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X-Play’ brings TV network
for gamers into the big time
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Adam is the dork who likes to poke fun at himself. Morgan is the
velvety-voiced beauty with a brain that doesn’t quit.
Together they are the hosts of “X-Play,” a TV show
about video games that has redefined TV shows about video
games.
You may be surprised to learn there are TV shows about video games.
In fact, there was a whole cable network devoted to gamers, G4,
that recently merged with the electronic-lifestyle cable network
Tech TV. The resulting G4techTV is available in 44 million cable
and satellite homes nationwide.
The network’s most popular show is “X-Play,”
which outwardly follows a familiar formula: Two hosts empty a
thesaurus to describe the latest video game, as footage of the game
glows on screen. But no show has the magic of
“X-Play.”
The reasons: Adam Sessler, a UCLA grad who studied English lit and
language theory; and Morgan Webb, a Cal-Berkeley grad who majored
in rhetoric and can build her own computer. They are to video games
what Siskel and Ebert were to movies. Even viewers who don’t
care about a game’s frame rate or polygon count tune in to
catch Sessler and Webb’s self-deprecating schtick, oblique
existential asides and Kool-Aid colored T-shirts (Sessler) and hair
(Webb).
What other show has a guy in a bear suit explaining why video sync
is important to smooth gameplay in PC games?
What other video game show tosses in references to Voltaire or a
travelog travelogue with a cigarette-smoking fish?
“I’m so glad I don’t have to work for a
living,” Sessler says. “There was trepidation when we
first started: Can we make this work?”
While Sessler had some comedy experience before stepping onto the
set, it was Webb’s first crack at hosting a show. She studied
with a voice coach to ease her transition from being a Tech TV
correspondent for “The Screen Savers,” while the crew
of 12 or so reviewers/writers/producers/editors searched for ways
to connect to an audience beyond hard-core gamers.
As the show evolved, the hosts and crew found their groove.
“Everyone likes to see someone mock something,” Webb
says. “We try to put in a lot of political references, and we
get real subtle sometimes; most people watching the show
aren’t going to play all the games we talk about.”
“X-Play” culminates the progression of video game
reviews. In the 16-bit world of the early `90s, magazines such as
Electronic Gaming Monthly gave gamers the lowdown on whether titles
were worth buying. In the late `90s, Web sites such as Gamespot
offered immediacy and as many interviews with developers as
hard-core gamers could stand.
At the turn of the century, cable TV picked up the baton. Magazine
publisher Ziff Davis, which owned Gamespot, created the ZDTV cable
network and the TV show “Extended Play,” with an
earnest and straightforward Sessler as host. Eventually, ZDTV
became Tech TV, and the minds behind “Extended Play”
wanted to reach beyond hard-core gamers, so they turned Sessler
loose, re-christened the show “X-Play” and brought in
Webb in 2003.
“Adam and I have a lot of fun together,” says Webb.
“We have that brother-sister vibe.”
Buzz is building around the show, centering on the attractive Webb.
Last spring, Playboy.com’s visitors voted her the most
appealing Tech TV host, and she’ll be in an upcoming issue of
the lad mag FHM, having appeared in gym shorts and socks in the
July issue of Maxim. In the male-dominated world of console and PC
video games, she sets the show apart.
Eric Gwinn
Chicago Tribune