Bad Game - Junglist replaced
News from Yug - Saturday, 24 October 2009 @ 11:14am
Regardless of your opinion of Good Game, it has been the ONLY decent national TV show about video games in Australia for many years now (I say national so I don't have to include Level3 in that list, and I say decent so as not to include Cyber Shack).
Recently a press release was sent out from the ABC that is as follows:
Joining Bajo (Steven O’Donnell) in the Den of Gaming from Monday 26th October will be new Good Game host, Hex (Stephanie Bendixsen).
Born to non gaming parents who had a strict “no console” policy in the family home, Hex was forced to take up an outdoors hobby, bike riding.. straight around the corner to the neighbours and their Sega Megadrive.
In her teenage years Hex discovered "Lensmoor" a Multi User Dungeon (MUD) game that is completely text based and looked to her unsuspecting parents just like her homework.
When her habit of swapping sleep for gaming caught up with her she was sent off to see a counsellor to attempt to cure her of her gaming obsession possibly making her the only Aussie Gamer to be treated before ever actually owning a game.
Now after studying drama and performance at university Hex will combine her two great loves, acting and gaming, when she joins ABC TV’s show for gamers by gamers, Good Game, to present the program alongside Bajo.
But that’s not all… From February 2010 Good Game will be expanding onto ABC3, the new digital channel for young Australian’s when it launches Good Game: Spawn Point (GG:SP).
Good Game: SP will be the show for younger gamers by gamers. With 95% of young Australians aged 6 to 15 calling themselves gamers and the launch of ABC3, a channel dedicated to them, it was time for Good Game to spawn a new program with the needs of young gamers firmly in its sights. GG:SP will feature a family friendly mix of gamer reviews, stories about gaming culture and plenty of audience interaction.
Good Game will continue throughout 2010 on ABC2 returning to a screen near you next February on Monday nights at 8.30pm.
Some Facts about ABC TV’s Good Game
Good Game is now the #1 downloaded ABC-TV program with well over 800,000 d/l this year to date.
Good Game’s Forums are the most active across ABC-TV with well over a million posts.
Good Game will present a one hour Christmas special featuring all the top festive season game releases on Monday 14th December at 8.30pm on ABC2.
"The Good Game Gamers Guide to Good Gaming", our first book, will be published by Harper Collins in December 2009 and will be available from all good book shops.
Catch Good Game Monday nights on ABC2 @ 8:30pm, or late Friday nights on ABC1, just before rage.
What is immediately apparent as they talk about new programs and presenters is the distinct lack of any mention of current Good Game host Junglist, who has been with the series since the very beginning.
Now I'll be the first to admit when I first started watching Good Game way back when it started, I certainly had my fair share of criticisms. I'll also be the first to admit that with each series they've gotten better and better, and most of the people I talk to say the same thing. Especially after having to work on our own TV show GameDamage, I have a brand new level of appreciation for just how difficult it is to put a show together, especially on a weekly basis.
With that in mind, I simply can't believe the ABC's decision to so blatently replace rocksteady host Junglist with 'a pretty gamer girl'. Now I should be quick to mention I don't know Hex personally, and I have no doubt of her qualifications as a genuine gamer - she's not the point here. The point is some higher up at the ABC took a look at this show, which if you look at the facts above show it's success, and thought "you know what this show needs? A hot chick".
Because Junglist isn't leaving by choice. He's a good mate of mine, and his official line is this:
This decision is political bullshit from the ABC's part as far as I can see, and I've not seen any evidence to the contrary. The way this has been handled is not only disrespectful to Junglist, but hugely disrespectful to the fans of the show. What, did ABC just think the fans wouldn't notice if suddenly some hot chick took Junglist's place?
The show had a host switchover after the first series, with Bajo taking over the roll of Kapowski, a move that didn't have quite the same impact considering Junglist has been with the series for over FIVE SEASONS.
I don't know where to go with the rest of this news posts ... I don't think any amount of petitioning will convince the ABC higher ups to change their mind, and I'm also not about to tell people to boycott the show because ... frankly ... it's all we got at the moment. Plus Bajo has the most disguisting sense of humour off camera, so points to him.
Whatever Junglist decides to do from here on in though, I'd like to hope he has the support of not just myself, but all the people in the industry who dealt with him, and from the gamer community who have followed his career since the beginning.
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you're a fucking tool
I'm sorry that you didn't have a loving family.
So you honestly believe that you are responsible for the story being picked up by The Age and other media.
You poor deluded nob head
Other media: No, but you'd have to be slow to not realise that internet chatter certainly helps.
The Age: Erm, yes, because it was a letter to the editor that was published, which one of our loving family wrote.
I'm sorry that you didn't have a loving family.
So you honestly believe that you are responsible for the story being picked up by The Age and other media.
You poor deluded nob head
Nothing really new here.
"uncredited cut and paste job"
Actually, I wrote that body of text myself before going to bed with brainache from ABC lameness. I wrote it in a news-article style for the purpose of being easy to read. Used up all my energy on that and wanted to get it to lots of places quickly so couldnt be arsed sourcing everything properly, if anyone is interested they can easily find everything online. also everything is sourced properly etc at [url="http://www.dowzocalypse.wordpress.com"]www.dowzocalypse.wordpress.com[/url].
