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I, for one, have been holding out hoping that G4 would someday pick up the torch of generating game coverage similar to the way that GameTrailers has with their retrospectives.

It looks like they might now be headed down the right path. X-Play will be expanding its coverage of videogames to include more than just review video segments.

Although there are no direct promises of game features, the press release does say that there will be more analysis and interviews. I can only hope that these segments lead into more gamer-focused features that we can all enjoy. I have really enjoyed what GameTrailers is doing with their retrospective segments–similar to what G4’s Icons used to be–so it would be great to have something like a smaller version of that on the air as a part of the X-Play program.

The new daily program should premiere on January 14. Check your times.

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Adam Sessler weighs in on the Halo 3 haters and why the series has been such a success

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VGMWatch recently had a column–or blog post–by Billy Kirk which hated on the G4 and Spike videogame awards, G-Phoria and Spike Video Game Awards (note the two words, ungamer-like spelling) respectively.

I’ll admit, both channels have been BAD in their attempt to increase their audience to include gamer males and mainstream males as well. They just don’t do a good job of attracting gamers, BUT I disagree with Kirk in that I don’t think that they make the entire industry look immature and bad.

G-Phoria is what it is, a game awards show that is voted on by the gamers or member of the audience pro-active enough to vote. Their results end up a little like the Teen Choice Awards with well-hyped products winning over those critically acclaimed and good games that had AMAZING hype and mass appeal like Gears of War sweeping the awards.

I like that they are decided by the people. G4 and Spike just need to work better at having a large number of voters state their opinions and trusting their audience more. They shouldn’t turn it over to critics because even they can be biased in favor of games they consider their darlings of the industry. Gamers should have their voice, and more mature gamers should use it.

The channels should also trust their audience not to be a group of brain dead hype-eating morons and give them intelligent content in these shows–not just in the awards shows but also in their day-to-day programming of gaming news and info. Sometimes they both seem like they are geared towards the mainstream teenage gamer and leave the hardcore hanging.

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The game industry has numerous podcasts that you can follow to get your gaming information. I know because I follow about 25 right now.

My favorites tend to be video podcasts because they are 1) short and 2) more visually engaging/interesting and also easy to follow in the corner of the screen while I do work. Favorites of the moment are G4TV’s X-Play Gaming Updates and The Daily Feed (I don’t have a DVR to catch the TV versions of these broadcasts) bringing the news in a quick format. TeXtra is also a good one to pick up on if you are interested in all things gadget-y and technical rather than just videogames.

What is strange about my following is that I don’t even have a video iPod. I just watch them on my desktop either while working or doing other things around the apartment.

A recent posting on The Guardian’s Gamesblog pointed out one of the complaints I have about some of the more long-winded podcasts out there.

Most podcasts try to be like blogs. People want to read short, sweet postings with pretty images and links to more information on the whole. Long postings have to be very in depth and intriguing in order to gain a following. TeXtra is one of the longer ones but cuts off usually around 5-6 minutes.

The videogame podcasts coming from sources like 1up (at least it is video), Gamespot (just audio) and GameSpy (just audio) are not published as frequently as these smaller podcasts and choose a 1-hour, weekly format. Most of them are massively long. Not only does it require you to spend an entire hour listening to catch all of their discussions, but when one of the segments covers games you aren’t particularly interested in or topics that are old news (like something that happened a week ago), it makes it almost painful to sit through a podcast that long. You can’t even skip to a more relevant part because there are no labels or visual cues as to where you can find the next “chapter” or discussion in the audio file.

When I am particularly busy, I often find myself skipping through in 5-minute jumps and hitting the end unless I catch something of interest.

I would think with these pubs being generally speaking more tech savvy that they would get their act together a stop torturing us with these long podcasts. I wouldn’t mind not having flashing intro and end graphics or theme music if you just cut up your hour long show into five 20 minute shows or–better yet–5-10 minute segments.

This format would follow the norm for podcasting in today’s world and make it easier for someone obsessing over all things videogames all the time every waking moment of my life following many blogs to handle.

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In my travels around my RSS feeds in Google Reader, I stumbled upon a link to WebbAlert.

Apparently, outside of her usual gig on X-Play, Ms. Morgan Webb is also producing her own daily podcast of the latest in tech news. [Sneakily enough, her Wikipedia entry has already been updated to reflect her new podcast, which apparently began on August 2, 2007.] You can view the latest videos right on the WebbAlert site or subscribe to the podcast through email, iTunes or other readers.

Her coverage seems a little less consumer focussed than the already prevalent TeXtra Podshow hosted by Natali Del Conte. Natali tends to focus in on news pertaining to consumer projects and consumer tools online like Google’s online offerings, laptops and media players. Morgan seems to have more links from Red Herring and business-to-business news.

The video blog runs Monday through Thursday, and as the first episode explains, she wants this video podcast to catch people up who may have missed their daily dose of the blogosphere. The business focus probably will work for this topic because it will be the busier entrepreneur types that won’t be able to catch their daily dose of blogs and podcasts.

It sounds like a good idea. I am not hating on her for finding a new hobby outside of X-Play, but I was amazed to see her branching out. I hadn’t even heard about it until I suddenly just saw her online.

Catch the initial episode–dated August 2.

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G4TV is good for a cheesy laugh with the skits they pull every now and then. They put this music video together starring the Xbox 360 and ridiculous make-up.

On another note, this song parody has some comedic value as well.

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This stuff is what I always hoped that G4TV’s Icons series would lead into in the world of gaming media. One can only hope. Icons got canceled last I heard.

Looking forward to the rest of the installments from GameTrailers.

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