Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
- Thread starter RySenkari
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Does this mean it's not coming to the Katana at all now?!
XBOX!????!!!?!
<Multiple expletives deleted>!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope we're getting something equally cool as compensation for losing GTA....like localizations of the Yakuza series.
Remember that the UNES is a market juggernaut on the level of the PSX, and the next Nintendo could easily sell on the level of the OTL PS2.
Rockstar isn't gonna leave that money on the table.
Rockstar isn't gonna leave that money on the table.
Just wanted to inform everyone that I am about 70% complete with the Wonder Woman update before I sent it to Ry and Nivek for approval and will get started on Green Lantern 2 later in the week. So let the speculation commence!
And just a quick question about the Wonder Woman animated series, will it be set in the DCAU? If so, it will have interesting butterflies for Justice League.
And just a quick question about the Wonder Woman animated series, will it be set in the DCAU? If so, it will have interesting butterflies for Justice League.
Yeah, probably. Mainly to jump off the popularity of Batman and Superman TAS, and gain that audience through crossovers. Plus, there is an existing staff of animators and writers to work on it. Speaking of the DCAU, is Batman Beyond still made? P
Pant* Pant* I just found out you guys started the timeline lol.
It looks good so far.
It looks good so far.
That's why they made a timed exclusivity deal and not a permanent one.
And yeah, the Wonder Woman animated series is set in the DCAU.
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Summer 2000 (Part 8) - The Rest Of The Games
Gran Turismo 2
The sequel to the hit 1998 racing sim, Gran Turismo 2 was released in North America on September 25, 2000. The game is very similar to OTL's title, gameplay is virtually identical and the basic premise of the game is unchanged, though the graphics are better than OTL's game and better than TTL's original Gran Turismo, indeed, this game is probably among the very best looking games for the Ultra Nintendo, easily on par with many OTL Dreamcast games. With over 800 cars available, the game's selection of vehicles is greatly expanded from OTL's (indeed, the reason this game released several months later than OTL's game did is because of the larger car selection). Like OTL's game, Gran Turismo 2 came on two discs, one for arcade mode and one for simulation mode. A dispute between Sony and Nintendo briefly flared up over Nintendo's relatively low level of promotion for the title. The game even missed landing a Nintendo Power cover (due to the release of Super Mario RPG 2 in September 2000 and Metroid: Darkness the month immediately after), and it seemed to fly under the radar for a number of people. However, when the game was released, sales were excellent (due to the reputation of the first game and the stellar reviews received by this one), and Sony's anger with Nintendo quickly subsided. It would go on to be one of the best selling Ultra Nintendo games of all time.
Legacy Of Kain
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver were combined into a single disc and released together on the Ultra Nintendo by Eidos in August 2000. Apart from slightly improved graphics and about three minutes worth of extra cutscenes, there was very little enhancement over the original Saturn games. Still, these titles had been some of the most beloved on the Saturn by critics and fans alike, and just getting to play them on the Ultra Nintendo was treat enough for most fans. This compilation release was one of the month's top selling games, and convinced Eidos to make future Legacy of Kain series releases multiplatform from the start.
Mega Man Legends 2
The sequel to 1998's Mega Man Legends, this sequel featured improved graphics over the original game and faster-paced gameplay as well, with Volnutt gaining new melee moves to compliment his large selection of weapons obtained from enemies and from leveling up. The plot of the game differs nearly completely from OTL's: this is a space pirate saga, with Volnutt and Tron Bonne as the starring characters. Volnutt is living a peaceful life in a city when he receives a distress call originating from space: it's from Tron Bonne, who attempted to launch a pirate raid on a massive floating capital ship, but ended up getting her family captured. She barely escaped with her life, and now she's asking for Volnutt's help, not only to rescue her family, but to stop the ship, which happens to be the flagship of the Pyraxian Empire, led by the villainous Admiral Goldun. Volnutt must travel to the Pyraxian system to liberate a series of planets from Goldun's control. In addition, a member of Tron Bonne's family is being held on each planet, and Volnutt must rescue them as well (with a little bit of help from Tron Bonne). As Volnutt goes from planet to planet, he encounters strange environments and tougher and tougher enemies, until he finally makes his way to the Pyraxian flagship itself to take down the evil admiral once and for all.
Praised for its graphics, its improved gameplay, and its fun (if somewhat light) storyline, Mega Man Legends 2 receives decent reviews, and is one of the top selling new games of July 2000 (though the month is overall a slow one, making the feat not quite as impressive).
Quake II
A pretty much straight port of the PC game, Quake II is mostly similar to OTL's title, apart from a few minor butterfly induced differences. It releases exclusively on the Ultra Nintendo in August 2000. id Software also wanted to port the game to the Saturn, but was unable to overcome technical hurdles, even with the use of the Ring, and decided instead to bring Quake III Arena to the Katana as a timed exclusive. Quake II has decent sales, though they're a bit disappointing considering how well the first game sold. It's largely attributed to August 2000 being a very crowded month and Quake II getting lost in the fold.
Grant Hill's Ultimate Basketball 2000
Grant Hill's Ultimate Basketball 2000 is an NBA-based basketball sim for the Ultra Nintendo, the sequel to Grant Hill's Ultimate Basketball. Featuring the endorsement of top NBA superstar Grant Hill, it's a bit more "arcadey" in nature than the NBA Live series. Nintendo promotes the game well, and ultimately it's the top selling basketball title of the year for the Ultra Nintendo, with NBA Live 2001 lagging very closely behind (Live 2001 is also released on the Saturn and is easily the top selling basketball game of the year on that console). It's a solid title, with few extra features beyond what the original game had, and reviews are in the 7 to 8 range, mostly praising the game's graphics and presentation. Live 2001 is reviewed slightly better, though it's generally agreed that basketball fans would be happy with either one.
Ultra King Of Fighters
Produced by SNK and released in Japan in January 2000 and North America in July 2000, Ultra King Of Fighters is designed specifically with the Ultra Nintendo home console in mind. It's based on the arcade title King Of Fighters '99, but with slightly better (though still 2-D) graphics and featuring two exclusive characters: Shadow Killer, an assassin clad in black, and Sarai Futama, a tall, slender woman with a long pink ponytail. Other minor improvements to the game's speed and presentation were also made for the port, and it's generally agreed to be one of the better King of Fighters home console ports ever released. Though sales are rather low, it's beloved by fighting game enthusiasts as an alternative to fancier titles like Killer Instinct Ultra, and it gains a major cult following.
WWF Royal Rumble
Released in August 2000, WWF Royal Rumble is the latest WWF title for home consoles, and, as the name would imply, has a focus on the title event, with a career mode that features the Rumble as a highlight match. It boasts the biggest roster of WWF wrestlers of any game to date, and also boasts a Create-a-Player mode. Though it largely shuns current storylines in favor of creating its own (and the career mode isn't all that well received), the game's actual wrestling gameplay is considered to be quite good and the game itself achieves good reviews and very good sales.
Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles
Based largely on the OTL Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles game, but featuring missions from all four Star Wars movies yet released, the game is a 3-D action brawler similar to the original. Players select one of several heroes (the selection differs depending on the movie the mission is based on, you can't, for example, take Han Solo to Naboo to battle Darth Maul... without a Gameshark) and embark on one of more than a dozen missions from throughout Star Wars history. Though it's not the best Star Wars game, it's relatively fun and the name recognition alone brings strong sales to the game upon its September 2000 release, making it one of the month's top new titles.
Shadows Of The Moon II
The sequel to 1998's highly acclaimed and massively popular Shadows of the Moon, this title sees protagonist Ariel return to action to battle werewolves and save our world. In this game, Ariel must infiltrate the werewolves' underworld lair by posing as their leader's destined bride. Once Ariel is welcomed to the werewolves' world, she throws off her disguise and seeks out the leader while taking out as many of his followers as she can. The game stays true to its Metroidvania-style roots, though the graphics are even better than the original, and Ariel has a bevy of new moves to defeat her foes, including a deadly kiss that injects silver into her enemies' veins, destroying them from within. She also gains a variety of powerful weapons, including a scythe, a halberd, and a massive gatling gun that fires thousands of silver rounds a minute. The game's plot has a twist about midway through: the werewolves' leader, Destin, is revealed to have genuinely fallen in love with Ariel, despite the fact that she's come to destroy him, and Ariel becomes conflicted about whether or not to kill him, especially once she discovers how he was initially infected with lycanthropy (hint: Ariel's sister Magritte, who was an ally in the first game, is in reality an evil werewolf and the one who was initially betrothed to the werewolves' leader). The game builds to a final climactic showdown between Ariel and Magritte for control of the underworld and for the salvation of Destin's soul.
The game isn't quite as well reviewed as the original, but with mostly 8s and 9s among its review scores it maintains the series' reputation for excellence, and becomes one of Konami's best selling games of the year, and the fifth best selling new game of an extremely crowded month.
Wrath And Ruin
Developed by Sony (largely the same team that developed OTL's Legend Of Dragoon), Wrath and Ruin is a massive JRPG with a somewhat melancholy storyline, about a boy named Savion who is raised by an elderly couple (not his family, who were all killed in various violent incidents relating to the world's ongoing wars) in a village surrounded by war and death. The world Savion lives in is besieged by seven power-hungry gods who not only fight amongst themselves (in the form of terrible natural calamities) but who use the world's nations as proxy armies for their power struggles. Those who know the truth, that the gods must not be fought for but must be opposed, are shunned, persecuted, or in some cases killed, as was the case with Savion's older sister, Xiera, who is referred to many times throughout the game. Now that Savion is nearly an adult, he is expected to leave the village and join the army of Belzark, the nearby kingdom. But Savion never forget what Xiera, who learned magic in defiance of the gods and was killed as a heretic, told him. He plans to leave the village before he is to be enlisted into the army, but he lacks knowledge of the lands beyond, and knows he is likely to be killed if he leaves alone. He gets his chance when an older man named Genn comes to the village looking for him, with soldiers in pursuit. Genn tells Savion that he was Xiera's betrothed before she was killed, and that Savion has an ancient magic within him that can oppose the power of the gods. Thus begins Savion's journey, a journey that will lead him all over the world, a journey on which he will team up with eight other heroes who, like him, seek to overthrow the gods and restore peace to their world (though some of those heroes initially start out opposed to Savion). Along the way, Savion, Genn, and their allies encounter the horrors of war and tremble at the gods' great power. The game is full of incidents of disaster and death, and two of the party members, an old man named Sevro and a young woman named Belex, will perish over the course of the journey. Savion will also learn new things about Xiera, and about the priest who ordered her execution, a man named Harangody, who may now seek to atone for his past acts and who Savion might need to forgive if he is to safely reach the end of his journey.
Spanning three discs, Wrath and Ruin is one of the most epic RPGs to date on the Ultra Nintendo, with a battle system very similar to OTL Legend of Dragoon's (involving timed hits and enemy counter-attacks). The game does have a slightly fasted paced leveling system, not requiring as much grinding as Legend of Dragoon did. Because of this, its reviews are slightly better than Legend of Dragoon, though in comparison to TTL's RPGs, it's not quite as critically acclaimed as games like Super Mario RPG 2. Due to heavy promotion by Sony and a good deal of pre-release hype, sales are decent, though not overwhelmingly strong, and though it's not among August's top new games, it does have longer staying power than many of that month's top titles.
Quixsters: 2 The Quick
Quixsters: 2 The Quick is the sequel to 1998's hit platforming game Quixsters, and features the four kid protagonists back for another exciting adventure. Gameplay wise, very little has changed from the original game, it's still the same fast-paced, sometimes competitive, micro-mission style gameplay of the first, and though some critics saw the game as a rehash, most gave Quixsters: 2 The Quick good marks, with the philosophy "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Though it failed to sell quite as strongly as the first title (and failed to be one of the top five new games of the month of August), it was still considered a success for developer Silver Sail, and the franchise would continue with another title in another two years.
Darklight
One of the strangest new titles of 2000, Darklight, released in July, is a hybrid action/stealth title that can be somewhat compared to the OTL game Stealth Inc. in that the player must navigate carefully to avoid failure. It's a 2-D platformer, and uses light and shadow to provide the boundaries for the player's character. In most missions, the player must stay in the light and avoid the dark, but in some other missions, the player must stay in the dark and avoid the light. Its visual style can best be compared to Spy vs. Spy, and the magazine advertisements for the game were very stylistically unique, with art that featured dramatic contrast between black and white, with the protagonist carefully hidden inbetween. It scored positive critical reviews, but sales were mediocre at best and ultimately the game can be described as a cult classic.
