broadband video to wireless to satellite radio to VOD. The Style Network currently counts 59 million cable and satellite subscribers and G4, the #1 podcasted cable network in America, is available in more than 64 million cable and satellite homes nationwide.
Some hap-hap-happenings are going on in the world of G4-fandom, if there is such a thing. Let's start with forum member Onoma digging up G4's ratings report.
Out of 65 million subscribers G4...
-Averages 98,000 viewers throughout the day
-Averages 124,000 viewers during prime time
While that sounds pretty bad, it's not the worst. Out of the 70 cable networks in this ratings report, G4 ranked #50.
The other quasi-big story, is that of G4 president Neal Tiles actually CALLING an angry forum user and explaining to them why G4 is the way it is. Neal explained, basically, the same thing he posted months ago during his original Open Source post, which is that G4's gaming shows need to see higher ratings before they can spend more money on more of them. Neal also posted most of what they talked about on the forums. You can read through the whole post, but here's the big details:
-Judgment Day was eliminated partly due to it's similarities to X-Play
-One of the hosts of G4TV.com admitted that the show lasted longer than they expected, ratings were apparently very low and production was expensive
-X-Play was changed because it wasn't getting as much growth as the rest of the network, since the switch X-Play's ratings have gone up 20%
-In the past 3 years, G4's ratings have doubled, while their subscriber base (homes they're in) has only gone up 15%
There's lots of other stuff that's been restated from before, about how COPS/Cheaters allow funding for the likes of X-Play/AOTS and how forum posts do not have more power than ratings, but it's a good read nonetheless.
The biggest point that Neal makes is that if gamers want more gaming TV content, then it is in their best interest to support the gaming content that is currently on G4. In my own opinion, the problem is that most gamers already have negative ideas about G4 ("The channel that killed TechTV," "The gaming channel that shows COPS all day," "They canceled my favorite shows," "They ruined the Halo 3 trailer," etc.) and trying to get everyone to shake those preconceived notions is going to be difficult. Not impossible, but difficult.
The best way to help out? Tell your friends about X-Play, AOTS and G4 Rewind. Post bulletins on your Myspaces, notes on your Facebooks and Twitter about it. Tell people what time those shows are on (9AM for Rewind, 7PM-8:30PM for AOTS & X-Play) and give them a reason to watch. Maybe X-Play showed a cool demo or maybe AOTS is giving away some schwag. You know your friends best, so have it appeal to them. Vote with your remotes, that's the only way we're going to make some headway.