Gphoria - bah

[Ticks]

Last night a cable/satelite television video game channel hosted an awards show for video games....I can now call myself a non-video game player after watching that garbage. Picking winners from different catagories ranging from best original score to best graphics to best 1st person shooter and so forth - the show seemed to center on the hosts and entertainment more than on video games. There was no real description or reviews of the selected games so to speak and not much to do with gaming as a whole in my opinion. The highlight of the evening was the award given to the man who thought of video games back 35 years ago.
I know I am ranting, but video games are supposed to eventually take the place of television as a form of home entertainment and if this is true - then its time that it is taken more seriously and story lines and art and real music associated with this industry should be noticed and commended. Can we find a different catagory to put a game like Final Fantasy XI in? Maybe something like interactive home adventure medium instead of 'video game'.

[Keyura]

Re: Gphoria - bah

anything on g4 makes me want to hurt myself. i hope you haven't slit your wrists after watching one of their specials

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: Gphoria - bah

You're right. Gphoria has nothing to do with videogames, it's all about the big name companies and Hollywood actors.

Ever notice that pretty much all the candidates for best voice acting are Hollywood actors, when there's plenty of excellent voicework done by actual, proffessional voice actors in the videogame industry?

David Cross wass nominated for an award just because he's David Cross and he's voicing in a videogame. He plays one of the many unnamed, unimportant marines in Halo 2. Go figures.

[Xyphere]

Re: Gphoria - bah

X-Play is still good. >_>

[Acidic]

Re: Gphoria - bah

G4 lost it's originality when it to merged with TechTV, and vice versa.

http://getoverg4.ytmnd.com/

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: Gphoria - bah

Actually I always hated G4, they just spread their crappiness and devoured TechTV.

[DakAttack]

Re: Gphoria - bah

It's an industry tradition to find somebody who has nothing to do with the video game scene and have them host. Snoop Dog on Spike TV, and Wilder Valderama at Gphoria. Don't even get me started on Spike TV, they having even less to do with video games than Snoop Dog.

We need a The People's award show, where the winners aren't chosen for us.

[DM337]

Re: Gphoria - bah

Actually, all the winners in Gphoria were chosen by online voting, which explains why Halo 2 won almost every damn category it was in.

[Acidic]

Re: Gphoria - bah

Gaylo 2 disgusts me. :magdisgus

[Tsikuro]

Re: Gphoria - bah

X-Play is a good show on G4; and 'The Screen Savers' used to be good, but then they cut Yoshi and Kevin, which were basicly 'the cool people', so it went downhill. Gphoria is really bad, and not only are the games nominated for 'best' in any category horrible in the first place, but, by popular vote, the winning game is always the media whore that fanboys flock to. (I.E. Halo 2). Yes, Halo 2 sucks. I don't know how it ever came close to Half-Life 2 or Farcry or any other FPS in Reviews, because the single player, as well as multiplayer modes, were just fucking horrible.

[tdh]

Re: Gphoria - bah

Yes, Halo 2 sucks. I don't know how it ever came close to Half-Life 2 or Farcry or any other FPS in Reviews, because the single player, as well as multiplayer modes, were just fucking horrible.

If you really want to break it down, Halo was Half Life with vehicles. It's graphics weren't even as nice as the original HL.

The only thing I'll give Halo credit for is the inclusion of vehicles. And now that HL2 has that, why does anybody even buy an Xbox?

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Gphoria - bah

And now that HL2 has that, why does anybody even buy an Xbox?

Because there are other games besides Halo for the X. Because people actually enjoy playing games on it. Because the X has the best online experience for a console system. Those could be a few reasons why.

[Acidic]

Re: Gphoria - bah

And now that HL2 has that, why does anybody even buy an Xbox?

