OverDose is a "lifestyle gaming program" on the Finnish cable channel MoonTV. The program is a collaboration between MoonTV, the Finnish gaming store Dose and Peliplaneetta (Game planet), a Finnish gaming web portal. Emphasizing multiplayer games over others, the show is somewhat of a hodgepodge of games, talk, music and random guests.

Each OverDose show consists of set parts contered around a theme created from the game of the week. For example, when the show was about Battlefield 1942, the host (Arman Alizad, also of Dresscode on the same channel) was dressed in an army uniform and the stand-ups consisted of army jargon. Often, the invited guests are musicians currently popular among young people in Finland. The host typically asks them what games they played growing up and then invites them to play the game of the week.

OverDose emphasizes the "lifestyle" aspect of gaming in every episode. In fact, peliplaneetta.net describes the purpose of the show as "to bring the gaming lifestyle to those who are not familiar with it, and also to encourage and reward those who are gamers already." In fact, in some episodes viewers may participate in the game played in the show by competing in pre-shooting matches and then playing against the OverDose crew. Those selected may win prizes.

The second half of the show involves the playing of a game with commentary from the host. Watching matches of (for example) Unreal Tournament 2003 gets tedious pretty quickly, and with up to four of these in the show, it is quite likely for one to change channels after the first one, if not sooner. Lame between-rounds "how are you feeling?" questions don't manage to bring any more feeling into the program. OverDose clearly tries to bring the excitement of online gaming across to peoples' living rooms, but frankly it doesn't manage it too well.

However, the program is not without its merits. In some perverse way it is interesting to see what games band members have played in their youth, leading to interesting discoveries, such as Velcra's singer Jessi Frey having a Quake tattoo on the back of her neck. The crew making the show are clearly having fun: An episode concerning Aliens vs. Predator 2 was filmed as a mixture between game graphics and Arman, the host running in narrow corridors.

The few reviews presented in the program are typically neither thorough nor very good, but on the other hand they don't need to be. Their sole function is to present a new "hit" game available from the Dose chain of gaming stores. Real reviews are reserved for MoonTV's other gaming programs, Player and PC-Peliluola.

References:
Personal experience
http://www.moontv.fi - The MoonTV homepage
http://www.peliplaneetta.net - Peliplaneetta homepage

O`ver*dose" (?), v. t.

To dose to excess; to give an overdose, or too many doses, to.

 

© Webster 1913.


O"ver*dose`, n.

Too great a dose; an excessive dose.

 

© Webster 1913.

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