A look at G4.

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G4: Television for the American Gamer

It seems there’s a television network dedicated to every popular cultural interest or entertainment industry around today. You like music? You can tune in MTV or VH1. History buffs have the History Channel. E!’s available for all those television-and- movie stargazers. ESPN covers the entire sporting world. It’s almost to the point that if you name a subject or interest, there’s a network out there covering it. But one interest inexplicably missing its very own network up to now has been the gaming industry.

Encompassing all PC-related gaming and video game consoles, the industry sold $9 billion dollars worth of gaming product to an estimated 145 million American gamers last year, growing revenue-wise at a faster pace than the American movie box office. It’s shocking that there hasn’t been a place to tune into on television for the latest information, news, and entertainment concerning games and gamers. But that all changed at the start of May, when the cable channel G4 (symbolizes “For gamers”; also four major gaming platforms: PC, console, online and wireless) started broadcasting, becoming the first network to focus solely on the gaming industry 24/7.

The PS2, Xbox, and Nintendo platforms of the GameCube and Game Boy Advance, with millions of units of each respective system sold, are continually generating higher and higher penetration rates into the average American home. Counting the PC, I venture that there is some type of gaming platform in at least 50% of the households in the U.S.A. Video game consoles and PCs have become a staple of the American consciousness much like apple pie and fireworks on the Fourth of July. G4 has recognized that fact and aims to take advantage of the fertile riches they can mine from the interjection of television into the gaming public's core demographics: 18-34 year-old men and teens 12-17.

Before G4 hit the airwaves, Gamespot, IGN, GameSpy, a plethora of independent Internet gaming sites (including Armchair Empire), and Gamepro, Electronic Gaming Monthly and the specialized PlayStation, Nintendo, Xbox, and PC print publications were the primary source of information for the gaming public. But as good as many of these sites and publications are, there’s nothing like seeing new games in action on television screens instead of in a miniscule, poor-definition video on our PCs (for those of us not privileged enough to have broadband or cable Internet connections) or in pictures scattered over the pages of gaming magazines, which rarely do good games the justice they deserve. Mario Sunshine looked only okay to me in the pages of Gamepro, but was absolutely stunning as it came to life in colorful glory in my living room as seen on a recent G4 E3 feature.

G4 finally allows its viewers to see the games as they would actually appear if they were playing on our monitors and televisions at home instead of relying on screenshots or grainy movies. Another great component of G4 are features that go behind the scenes with developers to see what goes into making the games we enjoy playing. A recent feature on G4 focused on the motion-capture session for Postal 2 with Gary “What you talkin ‘bout, Willis?” Coleman of “Differ’nt Strokes” fame.

With the backing of the financially sturdy Comcast Cable and Insight Communications’ money and an initial seven million cable subscribers having access to the network’s feed (which is admittedly a small percentage of American domiciles at this point), G4 and its current programming consisting of 13 shows has been created by a bevy of gaming and television programming experts like Charles Hirschhorn, Vinnie Longobardo, and Tina Kowalewski, who all know a thing or two about either successful network television or the gaming world. G4 founder and CEO Hirschhorn was the President of Walt Disney Television and Television Animation. Longobardo spent 17 years at MTV as a producer and production executive and Kowalewski was part of Sony Computer Entertainment America’s launch team for both the PlayStation and PS2. And there are many others employed at G4 with the same impressive entries on their resumes. So now, you may be asking what kind of shows do people with a successful television and gaming pedigree create for the gaming public?

G4’s shows and promotional commercials have a distinctly MTV flair to them in both approach and content. The commercials are those quirky sort that appear on MTV which are both fun and on-target in conveying their intended message: if you’re into gaming, watch G4. Often. I don’t see it as a coincidence that G4 would copy the stylistic approach to programming that has made MTV so successful, especially with Longobardo aboard with G4.

