X-Play

X-Play is the highest rated video game review show on television. The program airs on G4 in America, on G4TechTV in Canada, and on Fuel TV in Australia. The show is hosted by Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb. Sessler is the original host of the program; he has co-hosted in the past with Lauren Fielder and Kate Botello, respectively. X-Play began on ZDTV in 1998 as GameSpot TV where Sessler co-hosted with Fielder for the show's first year, then co-hosted with Botello up through 2002. The show was renamed to Extended Play in 2001 after ZDTV changed to TechTV and the partnership with Ziff Davis' GameSpot ended. Botello left in early 2002, and Sessler hosted the show by himself up until April 2003, when Webb joined the cast and the show was renamed to X-Play. It is the only show to entirely survive the May 2004 merger of G4 and TechTV. The show revolves around Sessler and Webb's banter between reviews and previews of popular video games, and quirky sketches generally centered around a specific theme. The humor on the show is inconsistent, tending to fluctuate between highbrow educated references and lowbrow juvenile jokes; the latter typically being much to the dismay of Webb. In May 2006, 2 years after the merger, X-Play got a brand new set and a revamped look. The new set is a large, black, open area containing assorted TV monitors, a video wall, and large glass marbles on the floor just to name a few. Longtime fans of the show called the changes "too flashy" and "a cheap attempt to gain new viewers." But the producers defended the show saying it was a needed change as they moved with the times.