BMX Breakdown
The main competitor to the Dave Mirra BMX game, BMX Breakdown is a more urban-themed BMX game, with a hip-hop soundtrack and a more racially diverse cast of bikers. It had a more arcade-like playstyle than Dave Mirra, with a higher level of difficulty and more tricks available to the player. It lacked some of the graphical and gameplay polish of Dave Mirra, but achieved good reviews and sold fairly well, becoming the first in a franchise that ran as long as the Dave Mirra franchise did. The original game was released only for the Ultra Nintendo in September, but subsequent sequels would be multiplatform.
Block Party
A somewhat "adult" answer to the Mario Party series (the game was rated T, and while it targeted adults, the humor was no more edgy than the typical TV-PG sitcom), Block Party is a party game played in a largely similar way. Players made their way across one of several boards, competing in minigames and challenges along the way. The key component to this game's success was the voice acting performance of the game's "host", Paul Reubens. Reubens has literally thousands of lines of spoken dialogue in the game, he taunts players who miss a question or who are just plain losing, sometimes his character does a random thing on the gameboard to change a player's luck, other times he simply cracks a game-appropriate joke. Reubens' performance turns what would otherwise be a fairly mediocre party game with the low sales typical of the genre into a mini-cultural phenomenon that would ultimately sell over a million copies. Because of the popularity of this game, the game show version of You Don't Know Jack, which IOTL premiered in the summer of 2001 on ABC and was canceled within a few weeks because of terrible ratings, actually survives a couple more seasons. In addition, the success of this game convinces Microsoft to explore the possibility of a Pee-Wee Herman video game starring Reubens. This game still has memes as of TTL 2016.
Saturn:
Fighters Megamix 2
A sequel to the 1997 Saturn hit, Fighters Megamix 2 is released for the Saturn in July 2000. In addition to containing several new fighters from Virtua Fighter, Fighting Vipers, Tekken, and Soul Calibur, it also includes characters from Sonic and even Billy Blaze from Commander Keen. The game actually has two fewer fighters overall than the original game (due to dropping several games from its roster, including Last Bronx), the graphics are markedly improved, especially if the Ring accessory is used. Despite a somewhat muted advertising campaign, the game is still one of the top selling new console titles of the month, proving that fans are still eager to play a game featuring their favorite Sega-exclusive characters.
Samba De Amigo
Featuring virtually identical gameplay to OTL's original game, Samba de Amigo is a rhythm title where the player uses maracas to keep the beat of a variety of Latin pop songs. Due to this game being released on the Saturn, as opposed to the OTL game being released on the Dreamcast, the graphics are somewhat of a downgrade from the arcade version, even though the game requires the Ring. Perhaps the biggest change in the game is the set list: the game features several songs by Selena, though she declined to participate in the game's official promotion due to her obligations to Nintendo (they did not contractually preclude her from allowing her songs to be in this game, but they did ask her not to help Sega promote it). Despite Selena herself not promoting the game, it's still a popular console release, though not a blockbuster, helped by the increased popularity of Latin music ITTL. The continuing stronger Latin music boom will ultimately help Samba de Amigo to become a franchise, with several more installments.
Crisis Zone
Another August 2000 Saturn release, and exclusive to the Ring, Crisis Zone is the latest installment of Namco's Time Crisis series, released first to the arcades in 1999. Like OTL's game, Crisis Zone is a rail-shooter involving a team of special ops forces sent to liberate a building that's been captured by terrorists, though unlike IOTL, where the terrorists invaded an upscale apartment complex, ITTL the terrorists invade a luxury hotel. Other than the change in scenery, there's very little difference between OTL's game and TTL's game in terms of actual gameplay, though, again, the console version's graphics are a downgrade from the original. While Crisis Zone is regarded as one of the best looking Saturn games, critics still point out how the port shows the Saturn's age, and reviews are mixed to positive, with sales being only mediocre.
Bits And Bytes
The final major August release for the Saturn is Bits and Bytes, a 3-D platformer that stars a mysterious digital creature (who somewhat resembles a frog), who lives in a vast digital world and must hop and fight his way through a variety of environments. His world is slowly degrading due to the presence of a malicious computer virus, and as players get further into the game, this virus' effects on the surrounding world become more and more pronounced, until toward the end, when players must navigate a world that looks like glitch soup. Though the gameplay is largely reminiscent of the average 3-D platformer, the huge variety of environments (which can change on the fly due to digital effects) and the game's stellar graphics make it one of the best reviewed games of the year in its genre. It's the most successful Saturn platformer since Zodiac World, and ultimately launches a franchise for the company.
Game Boy Nova:
Castlevania: Simon's Return
Unlike IOTL, where the Castlevania games for the Game Boy Advance were largely based off the action-RPG formula laid down by Symphony of the Night, TTL's handheld Castlevanias are decidedly more old-school. This game is considered to be a direct sequel to Super Castlevania IV, playing more like a platformer than a "Metroidvania", though it does have some Metroidvania elements to it. In Simon's Return, Simon must come out of retirement after Farrah, a countess who he's been courting, is abducted in her own castle by Count Dracula himself. Simon navigates though Farrah's castle using his whip and a variety of magical items, including several new ones, defeating enemies and bosses all along the way. Like Super Castlevania IV, the game features surreal effects and varying environments to invoke many different moods in the player. As Simon progresses through the castle, he learns more and more about Farrah, and comes to realize that she has not been abducted by Dracula, but that she has summoned him in order to lure Simon into a trap, as her family's bloodline has been plotting vengeance against the Belmonts for generations. After defeating Dracula once more, Simon does battle with Farrah herself, an extremely powerful vampire countess in her own right, who, in a multi-staged boss fight, transforms into a terrifying beast to finish Simon off once and for all.
Simon's Return is extremely well received, scoring high marks with critics. It becomes one of the year's top selling original Game Boy Nova titles, and one of the top selling new games of July.
Contra: Proliferation
Rather than release a Contra III port on the Nova, Konami instead decides to take full advantage of the Nova's capabilities and release a brand new Contra title, featuring very advanced 2-D and even some 3-D effects to tell a new story in the Contra series. The plot of the game takes place in an alternate universe where the Soviet Union violently broke up, causing nuclear weapons to fall into the hands of dozens of terrorists and rogue nation states. Desperate, the United Nations hires a team of elite special forces fighters to hunt down and secure the weapons. Proliferation features 24 missions and six playable characters. In keeping with its setting (which takes place well before any of the main series Contra games), the game dispenses with robotic foes, though it does feature some advanced weapons technology that would be somewhat out of place in its otherwise 1990s-esque setting. Proliferation stays true to the Contra tradition of very difficult gameplay, difficulty is easily comparable to Contra III: The Alien Wars, though it's muted somewhat by the fact that players can save their progress every mission. Still, just getting through the missions with the limited amount of lives is a serious challenge (the Konami code, present in the game, does eliminate this for the most part). The game itself is highly reviewed, though sales are somewhat low due to its extreme difficulty. It becomes a cult classic, and is fairly hard to find in later years due to its somewhat small print run and desirability amongst players.
Dog Dash
An almost perfect port of the original SNES-CD game, with only some of the voice acting removed due to memory restrictions. Sells decently well, though it's not a major hit like it was on console.
Resident Evil
A somewhat downgraded port of the original Saturn/Ultra Nintendo game, it's comparable in a lot of ways to OTL's Deadly Silence, albeit slightly lesser. Despite the downgrade, it's a highly anticipated port and sells better than the Dog Dash port, almost becoming one of September's top selling new games.
The Secret Sea
A swimming-based 2-D platformer released in September, The Secret Sea is a game somewhat comparable to Sega's Ecco the Dolphin franchise, though this game features a humanlike protagonist in its merman hero, Dazzer. Dazzer is a boy living in an undersea kingdom hidden from human eyes. When Dazzer's kingdom is attacked by a mysterious force that resembles a wave of black water that sweeps beneath the ocean surface, he must journey away from his home to find a way to fight back the darkness. On the way, he meets undersea creatures who both help and hinder him, and a mysterious human girl named Ashlette who is somehow able to breathe and live underwater, for reasons unknown even to her. The game is known for featuring some of the best swimming mechanics on a platformer (which is typically difficult for game designers to get right), and for its memorable boss fights, stellar musical score, and varied environments. It ultimately becomes one of the top rated platformers of the year on the Nova, and though it doesn't sell well initially, it does have strong sales for a number of years afterward.
Maelstrom: The Final War
A top-down shooter in the vein of games like the SNES-CD Victory titles and Cannon Fodder IOTL, Maelstrom casts the player as a soldier in the far future, when mankind is pushed to the brink and Earth's natural resources are being fought over by desperate armies. There's really not much of a plot beyond that, players are simply thrust into a series of increasingly difficult battles, where most missions come down to killing all the required enemies. Despite the fairly simple plot, the gameplay is considered to be quite engaging and challenging, due to the large variety of weapons and the surprisingly large number of level environments. Players can even make their own levels to challenge themselves or their friends. While Maelstrom is never a huge seller, the game is well reviewed critically, and becomes a long-running franchise for handheld systems.
Multiplatform:
Tom Clancy's Seal Team Six
The latest game in the Tom Clancy series, released initially for the Ultra Nintendo and the PC in July 2000, and later for the Saturn (in November), the Katana, and the Xbox, Seal Team Six follows the exploits of the real life elite special forces unit as they perform a variety of dangerous missions around the world. The game is a third-person squad-based shooter, where players are given command of one player in the squad, and must accompany the rest of the unit on missions. Like Secret War before it, Seal Team Six focuses heavily on realism, and is thus one of the more difficult games in its genre. One of the more controversial aspects of the game is its opening missions, where the protagonist must actually qualify for Seal Team Six by completing a series of grueling training missions. The fact that these opening missions are among the game's most difficult is a heavily criticized aspect of the game, and Tom Clancy deflected these criticisms in an interview by saying that "it's tough to get into the real Seal Team Six, why should the video game be any different?"
Once the player actually makes it onto Seal Team Six, the actual missions begin. There's no single enemy in the game, at least initially. Players are sent into battle against a variety of opposing forces, including warlords and terrorist groups. Many of the missions take place in Africa or Arabia, and eventually, the missions start to become interconnected. The main antagonist is a Somali warlord, said to be connected to the militia that American forces fought in Mogadishu in 1993. The final mission is reminiscent of the one featured in Black Hawk Down, but this time, Seal Team Six is successful in neutralizing the warlord and liberating a large group of civilians who were slated to be executed. Though Tom Clancy's Seal Team Six doesn't receive quite the reception Secret War did, the game still proved to be a critical and commercial success, continuing the run of popularity for Tom Clancy games and ensuring that there would be more in the future.
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX
The latest in the craze of extreme sports games endorsed by popular sports figures, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX is nearly identical to OTL's game. Largely based on completing objectives and performing tricks, its realistic graphics and smooth play controls make it a success on both the Ultra Nintendo and the Saturn when it's released simultaneously for both systems in August. As IOTL, reviews are strong and sales are more than good enough to justify a sequel, though the game doesn't achieve the success of games like Tony Hawk or White Mountain.
Glyph: Heart Of Adventure
Released in July 2000 by Activision for the Ultra Nintendo, Glyph: Heart Of Adventure is a puzzle/RPG game sort of in the vein of Myst, though it's somewhat more action oriented and light hearted. It features two teenage heroes, Clyde and Sierra, who become lost after falling through a portal that opens up near the summer camp where they're working as camp counselors. They find themselves in a strange world and must explore a series of together until they discover a way back home. Though the game does have enemies to fight, most of the gameplay revolves around a series of increasingly complex and difficult puzzles. In some of the puzzles, the two of them work together, bantering back and forth in certain segments. In others, the two are separated and the player must take control of the characters alternating back and forth. Glyph is reviewed quite well, in fact, it's one of the most critically acclaimed titles of the summer. It's praised for being a more accessible variant on the Myst puzzle genre, and the two protagonists are praised as well. Though sales aren't spectacular, the game is considered a commercial success, and is eventually released for the two next generation platforms (the Katana and Xbox) as well.
