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Revision as of 23:17, 29 July 2013
Format: Satirical Gaming News |
Created By: Graham Stark, Kathleen De Vere, Jeremy Petter, Paul Saunders |
Status: Active |
Updates: Mondays |
Host: Penny Arcade Television |
Original Run: May 9, 2011 - Present |
Associated Shows: Escapist News Network (predecessor) |
CheckPoint is one of two successor shows to the Escapist News Network, the other one being Feed Dump. The show debuted on Penny Arcade Television on May 9, 2011 and is LoadingReadyRun's first series to premiere on the network. CheckPoint features the same team that wrote and produced ENN (Graham, Kathleen, Jer and Paul) and is for all intents and purposes its direct successor.
Format
Checkpoint is, for the most part, a "return to form" of the dry, satirical humor of ENN prior to attempts to retool the show to appeal to a wider demographic of The Escapist audience. A typical episode tends to follow the same fixed format.
- The episode opens with the CheckPoint logo before a brief "Today" intro plays that includes a voiceover and videoclip relating to that episode's feature story before moving directly into the opening credits.
- After the credits the camera cuts directly to both Graham and Kathleen at the news desk where the duo introduce themselves.
- Approximately the first half of the show consists of between four and seven news stories, reported alternately by Graham and Kathleen. The first sentence or part is almost always true; this is followed by 'merciless joking' for the rest of the story. In addition, each story features a corner image and one or more lower third jokes, and may include an extra video segment.
- Most of the rest of the video is taken up by the Feature Story. Whichever anchor's turn it is will introduce the story, then pass it to a field reporter (usually Jer) or pre-recorded video segment. Feature Stories are always at least mostly false, and usually completely so, even if they are loosely based in fact.
- Finally, the anchors will end the episode with their parting line or lines. The credits will roll, and then a short "Coming Up" segment will play, highlighting another news story that allegedly will be discussed in the next episode.
Differences from ENN
Although CheckPoint is a spiritual successor to ENN, it is not a direct "copy and paste" of the series from The Escapist onto PATV. There are a few key differences between both shows.
Style
The largest departure of CheckPoint from it's predecessor is it's visual style, and for good reason. ENN was branded as being The Escapist's own news show, so in line with that it carried The Escapist's brand name and trademark "E" logo as well as the site's blue-and-white color scheme. Because so much of ENN's design aesthetic was based off of the partnership with The Escapist a complete "facelift" was necessary.
CheckPoint uses a strong contrasting color palette of bright shades of red and yellow in hand with a more neutral gray and white. This color scheme, which is used to color in solid shapes (usually in layers) without any type of outline, creates a visual style that some forum members have described as being reminiscent of Persona 3 and 4.
Credit Structure
While ENN had a "grander" opening relying heavily on pre-rendered computer graphics to emulate and parody professional news outlets, CheckPoint's opening is much simpler. Each episode starts by quickly displaying the CheckPoint logo before shifting into the "Today" segment, which acts as a cold open for the episode. This quick blurb briefly highlights what the episode's feature story is before a quick opening sequence plays, which consists only of the show's title card and silhouettes of the CheckPoint team (Kathleen, Graham, Jer and Paul in that order). Since Jer's departure from the Show his silhouette has been omitted.
The ending credits are an even bigger departure. Unlike ENN, which was known for having conversations between Graham and Kathleen during the credits after the studio lights have dimmed, CheckPoint transitions directly a brief credit sequence that quickly lists off all appearances, writing credits, and so on before moving onto the "Coming Up" segment, which is functionally the same as the "Today" segment except that it's narrated by the opposite anchor and acts as a stinger.
Music
ENN's theme was originally created in house by The Escapist's Ian Dorsch to fit with the "major network parody" theme, but like everything else designed to go along with the ENN license it couldn't be carried over. Instead, the theme for CheckPoint was made by long-time friend of LRR Bradley Rains. The theme is much more upbeat to match the show's brightly colored and minimalistic art style.
Content
Thus far, the only recurring character from ENN to appear in CheckPoint is Rex Carnegie.
The ENN recurring segment "Headshot" has a spiritual successor in "On Point", to the extent that it is an opinion piece, and its tone is emphatic rather than ironic. However, Kathleen has gone On Point multiple times, which did not happen with Headshot.
Notes
- The silhouette of Jer in the opening appears to be the same picture used previously in the second ENN intro.
