Good Game is an Australian television gaming programme produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which was aired on ABC2 from 2006 to 2016. Created by Janet Carr, Jeremy Ray and Michael Makowski, included a mix of gaming news, reviews, and features. The original hosts were Jeremy "Junglist" Ray and Michael "Kapowski" Makowski; the latter was replaced by Steven "Bajo" O'Donnell in 2007, and the former by Stephanie "Hex" Bendixsen in 2009. Other onscreen presenters included field reporter Gus "Goose" Ronald and Dave Callan.
The show is named after the friendly phrase gamers traditionally say after completing a competitive match. The show's producers maintained an online presence with the audience, often directly communicating and taking feedback from viewers; audience competitions and polls were also held. In addition, a mobile application and a book were created by the production team, to further cater to the show's audience.
Good Game received generally positive reception, with the hosts and segments being the subject of much praise. The show also received multiple awards, and achieved the status as one of the most downloaded ABC shows. The show's popularity has resulted in four main spin-offs: Good Game: Spawn Point, a show for younger viewers broadcast on ABC ME; Good Game: Pocket Edition, which ran on ABC2 from February 2013 to May 2014; Good Game Pocket, hosted by Nich "NichBoy" Richardson, with daily episodes released on ABC iview and YouTube from 2015 to 2016; and Good Game Well Played, an online show focused on eSports and hosted by Angharad "Rad" Yeo, which ran from 2015 to 2016. Both Well Played and Pocket were previously hosted by Michael "Hingers" Hing. Two podcasts were also created: Good Game: Grandstand in 2012, and Good Game Roundtable Podcast from 2015 to 2016.
The show was cancelled in January 2017, after the ABC received news that Bendixsen and Richardson had been hired by Channel 7 for the gaming show screenPLAY. In 2019, Ronald began producing video game previews and reviews under the Good Game name for ABC iview and YouTube.Good Game Series 13
History
Series overview
Design
Writing and filming
Each episode of Good Game had a three-week production schedule. Week one was pre-production, where games were played and reviewed, and any segments appearing in the episode are written. A rundown was made, allocating the minutes of the episode to each review and segment. Filming occurred early in week two, as well as collation of any gameplay capture necessary for the episode. The episode was then edited throughout week two, for finalisation early week three. After airing in week three, post-production involves putting the episode online, finalising copyright information, etc. The weeks overlap for consecutive episodes (i.e. post-production for episode 1, filming for episode 2, and pre-production for episode 3 all occur in the same week).
The show was shot and edited in standard def 576i PAL, as "all of ABC2 (and most other free to air channels) are transmitting in Standard Def." Episodes are then dubbed onto Betacam tape for transmission and the ABC Tape Library and uploaded onto Good Game's YouTube channel in upscaled 720p. Both Good Game and Good Game: Spawn Point are filmed in the ABC building located in Ultimo, Sydney.
Since 2009, there were at least 43 episodes each series, lasting from approximately February to December. Series 4 had 32 episodes, while series 1–3 had around 13 each, and series 10 had 45. In 2014, the show updated its logo and opening credits.
Hex said, "It takes a week of long hours and hard work to put together a review on the show. Gaming, capturing all the game footage, logging all the footage, writing the review, re-writing, editing, filming, re-editing... the finished product is something I'm really proud of." Bajo described the editing process as "a bit like Machinima". Both he and Hex checked edits remotely during the period of the week when they had finished their filming and the rest of the crew "shoot field stories and finish off the rest of the show". Hex said that during the playing of games and filming she became quite attached to her avatars and wanted to show off what her own character did. Hex says, "We've tried our best on the show to present both sides of the argument in any stories we've done". Bajo explained: "Mondays we finish of reviews, log footage, swap games, read scripts and sub everything after a production meeting, Tuesdays we make GG and GG: Pocket, Wednesdays are GGSP and any green screen stuff, then Hex and I are off to review for the rest of the week, while the gang shoot field stories and finish off the rest of the show. We check edits remotely usually which is my favourite part of the job. changes week to week but that's the general schedule" Bajo has stated that "often segment ideas are pretty spontaneous". When asked about taking on Good Game: Spawn Point as well as the original show, Bajo responded: "we're busier than ever, but we've got things down to a pretty tight production schedule now".
Philosophy According to series producer Janet Carr, making the show was "an immense challenge, but... great fun". In response to receiving a Lizzie Award, she said, "Being acknowledged like this is just the icing on the cake. We have a very small, hardworking team, and this award is dedicated to everyone who has helped make Good Game the show that it is." Bajo has said, "There's lots of late nights for all of us, so the show receiving these awards has been really uplifting." In fact, the show has explained via their Facebook page that the cast and crew have sometimes had all-nighters in order to wrap up episodes in time for their broadcast dates. Bajo explained, "It's such a team effort [so] it would be unprofessional and incorrect to take too much of that kudos... I think we're our own worst and best critics... we know if something worked or if it didn't so we're always trying new things."