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Best Selling New Games Of July 2000 (by first four weeks of North American sales):
1. Tales Of The Seven Seas: The Victorian Legacy (Ultra Nintendo)
2. Fighters Megamix 2 (Sega Saturn)
3. Tom Clancy's Seal Team Six (Ultra Nintendo)
4. Castlevania: Simon's Return (Game Boy Nova)
5. Mega Man Legends 2 (Ultra Nintendo)
Best Selling New Games Of August 2000 (by first four weeks of North American sales):
1. Valor (Ultra Nintendo)
2. Blackheart (Ultra Nintendo)
3. Grant Hill's Ultimate Basketball 2000 (Ultra Nintendo)
4. Legacy Of Kain (Ultra Nintendo)
5. Shadows Of The Moon II (Ultra Nintendo)
Best Selling New Games Of September 2000 (by first four weeks of North American sales):
1. Gran Turismo 2 (Ultra Nintendo)
2. Arbiter Of Sin 2 (Sega Saturn)
3. Super Mario RPG 2: A Plumble Beginning (Ultra Nintendo)
4. Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles (Ultra Nintendo)
5. Unreal Tournament (Sega Saturn)
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"Despite the death of Shigeru Miyamoto, it could easily be argued that things were never better for Nintendo as the company left the summer of 2000 behind. By October of that year, the Ultra Nintendo was reaching its creative and commercial zenith. On the cusp of two of its greatest games: Metroid: Darkness and The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and dominating sales charts with a seemingly endless stream of hits, Nintendo's market share had reached its highest point since the halcyon days of the NES. And just as Nintendo was reaching its high water mark, the Saturn was entering its final decline. New game releases were gradually trickling to a crawl. October 2000 would see one final burst of success for the system with the release of two of its finest games, but aside from that last spark of life, it was clear that Sega's ability to compete with Nintendo had reached a very low point. But just as the Ultra Nintendo was about to pass over the hump of its lifespan, two next-generation competitors were making their preparations to challenge Nintendo's position on the throne. Though the Ultra Nintendo still had many of its best games still ahead of it, the smoothest days of Nintendo's road would definitely be the final half of 2000. Once 2001 began, the speed bumps, though small at first, would start to appear."
-from "An Abridged History Of Nintendo", an article in the March 2013 issue of Game Informer magazine
The sequel to the hit 1998 racing sim, Gran Turismo 2 was released in North America on September 25, 2000. The game is very similar to OTL's title, gameplay is virtually identical and the basic premise of the game is unchanged, though the graphics are better than OTL's game and better than TTL's original Gran Turismo, indeed, this game is probably among the very best looking games for the Ultra Nintendo, easily on par with many OTL Dreamcast games. With over 800 cars available, the game's selection of vehicles is greatly expanded from OTL's (indeed, the reason this game released several months later than OTL's game did is because of the larger car selection). Like OTL's game, Gran Turismo 2 came on two discs, one for arcade mode and one for simulation mode. A dispute between Sony and Nintendo briefly flared up over Nintendo's relatively low level of promotion for the title. The game even missed landing a Nintendo Power cover (due to the release of Super Mario RPG 2 in September 2000 and Metroid: Darkness the month immediately after), and it seemed to fly under the radar for a number of people. However, when the game was released, sales were excellent (due to the reputation of the first game and the stellar reviews received by this one), and Sony's anger with Nintendo quickly subsided. It would go on to be one of the best selling Ultra Nintendo games of all time.
Legacy Of Kain
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver were combined into a single disc and released together on the Ultra Nintendo by Eidos in August 2000. Apart from slightly improved graphics and about three minutes worth of extra cutscenes, there was very little enhancement over the original Saturn games. Still, these titles had been some of the most beloved on the Saturn by critics and fans alike, and just getting to play them on the Ultra Nintendo was treat enough for most fans. This compilation release was one of the month's top selling games, and convinced Eidos to make future Legacy of Kain series releases multiplatform from the start.
Mega Man Legends 2
The sequel to 1998's Mega Man Legends, this sequel featured improved graphics over the original game and faster-paced gameplay as well, with Volnutt gaining new melee moves to compliment his large selection of weapons obtained from enemies and from leveling up. The plot of the game differs nearly completely from OTL's: this is a space pirate saga, with Volnutt and Tron Bonne as the starring characters. Volnutt is living a peaceful life in a city when he receives a distress call originating from space: it's from Tron Bonne, who attempted to launch a pirate raid on a massive floating capital ship, but ended up getting her family captured. She barely escaped with her life, and now she's asking for Volnutt's help, not only to rescue her family, but to stop the ship, which happens to be the flagship of the Pyraxian Empire, led by the villainous Admiral Goldun. Volnutt must travel to the Pyraxian system to liberate a series of planets from Goldun's control. In addition, a member of Tron Bonne's family is being held on each planet, and Volnutt must rescue them as well (with a little bit of help from Tron Bonne). As Volnutt goes from planet to planet, he encounters strange environments and tougher and tougher enemies, until he finally makes his way to the Pyraxian flagship itself to take down the evil admiral once and for all.
Praised for its graphics, its improved gameplay, and its fun (if somewhat light) storyline, Mega Man Legends 2 receives decent reviews, and is one of the top selling new games of July 2000 (though the month is overall a slow one, making the feat not quite as impressive).
Quake II
A pretty much straight port of the PC game, Quake II is mostly similar to OTL's title, apart from a few minor butterfly induced differences. It releases exclusively on the Ultra Nintendo in August 2000. id Software also wanted to port the game to the Saturn, but was unable to overcome technical hurdles, even with the use of the Ring, and decided instead to bring Quake III Arena to the Katana as a timed exclusive. Quake II has decent sales, though they're a bit disappointing considering how well the first game sold. It's largely attributed to August 2000 being a very crowded month and Quake II getting lost in the fold.
Grant Hill's Ultimate Basketball 2000
Grant Hill's Ultimate Basketball 2000 is an NBA-based basketball sim for the Ultra Nintendo, the sequel to Grant Hill's Ultimate Basketball. Featuring the endorsement of top NBA superstar Grant Hill, it's a bit more "arcadey" in nature than the NBA Live series. Nintendo promotes the game well, and ultimately it's the top selling basketball title of the year for the Ultra Nintendo, with NBA Live 2001 lagging very closely behind (Live 2001 is also released on the Saturn and is easily the top selling basketball game of the year on that console). It's a solid title, with few extra features beyond what the original game had, and reviews are in the 7 to 8 range, mostly praising the game's graphics and presentation. Live 2001 is reviewed slightly better, though it's generally agreed that basketball fans would be happy with either one.
Ultra King Of Fighters
Produced by SNK and released in Japan in January 2000 and North America in July 2000, Ultra King Of Fighters is designed specifically with the Ultra Nintendo home console in mind. It's based on the arcade title King Of Fighters '99, but with slightly better (though still 2-D) graphics and featuring two exclusive characters: Shadow Killer, an assassin clad in black, and Sarai Futama, a tall, slender woman with a long pink ponytail. Other minor improvements to the game's speed and presentation were also made for the port, and it's generally agreed to be one of the better King of Fighters home console ports ever released. Though sales are rather low, it's beloved by fighting game enthusiasts as an alternative to fancier titles like Killer Instinct Ultra, and it gains a major cult following.
WWF Royal Rumble
Released in August 2000, WWF Royal Rumble is the latest WWF title for home consoles, and, as the name would imply, has a focus on the title event, with a career mode that features the Rumble as a highlight match. It boasts the biggest roster of WWF wrestlers of any game to date, and also boasts a Create-a-Player mode. Though it largely shuns current storylines in favor of creating its own (and the career mode isn't all that well received), the game's actual wrestling gameplay is considered to be quite good and the game itself achieves good reviews and very good sales.
Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles
Based largely on the OTL Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles game, but featuring missions from all four Star Wars movies yet released, the game is a 3-D action brawler similar to the original. Players select one of several heroes (the selection differs depending on the movie the mission is based on, you can't, for example, take Han Solo to Naboo to battle Darth Maul... without a Gameshark) and embark on one of more than a dozen missions from throughout Star Wars history. Though it's not the best Star Wars game, it's relatively fun and the name recognition alone brings strong sales to the game upon its September 2000 release, making it one of the month's top new titles.
Shadows Of The Moon II
The sequel to 1998's highly acclaimed and massively popular Shadows of the Moon, this title sees protagonist Ariel return to action to battle werewolves and save our world. In this game, Ariel must infiltrate the werewolves' underworld lair by posing as their leader's destined bride. Once Ariel is welcomed to the werewolves' world, she throws off her disguise and seeks out the leader while taking out as many of his followers as she can. The game stays true to its Metroidvania-style roots, though the graphics are even better than the original, and Ariel has a bevy of new moves to defeat her foes, including a deadly kiss that injects silver into her enemies' veins, destroying them from within. She also gains a variety of powerful weapons, including a scythe, a halberd, and a massive gatling gun that fires thousands of silver rounds a minute. The game's plot has a twist about midway through: the werewolves' leader, Destin, is revealed to have genuinely fallen in love with Ariel, despite the fact that she's come to destroy him, and Ariel becomes conflicted about whether or not to kill him, especially once she discovers how he was initially infected with lycanthropy (hint: Ariel's sister Magritte, who was an ally in the first game, is in reality an evil werewolf and the one who was initially betrothed to the werewolves' leader). The game builds to a final climactic showdown between Ariel and Magritte for control of the underworld and for the salvation of Destin's soul.
The game isn't quite as well reviewed as the original, but with mostly 8s and 9s among its review scores it maintains the series' reputation for excellence, and becomes one of Konami's best selling games of the year, and the fifth best selling new game of an extremely crowded month.
Wrath And Ruin
Developed by Sony (largely the same team that developed OTL's Legend Of Dragoon), Wrath and Ruin is a massive JRPG with a somewhat melancholy storyline, about a boy named Savion who is raised by an elderly couple (not his family, who were all killed in various violent incidents relating to the world's ongoing wars) in a village surrounded by war and death. The world Savion lives in is besieged by seven power-hungry gods who not only fight amongst themselves (in the form of terrible natural calamities) but who use the world's nations as proxy armies for their power struggles. Those who know the truth, that the gods must not be fought for but must be opposed, are shunned, persecuted, or in some cases killed, as was the case with Savion's older sister, Xiera, who is referred to many times throughout the game. Now that Savion is nearly an adult, he is expected to leave the village and join the army of Belzark, the nearby kingdom. But Savion never forget what Xiera, who learned magic in defiance of the gods and was killed as a heretic, told him. He plans to leave the village before he is to be enlisted into the army, but he lacks knowledge of the lands beyond, and knows he is likely to be killed if he leaves alone. He gets his chance when an older man named Genn comes to the village looking for him, with soldiers in pursuit. Genn tells Savion that he was Xiera's betrothed before she was killed, and that Savion has an ancient magic within him that can oppose the power of the gods. Thus begins Savion's journey, a journey that will lead him all over the world, a journey on which he will team up with eight other heroes who, like him, seek to overthrow the gods and restore peace to their world (though some of those heroes initially start out opposed to Savion). Along the way, Savion, Genn, and their allies encounter the horrors of war and tremble at the gods' great power. The game is full of incidents of disaster and death, and two of the party members, an old man named Sevro and a young woman named Belex, will perish over the course of the journey. Savion will also learn new things about Xiera, and about the priest who ordered her execution, a man named Harangody, who may now seek to atone for his past acts and who Savion might need to forgive if he is to safely reach the end of his journey.
Spanning three discs, Wrath and Ruin is one of the most epic RPGs to date on the Ultra Nintendo, with a battle system very similar to OTL Legend of Dragoon's (involving timed hits and enemy counter-attacks). The game does have a slightly fasted paced leveling system, not requiring as much grinding as Legend of Dragoon did. Because of this, its reviews are slightly better than Legend of Dragoon, though in comparison to TTL's RPGs, it's not quite as critically acclaimed as games like Super Mario RPG 2. Due to heavy promotion by Sony and a good deal of pre-release hype, sales are decent, though not overwhelmingly strong, and though it's not among August's top new games, it does have longer staying power than many of that month's top titles.
Quixsters: 2 The Quick
Quixsters: 2 The Quick is the sequel to 1998's hit platforming game Quixsters, and features the four kid protagonists back for another exciting adventure. Gameplay wise, very little has changed from the original game, it's still the same fast-paced, sometimes competitive, micro-mission style gameplay of the first, and though some critics saw the game as a rehash, most gave Quixsters: 2 The Quick good marks, with the philosophy "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Though it failed to sell quite as strongly as the first title (and failed to be one of the top five new games of the month of August), it was still considered a success for developer Silver Sail, and the franchise would continue with another title in another two years.
Darklight
One of the strangest new titles of 2000, Darklight, released in July, is a hybrid action/stealth title that can be somewhat compared to the OTL game Stealth Inc. in that the player must navigate carefully to avoid failure. It's a 2-D platformer, and uses light and shadow to provide the boundaries for the player's character. In most missions, the player must stay in the light and avoid the dark, but in some other missions, the player must stay in the dark and avoid the light. Its visual style can best be compared to Spy vs. Spy, and the magazine advertisements for the game were very stylistically unique, with art that featured dramatic contrast between black and white, with the protagonist carefully hidden inbetween. It scored positive critical reviews, but sales were mediocre at best and ultimately the game can be described as a cult classic.
BMX Breakdown
The main competitor to the Dave Mirra BMX game, BMX Breakdown is a more urban-themed BMX game, with a hip-hop soundtrack and a more racially diverse cast of bikers. It had a more arcade-like playstyle than Dave Mirra, with a higher level of difficulty and more tricks available to the player. It lacked some of the graphical and gameplay polish of Dave Mirra, but achieved good reviews and sold fairly well, becoming the first in a franchise that ran as long as the Dave Mirra franchise did. The original game was released only for the Ultra Nintendo in September, but subsequent sequels would be multiplatform.
