X-Play
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X-Play (previously Gamespot TV and Extended Play) is a video game review television show hosted by Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb. X-Play began on TechTV, but later moved to G4 after 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.
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, assistant producer and disembodied voice announcer Jason Frankovitz left X-Play. After a period of experimentation with new announcers, a 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. Sessler has said that this is a subtle way to legally use questionable words on television.
Sketches are sometimes shown between reviews. These sketches are related to video games or video game related topics. For example, one episode had a sketch about the use of Engrish in video games, while another documented games you should never buy, and another included a parody of Link from the Legend of Zelda series having a severe drinking problem. Other motifs include the vitriol towards Adam and Morgan in the viewers' e-mails by Dragon Ball Z, Final Fantasy, and Star Wars fanboys, and members of the X-Play message boards. Adam and Morgan are often seen playing recurring character roles in many of the sketches. Sessler is known to masquerade as Shad Grimgravy, an excessively flamboyant and overly dramatic Don King lookalike, and Webb as Morgan Von Vebb, a mad scientist-type character with a German accent and slight dominatrix-like qualities.
Constant themes show up throughout the series. Such themes include Adam and Morgan's eternal hate for card battle games such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, dating sims, the Mega Man (particularly Mega Man X) series, and the hosts' constant abuse of the show's interns. There are regular appearances by Ratty, an obscenity-spewing hand puppet first introduced during a review of NRA Varmint Hunter. Other side characters include Johnny Extreme, a caricature and personification of the "x-treme" sports genre, and a highly stereotypical French Canadian. Sessler also regularly makes remarks expressing his lack of bladder control, hatred for his own life, and occasionally even alludes to suicide.
External link
- X-Play official site (http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/index.html)