G4 sucks.

It’s a sad day, the day a true gamer finally puts aside his or her pride and accepts the truth. I do not want The Whip Set, Fastlane or The Man Show on my “TV for Gamers”. Video games are a multi-billion dollar business, so why resort to failed television shows unrelated to video games but targeting the demographic? Is it for advertising? Because last time I watched, the only advertisements are for university gaming programs with a question of legitimacy and foreign actors advertising some obscure anti-virus software that no one has ever used (or even heard of).

And how can a network self-described “for Gamers” can be conspicuously absent of any true gamers itself? The only person I could call a true gamer would be Adam Sessler, who has been hosting X-Play, and Extended Play before that, for years. Kevin Pereira? I wouldn’t call him a gamer as much I would call him a talking head, albeit a loud one. I think the next closest would be Tina Wood, and I don’t think she does it as much for the love of the game as she does for the love of the paycheck.

So as G4 approaches a much dumber, less-serious TechTV (you know, the network it acquired only to destroy), I say farewell. Farewell to Icons, Cinematech, and of course, X-Play, the only real gaming shows left on the network. And good riddance to the rest.

However, there is a beacon of light, a true “TV for Gamers” on the horizon. GameSpot.com recently relaunched a feature called “Today on GameSpot”, a daily video recapping breaking news, reviews, and other gaming information. Although only a few minutes in length, it provides more gaming insight than a week’s worth of programming on G4.

GameSpot Editors Greg Kasavin, Jeff Gerstmann, et all, are gamers first and foremost. Their reviews are regarded as the most unbiased and objective in all of videogame journalism. And they’ve had experience with producing a television show in the past, having done a few Cinematech episodes that were far and away the best episodes ever produced for that series. Simply put? These are gamers who know how to produce programming for other gamers.

This simple daily video could have huge potential. If GameSpot decided to expand their programming, they could present a serious challenge to G4’s stake in the potential gaming audience. As GameSpot is part of the CNET Network, they have some real muscle behind them if they decided to enter a cable or satellite television venture. CNET is no stranger to television programming, having produced a series of shows for USA Networks in the late ’90s.

What could be a bigger Trojan horse, however, is the introduction of Apple’s new Video iPod. Quite frankly, this is going to do for videocasting what the original iPod did for podcasting, or even MP3 distribution for that matter. As GameSpot is already producing their own video bits for daily news, reviews and features, they are poised for global distribution via iTunes. This may be the nail in G4’s coffin – directly distributing video to the hands of the gaming audience, thereby eliminating the need for conventional broadcasting to a niche market, and at a much cheaper cost to boot. Even more destructive could be the availability of amateur programming production, catering to the gaming audience, and distributed via videocasting. Former TechTV host Kevin Rose has started his own videocast called SYSTM, and it’s only a matter of time before shows like this catch fire.

So gamers, hope is not all lost. Today’s the day we should all turn off G4 for good, and support (or even produce) alternatives that represent the “true” gamer.