X-play and Attack of The Show ending.

The only two "gaming" shows left on G4 are officially coming to an end. I haven't really watched G4 in awhile but it's sad to see it officially ending.

Oh wow. I remember watching those as a teenager. I was watching when Attack of the Show changed from whatever it was before.

Sad day.

And I remember when they did better "real" journalism than most "real" journalists, covering the BP oil spill.

edited 26th Oct '12 1:39:51 PM by Enkufka

Psh, considering how bad x-Play became after a while, I feel like it could of used an ending of sorts years ago.

I just hate what they did to the entire channel. Basically became Spike-Tv Lite.

I'm surprised it took this long after Sessler left.

ATOS may have had its merits but as far as I was concerned it was Ruined Forever after G4 bought Tech TV, fired half the hosts and converted it over from The Screen Savers. X-Play went up and down though. They started with the humor and skits well before the network was sold; when I would catch it on later some months after the network change, they were looking tired and forced. Then the switched over to the serious news format and it got decent again. Then I no longer had access to watch anything on the channel so I kinda lost track.

I hope Morgan Webb lands somewhere respectable. I like her and she stayed on good terms with the ex Tech TV people but she kept clinging to that sinking ship for whatever reason.

I pretty much agree with all of these comments above. Dish Network dropped G4 from our satellite package ages ago, so I never got to see Xplay's alleged "improvement" after its epically terrible Seasonal Rot.

I wonder where G4 will go after this, because... what do they have besides geek/tech/gaming stuff? What is their niche?

S***.

One started before mine. :(

That's what I get for not looking far enough down the list clearly! :(

All articles say the reason is because Universal, which owns G4, wants to revamp it into...... "an Esquire-like hub aimed at the ....... 'mo-dern male'"? OH GOD **** ME!

edited 26th Oct '12 8:53:56 PM by Shota

It's not that already? /oldjoke

In all seriousness, how does gaming not relate to the "modern male"? Do they think guys don't play video games? Because if there ever was a reversal of stereotypes...

A DIFFERENT "modern male."

My impression is that THIS◊ is what they're aiming for. Does THAT look anything like a guy who's into video gaming?

Does that look like a guy who watches a lot of TV, let alone requires an entire network around it? HA!

Is it me or has Universal changed A LOT with not only G4, but all its networks!? They turned Discovery Kids into The Hub.

8 months of rotating male guests hosts is never a good sign.

edited 26th Oct '12 9:32:11 PM by Shota

AND NOTHING OF VALUE WAS LOST.

This, stopped watching X-play years ago.

It's about time they put poor X-Play out of its misery.

It isn't even a shadow of its former self anymore.

It would be nice if this led to a good video game review show, but I don't think regular networks take video games seriously enough to let that happen.

Me, neither. Apparently, there just ain't much to say about video games in show format to support an entire network.

The only other video game show I can think of is reviews on the run and I'm pretty sure they're Canadian only.

I mean X-play in the early days had a lot of skits and humor to balance out the fact that maybe one or two games worth talking about come out in a good week. Later on the shift to being more official kinda drained the life out of it.

There are a lot of internet sources offering half to one hour coverage of games and they can actually afford to focus an entire show on a single game, which allows for more depth of analysis. Old media is simply a suboptimal medium for videogame coverage.

I liked having some representation on TV that wasn't the VGA's.

x3 Reviews On The Run aired on G4 here in America as Judgement Day for a time being. Electric Playrground also aired on G4, but I believe G4's airing rights for both shows expired or something.

I'll play Devil's Advocate, while I hate how the retool ended up I understand the logic behind it. A Network dedicated solely towards Video Games is only going to have a Niche Audience, especially in an age where the average viewer could just as easily get the same exact information off of their Smart Phones by going to sites like Gametrailers.com.

That said, becoming "Spike-Tv lite" was an idiotic decision because, frankly, why should I buy your channel when the actual Spike Tv is offered on basic cable?

At least we all have the fond memories of what Tech TV/G4 used to be. Sad to see these things happen, but with the merger and all of the changes and fallout because of it, it was only a matter of time.

An earlier Troper hit it right on the nail. With internet gaming sites, blogs, and Youtube videos giving far more detailed and lengthly reviews than Xplay's 25 minute format could ever allow, it was only a matter of time before they would start losing relevance to their viewers. They haven't been making too many new episodes lately either - with only 3-4 shows per week, it's impossible to cover all the big news, releases, and relevant gaming info out there. And finally, watching them has become a waste of time, because they'd only focus on repeatedly previewing big-name titles such as Halo 4, Prototype, Darkstalkers, Medal of Honor Warfighter, etc while ignoring almost everything else on the market.

A personal theory as to why this happened is because companies like Activision and Microsoft would pay generously to promote their new titles, giving the show incentive to keep advertising them as a means to stay afloat... which sadly, probably backfired in their faces.

This would probably be more effective with online personalities who don't already have a network salary. The amount of 'incentive' that a publisher would need to give a group of freelancers is probably smaller than any network would demand.

A lot of complaints about the 'games scene' focusing on AAA titles are directed at major online sources like IGN and their ilk, which I'd argue are even easier to buy off.

edited 28th Oct '12 12:27:56 PM by Recon5