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X-Play

X-Play (previously GameSpot TV and Extended Play) is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits. The program airs on G4 in the United States, G4techTV in Canada, FUEL TV in Australia, Ego in Israel, and Maxxx in the Philippines.

The show is 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.

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, and Sessler hosted the show by himself up until April 2003, when Webb joined the cast and the show was renamed X-Play.

After the merger of TechTV and G4 in May 2004, X-Play became the only original program from either network to survive intact, and is now one of the highest-rated shows to air on the channel .

History

GameSpot TV, Extended Play, and X-Play all originated in San Francisco, California. Throughout the course of the show's history, it has gone through numerous changes, in more than just name.

GameSpot TV

In the days of GameSpot TV, the show was filmed on a simple ZDTV studio set consisting of faux-brick walls, randomly positioned TV monitors, and functioning Gauntlet Legends and Rival Schools arcade game cabinets. For the occasional special episode, filming would move off-site to another location, such as the Sony Metreon arcade, and numerous game conventions such as the Classic Gaming Expo and E3. Each episode would start off with Game News, where Sessler or Fielder would give a brief overview of top news stories featured on the GameSpot website. Game reviews were run in a segment known as The Grill (games were graded on GameSpot's official 0.1-10.0 system), Spotlight showcased special content such as interviews with industry leaders, and Game Breakers featured strategy guides and hints for recently released games. New episodes would debut on weekend mornings at 10:00 a.m. EST.

Extended Play

When GameSpot TV converted to Extended Play, the show moved entirely to the Metreon, and took on a very simple style and format. Filming consisted of co-hosts Sessler and Botello and a small single camera crew; the show featured strictly game reviews and game hints, and the 10-point grading system changed to a 5-point system. New episodes debuted once a week at 9:00 p.m. EST. Like GameSpot TV, certain special episodes would be filmed elsewhere. In August 2002, the series became a daily program with a mix of repeats and first-run episodes airing Monday-Friday at 4:00 p.m. EST, with Friday episodes remaining in the 9:00 p.m. timeslot. After the departure of Botello, Sessler continued to host at the Metreon by himself, until the change to X-Play in April 2003.

X-Play San Francisco

When X-Play debuted on April 28th, the show moved back to the TechTV studios from the Metreon, and Morgan Webb came onboard as co-host, leaving her previous hosting duties on TechTV's The Screen Savers and Call for Help. X-Play had a larger scale than that of Extended Play, but it still maintained an extremely simple and spartan style. Filming was done in TechTV's Studio A, home to the sets of Call For Help, Fresh Gear, and TechLive. The filming setup was increased to three cameras; a main floor camera, a Jibcam for high angle shots, and a black-and-white handheld DV camera, which would be cut to suddenly and intermittently throughout episodes.

X-Play's primary set consisted of a single couch, coffee table and television (with working game consoles) positioned in the middle of the large studio floor, but hosts Sessler and Webb would migrate around various areas of the studio, normally not even going to their actual set until the end of the program. Each episode would typically conclude with Sessler and Webb playing one of the consoles on the TV. The show's format consisted primarily of game reviews and previews (with some previews being conducted as live in-studio demos by Morgan and Adam), with an occasional game-related sketch thrown in for comedic value.

The Disembodied Voice was also introduced to the show at this phase in its history. This unseen announcer would begin each episode with an often over-the-top introduction to which the hosts usually responded or commented (these comments varied widely, ranging from total non-sequiturs to Gilbert and Sullivan references to Current events, along with viewer-submitted intros taken from the show's web forums).

Unlike its predecessors, X-Play had more of an edge, containing some adult language and more mature (sometimes controversial) subject matter. This was due to TechTV owner, Paul Allen, hiring Greg Brannan, from the E! Network, to create a late-night block filled with edgy technology/video game programming. As a result, it was paired in a programming block with the network's other new show, Unscrewed with Martin Sargent. X-Play originally ran new episodes five nights a week at 11:30 p.m. EST, but it was moved up to 11:00 EST soon after.

Many of the episodes created during this time period now air on the G4 Rewind block of "retro" programming.

X-Play Los Angeles

Comcast purchased TechTV in May 2004 and merged it with its G4 network, necessitating a move for X-Play's base of operations from San Francisco to G4's Santa Monica studios.

The new set designed for the show resembled a lounge - or "rumpus room" - where the hosts could sit around while discussing their latest reviews (during the 400th episode, which originally aired on May 8th of 2006, all chairs were removed from the set so that Adam and Morgan had to stand throughout the duration of each episode).

