Mark your calendar for Thursday, February 18. That's the premiere date for The Tester, an exclusive to PlayStation Home reality show in which a 11 contestants compete in "grueling physical and mental challenged" to win five thousand dollars and a position as a game tester at SCEA.
Wait, the winner gets to be a game tester?
Anyway, there are eight episodes planned to air weekly on Thursdays. According to Sony's press release, "emotions run high, alliances form and they battle with brain and brawn. While donning giant slingshots, paintball guns, and human hamster balls, contestants will be put to the test in a series of elimination challenges shaped around the skills necessary to be a game tester, including dexterity, communication skills and mental prowess."
Does that sound like entertainment to you?
The show is hosted by Meredith Molinari, "model and host of multiple online music shows," and will be judged by video game industry insiders.
PS3 owners can either download the show or view the latest episode of The Tester with other gamers in the PlayStation Home Theater every Thursday, as well as "purchase a variety of The Tester virtual items relating to scenes from the show or their favorite cast member."
I'll be honest: I don't predict huge success for The Tester. While I really like the idea of narrow-cast content being shown through the PlayStation Network, The Tester doesn't seem like the killer app to make this happen. It seems like a cheap-to-produce test program aimed squarely at the wrong target. I mean, seriously, is anyone interested in watching wannabe game-testers rolling around in giant hamster balls?
I've never tested games before, but I have friends who have, and they tell me that "playing games for a living" isn't as rad as it sounds. It works like this: Someone says, "Here, sit in this dank basement and play Imagine: Animal Doctor on the DS until your eyes bleed. If you notice any bugs, fill out this complicated paperwork, but please try not to tell us, as it makes extra work for the programmers. Here's minimum wage for you, and if you're lucky, here's a T-shirt for Call of Duty 2: The Big Red One." It doesn't seem to have much to do with the dexterity, communication skills and mental prowess" mentioned in the show's press material.
The prize in this show is actually the problem. The only sensible prize for TV is a lot of money. Think of that P. Diddy show, where the prize is the chance to be an assistant to a self-important music guy. Again: I've known several entertainment assistance, and the quality of the job depends on the personality of your employer: Get some nice actor lady and you get paid good money to walk a dog and pick up dry cleaning; get some big-headed, mean mogul and it's nightmare city...Or The Apprentice: Who wants to be a junior guy at the Trump organization?
But what do you think? Is there a future for original, gamer-entertainment on the PlayStation Network?
Comments are Closed
Comments
Displaying 1–17 of 17
Carnage_Asada
This does not sound good at all. Waste of space if it were to occupy my ps3.
dbeam308
Not to be outdone, Microsoft has plans to counter with 'The Ringer'. Where the grand prize will be a job fixing Red-Ringed Xboxes!
[NOTE: Before somebody accuses me of being a PSFanboy, let it be known that if I was to join a 'side', I'd be in the Xbox camp. I'm merely comparing the grand prize of The Tester to a similar job. To be perfectly honest, I'd much rather pull Xboxes apart than play Level 4 - Stage 2 of a new Crash Bandicoot game on the PSP and watch Crash fall through the same polygon 452 times a day, marking it in a spreadsheet every time it happens.]
M356
A job as a prize, that does not sound all that bad to me. i got laid off from my job and finding a new one in my field is damn hard. so to me a that prize would be nice.
RyannWeller
This....this is retarded. I started off as a game tester before moving on up to the art department. Game testing is one of the most tedious, repetitive jobs you can get in the game industry. ESPECIALLY if you get put on a god awful game! (the penny-arcade comic on this made me fall over laughing) I guess I just don't see how this can be considered a "prize." I would be more interested in seeing what the "winner" is up to a year later after he/she won. :-D
4theloveof
This was already done last year on national T.V.
WCG Ultimate Gamer
http://www.hulu.com/wcg-ulti mate-gamer
A much better prize imo
at0mict0ast
I'm sorry, but this sounds more stupid every time I hear about it...
Seriously, its a competition to get a job as a game tester? That's not much of a prize. You realize game testers aren't just people who get to play games early. All they do is play the same section of a level all day trying to break the game by bumping into things.
Also, I can already see StarSlayer is in the cast and she's a massive tool, so i'll pass.
FLP_B01
@Flutzie:: you can download it free (1st episode) from the PSN Store under the media category.
Cyphin
If Sony had a "Please try using Home" advertisement of some sort, I'd at least respect that a hell of a lot more than this. All this does is just tell me I made the right choice about ignoring it.
fluttzie
it would be better if we could just download it through the playstation store then through long loading home
BONERJAM
Feb 18th huh? Dang! I'm busy organizing my sock drawer that day.
mothr101
hey sony remember when we could play games on your system? not play a second life rip off while watching a stupid reality tv show. how about focusing on giving me that old playstation 2 love instead of trying to polish a turd. i want more games on my ps3 and home is not a game so don't insult me by saying it is.
gamermoney
not too big on reality shows but atleast this isn't mtv or vh1 garbage lol
Redd75
I own a PS3, and this doesn't appeal to me in the least. If Sony wants me to start watching something regularly in Home, put up something more akin to 'The Guild', or what Ubisoft did with the 'Assassin's Creed:Lineage' short films. Sorry UNCyrus, I wish the best of luck to you, but when I read the part about "emotions run high, alliances form and they battle with brain and brawn", from the press release, my mind instantly thought of reality shows like Survivor, Big Brother, and the Amazing Race. And I avoid reality tv like the plague that it is.
bbonds756
Sony has lost it...
#1 Those are actors, I am not a true geek but I take pride in my tech hobbies and watching actors who have no basic idea what tech is, is just an insult.
#2 WTF does a obstacle course, karate, relationships?!, have to do with having good knowledge of tech and video games.
#3 Sony seriously wasted money on this, I love the PS3 but man oh man.
TKEmysterio
So they're fighting for a job that barely pays over minimum wage???
kenfoss
Pretty much seconded. This is the dumbest idea for a show ever aimed at the lowest possible denominator. In short it'd be right at home on the current G4 lineup. We could sandwich it in between an old Cheaters episode and Campus PD.
UNCyrus
G4, thanks for giving pub for the show. It actually was a lot of fun to make, and you should give it a chance, the entire cast was amazing as well as 51 minds, the production team. Now that they announced that the content will be Free rather than subscription based, media seems to be taking a little bit more of a liking towards this show.
-Cyrus from the cast of The Tester
@UNCyrus
Displaying 1–17 of 17