Thoughts on G4's "Indie Games Minute"

[Jackolantern]

Has anyone else seen these on G4TV? They call it "Indie Games Minute", and they are micro-segments that air during commercial breaks where they show off an indie game and give the link to it. It would be cool, but I am a little concerned with how they present it. For one, they will only showcase free games. While that is not much of an issue, as most indie games are free, the outro tagline is "So what do you want for nothing?". To game players, this can give off a couple of ideas:

1. All indie games are free.
2. They are not things you would want to play if they weren't free; they are sub-par.

Obviously the first point is true for many indie games, but it could be lowering expectations for players when they come in contact with commercial indie games. As for the second, the phrase "Well, what do you want for nothing?" has typically been used to say that you should be happy with the crap you have because you didn't pay anything for it. Again, while some indie games are meant to simply be a couple of minutes' diversion, many can rival the gameplay and enjoyment of AAA titles.

So I am kind of mixed on this. On one hand, I am happy that they are giving a few indie games some recognition, but I am not very happy with the subtle undertones of the presentation.

[hallsofvallhalla]

i am glad you brought this up. Its a terrible segment that makes indies look like sub par designers that cannot compete with commercial companies. They always choose low grade games that are very proto-type style games.

[Jackolantern]

i am glad you brought this up. Its a terrible segment that makes indies look like sub par designers that cannot compete with commercial companies. They always choose low grade games that are very proto-type style games.

I have also noticed that many of them are sponsored. Truth.com sponsored them to showcase one of their crap Flash games, and so did the military (the military's game that has the player flying an assault jet before being asked to enlist was the one). So I can't be sure how many they are honestly showcasing, or how many paid them for the spot.

[MAruz]

Haven't seen it, but sounds like something I wouldn't bother watching anyway. I'd be too annoyed by their approach :p

[hallsofvallhalla]

I don't like G4's game related material in general. It's all "good" reviews and tips and tricks that old Nintendo Power style stuff. They don't really show the meat and bones behind the games either and the hosts are tools.

[OldRod]

I haven't watched G4 in a while - our cable system stopped carrying it, or they moved it to a different channel and I haven't found it, one or the other... the hosts are tools, but some of them are kinda hot

[Jackolantern]

I haven't watched G4 in a while - our cable system stopped carrying it, or they moved it to a different channel and I haven't found it, one or the other... the hosts are tools, but some of them are kinda hot

Whatever that girl's name is who hosts Attack of the Show is hot as hell The show is terrible, but she is worth watching it for

[OldRod]

I haven't watched G4 in a while - our cable system stopped carrying it, or they moved it to a different channel and I haven't found it, one or the other... the hosts are tools, but some of them are kinda hot

Whatever that girl's name is who hosts Attack of the Show is hot as hell The show is terrible, but she is worth watching it for

Olivia Munn... at least it used to be back when I watched it. And yes, I agree with you

[Jackolantern]

I haven't watched G4 in a while - our cable system stopped carrying it, or they moved it to a different channel and I haven't found it, one or the other... the hosts are tools, but some of them are kinda hot

Whatever that girl's name is who hosts Attack of the Show is hot as hell The show is terrible, but she is worth watching it for

Olivia Munn... at least it used to be back when I watched it. And yes, I agree with you

Yep! That is her. I just couldn't remember the name.

And as far as G4 goes, I do actually like X-Play. I agree in large part with many of their reviews, and they go about as in-depth as you can in a 3 - 4 minute video slot. If you want in-depth reviews, read an article online, but for the most part, I am just not interested enough in most games to give them that much time lol.

[Last Known Hero]

I used to watch it but I find almost every episode is the same. I know they feature different games but it's not very diverse considering how diverse the games are.

And yes, Olivia Munn is a good reason to watch it haha