Is any song of the Christmas season less relatable than “The Twelve Days of Christmas?” Since when does Christmas have 12 days? How wealthy would you have to be to afford gifts like 5 gold rings or 12 pipers piping?

On the Seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Old gift: 7 Swans A-Swimming

Analysis: Seriously, what is the deal with giving birds as gifts in this song? It’s half the days.

New gift: 7 new episodes of Judgment Day

Analysis:

For all you cats who don’t remember the show, Judgment Day was possibly the best video game programing to ever grace the TV screen. It was a seemingly unscripted and astonishingly honest video game review show that ran on G4 from 2002-2006 hosted by Victor Lucas and Tommy Tallarico.

The guys just let themselves talk about games, like you and your friends would, but with more insight. Tommy and Victor were evidently friends in real life, but, the real magic came when they disagreed or the differences in their personalities were most evident. If they played Knights of the Old Republic, I bet Tommy was more of the dark Jedi and Victor was more about light side points.

Watching Judgment Day was like watching a buddy movie about critiquing video games.

Wikipedia says it best (when does it not?):

Onscreen the two enjoy plenty of brotherly scraps, with Tallarico typically playing the role of a more aggressive, even gutter-minded gamer and Lucas being more businesslike and sedate. (A typical exchange – Tallarico: “Come on, you’re saying that you never shot any of those guys in the crotch, even once?” Lucas: “No, I did NOT!”)

 

Victor Lucas

Tommy Tallarico

The two came up with some really great ideas too. I wish more mags and shows picked up on their concept of always getting two different scores and opinions from two different personality types. It got to the point were you could guess whether Tommy would like a game before you heard his opinion. Alternatively, since I think like Lucas sometimes, if Lucas didn’t like a game, I knew I might not either.

They also had some great ideas, like their segment “Buried Treasure,” where they unearthed an overlooked or old school game to talk of its merit (like Psychonauts.)

My personal favorite segment was “VS,” which pitted two similar games against each other (like Halo 3 vs. COD 4). The guys would pontificate on the strengths of each and then declare either a tie or a winner.

Maybe the best part of the show was that you felt like you could talk games with these guys. Maybe that’s because it was unscripted and more natural feeling than other video game shows, or maybe they’re just chill guys. Whatever it is, it worked.

I hear that they’ve got a new show going called Reviews on the Run. But you can only see new episodes if you live in Canada (not me.)

It was a lovely show. Can I say that? It was a lovely, bad-ass show. And I wish the honesty and realness of Judgement Day were still around.

Good luck with the new show guys!

12 Days of Christmas, for Gamers: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

Tags: 12-days-of-christmas, gaming

• The 12 Days of Christmas, Revised for Gamers: Day 6
• The 12 Days of Christmas, Revised for Gamers: Day 5
• The 12 Days of Christmas, Revised for Gamers: Day 8
• The 12 Days of Christmas: Revised for Gamers – Day 2
• The 12 Days of Christmas: Revised for Gamers – Day 4
• The 12 Days of Christmas, Revised for Gamers: Day 11
• The 12 Days of Christmas, Revised for Gamers: Day 9
• The 12 Days of Christmas: Revised for Gamers – Day 3

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