Good Game
Hello, and welcome to Good Game, the show for gamers, by gamers.
Good Game is an Australian video game review show shown on the ABC that started in 2006. It originally starred hosts Michael "Kapowski" Makowski and Jeremy "Junglist" Ray, but early in 2007 Kapowski resigned and was replaced by Steven "Bajo" O'Donnell. Eventually, in late 2009, Junglist was sacked to make way for new host Stephanie "Hex" Bendixsen. As well as reviews, it often includes Gaming News, a look back at the best and worst in gaming, a moment chosen to be a great moment in gaming and, inversely, finding a horrible game where they ask WTF? (What were they thinking?). It also stars Tracey "Rei" Lien, field reporter who looks at pressing issues in gaming, such as game art and even covering Child's Play in Australia. After Rei left to study in Europe, her segment was taken over by Jackson "Ajax" Gothe-Snape, and then by Gus "Goose" Ronald. It's basically everything that X-Play used to be, but better. Visit the forum. It's the largest in Australia, with over 140 topics and 280,000 messages all-up.
Needless to say, this show Needs More Love.
In 2010 a spinoff began airing on ABC 3, called Good Game Spawn Point. This new show is aimed at younger gamers and features more G and PG rated games, while the main show now focuses on more mature titles. GGSP also features a Robot Buddy called DARREN, who was mostly added for the younger audience.
Episodes can be watched here. You'll greatly appreciate it.
- Butt Monkey: Bajo.
- The Cameo: Hosts of At The Movies, David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz, make various hilarious cameos. Helps that At The Movies is on the same network.
- Dueling Shows: If TVS's Level 3 show picks up, it could come to this.
- Executive Meddling: Hex replaces previous host Junglist, who had been in the show since the beginning, in a move actually stated to be an attempt to appeal to the masses. Fans were not pleased.
- Gamer Chick: Hex and Rei.
- Nerds Are Sexy: arguably, just about anybody on the show.
- Averted whenever Bajo takes his shirt off. The forums explode with disgust at his hairy man-belly.
- One Steve Limit: literally Averted with the currents hosts real names being Steven and Stephanie.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The presenters use their Gamertags as opposed to their real names.
- Rickroll: Darren performed one in episode 7 when Bajo and Hex mentioned the one face review would be about Singstar.
- In episode 15 of Spawn Point Darren says that the Rickroll is his theme song.
- On a slightly related note, one night when Bajo and Hex were hosting RAGE they played this first, saying beforehand "This has gotten us through some tough times."
- Robot Names / Fun with Acronyms: Data Analysing Robot for the Ruthless Extermination of Noobs, or DARREN
- Rose-Haired Girl: Hex dyed her hair pink for a while (and looked damned cute).
- Zombie Infectee: In an undead-themed episode, along with reviews of Resident Evil 5, Silent Hill Homecoming, Dead Rising: Chop 'till You Drop and House of the Dead: Overkill, Bajo is hinted to have become bitten, and shows gradual signs of infection throughout each review. By the last review, he has turned, and while not hostile, occasionally looks over at co-host Junglist in an interesting way, and even groans when he calls the phototaking system in Dead Rising stupid. By the end, he attacks Junglist offscreen, but he's all better by next week.
- Hilariously it works as an Actor Allusion for Bajo whose first major role in a film was as a zombie extra in Undead which was made by the creators of Daybreakers.