Go 8 Bit

Contents

Host

Dara O'Briain

Co-hosts

Team captains: Steve McNeil and Sam Pamphilon

Gaming expert: Ellie Gibson

Broadcast

DLT Entertainment for Dave, 5 September 2016 to present

Synopsis

Comedians play video games in front of an audience.

Steve McNeil and Sam Pamphilon team up with this week's guest celebrities for a romp through computer game history. Ellie Taylor explains the history of the game, and how it did (or didn't) alter game history.

The title sequence appears to come from 1984.

The best way to explore games is to play them, and Go 8 Bit has lots of challenges. Complete a level, out-score your opponent, shoot them in the points. The show mixes 8-bit games from the Spectrum and Atari, later Nintendo and Sega games, and some of the weirder ones on the market now.

Each week's final challenge is done live in the studio - a controller that works by tapping people, for instance.

Go 8 Bit is adapted from a stage show, hosted by the games expert. For this television version, they brought in Dara O'Briain. He leads the conversation with the players, teasing out why the celebs have nominated their games.

It is a contest, they do keep score - the audience votes with an app on their mobile computers to allocate a value.

And there's a gimmick where the stage rotates - the big sofa is at right-angles to the big screen, and that's no way to play games.

Let's play Global Themonuclear War Tetris.

Go 8 Bit has rough edges - the rotating stage gimmick is used too much, and the audience voting appears random. The programme is honest and respectful, it treats video games as a mature cultural work suitable for critique.

Inventors

Steve McNeil and Sam Pamphilon

Title music

Liam Tate, who used 8-bit synthesisers. Obviously.

Web links

Official site

Wikipedia entry

British Comedy Guide entry

See also

Weaver's Week review

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