Good Game (TV program)
Good Game | |
---|---|
File:GGIntro.png Good Game intertitle | |
Created by | Janet Carr |
Presented by | Jeremy Ray Steven O'Donnell Matthew Lee Sheridan Leanda |
Country of origin | ![]() |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 41 |
Production | |
Producer | Jennifer Collins |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | ABC2 |
Release | September 19, 2006 – present |
Good Game is an Australian television program broadcast on ABC1 and ABC2, created by Janet Carr, premiered on September 19, 2006.[1] The program, currently hosted by Jeremy Ray ("Junglist") and Steven O'Donnell ("Bajo"), looks at reviews, gaming news and hardware tips. Good Game has similarities to other gamer programs shown in the past on the American cable and satellite television channel G4. The fourth season of Good Game premiered on February 11, 2008 on ABC2, with the addition of encore broadcasts on ABC1 late on Friday nights.[2]
Good Game airs every Monday at 9:00 p.m. on ABC2 and since the commencement of the third season, can also be seen on ABC1 late Fridays evenings. Prior to the fourth season, the program was broadcast every Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. on ABC2 with repeats shown at 12:45 a.m. on Thursday nights, and 10:30 p.m. on Saturdays. The program is also available through ABC Online via a vodcast, with episodes available shortly before its broadcast on ABC2.[1][3]
Presenters
Current
- Jeremy Ray "Junglist": Throughout every season Junglist has been a co-host of Good Game.
- Steven O'Donnell "Bajo": Because of Mike Makowski's resignation auditions were held to find a replacement host for the new season. On the 9th of March 2007 the new host Steven O'Donnell (Nicknamed Bajo) was announced.
- Sheridan Leanda "Lux" has segments on Good Game such as cyber bullying & Girls in Gaming.
Past
- Mike Makowski "Kapowski" (Season 1):On February 14, 2007 series one presenter, Mike Makowski, announced his resignation from the Good Game team. This was announced on the program's online forum.
- P_Nutz (Season 1): P_Nutz was a yellow puppet introduced during Good Game's pilot episode in May 2006. Although it acted as a fourth presenter throughout the first season, it drew a lot of criticism and debate from viewers. Some were of the view that P_Nutz was not suitable for the program as it seemed to be aimed at children. Some likened it to a monkey modeled on Agro of Agro's Cartoon Connection. Some believed P_Nutz's presence would prevent the show from being taken seriously, and others were simply annoyed by its presence. A poll was conducted on the official Good Game website regarding the appropriateness of P_Nutz in the program. The results proved that P_Nutz was inappropriate, and it was decided that he should die while defusing a bomb in the popular online game Counter Strike. A Flash animation was made by community member "RubberRoss" (Ross O'Donovan, better known as RubberNinja by the Newgrounds community) and was aired in the final episode of season one.
- Miles Tulett "Dr. Daneel" (Season 1-2): Dr. Daneel had computer segments on Good Game. He left the show to pursue his studies at university and because he felt that his segment was no longer hardware-oriented.
- Matthew Lee "Aiyiah": Aiyiah ran the So You Think You Can Game segment on Good Game. As of season 3, is also now a researcher for the team.
Segments
All seasons
- Gamer News: A segment presented at the start of each episode on gaming news. Includes news such as new game announcements, major patches and developer and publisher actions.
- Name this game: Retro game trivia segment. Near the start of each episode a clip of a retro game is shown to the viewers with the challenge of naming the game. Each game is named at the end of the show.
- Reviews: Review segments done by the two hosts usually placed throughout the show. Each time a current game is discussed while footage is shown to the viewers. At the end a rubber chicken rating (a number out of 10) is given to the game. So far only Guitar Hero II, Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice, Call of Duty 4, God of War: Chains of Olympus, Grand Theft Auto 4, Braid and Super Mario Galaxy have been given a 10/10 rubber chicken rating by either of the hosts.
- Industry Interviews: Interviews with people related to the game industry.
- Roffle Cup: A multiplayer match of a specific game (Past cups have featured CounterStrike, Age of Empires and even Wii Bowling) with commentary usually done by commentators from gaming shoutcast organisation Gamestah.
Cross Seasons
- Gamer Tonight: A fictional flash animated talk show staring Richard Farkas from the "Win the Beast" entry "The Pitch". It interviews a different genre of gamer each episode. It's animated by Ross "Rubber Ninja" O'Donovan, who came to this position after years of animation experience on online sources such as Newgrounds, and features the voice talents of Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson.
