Uploaded December 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
On tonight's episode, we discover how the small Apple game developer would one day create Marathon, Myth, Oni and ultimately go on to develop Microsoft's biggest Xbox franchise, Halo: Combat Evolved.
Less than a week after the launch of Halo 3, Bungie would announce they were breaking away from Microsoft to become an independent studio. Three years later they would sign a decade-long publishing partnership with Activision before being acquired by Sony in 2022. The following year, 8% of their employees would be laid off.
NOTE - Although an original G4 launch series, prior to the fifth season of "Icons" it was re-tooled for a more broader audience, moving away from video games to instead focus on celebrities and pop-culture *icons.* The previous four seasons were then rebranded as "Game Makers" to distance them from the new image and viewership G4 was aiming for.
It did not work.
The new iteration, much like the ill-fated reboot of "Filter," was abandoned and the series was cancelled after a single season; however, edited episodes of the original four seasons continued to air sporadically through the summer of 2008. This is one of those episodes. Original Air Date: 12.09.04
Copyright G4 Media... at launch.
On tonight's episode, we discover how the small Apple game developer would one day create Marathon, Myth, Oni and ultimately go on to develop Microsoft's biggest Xbox franchise, Halo: Combat Evolved.
Less than a week after the launch of Halo 3, Bungie would announce they were breaking away from Microsoft to become an independent studio. Three years later they would sign a decade-long publishing partnership with Activision before being acquired by Sony in 2022. The following year, 8% of their employees would be laid off.
NOTE - Although an original G4 launch series, prior to the fifth season of "Icons" it was re-tooled for a more broader audience, moving away from video games to instead focus on celebrities and pop-culture *icons.* The previous four seasons were then rebranded as "Game Makers" to distance them from the new image and viewership G4 was aiming for.
It did not work.
The new iteration, much like the ill-fated reboot of "Filter," was abandoned and the series was cancelled after a single season; however, edited episodes of the original four seasons continued to air sporadically through the summer of 2008. This is one of those episodes. Original Air Date: 12.09.04
Copyright G4 Media... at launch.
![Jeff Pauls Shortcuts to Internet Millions segment...
This infomercial used to air on G4 at 4am or so in the mid 2000s. I cant remember what it was that I recorded, maybe an episode of Icons, that my timer ran nearly two minutes over on.
For whatever reason, I decided to save this clip of the infomercial for something like 20 years. I cant possibly think of why I would have saved it. For their acting skills, perhaps? No... no... I dont think it was that. Don Lapre and Cindy Margolis, they are not. 🤔
I mean, I didnt know how to upload things to Youtube. I just wanted to share things with my friends. And its so, totally simple and it just magically works. Now you have to understand, I know nothing about fraud, embezzlement, ponzi schemes, money laundering, or any of that stuff, and I got 1,300 views on my upload in less than one day and I knew if I could do it once, I could probably do it again.
Anyway, this infomercial came up in a live chat two weeks and I mentioned that the creators of this Jeff Paul persona were ordered to pay part of a $478 million fine for deceiving customers (https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2012/08/ftcs-request-us-court-hands-down-record-478-million-judgment-against-marketers-massive-get-rich [AND] https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/cases-proceedings/072-3138-john-beck-amazing-profits-llc-et-al) so I went ahead and uploaded it, per request.
Also, for those of you who dont remember Don Lapre... well, now... the Disembodied Voice intro I wrote for this episode of X-Play is going to be just that much less cool... https://youtu.be/9drueb6LJZ0?si=ipOt9z7ln8nJTyzG&t=61 😐 Jeff Pauls Shortcuts to Internet Millions segment...](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sQc1kqq15bE/mqdefault.jpg)