Both shows aimed to be inclusive, with Hex stating that while the team tended to aim for a gaming audience, "there's something about videogames that's just really compelling to watch, and people who aren't even involved in games or who don't understand half the jargon" get really involved.
The individual personalities of the hosts was regarded as important to contextualising their reviews. Hex explained that by observing her and Bajo's passion for games they enjoy and fanboy/girl over, viewers can build an attachment to them as people and know what new releases will excite them. Hex said what makes a good game is "a good story... intuitive controls – we're at a level of technology now where there really is no excuse for clunky controls in games... [and] pretty graphics – our standards for graphics have just gotten so high." Bajo says, "It's always gameplay for me. I don't care what the game is about, if the gameplay is engaging, challenging, and interesting to me, I will play the hell out of it and I'll love it. Second, for me it needs a good story. I'm also a graphics whore, I just need it to look good." Bajo and Hex stressed that there is no such thing as a "boy's game" or a "girl's game", and that one should decide to play a game merely based on how good it is.
Presenters The show's hosts went by their gamertags on the show as opposed to their real names. Some are based on childhood nicknames while others were created for Good Game.
Both Bajo and Hex were involved in a number of shows and events outside Good Game, including hosting an episode of the ABC music video show Rage on 19 June 2010. In 2013, the two hosts became ambassadors for the national schools filmmaking competition "Screen It". In 2014, they spoke at the Perth Writers Festival at the University of Western Australia, with the creators behind the hottest games in a series of talks entitled "The Game Changers". They also hosted the 2014 MCV Pacific Awards for gaming.
Main hosts Bajo Steven "Bajo" O'Donnell (Series 2–12) took on the role as host following the resignation of Mike Makowski. On 9 March 2007, it was announced that he would be the new co-host. He later described the experience of joining the show as "a dream come true. It felt perfect for me. It had all my interests in one little basket, creative control in a collaborative team, and also I was getting to the point of giving up. The timing was perfect and unbelievably lucky." He had been trying to get a job in film and TV for about 7 or 8 years, and had seen the show before, so accepted the open call-out which involved "writing a review and doing a DVD presentation." He said he got his "dream job" due to "luck and persistence". He explains, "Gaming was about 50% of my life [before I joined Good Game], mainly PC gaming but I grew up with all the consoles... Working on the show has really opened up more genres to me that I never got into as much." He described the progression from unemployed actor to host of an award winning show in 2 years as "rewarding, fantastic, exciting and relieving." Bajo's first gaming memory was of Ms. Pac-Man. When explaining to other what he does for a living, Bajo feels the need to defend it, explaining that "it's actually really hard work".
Hex Stephanie "Hex" Bendixsen (Series 5–12) took over the role from Junglist in time for series 5. Bendixsen had also auditioned for ABC3, but won the role on Good Game after approaching Bajo at Supanova as a fan, and being told Good Game was looking for someone. She sent in a series of reviews, the style of which she said she already knew how to do having already watched the show for a couple of years. She later did a screen test and ended up getting the job "quite quickly". Her first episode was on 26 October 2009. Hex got into games relatively late as she did not have a gaming household. Her first games were MUDs – specifically the game Lensmoor which she started playing at age 15), and enjoyed as it was like "collectively writing a book". Hex says she is okay with the harder parts of production as they are a part of her job. She said she finds great satisfaction in seeing a completed show go to air as so much time and love has gone into it. Hex states that, "The only thing that's sometimes difficult is that I have less time to play the games that I want to play recreationally, because the games I'm reviewing for work take priority." While she is happy to weigh in on gender-related issues, she also acknowledges that she does not want to be a "poster girl" for it and instead wants to be thought of as "a PERSON who just enjoys gaming".
Junglist
Jeremy "Junglist" Ray is the co-creator of Good Game and co-hosted the show from 19 September 2006 to 19 October 2009 (series 1–5).
In 2009, the ABC decided to run auditions for new hosts on ABC3. Stephanie "Hex" Bendixsen was announced with other hosts for ABC3, and was thought to be hosting Good Game: Spawn Point. However, it was revealed on the show's official forum that Bendixsen would replace existing host Jeremy Ray on both the original and new programme.
Ray claimed the dismissal was because "they wanted a girl on the show", and stated that "mass appeal" was a direct quote from that meeting. However, fellow co-creator Janet Carr of the show replied back on that statement saying, "Regardless of what Jung might say GG will NOT be dumbed down and I state again, the decision was nothing to do with bringing in a girl... I'm a girl and I started this show – I don't care about the gender of the presenters – I just care about having the best people working on it." The network first claimed Jeremy would stay behind the scenes in a writing capacity, then stated he would not be working on the show due to holiday travel plans that conflicted with the show's schedule. It then made the statement saying, "The reason for replacing Jeremy Ray was ongoing behind-the-scenes performance based issues."