{"id":1525,"date":"2009-07-14T05:38:33","date_gmt":"2009-07-14T05:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielprimed.com\/?p=1525"},"modified":"2012-03-10T11:28:07","modified_gmt":"2012-03-10T11:28:07","slug":"good-game-rei-the-blogosphere-dissection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/2009\/07\/good-game-rei-the-blogosphere-dissection\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Game ‘Rei: The Blogosphere’ Dissection"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"good-game-logo\"<\/p>\n

A few months ago I received an email from someone at the ABC (that’s the Australian Broadcasting Corporation<\/a>) to help them with their research for an upcoming to be feature for TV show Good Game<\/a>. They wanted to discuss games blogging in Australia and somehow discovered me. Surprised, I know. I would have figured they’d have wanted to quiz people like Jason Hill<\/a> or those Hyper washouts<\/a> not me. But anyways, I was already an avid viewer of the show, so with such a great opportunity I naturally I offered my services, firing back an email as soon as I could. In the following weeks though I never received a reply, but never chased it up either as I was caught in the usual end of semester crunch at uni. Upon making it through the clear, I sought to re-send my email or give them a call, but considering that by then they’d probably completed the piece, I decided to let it slide*. After all, given this prior information, it was inevitable that I’d eventually write a piece like this, so my thoughts would come out in the end anyways.<\/p>\n

That segment went to air last night, and I subsequently have quite a few opinions on it. Actually its timing works out perfectly as I’m falling behind in the next article in my mini-series evaluation of various professional and enthusiast publications. I’ll be covering gamesTM next, you can read about Official Nintendo Magazine and Hyper here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Good Game (ABC) Show Overview<\/h3>\n

As mentioned, Good Game is a television program on the ABC, it’s a half hour show which runs weekly and has been active for an endearing three years \u2013 rather successful for a show of its nature. As recently announced on the community forum<\/a>s, Good Game was the most downloaded show off the ABC last month, another testament to the production. Good Game’s success \u2013 and the key reason why I continue to watch \u2013 lies in two parts. The first being the two presenters, referred to as their screen names; Bajo and Junglist. The duo are characterized as typical gamers and their performances thrive off the subculture to colour their on-screen personas. Yet unlike other productions this is never done in a way that’s degrading or diminutive towards the medium. Also the two – players themselves – comfortably fit their roles and use the available thematic to create a fun on-screen dynamic which is warmly enjoyed by both players and non-players. The two present what is rather constructive and well researched material. The producers clearly care about the quality of the show’s content. The historical feature ‘Backwards Compatible’ is mostly well researched, interviews flesh out the features, while a myriad of neat ideas are incorporated into the reviews such as the two presenters reflecting opposing sides, using the video medium to highlight obscurities within appointed games and using gags to highlight opinions and more personal responses to games. This is all kept rather diverse most of the time. Sure, the odd feature may be a little textbook-y at times, but the crew generally cover fairly appropriate topics as well as hand-picking a good variety of games for review, including downloadable, niche, indie and casual titles.<\/p>\n

These two elements ensure Good Game maintains a respectable quality, far away from the demeaning overkill of similarly-minded, video game-themed productions. Additionally, everything is kept jargon-free which low barriers to entry.<\/p>\n

Rei: The Blogosphere \u2013 Good Game Segment<\/h3>\n