List of Episodes
Season Three
#top |
# in Series | # in Season | Title | Date |
111 | 7 | Self Control 2 | July 29, 2013 |
Stardock Software is dangerously close to poking a hornets' nest. | |||
110 | 6 | The Peripherals | July 22, 2013 |
There is now an entire documentary about a video game peripheral from the 1980s. We've arrived. | |||
109 | 5 | Mystery, Intrigue, ISK | July 15, 2013 |
Spies, double-agents, space carriers: an average day for EVE Online. | |||
108 | 4 | Mattrick Goes to the Dogs | July 8, 2013 |
Not content with ruining one company, Mattrick sets his sights Zyngward. | |||
107 | 3 | No One Can Hear You Pee | July 1, 2013 |
Looking for a way to deal with some inconvenient people? Give them Routine on Oculus Rift. | |||
106 | 2 | XBox-One-Less-Thing | June 24, 2013 |
Microsoft changes its tune on the Xbox One, and an app that lets you have sex with your iPad! | |||
105 | 1 | XBox On Point | June 17, 2013 |
Underwhelmed by the Xbox One. Here's a few reasons why. |
Season Two
#top |
# in Series | # in Season | Title | Date |
104 | 52 | OMG The Bubble Popped | June 10, 2013 |
When a Zynga employee is laid off in the woods, does anyone hear the sound of them going "hooray"? | |||
103 | 51 | Cube Vindication | June 3, 2013 |
There really was something in the Cube. It was in our hearts all along! | |||
102 | 50 | Meet My Xbone | May 27, 2013 |
CheckPoint takes on the new Xbox One, aka, the Xbone | |||
101 | 49 | Save our Pac Mans | May 20, 2013 |
Pac Man is being "re-imagined" with a "cool" cartoon and video game. Think about how awful that would be... and then keep going. | |||
100 | 48 | They Came for Our Guns | May 13, 2013 |
EA doesn't do "real guns" in its games anymore. Sort of. Not really? False. | |||
99 | 47 | Irony Tycoon | May 6, 2013 |
Your tears. They are delicious. | |||
98 | 46 | Ridiculous Cloning | April 29, 2013 |
Peter Molyneux is going to be disgustingly rich. | |||
97 | 45 | Oh Yeah, Ouya | April 22, 2013 |
The Ouya! It's the next big in next big things, and not much else. | |||
96 | 44 | What is Worst in Life | April 15, 2013 |
Once again, EA is literally the worst. | |||
95 | 43 | Downloadable Consumerism | April 8, 2013 |
Oh my gosh! Ads in SimCity! And I don't even have to PAY for them? Thanks EA! | |||
94 | 42 | Restructuring Expectations | April 1, 2013 |
It shouldn't be easy to be successful, but it should at least be attainable. | |||
93 | 41 | The Origin Hackshack | March 25, 2013 |
Origin security problems and publishers that don't like female protagonists. | |||
92 | 40 | Five Servings of Zombie | March 18, 2013 |
The folks behind DayZ just want you to be healthy. | |||
91 | 39 | Kicking Expectations | March 11, 2013 |
What should you do differently if you KickStarter is over-funded? Everything, and nothing. | |||
90 | 38 | Getting Down to Bidness | March 4, 2013 |
THQ is auctioning off its junk. Literally. | |||
89 | 37 | Sony’s PS4 Play | February 25, 2013 |
Sony said a lot of words, but did they say anything important? | |||
88 | 36 | Litigation is Magic | February 18, 2013 |
For a two hour long game, Journey sure was expensive to make. | |||
87 | 35 | A Door Closed, a Windows Open | February 11, 2013 |
XNA discontinued, Amazon Coins and more! | |||
86 | 34 | The Accidental War | February 4, 2013 |
We all knew Reddit and SomethingAwful would fight eventually, but we didn't expect this... | |||
85 | 33 | A Modest Proposal | January 28, 2013 |
Okay, THQ didn't listen, but maybe Atari will. | |||
84 | 32 | SWTOR SGR OMG | January 21, 2013 |
BioWare tries to do the right thing and the media shits all over them. | |||
83 | 31 | THQ Going to Pieces | January 14, 2013 |
Sounds like everyone has a chance to get in on some of this THQ auction action. | |||
82 | 30 | PSGone | January 7, 2013 |
The doors closes on the PS2, and Eidos' Life President is also a Commander now. | |||
81 | 29 | Eternal Lawsuit | November 19, 2012 |
Don't sue someone you've ripped off. | |||
80 | 28 | Features We Won’t Wii-Use | November 12, 2012 |
Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime bore us to tears with peripheral Wii U features. | |||
79 | 27 | The Price of Progress | November 5, 2012 |
Square Enix is listening, and realizes it has to hide its shenanigans better. | |||
78 | 26 | Games are Really Big | October 29, 2012 |
All we know about Dragon Age 3 is that it's big. We guess that's good? | |||
77 | 25 | A Blue Streak of Sadness | October 22, 2012 |
Every time we hear Sonic news these days it's always sad. | |||
76 | 24 | Trouble on the Farm | October 15, 2012 |
Zynga is doing so poorly, they might be better off if they didn't exist. | |||
