I'll skip my life story and cut to the chase: Video reviews need a refresh and so does On The Spot.
Video Reviews
Seriously, find your identity. Sometimes GameSpot video reviews try to be like IGN and sometimes they try to be like 1UP's. IGN has a very formulaic review, amounting to little more than gameplay footage with the reviewer summarizing or straight-up reading from their text review. 1UP just puts a couple staff members in a room together and they talk about the game, relatively unscripted.
GameSpot experiments with both.
Most reviews tend to be like IGN's, and that's fine. Adequate. Satisfactory. But the problem arises when GameSpot tries to do a half-assed version of 1UP's, like the Shadowrun review from Jeff Gerstmann. He tries to act we're watching a conversation between him and another person, even going so far as to look slightly away from the camera, something that's been experimented with before (I've watched almost every video review you guys have put out, no joke. Kinda sad, actually).
The problem is that it's still obviously scripted. No one talks like that. And the other problem is that it's not a conversation unless there's two people involved, and right now it's just a one-sided deal, as though Jeff is just talking to himself. That's weird.
So try to find your identity- who do you want to be more like? I personally find 1UP's video reviews much more compelling and interesting, but it's perfectly okay if you want to stick with the "look into the camera and read this summary you just wrote."
But choose.
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On The Spot
The problem with On The Spot is that it's boring. Sure, there are funny moments here and there interspersed throughout, but it's otherwise just a 1 hour demo session for a bunch of games. It's like reading from the press release and watching gameplay footage. For a comparison, I think of On The Spot as more of a run-of-the-mill live talk show and The 1UP Show as more of what videogame shows should be- mostly unscripted, sometimes ridiculous and funny, and completely open and honest.
I'll just break it down into sections:
The First Three Minutes- The intro is just repeating how "great" the show is going to be today (I seriously can't stand that and it's been in almost every On The Spot I can remember, and I've seen them all) and listing off which games you'll be playing. I don't watch live anymore specifically so I can just skip boring moments like this. If there's a Hell, for me it'll just be me in a room with speakers around-the-clock blaring "What kind of a show do we have today, Ryan Davis?" "Oh, we've got a great show for you today, Rich Gallup!"
The Middle Segment- The main meat of On The Spot is just demoing games and talking about them, but not very critically. It's like you guys are afraid you'll upset the publisher or hurt the developer's feelings or whatever. Considering though, that a good majority of the games and prizes are supplied by the publisher, maybe it's for a good reason. Regardless, it's just boring watching people play the games, and it's worse when you cut back and forth between the gameplay footage and Ryan or Jeff reading questions- no offense, but I'd rather watch gameplay footage, and besides, obviously you guys think it's awkward too, since when the camera pauses for too long on you, you start making weird faces or whatever. Which brings me to my next point.
I've never seen an On The Spot not plagued by some sort of technical issue, be it footage not being queued up or the sound not working in the studio or a mic not being turned on or God only knows how many times we've had to wait for the technical team to hook up a console or make the controllers work. Now, I'm not trying to insult the technical team; for the most part, they do an absolutely amazing job. I'm just saying that maybe you guys should think about downsizing On The Spot (so it's just games and user questions for like half an hour) and introducing another video feature where it's not live and more about talking about gaming news or being more critical of the games being played.
The Ending- Since I'm not a paid subscriber, I just stop watching and delete the On The Spot file once the Middle Segment is through. I can't win prizes, and therefore it's just rambling and trivia questions. So yawn.
Overall though, it's still a cool show, and Rich Gallup has done a great job directing it, but I still think it needs a change.
So, you can either take my advice or not; I really don't care. I'll still occasionally watch your stuff, but just know that since GameSpot has been stagnant in formula changes for so long, 1UP has far surpassed you in terms of news delivery, interviews, and podcasts (both HotSpot and On The Spot).
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