Block Party
A somewhat "adult" answer to the Mario Party series (the game was rated T, and while it targeted adults, the humor was no more edgy than the typical TV-PG sitcom), Block Party is a party game played in a largely similar way. Players made their way across one of several boards, competing in minigames and challenges along the way. The key component to this game's success was the voice acting performance of the game's "host", Paul Reubens. Reubens has literally thousands of lines of spoken dialogue in the game, he taunts players who miss a question or who are just plain losing, sometimes his character does a random thing on the gameboard to change a player's luck, other times he simply cracks a game-appropriate joke. Reubens' performance turns what would otherwise be a fairly mediocre party game with the low sales typical of the genre into a mini-cultural phenomenon that would ultimately sell over a million copies. Because of the popularity of this game, the game show version of You Don't Know Jack, which IOTL premiered in the summer of 2001 on ABC and was canceled within a few weeks because of terrible ratings, actually survives a couple more seasons. In addition, the success of this game convinces Microsoft to explore the possibility of a Pee-Wee Herman video game starring Reubens. This game still has memes as of TTL 2016.
Saturn:
Fighters Megamix 2
A sequel to the 1997 Saturn hit, Fighters Megamix 2 is released for the Saturn in July 2000. In addition to containing several new fighters from Virtua Fighter, Fighting Vipers, Tekken, and Soul Calibur, it also includes characters from Sonic and even Billy Blaze from Commander Keen. The game actually has two fewer fighters overall than the original game (due to dropping several games from its roster, including Last Bronx), the graphics are markedly improved, especially if the Ring accessory is used. Despite a somewhat muted advertising campaign, the game is still one of the top selling new console titles of the month, proving that fans are still eager to play a game featuring their favorite Sega-exclusive characters.
Samba De Amigo
Featuring virtually identical gameplay to OTL's original game, Samba de Amigo is a rhythm title where the player uses maracas to keep the beat of a variety of Latin pop songs. Due to this game being released on the Saturn, as opposed to the OTL game being released on the Dreamcast, the graphics are somewhat of a downgrade from the arcade version, even though the game requires the Ring. Perhaps the biggest change in the game is the set list: the game features several songs by Selena, though she declined to participate in the game's official promotion due to her obligations to Nintendo (they did not contractually preclude her from allowing her songs to be in this game, but they did ask her not to help Sega promote it). Despite Selena herself not promoting the game, it's still a popular console release, though not a blockbuster, helped by the increased popularity of Latin music ITTL. The continuing stronger Latin music boom will ultimately help Samba de Amigo to become a franchise, with several more installments.
Crisis Zone
Another August 2000 Saturn release, and exclusive to the Ring, Crisis Zone is the latest installment of Namco's Time Crisis series, released first to the arcades in 1999. Like OTL's game, Crisis Zone is a rail-shooter involving a team of special ops forces sent to liberate a building that's been captured by terrorists, though unlike IOTL, where the terrorists invaded an upscale apartment complex, ITTL the terrorists invade a luxury hotel. Other than the change in scenery, there's very little difference between OTL's game and TTL's game in terms of actual gameplay, though, again, the console version's graphics are a downgrade from the original. While Crisis Zone is regarded as one of the best looking Saturn games, critics still point out how the port shows the Saturn's age, and reviews are mixed to positive, with sales being only mediocre.
Bits And Bytes
The final major August release for the Saturn is Bits and Bytes, a 3-D platformer that stars a mysterious digital creature (who somewhat resembles a frog), who lives in a vast digital world and must hop and fight his way through a variety of environments. His world is slowly degrading due to the presence of a malicious computer virus, and as players get further into the game, this virus' effects on the surrounding world become more and more pronounced, until toward the end, when players must navigate a world that looks like glitch soup. Though the gameplay is largely reminiscent of the average 3-D platformer, the huge variety of environments (which can change on the fly due to digital effects) and the game's stellar graphics make it one of the best reviewed games of the year in its genre. It's the most successful Saturn platformer since Zodiac World, and ultimately launches a franchise for the company.
Game Boy Nova:
Castlevania: Simon's Return
Unlike IOTL, where the Castlevania games for the Game Boy Advance were largely based off the action-RPG formula laid down by Symphony of the Night, TTL's handheld Castlevanias are decidedly more old-school. This game is considered to be a direct sequel to Super Castlevania IV, playing more like a platformer than a "Metroidvania", though it does have some Metroidvania elements to it. In Simon's Return, Simon must come out of retirement after Farrah, a countess who he's been courting, is abducted in her own castle by Count Dracula himself. Simon navigates though Farrah's castle using his whip and a variety of magical items, including several new ones, defeating enemies and bosses all along the way. Like Super Castlevania IV, the game features surreal effects and varying environments to invoke many different moods in the player. As Simon progresses through the castle, he learns more and more about Farrah, and comes to realize that she has not been abducted by Dracula, but that she has summoned him in order to lure Simon into a trap, as her family's bloodline has been plotting vengeance against the Belmonts for generations. After defeating Dracula once more, Simon does battle with Farrah herself, an extremely powerful vampire countess in her own right, who, in a multi-staged boss fight, transforms into a terrifying beast to finish Simon off once and for all.
Simon's Return is extremely well received, scoring high marks with critics. It becomes one of the year's top selling original Game Boy Nova titles, and one of the top selling new games of July.
Contra: Proliferation
Rather than release a Contra III port on the Nova, Konami instead decides to take full advantage of the Nova's capabilities and release a brand new Contra title, featuring very advanced 2-D and even some 3-D effects to tell a new story in the Contra series. The plot of the game takes place in an alternate universe where the Soviet Union violently broke up, causing nuclear weapons to fall into the hands of dozens of terrorists and rogue nation states. Desperate, the United Nations hires a team of elite special forces fighters to hunt down and secure the weapons. Proliferation features 24 missions and six playable characters. In keeping with its setting (which takes place well before any of the main series Contra games), the game dispenses with robotic foes, though it does feature some advanced weapons technology that would be somewhat out of place in its otherwise 1990s-esque setting. Proliferation stays true to the Contra tradition of very difficult gameplay, difficulty is easily comparable to Contra III: The Alien Wars, though it's muted somewhat by the fact that players can save their progress every mission. Still, just getting through the missions with the limited amount of lives is a serious challenge (the Konami code, present in the game, does eliminate this for the most part). The game itself is highly reviewed, though sales are somewhat low due to its extreme difficulty. It becomes a cult classic, and is fairly hard to find in later years due to its somewhat small print run and desirability amongst players.
Dog Dash
An almost perfect port of the original SNES-CD game, with only some of the voice acting removed due to memory restrictions. Sells decently well, though it's not a major hit like it was on console.
Resident Evil
A somewhat downgraded port of the original Saturn/Ultra Nintendo game, it's comparable in a lot of ways to OTL's Deadly Silence, albeit slightly lesser. Despite the downgrade, it's a highly anticipated port and sells better than the Dog Dash port, almost becoming one of September's top selling new games.
The Secret Sea
A swimming-based 2-D platformer released in September, The Secret Sea is a game somewhat comparable to Sega's Ecco the Dolphin franchise, though this game features a humanlike protagonist in its merman hero, Dazzer. Dazzer is a boy living in an undersea kingdom hidden from human eyes. When Dazzer's kingdom is attacked by a mysterious force that resembles a wave of black water that sweeps beneath the ocean surface, he must journey away from his home to find a way to fight back the darkness. On the way, he meets undersea creatures who both help and hinder him, and a mysterious human girl named Ashlette who is somehow able to breathe and live underwater, for reasons unknown even to her. The game is known for featuring some of the best swimming mechanics on a platformer (which is typically difficult for game designers to get right), and for its memorable boss fights, stellar musical score, and varied environments. It ultimately becomes one of the top rated platformers of the year on the Nova, and though it doesn't sell well initially, it does have strong sales for a number of years afterward.
Maelstrom: The Final War
A top-down shooter in the vein of games like the SNES-CD Victory titles and Cannon Fodder IOTL, Maelstrom casts the player as a soldier in the far future, when mankind is pushed to the brink and Earth's natural resources are being fought over by desperate armies. There's really not much of a plot beyond that, players are simply thrust into a series of increasingly difficult battles, where most missions come down to killing all the required enemies. Despite the fairly simple plot, the gameplay is considered to be quite engaging and challenging, due to the large variety of weapons and the surprisingly large number of level environments. Players can even make their own levels to challenge themselves or their friends. While Maelstrom is never a huge seller, the game is well reviewed critically, and becomes a long-running franchise for handheld systems.
Multiplatform:
Tom Clancy's Seal Team Six
The latest game in the Tom Clancy series, released initially for the Ultra Nintendo and the PC in July 2000, and later for the Saturn (in November), the Katana, and the Xbox, Seal Team Six follows the exploits of the real life elite special forces unit as they perform a variety of dangerous missions around the world. The game is a third-person squad-based shooter, where players are given command of one player in the squad, and must accompany the rest of the unit on missions. Like Secret War before it, Seal Team Six focuses heavily on realism, and is thus one of the more difficult games in its genre. One of the more controversial aspects of the game is its opening missions, where the protagonist must actually qualify for Seal Team Six by completing a series of grueling training missions. The fact that these opening missions are among the game's most difficult is a heavily criticized aspect of the game, and Tom Clancy deflected these criticisms in an interview by saying that "it's tough to get into the real Seal Team Six, why should the video game be any different?"
Once the player actually makes it onto Seal Team Six, the actual missions begin. There's no single enemy in the game, at least initially. Players are sent into battle against a variety of opposing forces, including warlords and terrorist groups. Many of the missions take place in Africa or Arabia, and eventually, the missions start to become interconnected. The main antagonist is a Somali warlord, said to be connected to the militia that American forces fought in Mogadishu in 1993. The final mission is reminiscent of the one featured in Black Hawk Down, but this time, Seal Team Six is successful in neutralizing the warlord and liberating a large group of civilians who were slated to be executed. Though Tom Clancy's Seal Team Six doesn't receive quite the reception Secret War did, the game still proved to be a critical and commercial success, continuing the run of popularity for Tom Clancy games and ensuring that there would be more in the future.
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX
The latest in the craze of extreme sports games endorsed by popular sports figures, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX is nearly identical to OTL's game. Largely based on completing objectives and performing tricks, its realistic graphics and smooth play controls make it a success on both the Ultra Nintendo and the Saturn when it's released simultaneously for both systems in August. As IOTL, reviews are strong and sales are more than good enough to justify a sequel, though the game doesn't achieve the success of games like Tony Hawk or White Mountain.
Glyph: Heart Of Adventure
Released in July 2000 by Activision for the Ultra Nintendo, Glyph: Heart Of Adventure is a puzzle/RPG game sort of in the vein of Myst, though it's somewhat more action oriented and light hearted. It features two teenage heroes, Clyde and Sierra, who become lost after falling through a portal that opens up near the summer camp where they're working as camp counselors. They find themselves in a strange world and must explore a series of together until they discover a way back home. Though the game does have enemies to fight, most of the gameplay revolves around a series of increasingly complex and difficult puzzles. In some of the puzzles, the two of them work together, bantering back and forth in certain segments. In others, the two are separated and the player must take control of the characters alternating back and forth. Glyph is reviewed quite well, in fact, it's one of the most critically acclaimed titles of the summer. It's praised for being a more accessible variant on the Myst puzzle genre, and the two protagonists are praised as well. Though sales aren't spectacular, the game is considered a commercial success, and is eventually released for the two next generation platforms (the Katana and Xbox) as well.
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Best Selling New Games Of July 2000 (by first four weeks of North American sales):
1. Tales Of The Seven Seas: The Victorian Legacy (Ultra Nintendo)
2. Fighters Megamix 2 (Sega Saturn)
3. Tom Clancy's Seal Team Six (Ultra Nintendo)
4. Castlevania: Simon's Return (Game Boy Nova)
5. Mega Man Legends 2 (Ultra Nintendo)
Best Selling New Games Of August 2000 (by first four weeks of North American sales):
1. Valor (Ultra Nintendo)
2. Blackheart (Ultra Nintendo)
3. Grant Hill's Ultimate Basketball 2000 (Ultra Nintendo)
4. Legacy Of Kain (Ultra Nintendo)
5. Shadows Of The Moon II (Ultra Nintendo)
Best Selling New Games Of September 2000 (by first four weeks of North American sales):
1. Gran Turismo 2 (Ultra Nintendo)
2. Arbiter Of Sin 2 (Sega Saturn)
3. Super Mario RPG 2: A Plumble Beginning (Ultra Nintendo)
4. Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles (Ultra Nintendo)
5. Unreal Tournament (Sega Saturn)
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"Despite the death of Shigeru Miyamoto, it could easily be argued that things were never better for Nintendo as the company left the summer of 2000 behind. By October of that year, the Ultra Nintendo was reaching its creative and commercial zenith. On the cusp of two of its greatest games: Metroid: Darkness and The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and dominating sales charts with a seemingly endless stream of hits, Nintendo's market share had reached its highest point since the halcyon days of the NES. And just as Nintendo was reaching its high water mark, the Saturn was entering its final decline. New game releases were gradually trickling to a crawl. October 2000 would see one final burst of success for the system with the release of two of its finest games, but aside from that last spark of life, it was clear that Sega's ability to compete with Nintendo had reached a very low point. But just as the Ultra Nintendo was about to pass over the hump of its lifespan, two next-generation competitors were making their preparations to challenge Nintendo's position on the throne. Though the Ultra Nintendo still had many of its best games still ahead of it, the smoothest days of Nintendo's road would definitely be the final half of 2000. Once 2001 began, the speed bumps, though small at first, would start to appear."
