G4 & Comcast: Are You F&%King Kidding Me?

[Aniero]

I posted this on the front page of Limit Break Radio, but I thought I'd share here as well.

Look, it’s no secret that G4 completely misses the mark when it comes to nailing their target demographic. With such botched programming like “The Whip Set” and horrendous re purposing of garbage TV like “COPS” or “Cheaters” it’s pretty clear that G4 has absolutely no idea who their audience is, much less how to speak to them.

And why would they? They are run by one of the most underhanded media companies on the planet. Final Fantasy XI players shudder when they hear the name. I am, of course, talking about Comcast! Ah, yes Comcast, how can I forget you? Pardon me folks, as I reminisce about the good ol’ days, where I could be assured that I would see a red dot next to my name at least once every ten minutes (indicating a connection problem and inevitable disconnection). I miss the days of spending long tracks of time on the phone with customer service agents trying to resolve my problem so I can at least connect to the damn game I pay $12 a month for only to be told that the problem must be on the server end. Boy, was I surprised to discover (ha, sarcasm) that, in an attempt to stop file sharing and torrent transfers, Comcast has been secretly blocking ports and bottle necking connections, effectively disenfranchising gamers who have trouble connecting to game servers as a result of their decision to violate net neutrality!

Isn’t strolling down memory lane fun? Back to my point, how can a company that clearly undermines gamers on such a fundamental level as to provide an internet service that essentially cripples the functionality of many games, try and be the public media face for gamers? Well the answer is stupidly simple, because they don’t represent gamers. They don’t respect gamers or the gaming industry. Hell, they hardly employ gamers! The only person I can relate to, much less respect, at this network is Adam Sessler. That poor guy should have jumped the sinking ship with Digg.com’s Kevin Rose! I mean, really, Kristen Holt?! Yeah, I’m going to take gaming tips from a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. Look, my point here is this network puts on a big facade and tries to convince its viewers it has their best interests in mind, when in reality this is a TV channel. Their bottom line is money.

One of the few things I actually liked that came from G4 was The MMO Report despite my frustration with their lack of coverage related to Final Fantasy XI. Well folks, tonight I saw a segment on the MMO report that sparked my nerd rage!

Video: The MMO Report: Thursday, March 12th Videos - G4tv.com

At 4:42 the shows stand in host, John Walsh, begins discussing news that is nearly a month old to all of Final Fantasy XI fans. I am, of course, referring to the financial statement that Square-Enix released stating that they are at work “developing their post-FFXI flagship title”. Get ready to cringe because even before discussing the old news the host launches into a slew of insulting, demeaning and derogatory terms aimed at fans of Square-Enix.

Way to be quick on the uptake guys! This news is not only insanely OLD but totally useless information. We’ve known that Square-Enix has been developing Rapture for quite some time, or did you forget about the Crystal Tools tech demo that showed off the new MMO? Yeah, as far as I remember SE hasn’t said anything about killing that project, so what’s the point of your little segment here, MMO Report?

I’m sure some of you out there are wondering “Aniero, why can’t you take a joke?” I can take jokes that are funny, and I’ll be the first one to laugh at myself. But this isn’t funny, because it’s not just Square-Enix fans that Comcast undermines. Simply put, this network gives the American gaming press a miserable reputation. They just want to corner the market on an untapped television demographic and sell ad time to the very companies they like to make fun of. No wonder Square-Enix has such a negative view of the American gaming press, and I don’t blame them for putting their advertising money into everything but American media.

Thank god that this network is beginning to crumble. Good riddance to bad rubbish I always say. I can only hope that Comcast will be next!

I will be writing the MMO report ([email protected]) to express my dissatisfaction with their marginalization of Square-Enix fans, and, if this article has struck a chord with you, I invite you to do the same. I’ll also be writing my local cable operator to pull G4 from their basic cable subscription package. I don’t want a corporation that fundamentally undermines gamers to try and represent me. I can speak for myself. I have my own voice!

Use yours.

-Aniero

[Kriz]

So much rage

[aurik]

[image-what the fuck is this shit]

[Antithesis]

Aurik I swear you lurk and post in the most random topics.

[Aniero]

1) watch the video
2) i guess youve never been comcasted. people who have been comcasted know man lol

[Daedalus]

Why don't you just change ISP?

[AkashiXI]

[image-what the fuck is this shit]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sordid/WTf.png

[Araelus]

Why don't you just change ISP?

Unfortunately, in many places consumers are restricted to one or two ISPs, especially for high speed internet. While this might sound bizarre to an urbanite, smaller towns will make deals with Comcast or Time-Warner and block out competitors from the area. I'm going to give Aniero the benefit of the doubt and say that if he had to use Comcast, it was because he didn't have any other option.

At 4:42 the show's stand in host, John Walsh...

Watching the video now... as much as I'm tempted to say "meh" because I don't subscribe to a TV package anyway, I'm tired of crappy businesses trying to profit from people they don't care about - or worse, are actively hostile towards. So the news that G4 continues to circle the drain is heartening, if they haven't improved.

