Just a reminder, Russ from Gametunnel is on techtv at 7 EST TONIGHT!

[Mike Boeh]

Russ will be on "The Screensavers" at 7:00 PM EST tonight on Tech TV. He is one of their two guests. The other is Tara Reid. Russ is runnin' with the big dogs!

[Greg Squire]

Got my Dish DVR set to record it! Go Russ!

[Mike Boeh]

And it promptly demolished our brand new 3 ghz HT server. Does anyone know a lot about mysql and how to index his tables so this doesn't happen every time techtv airs? About 50 simultaneous users seems to bring the entire box to its knees

[ggambett]

Who cares. Anyone know how to bring Tara Reid to her knees?

Sorry, couldn't resist...

Any chance of uploading it? There's no TechTV in this part of the world.

[Abscissa]

And it promptly demolished our brand new 3 ghz HT server.

Shit, they still have enough viewers to do that even after being eaten by G4? There goes my last ray of hope about G4/Comcast getting what (should have been) coming to them.

[Gmicek]

And it promptly demolished our brand new 3 ghz HT server. Does anyone know a lot about mysql and how to index his tables so this doesn't happen every time techtv airs? About 50 simultaneous users seems to bring the entire box to its knees

What kind of box is it? 50 isn't exactly a great number, I don't see how it would be choking at that number.

[Matthew]

And it promptly demolished our brand new 3 ghz HT server. Does anyone know a lot about mysql and how to index his tables so this doesn't happen every time techtv airs? About 50 simultaneous users seems to bring the entire box to its knees

This is a fairly broad subject. I learned a bit of MySQL optimization over the years by managing a website that eventually grew to 1 million pageviews/day. It's hard to offer specific suggestions without your database schema on hand. The first thing to check is that you have proper indexes (keys) on vital columns.

A quick Googling shows this might be a good primer: http://www.sitepoint.com/article/opt...ql-application

After that, there are various configuration file tweaks you can do to throw more memory at the bottlenecks. It should be easy to find my.cnf examples geared towards higher-traffic sites.

[cyrus_zuo]

I'm showing 521 online right now, don't know how long it has been since the last time it aired, but we normally have more than 50 people online at nearly any hour of the day...

http://www.g4techtv.com/screensavers...ing_Links.html

Hopefully there is a little bit of traffic headed most everyone's way. I talked and emailed with the studio and they were happy to throw up a few links for me

[cyrus_zuo]

Heh the guy who called said he loved this game...and that game... and russ said "I...I made those games"

Hmm...sounds like the mic didn't pick up what I said, which is, I wish I made those games

[cyrus_zuo]

Really cool, but I wish they would have given you more time to talk about some of the other good games!

Here here...

Though they did talk about the possibility of doing some webcam stuff in the future as interesting things happen...who knows

[James C. Smith]

Russ, I think you did a fantastic job of representing the Indie games community. You looked very confident and well spoken. I would have been nervous as hell if I was the one on TV. You looked great and had insightful things to say. Good job!!

[cyrus_zuo]

Russ, I think you did a fantastic job of representing the Indie games community. You looked very confident and well spoken. I would have been nervous as hell if I was the one on TV. You looked great and had insightful things to say. Good job!!

Thanks, I walked into the studio and promptly forgot everything I was going to say...honestly Thankfully I got there 2 and a half hours before it began and once it all started it just went like a blur...I need to see the tape to see what I said. As long as I didn't come off looking like an idiot I'm happy. I remember Kevin laughing when I said that the game were good for all genders, and I remember that awful flesh-eating slamdance clip right as I was about to start my question piece (which was fun, I had a list of 5 games though and only got through 2 ), but beyond that really I don't remember a thing.

Good to see indie games getting some spotlight. Hopefully bodes well for what is to come this year .

[Anthony Flack]

Is there any chance of the clip going online in some form?

[cyrus_zuo]

They told me they don't digitize things, so unless someone does it on their own my guess would be no...which is really too bad...though it will air again in about an hour I think.

[stay]

Wahoo!

I didn't get to see it, but a friend of mine watched it and reported back. My friend, who before had no idea who Russell was, said:

"The Gametunnel guy comes across as good to me. Enthusiastic and really likes gaming."

He was pretty impressed. Good job, Russell! My friend described the Outpost Kaloki coverage and it sounded fantastic to me. Man, I'm pretty jazzed about this.

Woot!

[Anthony Flack]

They told me they don't digitize things, so unless someone does it on their own my guess would be no...which is really too bad...though it will air again in about an hour I think.

Not really enough warning to travel to the US to see it, I'm afraid.

So... is anyone willing to rip the clip?

[cyrus_zuo]

would love to see it ripped as well...

...looks like my plane is here, catch up with everyone tomorrow night.

[NuriumGames]

Also no G4 TV here in Spain, so if someone could rip it and post it somewere ...

[KNau]

Gongrats, Russ! It's cool to see Game Tunnel getting the recognition it deserves. I'd love to see it digitized,too since I don't have TechTV.

How has the site traffic been since the show aired?

[Raptisoft]

Hey Russ, awesome job! Thanks for the good Hamsterball plug! Sales already creeping up, most of them affiliated to you. You deserve it, Mr. Big Time!