-from "An Abridged History Of Nintendo", an article in the March 2013 issue of Game Informer magazine
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I can see this game going down in history not for its (inevitably dated, as all "current events" military games become) plot, but for being "the one where the 'tutorial' was the hardest part of it".
If the setlist is different...if it included any Soda Stereo or Los Prisioneros, I would have played the shit out of the game back in the day.
Happened OTL with Mega-Drive/genesis and PC-Engine/Turbografx-16, that as you read leave the situation the lead platform is from the previous generation for a while, that might helped the other two, as the port can improve graphics and performance, but sales-rate and performance is other matter.
I am curious how much the Xbox will compete with current-gen PCs ITTL, in particular the 'midrange gaming' set. And if Microsoft convinced Ubisoft to send a title their way.
That could set the stage for the original Uru Live to co-launch on Xbox, depending on how much help is thrown at Cyan. Or is Ubisoft as wary of MMOs ITTL as they were OTL?
Btw, Uru Live actually making it past Prologue (into a paid Launch) will butterfly a few things down the line. Such as Makena/There likely collapsing earlier.
That could set the stage for the original Uru Live to co-launch on Xbox, depending on how much help is thrown at Cyan. Or is Ubisoft as wary of MMOs ITTL as they were OTL?
Btw, Uru Live actually making it past Prologue (into a paid Launch) will butterfly a few things down the line. Such as Makena/There likely collapsing earlier.
I am curious how much the Xbox will compete with current-gen PCs ITTL, in particular the 'midrange gaming' set. And if Microsoft convinced Ubisoft to send a title their way.
That could set the stage for the original Uru Live to co-launch on Xbox, depending on how much help is thrown at Cyan. Or is Ubisoft as wary of MMOs ITTL as they were OTL?
Btw, Uru Live actually making it past Prologue (into a paid Launch) will butterfly a few things down the line. Such as Makena/There likely collapsing earlier.
For the moment, Ubisoft is still fairly wary of MMOs, and doesn't see much need to launch any considering how successful their games are currently doing. Rayman is on track to become the big franchise it is IOTL and as of September 2000, Blackheart is making bank. Plus, they've got the Tom Clancy games and a number of other popular IPs.
A Fond Farewell To GameTV
*GameTV opens to the six hosts standing together in front of the big TV, with somewhat somber looks on their faces.*
Ted Crosley: I'm Ted...
Alex Stansfield: And I'm Alex.
Ted: And, as we told you last week just before signing off, this will be the final episode of GameTV.
Alex: We've had a great run over these last five and a half years and we're really going to miss sharing our love of video games with all of you every week.
Brittany Saldita: But don't be too sad because we've got a great show planned for you tonight! We'll still be giving you all the great previews, reviews, and news you've come to expect, and tonight we'll be reviewing Gran Turismo 2, Arbiter of Sin 2, and NHL 2001.
Lyssa Fielding: We'll be giving you a preview of the upcoming Xbox game console that'll be coming out next year...
Steve Horton: And we'll be taking you to the top of the mountain in Pokemon Sun and Moon, we'll be giving you the tips you'll need to beat the game's toughest challenge, a one on one battle with the mighty Red.
Gary Westhouse: Plus, we'll be taking a look back at some of the show's greatest moments. We remember all of them, and we hope you do too.
Ted: This is going to be a final show to remember. This is GameTV!
-the introduction to the final episode of GameTV, which aired on September 19, 2000
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The Impact Of GameTV
It's been sixteen years since GameTV signed off for the last time, and a lot has changed in the game industry since then. There's never been a TV show before or arguably since that's brought video games into the mainstream quite like GameTV. Though some of the hosts changed over the years (though the core hosts, Ted, Alex, and Brittany remained throughout the show's run), the show itself retained largely the same formula from week to week, even as the industry changed around it. For those who don't remember, the show ran for an hour, on Tuesday nights between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM on MTV. A rerun of that week's episode aired every Saturday afternoon at 4:00 PM (which allowed more younger viewers to enjoy the show if they weren't allowed to stay up late on a school night). During the first year and a half of the show's run, there was also a rerun aired at 11:00 on Friday night. Minus commercials, the show was about 45 minutes (commercials were shorter and slightly less in number back then, as now the show would only be about 40), and typically took this format:
A 5-minute news segment recapping the week's video game news (with a sometimes humorous spin)
Several game reviews lasting about 5 minutes each in length (Usually 4, but sometimes 3 or 5 or 6 depending on what else was scheduled that week), these reviews would be dispersed throughout the episode between the other segments
Five minutes worth of brief sketches/skits/humorous segments
Five minutes worth of gaming tips, which could be general strategy, cheat codes, how to get past a particularly difficult segment, etc.
Ten minutes worth of game previews, which could be as simple as the hosts discussing an upcoming game or as special as the hosts going to a game company HQ to interview the developers
The format wasn't always the same, sometimes there would be ten minutes of strategy and five minutes of previews, sometimes there'd be a 10 minute sketch and one less review, but the format above seemed to be the most frequent for the show.
There were nine hosts over the course of the show. All of the hosts were young adults (the oldest, Ted Crosley, was born in August 1968, and the youngest, Lyssa Fielding, was born in December 1973), and all of them were serious gamers. The two main hosts were Ted Crosley and Alex Stansfield, and during the first few months of the show, they were featured significantly more than the other three hosts. But as time went on, the other hosts, particularly Brittany Saldita, but also Kazzi "Kaz" DeCarlo and John Walden, appeared more frequently in reviews and segments, to the point where Brittany ultimately came to be considered the show's third "main" host. Ted and Alex were brought on to be sort of like a Gen-X Siskel and Ebert. Ted was a Sega fan and a bit more hip (today we'd consider him a "bro"), while Alex was a bit more nerdy (albeit "Hollywood" nerdy) and a Nintendo fan. They'd known each other for several years before the show began and the producers quickly gravitated to them as the perfect main hosts (after considering J.D. Roth and Jeff Probst as the show's main duo). Brittany, an unknown who had been working as a reporter for a Los Angeles news station, was brought on as the token "girl" gamer and caused an immediate split amongst the producers, half of whom loved her and half of whom wanted someone more conventionally pretty (and were worried that male viewers would be intimidated by Brittany's gaming skill after she'd beaten Ted and Alex numerous times during screen testing). The deciding factor was the fact that Ted and Alex both liked her immediately, the three would share a sibling-like bond over the course of the show's production. John Walden was similarly brought on as a sort of "token minority" to lure in urban viewers, but his easygoing personality and infectious love for games won over viewers from all demographics, and he too formed a close bond with his fellow hosts. Finally, Kazzi DeCarlo was brought on as a "wild card" for the more serious hosts to play off of, and though his time on the show was short, he remained one of its most beloved hosts. After he left, Gary Westhouse was brought in to replace him. Gary was frequently the target of a lot of jokes and pranks on the show, but deflected the ribbing with good humor. His love for obscure games (particularly Neo-Geo titles) was used to bring games into the spotlight that would have otherwise been shunned, and he and John were usually the ones to discuss the various sports games reviews on the show. Lyssa Fielding was initally brought on as a replacement for Brittany, and to bring in more male viewers after producers concluded that Brittany wasn't pushing all the "sexy" buttons the producers wanted her to push. Though Lyssa did bring more T+A to the show, she was an unapologetic gamer who wasn't afraid to stand up for herself, and was as strong and opinionated as Brittany. Rather than replacing Brittany, Lyssa became her best friend, cementing Brittany's position on the show. They remained extremely close after the show ended, right up until Brittany's death in 2014 (according to her castmates on Hating Places, Lyssa was said to be "inconsolable" after learning of Brittany's death on set, shutting down production for the remainder of the day, and that her rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings" at Brittany's funeral brought everyone present to tears). After John Walden left in 1998 to film a UPN sitcom, Adrien Fry replaced him. If Gary Westhouse was more "nerd" than Alex, Adrien Fry was more "bro" than Ted, though Adrien's sharp criticisms of games he hated and enthusiastic promotion of games he liked made him a fan favorite during his relatively short run on the show. The last host to come on was Steve Horton in 1999, and though Horton was certainly a fan of video games and performed adequately as host, fans didn't respond nearly as well to him. He came off as somewhat clueless compared to his fellow hosts, and seemed to represent a growing element of MTV that was focused more on hip trends and reality shows than on video games and nerd culture. Like the hosts before him, he was well liked by his fellow hosts and bonded well with them, but some fans saw him as a pariah, even blaming him for the show's cancellation in 2000.
GameTV started off fairly low in the ratings, but began picking up fairly rapidly in early 1996. The ratings growth accelerated after Lyssa joined the show in early 1997, and reached their peak soon after the launch of the Ultra Nintendo (the two-hour Ultra Nintendo launch special was one of MTV's highest rated programs in its history up to that point). Ratings remained extremely strong throughout 1998, before finally starting to dip in the summer of 1999. During this time when GameTV was boasting millions of viewers a week, it had several imitators, most of them syndicated shows attempting to piggyback off its success. The most successful of the GameTV imitators was Digital Dash, a weekly show that aired in syndication on Sunday mornings, mostly on NBC affiliates. Starring David Hornsby and Kelly Lund, the show was a somewhat "bare bones" version of GameTV, where the two hosts spent a half hour reviewing the latest game releases. It lasted for a year and a half between January 1997 and June 1998. Other imitators popped up throughout the late 90s, one of which even aired on the SciFi Channel for about four months. But none reached anywhere near the popularity of GameTV. It became not only the most popular TV show about video games, it was probably the most powerful game journalism outlet of the late 90s. Its influence became so great that it became immune from the normal shady practices game companies have been accused of over the years (withholding review copies, threatening punishment for bad reviews, etc.). Companies did threaten to withhold review copies from the show during its early years, but producers and the show's hosts responded that they'd just buy a copy from the store and tell the show's viewers that the company had withheld review copies, which was always enough to get the company to relent. GameTV's power stemmed from its ability to provide very timely video game news. At the time, when the internet was still in its growing phase, the primary source of game journalism had been magazines. These magazines were published monthly, so news could be almost a month late or even more. GameTV was a weekly show with a turnaround of only a few days, and it was frequently the first source for game reviews. Usually, the show aired a review of a game a few days before its release, though in those days, street dates for most games were still fairly loose, and so most gamers simply bought games when they arrived at the store. Even if GameTV's review came in after the game's release date, most gamers would not have bought the game yet, and indeed, sales for many games had minor spikes after a positive review from the show. It can be argued that GameTV at its peak held more power than any other single source of game journalism before or since, even moreso than powerful websites like Gamespot, Blargo, Kotaku, or Games Over Matter (owned and operated by Alex Stansfield himself).