While originally maintaining its late-night time slot, new episodes were eventually moved to 4:00 p.m. EST in the afternoons (usually airing on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays) starting on April 10, 2006. This changed to 3:00 p.m. EST on September 5, 2006, before X-Play returned to prime-time on November 6th of the same year, to their current 8:00 p.m. EST timeslot.

On March 4, 2007, it was announced that the G4 Studios in Santa Monica would close on April 15th. Production of G4 programs was relocated to the Studios of the E! Television Network situated elsewhere in the Los Angeles area. As a consequence, there were new sets designed for X-Play, and many G4 employees involved in production were laid off.

The E! Building's set was smaller than the Santa Monica studio, thus some aspects of the studio had to be shrunk down. The X-Play logo was retro-fitted to sit above the stage on the right-hand side of the set, with curtains surrounding the entirety of the space to create a sense of intimacy; a large flat-screen monitor was also placed in the background, and several small decorative glass balls were strategically placed around various spots on the floor (Adam and Morgan would often joke of their fear that they would trip over one of these balls and hurt themselves). During video-game analysis and viewer mail segments, Sessler and Webb would sit in orange recliner chairs as they debated over the issue at hand.

On January 14, 2008, the set was once again revamped, to coincide with a complete overhaul to the show's entire format; both Adam and Morgan have stated that this new format represents "the type of show that they've always wanted X-Play to be", whereby a strict focus on game reviews was replaced with a broader range of topics relating to the video-game field (including more in-depth gaming news, first looks at game demos, and game cheat-codes/strategies with Kristin Holt twice a week). The studio now has blue-tinged walls covered with several flat-screen monitors, and a giant orange X-Play logo (newly redesigned for the relaunch) covering the floor. Also, G4 took advantage of the new set and show format by expanding X-Play's schedule in order to air new episodes five days a week.

Reviews

The video game reviews on X-Play use a five-point rating scale, based on such factors as graphics, sound, gameplay, and playability (i.e. replay value). On X-Play's original TechTV homepage , the ratings system was broken down in the following way:

1 - Hated it. Do not buy this game. Not even worth the bargain bin. Run from it. Escape!! Escape!!

2 - Alright. These games are fun, with some good points, but nothing special. There's definitely a few specific things holding this game back. Wait until the price comes down or pick it up as [a] renter to check out some of the things it does right.

3 - Good. Fun to play, pretty solid titles, with a few minor flaws. Most games will probably fall into this category. They're the games that if you like the genre, or liked other similar titles, you might consider giving it a good look. Otherwise, you might not be into it.

4 - Very good. Games that are at the top of all our lists, but are missing that strange intangible aura of perfection, and unfortunately that's keeping them from getting in the realm of the almighty five.

5 - Near perfect/perfect. If you're a true player, these games will undoubtedly be in your collection, or at the very least you'll have played them until the cartridges and CDs melted. If a game gets a 5, and you like the genre, you should buy.

In a 2007 episode billed as a "primer on our scoring system" , Adam and Morgan further elaborated on their ratings scale:

A score of 1 is a game that "has to produce true crappiness, [through] the full cooperation of an entire development team - level designers taking off early to attend their children's soccer games, animators getting so high during their lunchbreak that they can't operate their mouse, and of course money hungry execs who will release anything if they can dupe kids into begging their moms for it."

Example Given: 50 Cent: Bulletproof

A score of 2 "is such a difficult score to give, because it requires a game that fundamentally fails, but has a barely redeeming charm which makes it untenable to give a 1; it's that Suddenly Susan cocktail of technical competence floated atop a pile of dreck."

Example Given: Genji: Days of the Blade

There are different levels to a score of 3 - "there's the 3 that's a mix of very good and very bad elements (like Blood Will Tell) or 3's that have a great concept that's poorly executed (like Railroads!), and then there's those 3's that are just churned out because they know people will buy them even though there's nothing original in it (like every FIFA game ever)."

Example Given: Sid Meier's Railroads!

"There are really two kinds of games that get 4's regularly: these are great games with significant problems (like Dead Rising) and games that are amazing but just aren't suited for everyone (the Warhammer: Dark Crusade expansion or any of the Sims expansions are good examples)."