And just for the record, "Cheyenne, Texas" wasn't me. My wife told me, "everyone's going to think that was you calling in."

[P-Q4]

Awesome job Russ! Your an up-rising star for the Indie Game Community

would love to see it ripped as well...

Well, I'll just say that your BreakQuest game got some air time. Even the game play looked awesome on TV

[NuriumGames]

Well, I'll just say that your BreakQuest game got some air time. Even the game play looked awesome on TV

Great! , thnks for the info.

Congrats Russel, hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

[Mike Boeh]

Russ, I also thought you did a great job of speaking in such a way that everyone could understand what the scene was all about. Well done!!

[Nutter2000]

So did anyone actually record it so we can all see what you're on about?

[Yossarian]

Mega props to Russ, he did an EXCELLENT job on there. It may have been a blur to you, but you came across very well spoken and passionate about the games. It was a very good piece.

I will admit, though, that it was really rough on my eyes to transition from Tara Reid to you You could do a fun spoof piece on your website where you take a picture of you holding a green can and screaming, though

On a more serious note, though, Outpost Kaloki got some great time and shots and was sold well, Gish should see their sales double after that bit, and BreakQuest looked great and was pushed as "the end all be all of breakout games. Period. End of sentence." Probably my favorite line though was when the host (who probably has been using some new Macs with Marble Blast on them) said "So Hamsterball is kinda like Marble Blast, then?", to which Russ replies "No, Hamsterball is WAY better." He probably didn't intend to make Marble Blast sound like it sucks, but it certainly made Hamsterball sound like the second coming...

I know he was worried about the hosts blowing these games off, since they deal primarily with the Half-Life2 crowd and games, but he did a great job of deflecting the couple of "leet" statements by the host. Actually made the guy interviewing him come across like a dood, which is a really good thing.

The only real pisser about this whole thing, is that if G4 hadn't bought out TechTV, you could have the old hosts of the Screensavers, who probably would have LOVED the indie gaming scene, and would have been a lot more knowledgable about it. I used the watch the screensavers a lot, but I don't even both now, as the hosts they have are way too shallow, don't know jack, and are only worried about prettier graphics and looking "hip" to the 18 and under hardcore gaming crowd that seems to be G4's market audience. IMO G4 really killed off all the good things about TechTv.

[Anthony Flack]

Aw man, I wanna see...

Poor old Marble Blast. I like that game; I'm sure the slight wasn't intended. It isn't at all like Hamsterball though.

[cyrus_zuo]

I think he said Marble Maddness? If not then I definitely didn't mean to say what I did.

On the call I actually had my pick from a bunch that they screened, it was pretty cool.

Kevin P. was awesome and really digs the indie screen. I'm quite sure he is the reason that I was on the show. He really seemed interested to chat and we talked about everything from Legend of the Red Dragon, to Darwinia. Pretty cool altogether, and the extra traffic and sales are a great thing...so I'm quite happy. Especially as it sounds like I came of well and didn't embarass the community or myself (whew!)

[Yossarian]

I think he said Marble Maddness? If not then I definitely didn't mean to say what I did.

On the call I actually had my pick from a bunch that they screened, it was pretty cool.

Kevin P. was awesome and really digs the indie screen. I'm quite sure he is the reason that I was on the show. He really seemed interested to chat and we talked about everything from Legend of the Red Dragon, to Darwinia. Pretty cool altogether, and the extra traffic and sales are a great thing...so I'm quite happy. Especially as it sounds like I came of well and didn't embarass the community or myself (whew!)

He may have have said maddness and not blast... I'd have to replay the bit to be sure. If so, then definately a warrented comment, although not the best comparison by him.

Good to hear that he was interested and into it. Obviously I have no idea what they really thought, I just still got the impression from watching the bit, that while supportive, they still couldn't help but make a couple comparisons between AAA and indie.

Would be great if you could parlay this into a semi-regular spot. Just let me know when you go on to promote web based games =)

[James C. Smith]

I thought the descriptions of all the games was great but must of the game play footage they showed sucked. I am sure you had nothing to do with the selection of the footage. Poor Russ was trying to explain what makes BreakQuest so special by describing a specific level with awesome physics involving several boxes linked together. Words and hand motions were to only tools he had to try to describe a complex level. Meanwhile they show a very simplistic level with the ball bouncing off immovable circles. I think it was level 1 or 2 from the game. It just didn’t do the game justice. Similarly the footage of Wik never did show any shotgun effects, loops, or other acrobatic tricks. Hell, I don’t think it even showed him to a simple swing. What is Wik without swinging? They should have let Russ play or just show the games attract mode with pre-recoded gameplay. The Hamsterball footage was better but I think it shoed a guy dying on a mouse trap and then replay the mouse trap part again rather than showing another cool setpiece on a different level. Gish was another example of Russ describing a specific level of the game that was particularly cool and the footage they showed some decent but not as cool as what Russ was trying to describe.

I guess we all should have press kits made with pre-made highlight footage. That way people like the Screen Savers wouldn’t make their own footage of a guy who never played before trying to do the tutorial level.

[Raptisoft]

He may have have said maddness and not blast... I'd have to replay the bit to be sure.

He said Marble Madness. I have rewinded the tape and watched. BTW, what's the best solution to get VCR to AVI or MPeg, anyone know?