X-Play: Difference between revisions

[[File:x-play-show.jpg|frame|''"Now appearing on [[TV Tropes]], it's Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb!"'']]

 

 

The show started in 1998 (on what was then called ZDTV) as ''GameSpot TV''; it was hosted by Adam Sessler and Lauren Fielder, the latter of which left in 1999 and was replaced by Kate Botello. In 2001, the show was renamed ''Extended Play'' (at around the same time ZDTV was renamed TechTV). Shortly after Botello left the show, it was hosted by Sessler alone, and it was filmed San Francisco's Metreon arcade until 2003 -- when the show was renamed ''X-Play'' and Morgan Webb came aboard. Along with Webb came a brand new studio and the beginning of the show's focus on game-related sketch comedy alongside its reviews. The show was retained by G4 after that network purchased TechTV in 2004, and even though it was basically left intact (a fate far better than other TechTV shows (and even most G4 shows) received), its focuses swung frequently for the next few years as G4 went through its frightening [[Network Decay]]. The show is now essentially a half-hour version of what G4 was before the merger. It is now comprised of news, previews, reviews, interviews, and even a hints segment called "Cheat!" (which itself was a half-hour show on G4 years ago). The sketch comedy has also been done away with, for the most part; this might have something to do with the fact that the show's former head comedy writer, comedienne/[[One of Us|comic nerd]] Blair Butler, became a G4 on-air personality.

 

* [[Badass Long Hair]]: The Golden Mullet Awards that they've been doing since 2004 to honor the worst games of the year. It was named in honor of ''Aquaman'' the standard in which all bad games were based on.

* [[Broke the Rating Scale]]: They refused to rate ''[[Big Rigs Over the Road Racing]]'' (because their rating scale didn't feature a 0), then gave the ''ET'' game a ceremonial zero.

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Blair Herter, the very self-aware third wheel.

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Crazy Adam, owner of the used games emporium. ''Crazy crazy crazy crazy CRAAAA-ZY ADAM!!!''

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Both Sessler and Webb act in this manner, but tend to switch between it and sheer abstract goofball at times.

** Their review of ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]''. See also [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch]].

** Their criticism of the graphics of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', which were:

Squaresoft's first ever experiment with 3D graphics. }}

** More recently, their review of ''[[Resonance of Fate]]'' very conspicuously only shows footage from the first hour or two of gameplay. Also, they dismiss the characters as "whiny" when the game is filled with wisecracks and sex puns from practically all main characters, even in the first few hours of play.

* [[The Eighties]]: Parodied in an episode reviewing compilations of [[Older Than the NES]] games.

** Also used as a form of [[Stylistic Suck]] for the intern training video which has clearly not been updated since "Like a Virgin" was a number one hit.

** '''1998-2001:''' "Until next time, bye-bye."

** '''2001-2003:''' "Until next time, game... over."

** [[Crowning Moment of Funny|"Stop doing cartwheels...]] [[Screams Like a Little Girl|AHHHHHHHH!"]]

* [[Fanon Discontinuity]]: Referenced in the opening of one episode, where Webb says "We like to pretend ''[[Perfect Dark Zero]]'' doesn't exist."

* [[The Great Video Game Crash of 1983]]: The topic of one episode, with Sessler and Webb going on a road trip to find the supposed burial site of the excess ''E.T.'' cartridges.

* [[He Who Must Not Be Seen]]: The announcer, who has been all but eliminated in recent episodes.

* [[Homemade Sweater From Hell]]: Gives the quote at the top of the trope's page.

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: When talking about ''Marvel: Ultimate Alliance'' in his Best And Worst Comic Book Videogames segment from 2007, Roger the Stan Lee Experience said, ''"Look at all my little creations running around learning to work as a team. It's just like Jack Kirby and I envisioned all those years ago. And when I say Jack and I envisioned, I mean '''I''' envisioned."''

* [[Ms. Fanservice]]: Webb, and she's been accused of being solely this, and not really a gamer, since the show's inception. Parodied in one episode where Sessler wore the outfit she wore in her ''Maxim'' shoot.

* [[Murder Simulators]]: Addressed from time to time, usually when a controversial game is released that that [[Moral Guardians]] are claiming is one. The show's position, of course, is to either parody of deconstruct these claims.

** The irony is that they ALREADY had their own video game on the ''X-Play'' page. It was a side scrolling beat-em up where Webb uses her fists as a weapon, Sessler uses Slippy the Fish as his weapon.

* [[Political Correctness Gone Mad]]: ''X-Play'' wishes all of its viewers a "Happy Non-Denominational Winter Season".

** Lampshaded when Sessler was forced to get some of the characters to help co-host an episode when Blair and Morgan were unavailable. [[Hilarity Ensues|Guess what happens when the characters help out during the episode.]]

* [[Reckless Gun Usage]]: Sessler went to a SWAT training session, and got chewed out for having his finger on the trigger.

** [[Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome|TWO MEN ENTER! ONE MAN LEAVES! TWO MEN ENTER! ONE MAN LEAVES! TWO MEN ENTER! ONE MAN LEAVES!]]

* [[Self-Deprecation]]: [[Running Gag|Overused is putting it lightly.]] Sessler being shown as the butt of the joke used to be extremely frequent in the early years.

* [[Show Within a Show]]: ''"When America needs a hero...when freedom stands alone...when justice needs to be upheld, there's only one place to turn. Through the cover of night, America's top agents will defend our liberty from those who wish us harm. Let us join Special Agent Bob and Secret Agent Steve: two of the finest official unofficial Splinter Cells."''

** And within Splinter Cell: Co-op Theater is it's own show within a show (within a show), Grabnar The Wanderer.

* [[Small Name, Big Ego]]: Parodied in universe. A skit had Sessler tackling problems in the form of an RPG random encounter, in one of which the enemy was a bouncer at a club, and Adam's attack was to say, "Behold my celebrity," (which fails).

** Webb: (about ''[[Fifty Cent|50 Cent Bulletproof]]'') So why was this game even made? Cash, my friends. '''Cold. Hard. Cash.'''

** In the review for ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Force Unleashed]]'', "In what should be the most badass moment of the entire game, you're reduced to ''slowly'' rotating a faraway ship into some arbitrary position so you could ''slowly'' pull it a couple of feet down before fending off a wave of TIE Fighters. Then you do it '''all. Over. Again.''' This isn't even interesting, let alone awesome.

* [[Too Soon]]: Parodied. Sessler makes a jab at a [[Grand Theft Auto|GTA]] knock-off's controls stinking worse than [[World War I|archduke Franz Ferdinand's rotting corpse]]...to which he pauses before adding a "Too soon?"

* [[Troll]]/FlameBait - Certainly, they do seem to get caught up in the flame wars they so heartily make fun of sometimes--see the aforementioned "Your Childhood Sucks" segment, for instance. At some points it seems they forget that they are at least ideally supposed to avoid bias in their reviews, which tends to fuel the problems with the [[Unpleasable Fanbase]] even more. Yes, a lot of fans are unreasonable, but it doesn't help when you give them an excuse.