Not everyone can afford to purchase a kick ass computer for $2k+, so they opt to purchase a cheaper and more convinient/easy to take care of computer entertainment system (Xbox or PS2 [Gamecube doesn't count, Nintendo lost its flare. They are SO bad that they can't think of any new games to make so decided to make the Revolution be able to play the old games. That's pretty sad. Only reason I have a Gamecube actually is for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.]) for a mere $150. :tongue:

[Rai|Kye]

Re: Gphoria - bah

Because there are other games besides Halo for the X. Because people actually enjoy playing games on it. Because the X has the best online experience for a console system. Those could be a few reasons why.

x-box for sport-games, PS2 for rpg and beat-em-up, GC for kids

[Kitalrez]

Re: Gphoria - bah

X-Play is a good show on G4; and 'The Screen Savers' used to be good, but then they cut Yoshi and Kevin, which were basicly 'the cool people', so it went downhill. Gphoria is really bad, and not only are the games nominated for 'best' in any category horrible in the first place, but, by popular vote, the winning game is always the media whore that fanboys flock to. (I.E. Halo 2).

Yeah, that was a result of G4 and TechTV's "Merger". The only people really left watching G4-TechTV for any length of time are those fanboys. Sad really, it used to be pretty good before Comcast bought it. Here's a breakdown of the beginning of the end:

1. Paul Allen (Microsoft co-founder), has a yard-sale to raise money, (I assume for his pet project Spaceship 1, that private-investor owned spaceship that won the X-prize). One of the items on the block is the former ZiffDavisTV, now called TechTV.
2. Comcast, which owns the G4 channel, decides to diversify it's portfolio by buying TechTV. Their rationale seems to have been, "G4 is a great channel with a chance to appeal to a wide range of people, since games are the new TV. If we can just get ahold of TechTV's satellite distribution contracts, we can make the rest of the world realize this."
3. Comcast takes control of TechTV and declares it is "merging" with G4. In reality, Comcast is merely looking to capitalize on satellite distribution contracts and wants to make sure no fans leave the channel outright.
4. In accordance with it's vision of a gamer-oriented channel, Comcast begins pruning off old TechTV shows that aren't directly applicable to gamers and replacing them with G4 mainstays.
5. At the same time Comcast consolidates all offices in LA, closing down the old TechTV studios up in San Franciso/Silicon Valley area. Lord only knows why they chose LA. This would be why you no longer see many interviews or guest host spots on the station with old technology superstars like Kevin Mitnick.
6. Comcast finishes pruning with this move to LA, removing the last vestiges of TechTV by firing most of the remaining employees. Many TechTV employees who survive the purge quit in a move of solidarity, or to escape Comcast's corporate culture. The only noticable survivors of this purge being on-air talent like Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb of Xplay, and Sarah Lane from Screensavers, (Now retitled "Attack of the Show").

That brings us up to today, where G4-TechTV seems to have come to the stunning relevation that G4 might not have a broad-based appeal because:
A. Lots of their programming decisions frankly sucked.
B. They only appeal to a very small age range of gamers. If you're older than 24, younger than 18, female, or employed, this channel is probably not marketing to you.
and C. They're involved in the aspects of old media (TV, print, movies) too deeply for any real interesting commentary on new media or it's culture.
This all combines to form the directionless crapfest you now avoid. Instead of shows about hardware, solving your computer problems, modding your existing console systems (the PS2 and XBox mods they ran were eye-candy at it's best), you now get the current lineup. I'm not exactly sure what Drift-racing or car-modification/look at the nearly naked model shows have to do with gaming. I suspect someone at Comcast finally realized what a collossal mistake it was to move the HQ away from the rest of the industry movers and shakers and is now trying to find something interesting around LA to put on the air.

If you miss the old TechTV Screensavers lineup, you can check out the YahooGroup "LongLiveTechTV", which contains lots of fan-archived features and the occasional stopover from former TechTV staffers. Also, Leo Laporte of The Screensavers now makes a Podcast which is almost identical to the old format, so if you've got an Ipod, you're in luck. The YahooGroup will probably have a link to his website where you can download the latest Podcast. From what I saw, it had Yoshi and Kevin onboard as well.

But yeah, Gphoria isn't for us, and they're probably still lost in limbo somewhere trying to decide who it is intended for. If you can actually figure out how to reach this messageboard, you're currently too intelligent for that channel.