Matt Gilgenbach's Game Developer Makeover on G4

[ranger_lennier]

Youtube is great. I was looking for a developer diary, but found something even better.



Matt does look pretty stylish afterward. Of course, he looks fine before as well, just more casual.

[JPrice]

Nice find man hahaha
Although I'm curious as to why he didn't keep the stylish make over going!
(Not that you don't look fine already Matt )

[miumiaou]

wow it's weird to see that...

[Reinik]

ahahaha wow

Hey, I have that taiko drum plush in the background in Matt's cubicle.

[Grabthehoopka]

It seemed...weirdly condescending, but I admire Matt's willingness to try new things, and also his sideburns.

[ranger_lennier]

It seemed...weirdly condescending, but I admire Matt's willingness to try new things, and also his sideburns.

Yeah, I did detect a hint of that, like they were basically saying that obviously Matt really needed a makeover since he worked at a computer. And in actuality he just looked like you'd expect someone at a casual workplace to look. But on the whole, I found it amusing.

[loudERIC]

Whoa, random Seanbaby in that video... weird.

And that was an odd video on the whole. I don't watch TV. Silly stuff like this is why. Wonder if Matt had fun doing that.

[Grabthehoopka]

Whoa, random Seanbaby in that video... weird.

And that was an odd video on the whole. I don't watch TV. Silly stuff like this is why. Wonder if Matt had fun doing that.

Well, luckily, after meandering around with a noble idea for a TV network (a TV channel about video games!) but clearly no idea how to get there for a bit, then buying TechTv and grinding it down into nothing, having X-play, completely succumbing to executives who only care about pandering to the lowest common denominator, lobotomizing X-play and turning it into a depressing, soulless husk of its former self like Jack Nicholson at the end of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and then burning it all down in a cynical, shameless, careless wave of the hand, airing 10+ year-old reruns of daytime television like COPS and Cheaters for the majority of its programming block, the executives in charge of G4 network finally completed the last step in the stairway to not giving a sh*t and sold it to Esquire magazine, who rebranded it as The Esquire Network.

Sigh. Now I'm sad.

Anyway, the point is, despite this clip being very, very old, this specific brand of silliness is off the air now.

[loudERIC]

Whoa, random Seanbaby in that video... weird.

And that was an odd video on the whole. I don't watch TV. Silly stuff like this is why. Wonder if Matt had fun doing that.

Well, luckily, after meandering around without a noble idea for a TV network (a TV channel about video games!) but clearly no idea how to get there for a bit, then buying TechTv and grinding it down into nothing, having X-play, completely succumbing to executives who only care about pandering to the lowest common denominator, lobotomizing X-play and turning it into a depressing, soulless husk of its former self like Jack Nicholson at the end of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and then burning it all down in a cynical, shameless, careless wave of the hand, airing 10+ year-old reruns of daytime television like COPS and Cheaters for the majority of its programming block, the executives in charge of G4 network finally completed the last step in the stairway to not giving a sh*t and sold it to Esquire magazine, who rebranded it as The Esquire Network.

Sigh. Now I'm sad.

Anyway, the point is, despite this clip being very, very old, this specific brand of silliness is off the air now.

The fact that reality TV madness and Twilight infused TV shows are all the rage now have really put me off TV and the way TV works as a medium for story telling too. At this point I just find the shows that have concepts that interest me and laser focus in on them. Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire and Arrested Development are really the only serialized story telling I enjoy.

I had a lot more here criticizing a lot of modern TV and it's pacing, but best not to derail the thread from that hilarious video up top. Haha!

[matt]

There's also this:


Hahahaha. I believe they were both filmed in 2005. For the game development make over, someone else at the office was supposed to do it, but he didn't want his beard shaved, so they just asked for other volunteers. I said sure, why not? It was fun to be on national TV, and I got some clothes out of it. The jeans had the weathered look and along the weather patterns, it tore so I only wore them about 10 times before they were torn to shreds. Interestingly, I didn't get any free Axe Body Wash products despite their heavy sponsorship.

The video I posted is from a "reality" show (note the quotation marks) pilot on MTV 2 called "Are You Game?" I believe the pitch was that video game rivals were supposed to compete in a "real life competition that was off the chain". My co-worker Ross McIntosh (now at Insomniac Games) and I thought it'd be fun to compete. We totally sucked at Need For Speed and had only played it for a few hours, but we figured we'd apply for fun. We got cast and were on the show, but it didn't get picked up. I think it only aired a few times.

Anyway, while they aren't very entertaining TV shows, they were both enjoyable experiences. I have no regrests!