There are a variety of programs you would expect and some you might not. Some of G4’s best shows include “Pulse”, a weekly show that provides current gaming information within a news show format similar to MTV News. “Players” goes to celebrities and sports star’s houses, on tour buses with musical groups, or meets well-known people in places like Jillian’s to check out the gaming lifestyles of these famous people. “Filter” is a top-ten show hosted by gaming vixen Diane Mizota, ranking the top-ten in categories such as Best Games of 2001 that are voted on by visitors to the official G4 Web site (www.g4tv.com). “Blister” and “Sweat” are both essentially preview shows, (“Blister” focusing on action games while “Sweat” is oriented to sports titles) providing little critical breakdown of titles but giving a

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good idea of what to expect from a highlighted game. “Icons” is a great program, one of my favorites. Think VH1’s “Behind the Music”. The stories of gaming icons documented so far have ranged from Nolan Bushnell of Atari 2600 and Chuck E. Cheese fame to the one and only Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider games. And “Cheat” provides codes, hints and strategies for many of today’s hottest games.

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There is the need for some more critical shows such as “Judgment Day”, however. The show is a “Siskel and Ebert” type program, only with game reviews in the place of movie reviews. The two hosts, Victor Lucas and particularly Tommy Tallarico, pull no punches when they are reviewing titles, not afraid of slamming a bad game or praising a good one. More shows like “Judgment Day” would give G4 more credibility and steer it clear of what might appear to some as sugarcoated coverage on “Blister” or “Sweat”. While most of G4’s programs are solid, there are a few that could use some more tweaking to improve their quality. Both “Portal”, which focuses on online gaming worlds such as Everquest and those who populate it and “Game Over”, which gets other people to compete in games in place of the hosts Matt Gallant and Randy Kagan, who try to use a lot of humor to fuel the show, but many times, quite frankly, they aren't that funny. “Arena”, where Travis Oates and Wil Wheaton (Yes, that Wil Wheaton from Star Trek: The Next Generation) do color commentary on online gaming contests, would be better if it showed less of the analysts and more of the actual competitors.

As the guys from Judgment Day like to point out in their reviews, G4 has its hits and misses. But I have to give the channel an early “thumbs up” for providing some great gaming content on the previously untapped medium of television. I find myself watching G4 at least one hour a day and sometimes more, depending on what’s on. The only minor complaint I have is that once I see the episode the first time it is on during the week, I get frustrated having to see it repeat until a new episode comes out. Each show usually runs a half-hour where 60 minutes would definitely be better served on at least some of the programs. But as G4 grows, I’m sure more and longer original programming will be seen during the week, alleviating my own yearning as well as others for more gaming TV.

Message boards on G4’s Web site let viewers interact actively with the network's higher-ups and on-air personalities. Tallarico invariably answers questions, criticisms, or comments posted on the message boards related to his show. It’s a smart move on G4’s part (along with the G4 newsletter) to have its on-air personalities take an active role in the message boards, because they help register a true pulse of the viewers as to what they like, don’t like or want to see on the network. And the beauty of the message boards is that they become a free “focus group” for G4, which puts both the network and the audience in a win-win situation. G4 learns from these dedicated viewers posting messages as to what kind of programming will interest them and viewers get the type of shows and information they want and expect out of the video game network. There is also an interactive show, G4TV.COM, (taped live and then pared down for later telecasting) that allow people to log in on their PCs and ask questions of the show’s hosts that they will almost always answer. G4 focuses on the interactive aspect of gaming by being interactive itself with its audience.

While it is still going through the growing pains every start-up network experiences, it’s clear that G4’s programs are more than thinly disguised infomercials for the gaming industry’s publishers. Over the course of the coming months G4 expects to garner more audience through increased presence on more independent cable stations around the country. And while there is only around 20 hours total weekly programming from its 13 shows and specials in G4’s current lineup, that number will likely expand. If you are a gamer and have G4 available through your cable provider, tune in if you haven’t already. You’ll find a ton of worthwhile programming, gaming news, and information that can’t always be conveyed or presented the way it should be through print or the Internet as it can be on television. Today’s gaming industry is a popular big business growing even bigger and more popular every day. Like MTV, when music videos were all the rage in the 1980s, that helped the music industry boom larger than ever before, G4 plans to be on the frontline of the American gaming entertainment world as it grows by leaps and bounds. With all the Web sites and publications covering all facets of the gaming industry already available, the ever-increasing technological advances of PCs, consoles and games, and the gaming television network threshold finally crossed, there’s never been a better time to be an American gamer.

- Lee Cieniawa

lcieniawa@armchairempire.com

(July 6, 2002)

Check out G4’s Web site for yourself if you want to find out more.


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