The show's influence on women in games cannot be overstated. In particular, Brittany Saldita is cited as one of the most influential women in the history of the industry. For many young girls, Brittany was the first woman they saw on television who played video games at a high level. She was considered, by both the hosts of the show themselves and by later analysis from the show's fans, to have been the most skillful at games of all the show's hosts, and her advocacy of genres that weren't particularly thought of as popular amongst girls (such as fighting games or JRPGs, both of which she played with exceptional skill and enthusiasm) allowed many young female gamers to feel more comfortable in the fandoms of those games. She reportedly received thousands of letters a week from girls and young women who saw her as an inspiration. Voice actress Cristina Vee, who was bullied in school, recalls writing a letter to Brittany shortly after the release of Pokemon, and in addition to getting a letter back (with autographed GameTV swag and a game from Brittany's personal collection), she got a two-hour phone call, where the two not only discussed video games, but bullying and life as well. Brittany advocated for more female characters in games and more women in the industry. Unlike later (and more controversial) critics of games like Anita Sarkeesian and Wendy Halpers, Brittany took a somewhat more moderate stance on games, and enjoyed playing many games that Sarkeesian would consider objectionable, though she, like Sarkeesian, wasn't afraid to point out negative portrayals of women in certain games. Lyssa Fielding was also a positive role model for young women. Though she looked very much like a "typical Hollywood blonde", Lyssa shattered stereotypes with her extensive video game knowledge and astute analysis of all aspects of the hobby. Proud and confident, Lyssa certainly showed off some skin from time to time (causing a huge spike in male viewership after she joined the show), but also frequently poked fun at fans who watched the show simply to see her wearing a skimpy outfit or revealing costume. Together, Brittany and Lyssa formed a united front against sexism in the gaming community, and though GameTV didn't end sexism in gaming entirely (indeed, after the show went off the air, sexist rhetoric in the gaming community began to make a slow comeback), but it did put a major dent in it, introducing millions of young girl gamers to a hobby they would continue with for the rest of their lives. One aspect of GameTV that received a bit of criticism was its racial diversity. Though the show started out very diverse, with one Hispanic host (Brittany Saldita) and one African-American host (John Walden), every single other host was white. To their credit, producers did seek out more diversity amongst the cast (Aisha Tyler and Grant Imahara were both considered as hosts at one point or another), but ultimately, the show was seen as a largely "white" show, especially after John left. In particular, the show received criticism from the Asian community for not featuring a single Asian host. Producers deflected these concerns, stating that they were simply bringing in the best hosts for the show, but these statements did little to stem the harsh criticism the show received from Asian fans, especially in the show's later months. In particular, the selection of Steve Horton over Grant Imahara was seen as a particularly poor choice, especially considering how badly Steve was received. While bringing on Imahara likely would not have saved the show, it may have done more to improve its reputation among the Asian segment of the gaming community.
Ultimately, all good things must come to an end, and GameTV was no exception. As ratings continued to decline during 2000, producers looked for ways to either cut costs, improve ratings, or both. A retooling, involving firing every host except Lyssa Fielding and bringing on an almost entirely new cast, was considered, but ultimately rejected when it was realized that not only would fans likely balk at any changing of the hosts, particularly the three long-time hosts, but that Lyssa would likely leave the show if any of the hosts were let go. Producers also considered cutting the hosts' salaries, which by then had grown to be substantial. It was thought that Ted, Alex, and Brittany would all stay even if their salaries were significantly reduced, but ultimately producers rejected this solution as well. Still, when the show was canceled, its ratings were amongst the highest on the network. Demographic shifts ultimately doomed the show. Though it still had plenty of viewers, advertisers weren't paying as much for them as they were paying for viewers on MTV's Total Request Live and The Real World, both of which were more likely to buy the products advertisers wanted to sell. GameTV's viewers were seen as "nerds" who were unlikely to purchase many of the more trendy products being advertised on MTV's other shows, and ads weren't selling for enough to justify keeping the show running. In addition, ratings were still falling. The rise of internet sites that could report game news instantly as opposed to the few days of lead time GameTV needed was slowly siphoning viewers away. Though GameTV WAS the only place where one could get live previews of games in the days when most internet connections were still dial-up, the increasing number of broadband connections meant that MTV's show no longer had a monopoly on video either. Though some of the show's producers valiantly advocated keeping it around, the decision came down in late August 2000 to cancel the show. The hosts got the news a few days later, before filming the September 12 edition of the show. Their reaction was of mostly shock and disbelief, though anger and sadness were included as well. None of the hosts, not even Brittany Saldita, who'd recently married fellow MTV personality Chris Hardwick and who now had a baby on the way, were ready to quit, and Alex Stansfield met with producers the next day offering to have his pay cut in half. Despite pleas from the show's hosts, GameTV aired its final episode on September 19, 2000. The episode included a particularly scathing review of Arbiter of Sin 2, leading to rumors that Sega had the show canceled, though it was MTV politics and not any particular game company that put GameTV out of business (indeed, the show had majorly boosted the profile of Sega's games, running nearly parallel to the lifespan of the Sega Saturn).
Though GameTV lasted only five short years, its impact continues to resonate in the gaming community today. In a recent IGN article, the GameTV hosts were collectively ranked #100 on the website's list of the 100 most influential people in gaming of all time, and in an article on GrrlGamer, Brittany Saldita ranked #5 and Lyssa Fielding #19 on a list of the 50 most influential women in gaming. It changed the way video games were seen in the mainstream, helping to change the public perception of the medium from something that only "geeks" and "nerds" participated in to something that was "cool" (after all, if it was on MTV, it HAD to be cool, right?). It changed the way game journalism was done, and inspired a generation of game journalists. It launched several prominent entertainment careers, most notably those of John Walden and Lyssa Fielding (and Brittany Saldita, who was well on her way to becoming a prolific voice actress and comedienne when she got her cancer diagnosis in 2011), and launched very lucrative careers in television production and internet entrepreneurship for Ted Crosley and Alex Stansfield respectively. It remains the most influential and notable video game television show of all time, and though it was primarily a cultural reflection of the late-90s, its appeal remains timeless.
-from a July 1, 2016 article on Wired.com
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Ted: Gran Turismo 2 was a big step up over the first game. Just the sheer variety of cars to choose from will keep players busy for years. I've got absolutely no problem giving this game a 5 out of 5.
Alex: It's a real showcase for what the Ultra Nintendo can do. It's a serious technological powerhouse from top to bottom. The graphics almost resemble what we saw from some of the Katana previews.
Ted: It looks gorgeous. It must have taken them a lot of time to get all of those cars looking so real. The level of detail is astonishing.
Alex: Yeah, and it drives great. Especially if you use a steering wheel accessory, but even if you use a controller, the game's a ton of fun.
Ted: You ever play Gran Turismo on one of those simulators? They actually take a race car and build a screen into it and hook Gran Turismo up to the screen. It's really cool. It makes you feel like you're actually driving, and makes you jump when you're actually crashing.
Alex: *laughs* Well, not like I would know since I never crash.
Ted: You're telling me you never crash at Gran Turismo?
Alex: I have gotten so good at this game, I bet I could drive a race car for real.
Ted: I would LOVE to see that. As in, I'd love to see you get into a real race, have a bunch of other cars speeding around you, and hear you scream like a little girl.
Alex: You were screaming like a girl when you were playing in the simulator.
Ted: That was out of excitement! And speaking of excitement, this is the final GameTV review ever, so let's end this show the best way possible with a trip to the Hall of Fame wall. Alex, give this game a 5 and let's send this show out with a bang.
Alex: As much as I would love to give a perfect score on our last review ever, I've got to uphold the show's tradition of journalistic integrity and be completely honest. I'm giving this game a 4.5.
Ted: A 4.5? Why?
Alex: There just aren't quite enough improvements over the first game for me to justify a 5. Yes, yes, I know, why change a good thing, but still, it seems like the developers spent most of the two year development time adding a bunch of pretty new cars to the game. I appreciate that and I loved driving the huge variety of cars, but I just didn't feel like this game was as revolutionary as the first. It's still an outstanding game but I just can't give it a 5.
Ted: You ruined the finale.
Alex: I'm sorry. *hangs his head*
-excerpted from the September 19, 2000 episode of GameTV
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And now for a brief update on where the last six hosts of GameTV went immediately after the finale.
Ted Crosley- Ted Crosley went into television production after GameTV ended, beginning with a reality show on VH1. However, his real desire was to get video games back on television, and in 2001, he began scouting talent for a brand new television network, ultimately becoming one of the founders of TTL's G4 network, which began airing in November 2001. He got married in 2002.
Alex Stansfield- Alex Stansfield went into web production, initially hiring on at IGN as their director of video game coverage. While working at IGN, he would join the pool of talent Ted Crosley was recruiting for G4, and worked simultaneously on both endeavors for a few years before starting his own video game website, Games Over Matter, in 2004 (and would get married in the same year).
Brittany Saldita- After taking a few months off to have her first child, a boy named Arturo, Brittany Saldita picked up where she had left off before starting on GameTV: local television news production. She became one of the evening news anchors on the most popular station in Los Angeles, where she worked for six years (during which time she had a daughter) before leaving to further her career in comedy acting (along with radio hosting and voiceover).
Gary Westhouse- Gary Westhouse went into local news as well, returning to Portland to become the lead sports anchor at one of the news stations there, a job he's still working at as of TTL 2016. He got married in 2007.
Lyssa Fielding- Lyssa Fielding went immediately into acting after GameTV ended, after turning down a very lucrative offer from Vince McMahon to become a wrestler for the WWF (Vince once stated in an interview that Lyssa Fielding is the only woman he ever would have considered putting the WWF Championship on, had she joined and been sufficiently over with fans). Her first major television role was opposite Sinbad in a police drama in the fall of 2001 (though her character was killed off in the midseason finale, the show itself ran until 2006). She would later go on to star in many movies, with her first notable movie role being in Kill Bill Vol. 2 as the main lieutenant for Gogo Yubari's older sister Yuki, her character had a short albeit intense swordfight with The Bride before being impaled. Lyssa dated several famous Hollywood actors, though she didn't marry until 2014.
Steve Horton- Steve Horton would go on to host a couple of short-running reality shows for MTV before leaving the entertainment business in 2003.
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*Once again, the six hosts are gathered together, this time squeezed in on the big couch.*
Ted: That's it for our show, and I just want to thank all of our viewers over these past few years for making GameTV such a fun and amazing experience. It really has been awesome bringing our love of video games into your homes, and we're all going to really miss doing this show every week.
Alex: Yeah, these have been the best five years of my life, I've gotten to do so many things, go so many places, and of course play so many games, and it couldn't have happened without all of you fans here along for the ride. Is there anything else anybody wants to say before we sign off?
Ted: Yeah, um, guess I have a confession to make, I'm not as big of a jerk in real life as I am on the show.
Brittany: *smiling* He's really not, I love Ted. *leans over and hugs him tightly, looking very sad*
Alex: It's been an incredible ride. When I was in high school, I never imagined that, being the huge geek I was, I would be starring in a show on MTV. MTV, of all places.
Lyssa: You are not a geek. *kisses Alex's cheek* Mmm, yes you are, you're such a geek.
Alex: And that I'd have such a gorgeous blonde hanging from my arm...
Lyssa: *giggles, kissing Alex's cheek again*
Brittany: *sitting up now, sniffling a bit* This...this has been, two words, a dream job for me. Getting to come in and get paid to discuss something I'm so intensely passionate about, something that...well it was just a hobby for me but it turned into a love and that love has given me the opportunity to reach so many different people, I....I'm really gonna miss this.
Gary: *hugs Brittany seeing that she's about to cry, he's tearing up a bit as well* Uh, when I first came here, I was just in awe. Getting to come in, play games, hang out with awesome people...
Ted: On the show we treated him like crap but you guys don't see what goes on behind the camera, we are all really tight friends.
Gary: *laughing* I'm doing it again, I'm struggling not to laugh because I'm having so much fun just being here and I'm going to miss it so much now that it's over. It hasn't sunk in yet but I'm sure it will.
Steve: It's been a hell of a privilege getting to come into your homes each and every week. I know I'm the last guy to get here but it feels like I've been here forever, and I wish it didn't have to end so soon.
*By now all of the hosts are looking really sad, trying to smile but having a rough go of it, Brittany is wiping her face on Ted's shoulder a bit and Lyssa is reaching up and brushing a tear away from Alex's cheek*
Alex: It's almost time to say goodbye, but before we do, here's a quick look back at five years of GameTV.
*"Closing Time" by Semisonic plays over a montage of moments from the show. After it's over, the six hosts are seated together for one last moment.*
Ted: GameTV might be ending, but you can still get all the latest news, reviews, and previews on GameTV.com, where updates will continue to cover the rest of this year's games and beyond. We hope you guys continue to follow the website, and as for us, I'm sure you'll see us all again at some point down the road.
Alex: We want to thank you for watching, and even though it's game over for GameTV, we hope all of you remember to never stop playing.
*The song continues as the camera pans one more time over the hosts, who are talking amongst themselves with a few hugs exchanged between them. The lights go dim on the studio one last time.*
-the end of the final episode of GameTV, September 19, 2000
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GameTV at Comic-Con 2016: Blu-Ray, DVD Announced, Along With Show Revival In 2017
The GameTV panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con gave fans a chance to interact with six of the show's nine hosts: Ted Crosley, Alex Stansfield, Kazzi DeCarlo, John Walden, Gary Westhouse, and Adrien Fry were all there to talk with fans. Absent from the panel was Steve Horton, who had work commitments, Lyssa Fielding, who was a speaker at the panel for the upcoming animated film Soldiers of Fortuna 2 (but sent her regards in a pre-taped video played at the GameTV panel, and who fielded GameTV related questions at the Soldiers 2 panel from fans), and Brittany Saldita, who passed away from ovarian cancer in 2014. It was moderated by Chris Hardwick (Brittany Saldita's husband for 14 years before her death), who expressed a heartfelt statement before the panel began about how much Brittany would have loved to see how many people were still enthusiastic about the show.
