The premiere season of WCG Ultimate Gamer was met with mixed reactions. Hardcore gamers want a TV show showcasing the top gamers actually playing video games yet the popular audience just wants to see the ups and down of reality TV drama. Season 1 was heavily coated with the reality drama – in fact when it did come to playing video games – the challenges were usually marred with additional obstacles.
Positive things about the show – the personalities in season 1 were great. Each episode had enough ‘fun’ to them even though they were all on the ‘silly’ side. Since COIN-OP TV seeks out the top professional gamers it was only natural that half the cast had appeared as guests on the show over the years including: Starslay3r, sWooZ1e, Alyson and Prod1gy X.
Season 2 contains only two former COIN-OP TV guests in Justin Wong and Yaz aka ‘Cl0wn’. Hosts Joel and Hannah are back calling the shots – let’s hope this time around they are less stiff and more playful. The big question is, will we see any PC games in the mix? We know that Nintendo will participate this time around in Wii Kart. According to the trailer (see below) we should also expect to witness Tekken 6, NHL 10, Forza 3 and Battlefield. Will Super Street Fighter IV make an appearance? If so, you can count on Justin Wong coming away with a victory. Should any PC shooters pop up? Count on Yaz to get the most ‘head shots’. On a side note – don’t count out female gamers Faye and Vanessa as both have won high level fighting tournaments in the past and are cool under pressure!
WCG Ultimate Gamer – Season 2 premieres Aug 19, 2010 on the SyFy network –
http://wcgultimategamer.com
I really didn’t care for the all drama in Season 1 so here’s hoping for a more gaming skills-oriented Season 2! Also excited to see how Justin Wong is going to fair against the competition when he’s not playing fighting games. =D
I know you are expecting a prediction of who, Robert, but I’m not. Don’t believe in predictions in this case.
As for Justin being in the show, I’ll say this. I saw the King of Chinatown last week and I have to say that Justin is VERY entertaining on screen. Everyone should hope that Justin lasts for most of this season.
As for Wii games being in the show, I got two words for ya: I’m better.
So Rob poked me on Twitter and asked me for any predictions. Given that the format of the show likely hasn’t changed (real-life competitions tangentially related to the games they’re based on, plus knockout competitions and immunity), here’s what’s gonna happen:
-Same old reality-show BS: crying, fighting, yelling. You know, watching what it’s like when a dozen people get cabin fever and then it morphs into Stockholm Syndrome.
-Watching gamers who perhaps have never touched a specific game or genre struggling to adapt on the fly with the pressure of possible elimination, thus adding to the cabin fever aspect.
-Eventually, everyone on the show will be hated by some group of the viewership for whatever reason.
If you can’t tell, I’m more than a little pessimistic about the show.
I’ll be rooting for Kat ‘Mystik’ Gunn. She’s my 2nd favorite girl gamer (behind Hailey Bright, of course 😉 )