Example Given: Dead Rising

Titles that earn a perfect 5 out of 5 are "those magnificent games which, whatever minor flaws they may have, call out to us and say, 'Buy me, you must buy me' ... "

Example Given: Ōkami

During this episode, the hosts also explained why they use a 5-point ratings system, rather than a 10- or even 100-point scale:

Morgan: Our system is better because it recognizes that scores are broad generalizations.
Adam: For example, a popular web site gave Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire a score of 3.0 out of 10. They gave Torino 2006 a 3.9. What is the difference?
Morgan: Both games suck, all the score is gonna be able to communicate to you is that the game is bad. If you want more nuance on the suckage, you have to actually go and read the review. See, in a 10-point scale, everything under 5 just means 'this game ain't worth buying', so there's no real difference.
Adam: And there's no real nuance to a score difference of two- or three-tenths of a point. Our scores at least give sweeping generalizations for you to use as a guide.

Book

On October 22, 2004, TechTV (in association with Peachpit Press) published the book The X-Play Insider's Guide to Gaming: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Video Games From G4techTV's Brutally Honest Experts. Written by Marc Saltzman (along with the X-Play Cast) and weighing in at a hefty 468 pages, the book contains game reviews, cheat codes, and Q&A sessions with the cast and crew. Adam and Morgan even went on a nation-wide book-signing tour to help promote their literary endeavor.

Copies of the book can be found everywhere from the Brooklyn Public Library to the University of Hong Kong .

Interns

X-Play has its own cast of interns (students from local universities who have signed up with G4 to gain valuable work experience in the television production field), who will sometimes appear as characters on the show. When appearing on camera, they are commonly outfitted in a white undershirt with the word INTERN scrawled across the chest in black Sharpie.

Their roles are not relegated to simply being on-screen comic relief, as the interns are accountable for much of the game footage used during reviews/previews. X-Play interns also play a role in other behind-the-scenes work on the show's set; some of the former interns have eventually been hired full-time within the G4 company itself. Examples include Jason Frankovitz (the first intern to be offered a full-time position, although he would leave the show in early 2005), Albert Iskander (who has worked as a Production Assistant for G4's Video Game Vixens and G4tv.com), Gene Yraola (now a part of G4's Games Editorial Department, the liaison between the shows and the actual software/hardware companies), Eric Acasio (a production assistant for X-Play) and Emily Mollenkopf (hired as a production assistant on Attack of the Show in 2006).

A near-complete list of interns who have worked on the show follows:

From San Francisco, California: Jason Frankovitz, Scott Humphrey, Chris Ivarson, Matt Ketterer, Desiree Peel, Jana Suverkropp, Kevin Theobald, Blake Yoshiura, and Kevin Yuen.
From Los Angeles, California: , Eric Acasio, Russ Brock, Brian Flores, Albert Iskander, Issac, Kenny, Megan, Emily Mollenkopf, Geoff Pinkus, Stephan, Alex Villegas, Chuck Wilkerson, Chris Wilson, and Gene Yraola.

The Screaming Intern (played by Robert Manuel), is actually not a true intern, but instead is an editorial coordinator for the show .

Guest appearances

When X-Play was still a part of TechTV, personalities from other shows on the network would often make guest appearances (including Leo Laporte, Yoshi DeHerrera, and Unscrewed's Martin Sargent and Laura Swisher). This continued after the merger with G4, with Attack of the Show! co-host Kevin Pereira and G4tv.com's Tina Wood.

Talent from other shows within the network have also been used in the role of temporary guest co-hosts; Blair Butler, Julie Stoffer, and Kristin Holt have been seen to substitute for both Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb when they were unavailable.

X-Play has also had pseudo-celebrities that are not affiliated with G4 (such as Tony Little and Kato Kaelin) appear on the show.

"Hatred"

There are several gaming titles/genres/issues where co-hosts Adam and Morgan have displayed an exaggerated sense of "hatred" towards (often playing up their dislike for the cameras in order to make for humorous television). These include:

Card battle games such as Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Games based on anime series, particularly Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, One Piece and Fullmetal Alchemist.
Escort missions, where the player is forced to keep an NPC character (who has its own health meter) from dying. This often proves difficult when the NPC's A.I. is so insufficient that they continuously place themselves in harm's way (leaving the player with little or no chance to save them).
Japanese dating simulation games like Sexy Beach 2
Game series which continue to produce titles without showing much in the way of innovation (such as Dynasty Warriors and Mega Man)
The proliferance of World War II strategy and first-person shooter games on the market (during their review of Moscow to Berlin: Red Siege, Morgan remarked "That's it! No more World War II games! According to my contract, I only have to review 75 World War II games per year, and I already hit my quota in March!").
Video games based on existing IPs (like games based on current movies or TV shows), since they are usually rushed to the market to cash in on the latest craze and end up being painful to actually play (such as the Charlie's Angels or Da Vinci Code video games).
Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue (Morgan has often called this the worst game ever made)
Jonny Moseley and the ridiculous comments made in his video game Jonny Moseley Mad Trix (including the classic line "What if it snowed in San Francisco?").
Dane Cook and his brand of comedy.
Uwe Boll.