...started a bit before the SE segment ...he's wrong about Aion, isn't that supposed to be out in Fall/Winter 2009, rather than "gearing up" now? ....what a condescending attitude towards "funny words" ...

Oh! Here we go! Apparently we are all pre-pubescent heterosexual males! Now let me check my notes, yes, hmm, post flagship title. Fascinating... No it's not FFXIV. Good day, sir.

...the anchor also seems oblivious to Square's lawsuit against third-party sword manufacturers, which was posted on Kotaku, although he uses that site as a replacement for the OED.

Ugh, Aniero, why did I watch that? >_>; I mean, it's fun to make fun of bad TV, but ... ugh. Does the guy actually play any of these games? Does he not make fun of the fans of any particular franchise? I don't see how this stays on the air - unless someone who normally watches TV can remind me of how bad most programming is. The site comments provide some insight, don't they:

ahh lighting has never looked so beautiful on a t.v screen before

[Aniero]

yeah, complete lack of a better alternative. If I moved 50 miles north I could get Charter (though they just declared bankruptcy), but Comcast has the lock on where I'm at. My county hasn't been zoned for FIOS or else I'd just go Verizon. So, my choices are Comcast (with a bundle package phone, internet & cable), DSL (no TV plan there and if you think Comcast has shit service...) or satellite that caps you at a transfer of 50mb a day.

The video is ridiculous. I usually don't get bent out of shape about stuff like this, but it's just plain dumb.

[frodnonnag]

i'm glad fios moved in my neighborhood.

[Araelus]

It's like he's trying and failing to be funny while mocking everything he talks about. PS3 = "grilled cheese maker"? Durr. I can't tell if the stressed pronunciation is part of the act or what.

How about this, Aniero. You and Kallo call TamTu and so on, plus bother the guys over at Pet Food Alpha, maybe get the RoclTalk team involved(?) and start releasing five minute "MMO Reports" every week on YouTube. Anyone who plays the games could do a better job than the hacks at G4. Even static screens or short gameplay clips with a voiceover. Tie in the BG gaming forums, and it'd be great.

Keep it short and sweet, depending on what new news is worthwhile news. In addition to running John Walsh (or whoever) off the air, instead of just saying to Comcast "you suck" it provides an alternative news source. I wonder if gamers who watch the channel in question do so because they feel it's the only such option available (whereas I just ignore it) kind of like the ISP monopoly situation.

[shaddix]

Had probs with comcast in chicago, never had a problem in tennessee, rock solid.

[Kipling]

Everyone I know with comcast hates it, no matter what LS or server I was on, not surprised. In fact, member on LS website made a post few days ago entitled like "Comcast is gay!" Cause she couldn't get on for a few days. XD. Have Verizon, lol.

[Aniero]

i would be all about that! I might even have access to a halfway decent TV studio too...not sure...bare minimum I just bought a webcam lol

[Araelus]

Get Zero to film it for you! But I'll pitch in if you want to use FFXI characters as the hosts, we can make it a machinima news project.

(Taking this to PMs.)

[Sumy]

Had probs with comcast in chicago, never had a problem in tennessee, rock solid.

Very few issues with ComCast in Oregon too. In the last 3 years I can recall 2 outages, neither lasted more then 15 mins, and one was due to a neighborhood wide power outage when a car hit a pole. not sure what to tell ya...

As far as G4... did you really expect more from them? However, now that you've mentioned it, the way the hosts speak, and their attitude toward everything (not just FFXI) reminds me of a LOT of gamers attitudes in general, that I know anyway - maybe they know their demographic TOO well (and you're just not part of it?). Maybe someday their will be a mature sophisticated gaming program that offers usable information, until then... what can you do?

[Mirinika]

Way to go op, huge post about something we don't care about. SE's next mmo will replace ffxi ? WHO KNEW ? Wow, what a surprise. And g4 sucks , yeah we know.

[Araelus]

If they assume gamers are immature jerks, who enjoy talking down to other people .... (considers his bashing of the TV host, hmm, well) ...then, sure, they have an imitation of the demographic down cold. Some of us like a modicum of wit and intellect when we hear a "news" program, or at least humor that isn't straight out of fifth grade.

To be fair, I don't expect anything from G4, insofar as G4 doesn't owe me anything. I don't watch television through a television.

Maybe someday their will be a mature sophisticated gaming program that offers usable information, until then... what can you do?

That's a really good idea. And people today are generally producers of content rather than just consumers. So until someone else does it, the best I can do is ... organize someone to do it. So, let's go! Who else wants to help?

[Cadsuane]

ITT: A showhost generalizes your demographic as a pack of rabid weeaboo japanophiles and then you publicize a butthurt reaction that would be most appropriate coming from a rabid weeaboo japanophile.

[AkashiXI]

ITT: A showhost generalizes your demographic as a pack of rabid weeaboo japanophiles and then you publicize a butthurt reaction that would be most appropriate coming from a rabid weeaboo japanophile.

I honestly don't see where the whole weeaboo japanophile comes into play. He mentioned how SE dislikes the American publicity when it comes to FFXI and it's fairly true. There's no bias when he's just pointing out facts. On another note: shut the fuck up.