The panel was to promote the upcoming Blu-Ray and DVD re-releases of the original GameTV series, starting with Volume 1, covering the episodes from May 1995 to November 1995. Initially it was believed that rights to the game footage precluded any re-release of the original series, but instead, it was stated at the panel by one of the show's producers that it was music rights that proved the biggest hurdle. In the end, fan demand ensured that the series would remain fully intact, and will be released in ten volumes, one coming out every three months, starting with Volume 1 in September. The Blu-Rays come on fewer discs but include more special features, including more cast commentary and a review archive that will let viewers select any game that was reviewed during the span of the episodes contained on the discs, the archive will play a 30-second clip of that review where the two hosts give the game's score.
The biggest surprise coming from the panel, however, is the announcement of a revival series which will air on MTV beginning in 2017. The series will largely feature the same format as the original show, though with added content to reflect today's modern era of gaming, including e-sports coverage. The new hosts of the show were then introduced, and the young, diverse new cast spans both actors and internet personalities: Avan Jogia, Austin Watson, Mari Takahashi, Bryce Papenbrook, and Christina Grimmie. The new hosts then fielded questions from fans about the show. All five of them expressed that they had watched the original show, though Grimmie, the youngest of the new cast, said that she'd only watched the episodes after fans had posted them online, having been too young to enjoy the original show. The new GameTV is being produced by Ted Crosley, who was a leading figure at G4 before leaving the network in 2011. Crosley promised fans that the new show would retain the spirit of the old one, and that many of the original hosts might make occasional appearances.
-from an article on Tubehound.com, posted on July 21, 2016
Ted Crosley: I'm Ted...
Alex Stansfield: And I'm Alex.
Ted: And, as we told you last week just before signing off, this will be the final episode of GameTV.
Alex: We've had a great run over these last five and a half years and we're really going to miss sharing our love of video games with all of you every week.
Brittany Saldita: But don't be too sad because we've got a great show planned for you tonight! We'll still be giving you all the great previews, reviews, and news you've come to expect, and tonight we'll be reviewing Gran Turismo 2, Arbiter of Sin 2, and NHL 2001.
Lyssa Fielding: We'll be giving you a preview of the upcoming Xbox game console that'll be coming out next year...
Steve Horton: And we'll be taking you to the top of the mountain in Pokemon Sun and Moon, we'll be giving you the tips you'll need to beat the game's toughest challenge, a one on one battle with the mighty Red.
Gary Westhouse: Plus, we'll be taking a look back at some of the show's greatest moments. We remember all of them, and we hope you do too.
Ted: This is going to be a final show to remember. This is GameTV!
-the introduction to the final episode of GameTV, which aired on September 19, 2000
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The Impact Of GameTV
It's been sixteen years since GameTV signed off for the last time, and a lot has changed in the game industry since then. There's never been a TV show before or arguably since that's brought video games into the mainstream quite like GameTV. Though some of the hosts changed over the years (though the core hosts, Ted, Alex, and Brittany remained throughout the show's run), the show itself retained largely the same formula from week to week, even as the industry changed around it. For those who don't remember, the show ran for an hour, on Tuesday nights between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM on MTV. A rerun of that week's episode aired every Saturday afternoon at 4:00 PM (which allowed more younger viewers to enjoy the show if they weren't allowed to stay up late on a school night). During the first year and a half of the show's run, there was also a rerun aired at 11:00 on Friday night. Minus commercials, the show was about 45 minutes (commercials were shorter and slightly less in number back then, as now the show would only be about 40), and typically took this format:
A 5-minute news segment recapping the week's video game news (with a sometimes humorous spin)
Several game reviews lasting about 5 minutes each in length (Usually 4, but sometimes 3 or 5 or 6 depending on what else was scheduled that week), these reviews would be dispersed throughout the episode between the other segments
Five minutes worth of brief sketches/skits/humorous segments
Five minutes worth of gaming tips, which could be general strategy, cheat codes, how to get past a particularly difficult segment, etc.
Ten minutes worth of game previews, which could be as simple as the hosts discussing an upcoming game or as special as the hosts going to a game company HQ to interview the developers
The format wasn't always the same, sometimes there would be ten minutes of strategy and five minutes of previews, sometimes there'd be a 10 minute sketch and one less review, but the format above seemed to be the most frequent for the show.
There were nine hosts over the course of the show. All of the hosts were young adults (the oldest, Ted Crosley, was born in August 1968, and the youngest, Lyssa Fielding, was born in December 1973), and all of them were serious gamers. The two main hosts were Ted Crosley and Alex Stansfield, and during the first few months of the show, they were featured significantly more than the other three hosts. But as time went on, the other hosts, particularly Brittany Saldita, but also Kazzi "Kaz" DeCarlo and John Walden, appeared more frequently in reviews and segments, to the point where Brittany ultimately came to be considered the show's third "main" host. Ted and Alex were brought on to be sort of like a Gen-X Siskel and Ebert. Ted was a Sega fan and a bit more hip (today we'd consider him a "bro"), while Alex was a bit more nerdy (albeit "Hollywood" nerdy) and a Nintendo fan. They'd known each other for several years before the show began and the producers quickly gravitated to them as the perfect main hosts (after considering J.D. Roth and Jeff Probst as the show's main duo). Brittany, an unknown who had been working as a reporter for a Los Angeles news station, was brought on as the token "girl" gamer and caused an immediate split amongst the producers, half of whom loved her and half of whom wanted someone more conventionally pretty (and were worried that male viewers would be intimidated by Brittany's gaming skill after she'd beaten Ted and Alex numerous times during screen testing). The deciding factor was the fact that Ted and Alex both liked her immediately, the three would share a sibling-like bond over the course of the show's production. John Walden was similarly brought on as a sort of "token minority" to lure in urban viewers, but his easygoing personality and infectious love for games won over viewers from all demographics, and he too formed a close bond with his fellow hosts. Finally, Kazzi DeCarlo was brought on as a "wild card" for the more serious hosts to play off of, and though his time on the show was short, he remained one of its most beloved hosts. After he left, Gary Westhouse was brought in to replace him. Gary was frequently the target of a lot of jokes and pranks on the show, but deflected the ribbing with good humor. His love for obscure games (particularly Neo-Geo titles) was used to bring games into the spotlight that would have otherwise been shunned, and he and John were usually the ones to discuss the various sports games reviews on the show. Lyssa Fielding was initally brought on as a replacement for Brittany, and to bring in more male viewers after producers concluded that Brittany wasn't pushing all the "sexy" buttons the producers wanted her to push. Though Lyssa did bring more T+A to the show, she was an unapologetic gamer who wasn't afraid to stand up for herself, and was as strong and opinionated as Brittany. Rather than replacing Brittany, Lyssa became her best friend, cementing Brittany's position on the show. They remained extremely close after the show ended, right up until Brittany's death in 2014 (according to her castmates on Hating Places, Lyssa was said to be "inconsolable" after learning of Brittany's death on set, shutting down production for the remainder of the day, and that her rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings" at Brittany's funeral brought everyone present to tears). After John Walden left in 1998 to film a UPN sitcom, Adrien Fry replaced him. If Gary Westhouse was more "nerd" than Alex, Adrien Fry was more "bro" than Ted, though Adrien's sharp criticisms of games he hated and enthusiastic promotion of games he liked made him a fan favorite during his relatively short run on the show. The last host to come on was Steve Horton in 1999, and though Horton was certainly a fan of video games and performed adequately as host, fans didn't respond nearly as well to him. He came off as somewhat clueless compared to his fellow hosts, and seemed to represent a growing element of MTV that was focused more on hip trends and reality shows than on video games and nerd culture. Like the hosts before him, he was well liked by his fellow hosts and bonded well with them, but some fans saw him as a pariah, even blaming him for the show's cancellation in 2000.
GameTV started off fairly low in the ratings, but began picking up fairly rapidly in early 1996. The ratings growth accelerated after Lyssa joined the show in early 1997, and reached their peak soon after the launch of the Ultra Nintendo (the two-hour Ultra Nintendo launch special was one of MTV's highest rated programs in its history up to that point). Ratings remained extremely strong throughout 1998, before finally starting to dip in the summer of 1999. During this time when GameTV was boasting millions of viewers a week, it had several imitators, most of them syndicated shows attempting to piggyback off its success. The most successful of the GameTV imitators was Digital Dash, a weekly show that aired in syndication on Sunday mornings, mostly on NBC affiliates. Starring David Hornsby and Kelly Lund, the show was a somewhat "bare bones" version of GameTV, where the two hosts spent a half hour reviewing the latest game releases. It lasted for a year and a half between January 1997 and June 1998. Other imitators popped up throughout the late 90s, one of which even aired on the SciFi Channel for about four months. But none reached anywhere near the popularity of GameTV. It became not only the most popular TV show about video games, it was probably the most powerful game journalism outlet of the late 90s. Its influence became so great that it became immune from the normal shady practices game companies have been accused of over the years (withholding review copies, threatening punishment for bad reviews, etc.). Companies did threaten to withhold review copies from the show during its early years, but producers and the show's hosts responded that they'd just buy a copy from the store and tell the show's viewers that the company had withheld review copies, which was always enough to get the company to relent. GameTV's power stemmed from its ability to provide very timely video game news. At the time, when the internet was still in its growing phase, the primary source of game journalism had been magazines. These magazines were published monthly, so news could be almost a month late or even more. GameTV was a weekly show with a turnaround of only a few days, and it was frequently the first source for game reviews. Usually, the show aired a review of a game a few days before its release, though in those days, street dates for most games were still fairly loose, and so most gamers simply bought games when they arrived at the store. Even if GameTV's review came in after the game's release date, most gamers would not have bought the game yet, and indeed, sales for many games had minor spikes after a positive review from the show. It can be argued that GameTV at its peak held more power than any other single source of game journalism before or since, even moreso than powerful websites like Gamespot, Blargo, Kotaku, or Games Over Matter (owned and operated by Alex Stansfield himself).
The show's influence on women in games cannot be overstated. In particular, Brittany Saldita is cited as one of the most influential women in the history of the industry. For many young girls, Brittany was the first woman they saw on television who played video games at a high level. She was considered, by both the hosts of the show themselves and by later analysis from the show's fans, to have been the most skillful at games of all the show's hosts, and her advocacy of genres that weren't particularly thought of as popular amongst girls (such as fighting games or JRPGs, both of which she played with exceptional skill and enthusiasm) allowed many young female gamers to feel more comfortable in the fandoms of those games. She reportedly received thousands of letters a week from girls and young women who saw her as an inspiration. Voice actress Cristina Vee, who was bullied in school, recalls writing a letter to Brittany shortly after the release of Pokemon, and in addition to getting a letter back (with autographed GameTV swag and a game from Brittany's personal collection), she got a two-hour phone call, where the two not only discussed video games, but bullying and life as well. Brittany advocated for more female characters in games and more women in the industry. Unlike later (and more controversial) critics of games like Anita Sarkeesian and Wendy Halpers, Brittany took a somewhat more moderate stance on games, and enjoyed playing many games that Sarkeesian would consider objectionable, though she, like Sarkeesian, wasn't afraid to point out negative portrayals of women in certain games. Lyssa Fielding was also a positive role model for young women. Though she looked very much like a "typical Hollywood blonde", Lyssa shattered stereotypes with her extensive video game knowledge and astute analysis of all aspects of the hobby. Proud and confident, Lyssa certainly showed off some skin from time to time (causing a huge spike in male viewership after she joined the show), but also frequently poked fun at fans who watched the show simply to see her wearing a skimpy outfit or revealing costume. Together, Brittany and Lyssa formed a united front against sexism in the gaming community, and though GameTV didn't end sexism in gaming entirely (indeed, after the show went off the air, sexist rhetoric in the gaming community began to make a slow comeback), but it did put a major dent in it, introducing millions of young girl gamers to a hobby they would continue with for the rest of their lives. One aspect of GameTV that received a bit of criticism was its racial diversity. Though the show started out very diverse, with one Hispanic host (Brittany Saldita) and one African-American host (John Walden), every single other host was white. To their credit, producers did seek out more diversity amongst the cast (Aisha Tyler and Grant Imahara were both considered as hosts at one point or another), but ultimately, the show was seen as a largely "white" show, especially after John left. In particular, the show received criticism from the Asian community for not featuring a single Asian host. Producers deflected these concerns, stating that they were simply bringing in the best hosts for the show, but these statements did little to stem the harsh criticism the show received from Asian fans, especially in the show's later months. In particular, the selection of Steve Horton over Grant Imahara was seen as a particularly poor choice, especially considering how badly Steve was received. While bringing on Imahara likely would not have saved the show, it may have done more to improve its reputation among the Asian segment of the gaming community.