75 | 23 | Pork Barrel Participation | October 8, 2012 |
Who can resist the siren song of gold avatar armor? | |||
74 | 22 | SC2: HotS Goes F2P? | October 1, 2012 |
Blizzard recently mused out loud what StarCraft might look like as a free-to-play title. | |||
73 | 21 | Disputed Borders and Lands | September 24, 2012 |
Kathleen gives us the historical context for why some former Soviets don't like their Borderlands options. | |||
72 | 20 | Mixed Martial Boobies | September 17, 2012 |
DOA5 flip-flops on its bounce-bounce. Again. | |||
71 | 19 | Games for Windows or Not | September 10, 2012 |
There's too many different services that share the same names. Get it together, Microsoft. | |||
70 | 18 | Core Crisis | September 3, 2012 |
What is gameplay worth to you? Square says: Your time and eyeballs. | |||
69 | 17 | On Blackest Isle | August 27, 2012 |
Black Isle is back! Kind of? Is it? Wait a second here. | |||
68 | 16 | Almost No Odd Job | August 20, 2012 |
GoldenEye's famous multiplayer mode was developed on the sly and nearly didn't happen. | |||
67 | 15 | Final Fantasy Apology | August 13, 2012 |
It's refreshing when a company admits it's screwed up. Really, badly screwed up. | |||
66 | 14 | MechWarrior | August 6, 2012 |
Because releasing actual mecha into the world couldn't possibly go wrong. | |||
65 | 13 | Square Enix Versus Rumors | July 30, 2012 |
If you're going to make up rumors about FF Versus 13, there's way more hilarious ones than, "It's cancelled." | |||
64 | 12 | Gamer Marketing | July 23, 2012 |
When making something you want gamers to buy, make sure it's super shiny and ridiculous. | |||
63 | 11 | Games & Movies | July 16, 2012 |
Every time there's a spec of good news about a video game movie, there's an equal torrent of horrid crap. | |||
62 | 10 | Assassin’s Editions | July 9, 2012 |
If you want any variety of bonus features with your copy of Screed 3, there's an edition for that. | |||
61 | 9 | DOA Flashback | July 2, 2012 |
Remember how DOA5 was going to be all mature and grown-up? About that… | |||
60 | 8 | Til Ring Out Do Us Part | June 25, 2012 |
Soul Calibur adds wedding costumes, and Zynga has stopped pretending they aren't terrible. | |||
59 | 7 | UFC Extremely Disputed | June 18, 2012 |
THQ had better never let Saints Row go if they keep making decisions like these. | |||
58 | 6 | E3 Throwdown | June 11, 2012 |
Does E3 even care that gamers were upset with the show? | |||
57 | 5 | Infinite Lawsuit | June 4, 2012 |
Activision may have now settled with West & Zampella, but the gaming lawsuit of the decade left us a final parting nugget of gold. | |||
56 | 4 | Beyond Infinity | May 28, 2012 |
Ahh, the delightful nuggets of ridiculousness that come from court filing papers. | |||
55 | 3 | Too Much of a Good Thing? | May 21, 2012 |
Look, we love Tim Schafer too, but this is just getting silly. | |||
54 | 2 | Zyng and Zag | May 14, 2012 |
Zynga gets in the news so much these days you'd think they were a tabloid celebrity. | |||
53 | 1 | God of Gore | May 7, 2012 |
Sony is taking extra special care to make sure God of War 4 has beautiful blood-goo. |
Season One
#top |
# in Series | # in Season | Title | Date |
52 | 52 | Are Fezzes Cool? | April 30, 2012 |
Indie-darling Fez is finally out and everyone knows they love it, but they're not sure why. | |||
51 | 51 | Power Sink | April 23, 2012 |
Is your console destroying the country's power grid? Yes. The answer is yes. | |||
50 | 50 | There is No Bubble | April 16, 2012 |
Kickstarter is taking over video game self-funding. But is there an end to it? | |||
49 | 49 | EA is Just the Worst | April 9, 2012 |
Did you hear? Electronic Arts is basically the devil! | |||
48 | 48 | Ubi Goes Soft | April 2, 2012 |
Ubisoft is introducing a new anti-piracy scheme that sounds... good? | |||
47 | 47 | Gaming the System | March 26, 2012 |
For all the money gaming makes the US, the US sure seems to hate gaming. | |||
46 | 46 | The Masses Are Effected | March 19, 2012 |
Welcome to largest video game entitlement complex since Minecraft ladders. | |||
45 | 45 | GDizzle | March 12, 2012 |
Graham & Paul hold down the fort while Kathleen reports in from GDC. | |||
44 | 44 | Foot X Mouth | March 5, 2012 |
The thing about saying stupid things on the internet is that everyone can hear you. | |||
43 | 43 | Is It Worth It? | February 27, 2012 |
Is Square allowed to charge $18 for an iOS game? Yes, but should they? | |||
42 | 42 | Legacy of Shame | February 20, 2012 |
Dead or Alive's new lead wants to class the series up a bit. Let's see how that goes. | |||
41 | 41 | Double-Extra Fine | February 13, 2012 |
