Why is G4TV still on the air? I tuned in the other night, watched a video for some game that really sounded cool until I realized it was for Borderlands 2 and the episode was actually several months old. Using the guide feature, I scanned a couple hours ahead and realized all of the shows were repeats. And if they weren't repeats of video game shows, it was repeats of Cops or Quantum Leap. Oh sure, there are a few other shows and movies, but overall, the channel is certainly not what it used to be ever since they practically closed up shop. I kind of miss having a TV channel dedicated to video games.
Especially after watching Jimmy Fallon last night.
I don't always stay up and watch Jimmy Fallon, but I do like him and his show. A big part of that is because he is clearly a gamer, and talks about video games quite often. On this particular episode (Season 5 - Episode 155 if you're interested) not only did he have a bit on his "Do Not Game" games (which included the notorious E.T. game) he also got a little hands on time with the Xbox One.
Speaking of E.T. - I nearly missed this story from last week about a documentary being made to excavate the "nine semi-trucks full of merchandise" from the Alamogordo landfill. I was fairly young when this all happened, but I was definitely a gamer during this time and am always interested in hearing this tale (read it here if you're interested). I don't know if this is common knowledge or not, so I'll leave the names out of it, but one of the Game Informer editors actually has an autographed copy of the game on display in his office with a rather cool story how he obtained such a treasure. If you ever get to tour the offices, you should ask to see it. While the game is credited with nearly killing the video game industry, it's such an iconic game to behold now.
Next up was the Xbox One. Jimmy Fallon had Phil Spencer, the Vice President of Microsoft Studios on to demonstrate the new system. Certainly we saw more (and longer) exposure at E3, but I'm still impressed how amazing Killer Instinct and Forza are looking. Wow. You can watch the video here if you're interested. Lots of people have critiqued and criticized his commentary, including the little flub he made about how powerful the system is (he said 3 x more powerful than Xbox 360 and later clarified it is 8 x, or 10 x using the cloud). I was more curious about the matchmaking - he made the comment the game will start matchmaking before the round you're in is finished to minimize the time waiting in between rounds. That sounds kind of cool...especially since I found myself waiting for several minutes in between Halo rounds earlier this evening...waiting for one more player to join.
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Anyway, this blog isn't about Xbox One, it's about how awesome Jimmy Fallon is for dedicating almost the entire show to video game content (he did have Howard Stern and Alyssa Milano on). I'm sure he'll showcase the Playstation 4 on one of his shows too. Anyway, his last guest was Anamanaguchi, debuting their new release - Endless Fantasy. Find their website here. If you don't know who they are or what they do, well they have a Wikipedia page.
Anamanaguchi is an American chiptune indie rock band from New York City, that "makes loud, fast music with a NES from 1985." The band has four members: lead songwriter and guitarist Peter Berkman, bassist James DeVito, guitarist Ary Warnaar and drummer Luke Silas.
The only reason I know about them is because of fellow Game Informer member - born4this...I think he told me about them, or should I say...introduced me to them. Anyway, they are a "chiptune" band, which means most of their songs sound like old retro video games. I kind of like it - like a cross between techno and 8-bit audio.
So, here we have a channel that is supposed to be devoted to video games but really isn't...and we have a late night talk show on NBC hosted by a guy whose bio says he's an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host, who is providing much more interesting (and current) video game coverage than perhaps any other normal television channel. Not only does this provide us (gamers) entertaining content, I wonder what kind of impact this exposure has with mainstream society.
Wouldn't it be nice if NBC gave Jimmy Fallon an entire show devoted to video games...or better yet, if G4TV let Jimmy Fallon take over the channel? Ah, if only.
Good Games...and good (video game) shows.