Ultimately, all good things must come to an end, and GameTV was no exception. As ratings continued to decline during 2000, producers looked for ways to either cut costs, improve ratings, or both. A retooling, involving firing every host except Lyssa Fielding and bringing on an almost entirely new cast, was considered, but ultimately rejected when it was realized that not only would fans likely balk at any changing of the hosts, particularly the three long-time hosts, but that Lyssa would likely leave the show if any of the hosts were let go. Producers also considered cutting the hosts' salaries, which by then had grown to be substantial. It was thought that Ted, Alex, and Brittany would all stay even if their salaries were significantly reduced, but ultimately producers rejected this solution as well. Still, when the show was canceled, its ratings were amongst the highest on the network. Demographic shifts ultimately doomed the show. Though it still had plenty of viewers, advertisers weren't paying as much for them as they were paying for viewers on MTV's Total Request Live and The Real World, both of which were more likely to buy the products advertisers wanted to sell. GameTV's viewers were seen as "nerds" who were unlikely to purchase many of the more trendy products being advertised on MTV's other shows, and ads weren't selling for enough to justify keeping the show running. In addition, ratings were still falling. The rise of internet sites that could report game news instantly as opposed to the few days of lead time GameTV needed was slowly siphoning viewers away. Though GameTV WAS the only place where one could get live previews of games in the days when most internet connections were still dial-up, the increasing number of broadband connections meant that MTV's show no longer had a monopoly on video either. Though some of the show's producers valiantly advocated keeping it around, the decision came down in late August 2000 to cancel the show. The hosts got the news a few days later, before filming the September 12 edition of the show. Their reaction was of mostly shock and disbelief, though anger and sadness were included as well. None of the hosts, not even Brittany Saldita, who'd recently married fellow MTV personality Chris Hardwick and who now had a baby on the way, were ready to quit, and Alex Stansfield met with producers the next day offering to have his pay cut in half. Despite pleas from the show's hosts, GameTV aired its final episode on September 19, 2000. The episode included a particularly scathing review of Arbiter of Sin 2, leading to rumors that Sega had the show canceled, though it was MTV politics and not any particular game company that put GameTV out of business (indeed, the show had majorly boosted the profile of Sega's games, running nearly parallel to the lifespan of the Sega Saturn).
Though GameTV lasted only five short years, its impact continues to resonate in the gaming community today. In a recent IGN article, the GameTV hosts were collectively ranked #100 on the website's list of the 100 most influential people in gaming of all time, and in an article on GrrlGamer, Brittany Saldita ranked #5 and Lyssa Fielding #19 on a list of the 50 most influential women in gaming. It changed the way video games were seen in the mainstream, helping to change the public perception of the medium from something that only "geeks" and "nerds" participated in to something that was "cool" (after all, if it was on MTV, it HAD to be cool, right?). It changed the way game journalism was done, and inspired a generation of game journalists. It launched several prominent entertainment careers, most notably those of John Walden and Lyssa Fielding (and Brittany Saldita, who was well on her way to becoming a prolific voice actress and comedienne when she got her cancer diagnosis in 2011), and launched very lucrative careers in television production and internet entrepreneurship for Ted Crosley and Alex Stansfield respectively. It remains the most influential and notable video game television show of all time, and though it was primarily a cultural reflection of the late-90s, its appeal remains timeless.
-from a July 1, 2016 article on Wired.com
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Ted: Gran Turismo 2 was a big step up over the first game. Just the sheer variety of cars to choose from will keep players busy for years. I've got absolutely no problem giving this game a 5 out of 5.
Alex: It's a real showcase for what the Ultra Nintendo can do. It's a serious technological powerhouse from top to bottom. The graphics almost resemble what we saw from some of the Katana previews.
Ted: It looks gorgeous. It must have taken them a lot of time to get all of those cars looking so real. The level of detail is astonishing.
Alex: Yeah, and it drives great. Especially if you use a steering wheel accessory, but even if you use a controller, the game's a ton of fun.
Ted: You ever play Gran Turismo on one of those simulators? They actually take a race car and build a screen into it and hook Gran Turismo up to the screen. It's really cool. It makes you feel like you're actually driving, and makes you jump when you're actually crashing.
Alex: *laughs* Well, not like I would know since I never crash.
Ted: You're telling me you never crash at Gran Turismo?
Alex: I have gotten so good at this game, I bet I could drive a race car for real.
Ted: I would LOVE to see that. As in, I'd love to see you get into a real race, have a bunch of other cars speeding around you, and hear you scream like a little girl.
Alex: You were screaming like a girl when you were playing in the simulator.
Ted: That was out of excitement! And speaking of excitement, this is the final GameTV review ever, so let's end this show the best way possible with a trip to the Hall of Fame wall. Alex, give this game a 5 and let's send this show out with a bang.
Alex: As much as I would love to give a perfect score on our last review ever, I've got to uphold the show's tradition of journalistic integrity and be completely honest. I'm giving this game a 4.5.
Ted: A 4.5? Why?
Alex: There just aren't quite enough improvements over the first game for me to justify a 5. Yes, yes, I know, why change a good thing, but still, it seems like the developers spent most of the two year development time adding a bunch of pretty new cars to the game. I appreciate that and I loved driving the huge variety of cars, but I just didn't feel like this game was as revolutionary as the first. It's still an outstanding game but I just can't give it a 5.
Ted: You ruined the finale.
Alex: I'm sorry. *hangs his head*
-excerpted from the September 19, 2000 episode of GameTV
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And now for a brief update on where the last six hosts of GameTV went immediately after the finale.
Ted Crosley- Ted Crosley went into television production after GameTV ended, beginning with a reality show on VH1. However, his real desire was to get video games back on television, and in 2001, he began scouting talent for a brand new television network, ultimately becoming one of the founders of TTL's G4 network, which began airing in November 2001. He got married in 2002.
Alex Stansfield- Alex Stansfield went into web production, initially hiring on at IGN as their director of video game coverage. While working at IGN, he would join the pool of talent Ted Crosley was recruiting for G4, and worked simultaneously on both endeavors for a few years before starting his own video game website, Games Over Matter, in 2004 (and would get married in the same year).
Brittany Saldita- After taking a few months off to have her first child, a boy named Arturo, Brittany Saldita picked up where she had left off before starting on GameTV: local television news production. She became one of the evening news anchors on the most popular station in Los Angeles, where she worked for six years (during which time she had a daughter) before leaving to further her career in comedy acting (along with radio hosting and voiceover).
Gary Westhouse- Gary Westhouse went into local news as well, returning to Portland to become the lead sports anchor at one of the news stations there, a job he's still working at as of TTL 2016. He got married in 2007.
Lyssa Fielding- Lyssa Fielding went immediately into acting after GameTV ended, after turning down a very lucrative offer from Vince McMahon to become a wrestler for the WWF (Vince once stated in an interview that Lyssa Fielding is the only woman he ever would have considered putting the WWF Championship on, had she joined and been sufficiently over with fans). Her first major television role was opposite Sinbad in a police drama in the fall of 2001 (though her character was killed off in the midseason finale, the show itself ran until 2006). She would later go on to star in many movies, with her first notable movie role being in Kill Bill Vol. 2 as the main lieutenant for Gogo Yubari's older sister Yuki, her character had a short albeit intense swordfight with The Bride before being impaled. Lyssa dated several famous Hollywood actors, though she didn't marry until 2014.
Steve Horton- Steve Horton would go on to host a couple of short-running reality shows for MTV before leaving the entertainment business in 2003.
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*Once again, the six hosts are gathered together, this time squeezed in on the big couch.*
Ted: That's it for our show, and I just want to thank all of our viewers over these past few years for making GameTV such a fun and amazing experience. It really has been awesome bringing our love of video games into your homes, and we're all going to really miss doing this show every week.
Alex: Yeah, these have been the best five years of my life, I've gotten to do so many things, go so many places, and of course play so many games, and it couldn't have happened without all of you fans here along for the ride. Is there anything else anybody wants to say before we sign off?
Ted: Yeah, um, guess I have a confession to make, I'm not as big of a jerk in real life as I am on the show.
Brittany: *smiling* He's really not, I love Ted. *leans over and hugs him tightly, looking very sad*
Alex: It's been an incredible ride. When I was in high school, I never imagined that, being the huge geek I was, I would be starring in a show on MTV. MTV, of all places.
Lyssa: You are not a geek. *kisses Alex's cheek* Mmm, yes you are, you're such a geek.
Alex: And that I'd have such a gorgeous blonde hanging from my arm...
Lyssa: *giggles, kissing Alex's cheek again*
Brittany: *sitting up now, sniffling a bit* This...this has been, two words, a dream job for me. Getting to come in and get paid to discuss something I'm so intensely passionate about, something that...well it was just a hobby for me but it turned into a love and that love has given me the opportunity to reach so many different people, I....I'm really gonna miss this.
Gary: *hugs Brittany seeing that she's about to cry, he's tearing up a bit as well* Uh, when I first came here, I was just in awe. Getting to come in, play games, hang out with awesome people...
Ted: On the show we treated him like crap but you guys don't see what goes on behind the camera, we are all really tight friends.
Gary: *laughing* I'm doing it again, I'm struggling not to laugh because I'm having so much fun just being here and I'm going to miss it so much now that it's over. It hasn't sunk in yet but I'm sure it will.
Steve: It's been a hell of a privilege getting to come into your homes each and every week. I know I'm the last guy to get here but it feels like I've been here forever, and I wish it didn't have to end so soon.
*By now all of the hosts are looking really sad, trying to smile but having a rough go of it, Brittany is wiping her face on Ted's shoulder a bit and Lyssa is reaching up and brushing a tear away from Alex's cheek*
Alex: It's almost time to say goodbye, but before we do, here's a quick look back at five years of GameTV.
*"Closing Time" by Semisonic plays over a montage of moments from the show. After it's over, the six hosts are seated together for one last moment.*
Ted: GameTV might be ending, but you can still get all the latest news, reviews, and previews on GameTV.com, where updates will continue to cover the rest of this year's games and beyond. We hope you guys continue to follow the website, and as for us, I'm sure you'll see us all again at some point down the road.
Alex: We want to thank you for watching, and even though it's game over for GameTV, we hope all of you remember to never stop playing.
*The song continues as the camera pans one more time over the hosts, who are talking amongst themselves with a few hugs exchanged between them. The lights go dim on the studio one last time.*
-the end of the final episode of GameTV, September 19, 2000
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GameTV at Comic-Con 2016: Blu-Ray, DVD Announced, Along With Show Revival In 2017
The GameTV panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con gave fans a chance to interact with six of the show's nine hosts: Ted Crosley, Alex Stansfield, Kazzi DeCarlo, John Walden, Gary Westhouse, and Adrien Fry were all there to talk with fans. Absent from the panel was Steve Horton, who had work commitments, Lyssa Fielding, who was a speaker at the panel for the upcoming animated film Soldiers of Fortuna 2 (but sent her regards in a pre-taped video played at the GameTV panel, and who fielded GameTV related questions at the Soldiers 2 panel from fans), and Brittany Saldita, who passed away from ovarian cancer in 2014. It was moderated by Chris Hardwick (Brittany Saldita's husband for 14 years before her death), who expressed a heartfelt statement before the panel began about how much Brittany would have loved to see how many people were still enthusiastic about the show.
The panel was to promote the upcoming Blu-Ray and DVD re-releases of the original GameTV series, starting with Volume 1, covering the episodes from May 1995 to November 1995. Initially it was believed that rights to the game footage precluded any re-release of the original series, but instead, it was stated at the panel by one of the show's producers that it was music rights that proved the biggest hurdle. In the end, fan demand ensured that the series would remain fully intact, and will be released in ten volumes, one coming out every three months, starting with Volume 1 in September. The Blu-Rays come on fewer discs but include more special features, including more cast commentary and a review archive that will let viewers select any game that was reviewed during the span of the episodes contained on the discs, the archive will play a 30-second clip of that review where the two hosts give the game's score.
The biggest surprise coming from the panel, however, is the announcement of a revival series which will air on MTV beginning in 2017. The series will largely feature the same format as the original show, though with added content to reflect today's modern era of gaming, including e-sports coverage. The new hosts of the show were then introduced, and the young, diverse new cast spans both actors and internet personalities: Avan Jogia, Austin Watson, Mari Takahashi, Bryce Papenbrook, and Christina Grimmie. The new hosts then fielded questions from fans about the show. All five of them expressed that they had watched the original show, though Grimmie, the youngest of the new cast, said that she'd only watched the episodes after fans had posted them online, having been too young to enjoy the original show. The new GameTV is being produced by Ted Crosley, who was a leading figure at G4 before leaving the network in 2011. Crosley promised fans that the new show would retain the spirit of the old one, and that many of the original hosts might make occasional appearances.
-from an article on Tubehound.com, posted on July 21, 2016
Given the era the of the GameTV revival, I'm assuming that episodes would be eventually made online for streaming, given the nature of 24/7 updates of an online world.
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