VGL

Wow.

I have to say I was truly impressed with last night's Video Games Live performance. I'm sure we all imagined a large group of teenage to middle-aged men who had not left their parent's basement since the release of Halo 3. (or Call of Duty 4 depending on your cup of tea) As we arrived (we being myself and my Fat Angry White Kid brother themilton) I was actually worried that I was under dressed. As you can imagine there were few college students dressed to kill, but I was a little worried to see some of the older crowd dressed as if they were going to a run of the mill symphony performance.

There was nothing too eye-catching about the display tables set up outside of the main auditorium which could be attributed to either my arrival only half an hour before the scheduled start time, or just an over all lame guitar hero competition with no one playing on expert. The merchandise table did make me a little jealous and sad that I had not brought cash. The Advent Rising CD seemed to taunt me from the table.

The first arrangement was a little too old for me... Recognizing only the sounds from pong and joust. I was a little embarrassed. The lighting tricks were annoying. You see, someone decided they were too cheap to spring the extra 6 bucks to not be in the balcony, and the lights seemed to be pointing directly into my eyes. I was surprised, to say the least, that these light bursts were not met with screams as those who had seen no light for such a long time met sudden death. I found myself hissing as some sort of monster whose life was in danger. (that last statement is neither here nor there)

Of the music I have no real complaints aside from being a little disappointed with the Metal of Honor arrangement. I think it was a great idea to incorporate the footage from the history channel, but the music selection I did not think was the best they could have done given the extensive soundtrack for the Metal of Honor games. To play a Zelda arrangement without including the Ballad of the Windfish is borderline heresy, but the rest of the arrangement was good enough to fend of the urge to truly gripe about the absence of the BEST SONG OF THE FRANCHISE.

Martin Lueng was an excellent addition to the program. Other than his small stalling each of the two times he played the Final Fantasy fanfare music it was probably the best thing I have ever heard out of a piano. His follow-up Mario brothers bit was equally as comical as it was talented and impressive.

In my opinion the reaction sparked by the frogger competition was ridiculous. There were more cheers and screams for the "Ogden frogger champion" than for the performers or music itself.

Tommy Tallarico kind of confused me with his first guitar. It looked like a toy, but he played it well. The encore was a little strange and seemed to be scripted. To be honest I don't think the reaction by the audience deserved an encore even though we all wanted it.

Tommy ended the show by saying "See you next year," a comment that I believed caused many of the people in the audience to feel something warm and special that they had not felt since playing Dead or Alive volleyball.

To the whole VGL crowd, I honestly hope you get a better reception at Abravanel Hall; you deserve it. I can only hope that unlike the prospect of a promised Advent Rising trilogy which failed to deliver that Tallarico is true to his word and we will, indeed, see him next year.

fawk_novat0

I have thought, Mr Tiles, and now I'm flaming.

Before you read this blog please turn your attention for a short moment to the following link in which Mr Neal Tiles, President of the channel G4, has to say about his network and himself.

Concessions:
I will concede to you, Mr. Tiles, that post-merger ratings and the growth in the past two years has generated a large increase in ratings. I concede to you also that you are running a business and not a "public service."

I will now proceed to use words commonly heard on G4 itself to explain the large increase in gaming lately to explore the flaws with this channel.

First and foremost:
I do not necessarily think that all G4 programming is inherently bad. I actually enjoy most of it, including Ninja Warrior which is about neither video games nor technology. I also believe that in the past 2 years G4 has come a long way. 2 years ago when I would tune in it was like being on hold with the phone company; hearing (and in this case watching) the same thing over and over waiting to get to what I was originally after. Re-runs (and cheap cleavage) plagued the station. I am pleasantly surprised to see a large influx of daily programming and being able to tune in without seeing the same thing twice or three times in the same 24 hour period.

Now:
I do not think G4 is achieving at all it's potential. It seems that almost daily the advance of video games to the mainstream media and large public masses is made mention of on one or more program of G4, even if it is the dimwitted Adam vs. Adam. It seems to me, however that they neglect their own comments about how gaming is extending to more people. Tiles argues that they cannot simply be about games and technology all the time, although he would like to be. He cites that the target age of G4 viewers is males between the ages of 18 and 34, but in so doing largely neglects a large part of those who play and or buy video games. At theesa.com (the website of the Entertainment Software Association) they state that:

• Sixty-seven percent of American heads of households play computer and video games.
• Eighty-five percent of all games sold in 2007 were rated "E" for Everyone, "T" for Teen, or "E10+" for Everyone 10+. (not generally the games that appeal to their target audience)
• Thirty-six percent of American parents say they play computer and video games. Further, 80 percent of gamer parents say they play video games with their kids. Sixty-six percent feel that playing games has brought their families closer together.
• Thirty-eight percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (31%) than boys age 17 or younger (20%).
• In 2007, 24 percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999.

Thus, while G4 claims that it would not get the support, it seems that many outside of their target audience IS being neglected by the decision to not be a purely gaming and tech channel. Many of the shows that they put on actually seem to push away those outside of the target audience, i.e. anything originally in Japanese and dubbed in English. In their defense "Wired for sex" and "Cinematech NE" probably attracts the male portion of those over 50 that play video games.

There are very few programs left that take a look at the making of games or as a documentary of the most popular games. There are no "how to" for computer programs or multimedia editing (something which might attract the EXACT audience they want.)

I suppose that mostly I have just been disappointed with G4 catering to those who are not really their target audience. Ratings may be going up, and that's great, but please Mr. Tiles do not insult us by telling us that your target audience are males between 18 and 34 and then air crap like cheaters and cops to keep it afloat. His defense cites that FX was once an all women's channel and that Spike used to be TNN (The Nashville network) but that eventual evolution was necessary to become what they are today. The only reply I have to that (noting that cheaters and cops are among the highest rated shows on G4) is, "If you want to be white trash TV you are well on your way." The next G4 premier "Extreme makeover: trailer edition"

fawk_novat0