Xplay
X-Play (previously GameSpot TV and Extended Play) is a video game review television program on G4 hosted by Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb. Sessler is the original host of the program; he has co-hosted in the past with Lauren Fielder and Kate Botello, respectively. X-Play began on ZDTV in 1998 as GameSpot TV where Sessler co-hosted with Fielder for the show's first year, then co-hosted with Botello up through 2002. The show was renamed to Extended Play in 2001 after ZDTV changed to TechTV and the partnership with Ziff Davis' GameSpot ended. Botello left in early 2002 to pursue a (now successful) career on Broadway, and Sessler hosted the show by himself up until April 2003, when Webb joined the cast and the show was renamed to X-Play. It is the only show to entirely survive the May 2004 merger of G4 and TechTV.
The show revolves around the two hosts' banter between reviews and previews of popular video games and the occasional quirky skits. The humor on the show is inconsistent, but tends to skew lowbrow.
Reviews and Coverage
The video game reviews on X-Play use a five-point rating scale;
- 5 - Phenomenal. Absolutely no problems whatsoever, a must-own game
- 4 - Great. The game may have a couple of faults, but is still worth buying
- 3 - Average. Nothing special, possibly worth a rental or purchase for casual fans of the game or genre
- 2 - Mediocre. Can only be recommended as a rental for serious fans of the game or genre
- 1 - Terrible. The game is very poorly designed, to the point of actually being unplayable. Avoid at all costs
Games that score a 5 and many that score a 4 are compiled for both an annual holiday buyer's guide episode known as the Non-Denominational Winter Season Gift Guide, and an end-of-the-year "Best Of" show that categorizes the games according to system or genre (racing, platformer, etc). High-scoring games from the previous year that have since been reduced in retail price to $20 or less are reshown in the regular segment Games for Cheap Bastards. Odd or unusual games, such as Katamari Damacy, are featured in the segment Weird Games Presented by EBGames.
X-Play is also known for its indepth coverage of video games at annual conventions including the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Tokyo Game Show, and Electronic Entertainment Expo (E³), although the latter two events have been covered by the entire channel since TechTV merged with G4. Similar to the holiday review guide, an annual Best Of E³ episode showcases buzzworthy games for all of the current systems, leading up to what X-Play believes to be the most promising game of the year. The show has also been known to cover the Game Developers Conference (GDC).
Trademarks
The disembodied voice announcer begins each episode with an often over-the-top introduction to which the hosts usually respond or comment. In March 2005, production assistant and disembodied voice announcer Jason Frankovitz left X-Play. After a period of experimentation with various joke announcers, a legitimate new announcer was chosen.
Adam Sessler occasionally says "Dik-Dik", and has been known to wear a Dik-Dik t-shirt on-air. This is in reference to the manga and video game Ultimate Muscle, which contains a character named Dik-Dik Van Dik, whose actual Japanese name is "Gazelleman". Sessler has said in interviews that this is a subtle way to legally use questionable words on television.
Sketches are sometimes shown between reviews. These sketches normally deal with video game related topics. For example, one episode had a sketch about poorly done Japanese-to-English language translations in video games, while another documented games you should never buy. Adam and Morgan are often seen playing recurring character roles in many of these sketches. Sessler's trademark character is Shad Grimgravy, an excessively flamboyant, poetic and melodramatic Rip Taylor lookalike who has his own segment called "SHOCKED! with Shad Grimgravy", and Webb's alter ego being Morgan Von Vebb, a mad scientist with a deliberately bad Transylvanian accent and dominatrix-like undertones.
Constant themes show up throughout the series. Such themes include Adam and Morgan's eternal hatred for card battle games such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, dating simulation games, the hosts' constant abuse of the show's interns, and the vitriol towards Adam and Morgan in viewer e-mails sent by Dragon Ball Z, Final Fantasy, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Star Wars fanboys. There are regular appearances by Ratty Handpuppet, an obscenity-spewing hand puppet first introduced during a review of NRA Varmint Hunter (known for the phrases "oh snap!", "suck it (bitches)", "dayum/damn!", and "hand-puppet haters!"). Other supporting characters include Johnny Extreme, a caricature and personification of the "X-treme" sports genre, Guy LaFleur, a blatant hockey-loving French Canadian stereotype, and Drunk Link, an alcoholic parody of Link from the Legend of Zelda series, performed by X-Play associate producer Michael Leffler. Sessler is also known to make remarks expressing his lack of bladder control, hatred for his own life, and occasionally even alludes to suicide.
Other regular/past characters include:
- Adam V, a robot intern who murdered most of the X-Play staff until Morgan stopped its' rampage by falling in love with it
- The Screaming Intern, who only communicates in loud high-pitched screams
- The Drunk Writer, a female staffer who wears a shirt bearing the words "I Need A Drink", who is always seen chain smoking and drinking from a bottle of Southern Comfort, performed by X-Play head writer Blair Butler
- Jaded Star Wars Fanboy, who tried on two separate occasions to kill Adam and Morgan after they gave a 2-out-of-5 score to Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
- Slippy the Fish and Slappy the Fish, real red snappers used as comedic props during the less-than-exciting GDC conferences (Slippy was also featured in the review of Aquaman: The Battle for Atlantis)
- Adam 2.0, a "clone" of Adam, performed by his real life twin brother Jonathan Sessler
- The Reservoir Geeks, featuring Adam, Morgan and other X-Play staffers dressed in two-tone suits, discussing the Madonna song Like A Virgin and how it relates to video games, directly parodying the opening scene from the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs
- Special Agent Bob and Secret Agent Steve, characters from the Splinter Cell Co-op Theater
- Rodney, a mentally challenged intern who wears wrestling headgear and enjoys "playing Xerox" (unnecessarily printing blank paper from the office Xerox machine)
- Cobra and Mongoose, badly drawn Flash-like cartoon spoofs of characters from the movie Top Gun
- Old Man Stumpy Hazleton, the senile, wheelchair-ridden X-Play video game historian
- Grover the Crack Squirrel, a drug-addicted squirrel puppet introduced in a review of the M-rated game NARC
- The Resident Evil 4 Merchant, who haunted the cubicles of the G4 offices with the constant query of "What'r ya buyin'?" until Morgan killed him during one of the merchant's "sales meetings"
- Kratos the God Killer, the main character from God of War who tried a new life as an intern after killing inferior gods
- Mr. Nemeesis, the "Nemesis" character from Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, who temporarily worked for X-Play as a production assistant
Celebrity impressions have included Steven Segal, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise, Paris Hilton, Sean Connery, Patrick Stewart, OJ Simpson, Peter Rose, The Beatles, Barry Bonds, and Ozzy Osbourne.
During reviews, cropped images of kittens are often used to censor particularly violent sequences.