Does this change the game? Only insofar as Tim Schafer is making it this time. | |||
40 | 40 | Tera-Fied | February 6, 2012 |
En Masse bans the world, Netherrealm has an identity crisis and Everquest lives! | |||
39 | 39 | Tower Heist | January 30, 2012 |
Can Zynga get away with ripping off someone else's game? Well, they already have. | |||
38 | 38 | Masters of Code, Not Money | January 23, 2012 |
Among the stories this week, a tale of poor accounting and idiocy. | |||
37 | 37 | Survey Says! | January 16, 2012 |
Cheaters gonna cheat! | |||
36 | 36 | Exhausted Fantasy | January 9, 2012 |
Square continues to ignore pleas for Final Fantasy 7, and maybe that's for the best. | |||
35 | 35 | Unarmed Avatars | January 2, 2012 |
If Microsoft removes guns from the avatar marketplace, how will the avatars defend themselves against the Kinectimals? | |||
34 | 34 | Clipshow | December 26, 2011 |
When there's no news, CheckPoint makes its own! CheckPoint's own news is silly and mostly just footage of us ruining takes. | |||
33 | 33 | 2011 CheckPoint Awards | December 19, 2011 |
The best video game awards ever. We don't even know of any others. | |||
32 | 32 | Game for Fashion | December 12, 2011 |
The fashion world is like a rickety construction of wood, stone and glass, rocked by an Angry Bird dress. | |||
31 | 31 | Acts of Ville-ainy | December 5, 2011 |
Zynga's grip is becoming so tight that their own users are slipping through their fingers. | |||
30 | 30 | The Glitchy Scrolls | November 28, 2011 |
Skyrim Glitch is Best Glitch | |||
29 | 29 | Gotta Get Deals on Friday! | November 21, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
28 | 28 | UbiHardball | November 14, 2011 |
Hollywood is scared and afraid that someone might know how to do their job better than they do. | |||
27 | 27 | Battlefail 3 | November 7, 2011 |
EA and DICE don't seem to think that BF3's failures are your fault for wanting to play it. | |||
26 | 26 | Uncharted Charted | October 31, 2011 |
If the game you love gets a score you don't, the only possible answer is impotent rage. | |||
25 | 25 | The Ultimate Scrolldown | October 24, 2011 |
Mojang and Bethesda are locked in a legal battle of mutual silliness. (Featuring a guest appearance by Russ Pitts) | |||
24 | 24 | Manual Stimulation | October 17, 2011 |
Look, we're all excited about Skyrim but just chill out a bit, okay? | |||
23 | 23 | HD Remix | October 10, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
22 | 22 | Fantasies: How Not to Be Final | October 3, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
21 | 21 | Sony Knows It Has a Problem | September 26, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
20 | 20 | The Birds!!! | September 19, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
19 | 19 | Project - Buy Our Shit | September 12, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
18 | 18 | Retirement Plan | September 5, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
17 | 17 | Nintendo 4DS | August 29, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
16 | 16 | Gamestop Ex-Stream | August 22, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
15 | 15 | Season Passé | August 15, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
14 | 14 | Blizzard of Cash | August 8, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
13 | 13 | Socially Inept | August 1, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
12 | 12 | 3DSadness | July 25, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
11 | 11 | Plants vs. EA | July 18, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
10 | 10 | PS4Life | July 11, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
9 | 9 | Supremely Legal | July 4, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
8 | 8 | You Know What You Did | June 27, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
7 | 7 | For the Lulz | June 20, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
6 | 6 | E3 Roundup | June 13, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
5 | 5 | Secret C.O.D.E | June 6, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
4 | 4 | Patently Silly | May 30, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
3 | 3 | Plugged Valve | May 23, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
2 | 2 | Bungie Jumping | May 16, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. | |||
1 | 1 | Into the Breach | May 9, 2011 |
From the folks behind Desert Bus and Unskippable, join LoadingReadyRun as they report on the week’s industry happenings. |
See Also
- Escapist News Network, CheckPoint's predecessor.
- Action 9, LRR's other fictitious news agency.