Season one only
- The Team - Machinima: An Australian Machinima video segment was shown each episode. This was highly criticised by fans on the forums. In season 2 this was replaced by Gamer Tonight.
- Build a Machine: In each episode of season 1, Dr Daneel looked each aspect of a computer, showing what parts to choose and how to install them among other things. This was tied in with the competition to win a computer that ran through the season.
Season two only
- MeatSpace: A Lego stop pause animation created by community member Blunty (Nate Burr). It revolves around two friends and their gaming related incidents.
- Ask the Doc: A new segment in season 2 to replace the Build a Computer segment, Daneel helps people who have a fairly common technical computer problem. However he's also looked at how the Wii sensor bar works.
- Ultimate Showdown: A 'best of' style segment related to games. The segment looks at specific features of games such as the boss fights and opening sequences, and asks forum members to post their opinions on which game has the best one (e.g, which game has the best boss). The thoughts of the forum members are then mentioned while showing footage of the games.
- So you think you can game?: Segment presented by Aiyiah based on hints and tips for specific games. At the end he also gives a challenge for the featured game.
Season three only
- Quarter Circle + A: A series of primarily animated video game parodies created by Rob Moffett and Benjamin Baker. Replacing Gamer Tonight and MeatSpace, The show's presentation is varied each week with formats ranging from Machinima, fictional in-game footage, satirical video game reviews to lampooning 1950 Educational Films.
Season Four Only
- Good Game "Game": Is a new competition for season 4. Viewers are asked to give suggestions and ideas for a playable game prototype. It will be developed by The Australian Film Commission and ABC TV. The game will be called Office Wars.
- A Cartridge Affair: A spin on the show "A Current Affair" this segment is a humours news spin-off about a different game subject each week.
- Backwards compatibility: A new segment that goes over the best and worst of gaming history, and how this has helped shape the future of gaming.
Societal impact
Audience
Recently, there has been a significant shortage of Australian technology and game related content in the Media. The ABC realised there was an open market for this and developed the show Good Game on ABC2. Their prime target audience consists of both new and professional gamers. Producer Janet Carr said herself that "The gaming community are harsh critics", which indicates the program will have to cater to a 'tough market'. Ray (Junglist) said that, "Good Game is all about bringing the gamers what they want, showing them stuff that they will actually be interested in watching, and we can do this because we are gamers ourselves." The show is filmed in the 'Den of Gaming': a gamer's paradise with the latest gaming equipment and a plasma television. This is intended to appeal to the target audience, with their wide variety of gaming devices. Women aged 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population than boys aged 17 or younger, and the average age is 33 for a typical gamer This shows that the target audience is not distinctively young adult males.
It has been identified that three quarters of Australian households contain a device by which computer or console games may be played, with over $850 million AUD spent on gaming products annually.[4]
Feedback
The main source of feedback received for Good Game is from their Official website forums. The hosts, and some members of the crew actively browse these forums and take a lot of constructive promotion or criticism on board. They readily listen to the public to identify what their target audience wants to see on the show. Reviews are also given by the viewers on the forums, and can be awarded prizes on the show for the best review. Viewers' comments are also referred to during the show, given they are relevant to the current game of discussion. The Good Game Forum is now the largest ABC television forum with over 920,000 messages, 857 topics, and over 5000 contributors. [5]
Awards
At the 2008 IT Journalism awards Good Game was awarded with a "Lizzie" for Best Multimedia Coverage of 2007 and also the biggest award of the night, the Gold "Lizzie" for Best Title of 2007. Special mention was made that Good Game won the Gold "Lizzie" by the most votes in the awards history. Good Game was also commended in the Best Gaming Title of 2007 category and Good Game's researcher Maurice Branscombe was also highly commended in the Best Gaming Journalist of 2007 category.
References
- ^ a b Jenkins, Chris (2006-09-05). "Gamers go prime-time on ABC". Australian IT. Retrieved 2006-09-27.
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(help) - ^ "Good Game Returns". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2007-08-30. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
- ^ Field, David (2006-09-14). "Good Game". Atomic Maximum Power Computing (atomicmpc). Retrieved 2006-09-27.
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(help) - ^ Lipscombe, Aimee (2006-09-18). "GOOD GAME: A PROGRAM BY GAMERS FOR GAMERS ON ABC2". ABC New Media & Digital Services. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
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: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - ^ "ABC Message Board". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2008-01-21. Retrieved 2008-01-21.