I accidentally tuned into the new Care Bears cartoon, the one with all the computer-based graphics. Nad is a huge Care Bears fan, so I asked her if she was interested in watching it. She had a look of disgust on her face when she said, “No, I’m not going to like it.”

“Why not?” I replied. Her response is below:

“They aren’t going to have Birthday Bear. They cut out the one bear that everyone has. Not everyone has a tender heart. Not everyone likes to share. God knows there isn’t a funshine. But they cut out the one fucking thing that everyone has, a birthday.”

Nad takes her Care Bears seriously.

…but I finally have the proof I need to prove that G4 and the Spike Network are the same. For those of you that read the post comments, you may recall my rant about the G4 community in Will’s N64#1? post. For those of you who don’t, here’s the excerpt:

1. Nadia Says:
October 27th, 2005 at 9:27 am

I still hate G4 and I still hate the people that populate that particular gaming community. I am waiting for the day that music videos and Reality TV shows end up on G4. It will happen because the dopes running the network thinks that gaming just isn’t enough. It is evident by allowing shows like The Man Show and Fastlane on there. All the Spike network has to do is have their own video game related show and both networks will be the same.

Off my soap box…

Spike has not one but 2 video game related shows - Game Head and The Ultimate Gamer. Game Head seems to be a review show whereas The Ultimate Gamer focuses on either a prominent figure in gaming or a video game series. When I discovered these “gems”, I was reading Will’s video game movie post and I sighed in disbelief. G4’s hostile takeover of the beloved Tech TV has resulted in becoming a carbon copy of a subpar network that already exists. Way to go G4!

NOTE: I had written this post over a month ago. I was right at the end when my PC locked up and I had to reboot it…I didn’t save any part of it. I was so pissed that I stopped writing for a month. But I’m better now and I learned my lesson…drive on…

I watched an episode of Filter last night, G4’s rating show. I’ve been watching this network since it debuted a few years ago, 2002 I believe. Nad and I used to enjoy watching their shows all day long, when it was still goofy and the people in charge over there were still trying to figure out what direction to take the network in. Today, Nad calls the network “Spike Jr.” with it’s inclusion of very out-of-place shows like Fastlane and The Man Show. Don’t get me wrong, we love The Man Show. It just seems like it would be a better fit on Spike TV or back on its home network, Comedy Central.

Anyway, back to Filter. They had the “Top 10 Consoles of All Time” countdown. This show takes the opinions of the viewers in online polls, then show which are their favorite picks. For a long time now, I believed that the core of the G4 audience is the “Playstation Generation,” the kids who were born perhaps halfway through the SNES’ life and began playing video games halfway through the PS1’s life. To these kids, games like Crash Bandicoot are probably as important to their video game upbringing as Mario is to Nad and I (as we are part of the “Nintendo Generation”).

I’m making up these generation titles, by the way, as a way to convey my thoughts.

Imagine my surprise when the N64, SNES, and NES came out on top as the #1, 2 and 3 best consoles of all time, respectively. The list was rounded out by PS2, Xbox, Dreamcast, GBA SP, PS1, GB, Genesis, from #4 to 10 in order.

I adored the N64. My favorite video game of all time (Ocarina of Time) is an N64 game. But how could it be the best of all time? Smash Brothers, Goldeneye, OoT - all fantastic games. But how could it even match up to the SNES’ line up? They had three of Square Enix’s best games ever, compared to the N64’s zero. The SNES had lots of Konami love, and the N64 had none. Yet, it came out on top.

I’m just surprised is all. I fully expected for the PS2 and PS1 to take the top two spots, and maybe a GB take third. I’m really surprised that the G4 audience voted in this way.