Physical abuse on set

For comedic purposes, the X-Play writers have often portrayed the show as an exceedingly violent working environment; when Adam and/or Morgan aren't being depicted as "putting the interns in harm's way," Morgan often appears to be the one abusing her co-host directly.

This "violent" dynamic has manifested itself in various forms, from simple slaps and punches directed towards Adam (whenever the writers want to make it seem as if he has somehow offended or annoyed Morgan), to more exaggerated actions (like landing several blows upon Adam's person with a baseball bat during X-Play's mockumentary on the history of violence in video games).

Self-humiliation

Adam Sessler uses a self-deprecating form of humor, in which he allows himself to be the object of ridicule and derision. He does this by pointing out several faults within his character, such as a lack of purpose in his life, poor educational/social status, male pattern baldness, bad luck with women, and an unhealthy fudge obsession.

Adam will also engage in physical comedy at the expense of his own dignity; past examples include dressing in women's clothing (like a yellow cheerleader's uniform or the skimpy outfit Morgan wore during her Maxim photo-shoot), stapling himself in the crotch, and repeatedly hitting himself in the temple with a hammer when a game becomes too boring to play.

The X-Play Boards

Adam and Morgan have often been the subject of numerous negative comments (including "Morgan's not really a gamer!" and "Sessler doesn't know gaming because he hates Final Fantasy!") through the show's official message board. The vitriol spewed forth on the forums has become so well-documented that the X-Play staff even produced a "music video" dedicated to the message board's denizens entitled On the X-Play Boards (MP3 format).

The song was written and performed by Marque Phahee and the Bling Dongs (in reality X-Play segment producer Mark Fahey playing an acoustic guitar), featuring the X-Play After School Choir (comprised of Morgan, Adam and various recurring X-Play characters). It is also supposed to be the lead track from the X-Play: The Musical motion picture soundtrack (even though X-Play eventually created an actual all-musical episode which made no mention of On the X-Play Boards).

Sketches and segments

Various recurring segments and comedy skits have been used throughout the show's history by the X-Play writers.

Recurring characters

X-Play has amassed a large group of fictional characters that will appear from time to time, often to bring some humor during game reviews.

X-Play: The Online Game

X-Play: The Online Game is a short Flash game created by the San Francisco-based company Orange Design (graphics and audio by Sean Talley, programming by Fearghal O'Dea). In the game, you can play as big-headed versions of either Adam (whose main weapon is Slippy the Fish) or Morgan (whose main weapon is her fists), as they battle zombies, pirates, and radioactive Dik-diks.

Chat

When X-Play was still a part of TechTV, the show would host an online chat every Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. EST. After the merger with G4, X-Play's official IRC chat room was re-designed by Philippe Detournay and Raphael Seeqmuller using the PJIRC chat client.

On November 6th, 2006 (to coincide with the show's move to prime time ), the G4 network integrated X-Play's chat feature into the actual broadcast of each new episode. Using an idea similar to their production of Star Trek 2.0, a window covering the bottom half of the screen would pop up during reviews, and display messages typed out by G4 users on X-Play's official web site in "real-time" (comments have to be approved by a channel operator - to avoid obscenities - before they are actually aired on television).

More recently, the presentation of the X-Play chat function has been redesigned for the show's new format, so that chat messages will display on the left-hand side of the screen during a review.

Podcast

On November 11, 2005, G4 started offering X-Play segments (reviews, skits, etc.) for free in podcast form via their website and iTunes store, so that fans can view these segments at their leisure on computers and portable devices.

Adam and Morgan will often direct the viewers to download these podcasts during the broadcast (Sessler is adamant that X-Play end up getting more downloads than his "bitter rival" The Dog Whisperer).

X-Play Weekly

On August 14, 2008, a special weekly wrap-up show called X-Play Weekly was made available for download on the Xbox LIVE Video Store , allowing Xbox 360 owners to view highlights from the previous week's episodes for a nominal fee.