Xplay 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 producers of ZDTV originally had plans to air a video-game program when the channel launched called Extended Play that would be hosted by Simon Rex;[1] however, when an agreement was reached with the makers of the newly created GameSpot website, plans for the original show's format were scrapped in favor of a GameSpot-branded program, and Rex was dropped as host).

The show assumed the previously rejected Extended Play moniker in 2001 after ZDTV changed to TechTV and the partnership with Ziff Davis' GameSpot ended.

Following the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999, the network forbade the show from depicting gunplay in video games, which limited coverage of certain titles such as Grand Theft Auto III.

X-Play's primary set consisted of a single couch, coffee table and television (with working game consoles) positioned in the middle of the large studio floor.

X-Play aired at a later time slot than its predecessors and featured more risque language and subject matter; the previous restriction on gunplay was also lifted.

Comcast purchased TechTV in May 2004 and merged it with its gaming channel, G4, necessitating a move for X-Play's base of operations from San Francisco to G4's Santa Monica studios.

While originally maintaining its late-night time slot, new episodes were eventually moved to 4:00 p.m. EST in the afternoons (usually airing on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays) starting on April 10, 2006.

The X-Play logo was retro-fitted to sit above the stage on the right-hand side of the set, with curtains surrounding the entirety of the space to create a sense of intimacy; a large flat-screen monitor was also placed in the background, and several small decorative glass balls were strategically placed around various spots on the floor (Adam and Morgan would often joke of their fear that they would trip over one of these balls and hurt themselves).

During video-game analysis and viewer mail segments, Sessler and Webb would sit in orange recliner chairs as they debated over the issue at hand.

[14] According to G4 television president Neil Tiles,[15] this was an experimental change with the possibility of having all episodes run 60 minutes long sometime in the future where new segments were incorporated to see if X-Play could "go deeper than the current half hour show allows."

The new set featured giant white-tinged flatscreen monitors (displaying two large orange-and-black "X" logos) positioned behind the hosts, as well as the addition of a studio audience (making the presentation of the program similar to that of Attack of the Show!).

Also, there is an area of the studio with two large reclining chairs and a glass table, used as a place to interview featured guests (such as Mark Lamia from Treyarch and Ted Price from Insomniac Games).

During the broadcast, the hosts announced that the network would be auctioning off X-Play memorabilia via eBay (the set was even designed to resemble a telethon, with several people—Drunk Link, Canadian Guy, Superman, a pair of Imperial Stormtroopers—manning phones), and that all proceeds from the winning bids would be donated to Child's Play.

Our scores at least give sweeping generalizations for you to use as a guide.On the January 24, 2011 episode, Adam and Morgan gave an updated ratings primer in response to confusion spawned by aggregator review sites like Metacritic.

We prefer informed screaming, or if you can't read, you can watch the video review ...The first game to receive a half-star in its rating was Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (two and a half stars) during the February 13th (2012) episode.

During the November 19, 2021 episode broadcast live on Twitch, Adam and new Xplay hosts TheBlackHokage, Froskurinn, and Jirard "The Completionist" Khalil broke down the revised Xplay rating scale as follows: 1 out of 5 - Broken, Unfinished, or Worthless Examples Given: Cyberpunk 2077 for PlayStation 4, Shadow the Hedgehog (video game) 2 out of 5 - This is a bad game Examples Given: Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII, Apex Legends for Nintendo Switch.

The Gaming Update originally began in 2007 as a short segment (hosted by Joel Gourdin) which recapped the top three or four news items of the day, and would often air before leading out to commercial.

In early 2011, this segment was again rebranded as simply The X-Play Inbox, with the practice of featuring video clips sent in from viewers seemingly dropped altogether.

It continued the X-Play tradition of having famous names on their show, including non-gaming celebrities such as Adam West, David Duchovny, John Cleese, Ben Affleck, Angelina Jolie, Carmen Electra, Ben Stiller, Andrew W.K., Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle, Quentin Richardson, Jet Li, Vin Diesel, Janina Gavankar, and Kumail Nanjiani.

concept originally existed as a half-hour television program airing on the G4 network; however, in 2008 the show's host - Kristin Adams (née Holt) - moved over to the X-Play staff and Cheat!

Examples include a look at the portrayal of sex in video games, the prevalence of "achievement whores", and an inspection of the life of competitive gamer Steve Wiebe.

Their times were then placed on the leaderboard (i.e. a cardboard facsimile of the flagpole found at the end of the level): For the holiday season, X-Play aired gift guide episodes that recommends video games to viewers for Christmas.

X-Play has its own cast of interns (students from local universities who have signed up with G4 to gain valuable work experience in the television production field), who will sometimes appear as characters on the show.

[41] When X-Play was still a part of TechTV, personalities from other shows on the network would often make guest appearances (including Leo Laporte, Yoshi DeHerrera, and Unscrewed's Martin Sargent and Laura Swisher).

There have been several gaming titles/genres/trends over the years which the hosts have displayed an exaggerated sense of "hatred" towards (often playing up their dislike for the cameras in order to make for humorous television).

This violent dynamic has also manifested itself within the interactions between the hosts themselves (like when Morgan Webb continuously struck Adam Sessler with a baseball bat during X-Play's mockumentary on the history of violence in video games).

Using an idea similar to their production of Star Trek 2.0, a window covering the bottom half of the screen would pop up during reviews and display messages typed out by G4 users on X-Play's official web site in real-time (with moderation for broadcast standards to avert profanity and other inappropriate responses).

The show's producers now present X-Play viewers with a question relevant to the day's news/reviews via their official Twitter feed, then display the resulting answers during that night's episode through a scrolling ticker on the bottom portion of the screen.

for free in podcast form via their website and the iTunes Store, giving viewers the opportunity to watch segments on-demand with their computers and portable devices.

The show's stated goal is to deliver "intelligent, informative, and very very humorous discussion about games" by reviewing current news stories and answering viewer questions.