''The Zone'' was an Australian

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

focused

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

that aired on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

on Saturday mornings at 8:30AM

AEST Australia uses three main time zones: Australian Western Standard Time (AWST; UTC+08:00), Australian Central Standard Time (ACST; UTC+09:30), and Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST; UTC+10:00). Time is regulated by the individual state gov ...

from 30 April 1994 to 1 July 1995. The show was produced by

Beyond Television Productions Beyond International Limited is an international television and film production company with operations in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (), the company is involved in ...

and was hosted for the majority of its run by Adam Reilly.

Overview

''The Zone'' took on a format similar to most

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

-style programs on television. The show generally opened with an introduction from Reilly of what would be on the show that week, followed by the latest

gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playin ...

news, previews,

review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, ...

s and other content such as TV show parodies or lessons in gamer jargon. The show also presented tips and

cheats Cheating generally describes various actions designed to subvert rules in order to obtain unfair advantages. This includes acts of bribery, cronyism and nepotism in any situation where individuals are given preference using inappropriate crit ...

for current games, and held competitions for viewers.

Sega Ozisoft is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and ...

was a major sponsor of the show, but the program covered games from several platforms popular at the time including the

Super Nintendo The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...

Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

, PC and

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

, as well as the 3DO. The reviews and previews were typically presented by two people, many of whom were

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

-based freelancers or worked on magazines such as '' Hyper'' and ''Gamestar''. Despite being a contributor to a number of magazines, presenter Amos Wong drew the ire of many '' Nintendo Magazine System'' readers for reviewing games on

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

platforms on the show. Adam Reilly was originally brought in to do the music, but wound up being the host when a suitable candidate could not be found, and his screen test was well received. Reilly would later leave the show to pursue a music career; hosting duties would be later taken up by producer and presenter Justin "Muttlee" Mansour and actress Megan Connolly. Each episode of the show was produced on Monday, before it aired on the following Saturday morning. Due to the show's 'G' rating and the early morning timeslot in which it aired, ''The Zone'' was unable to show gameplay footage of games with a rating higher than 'M', which many of the popular titles of the time such as ''

Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * L ...

'' and ''

Mortal Kombat II ''Mortal Kombat II'' is a 1993 arcade fighting game originally produced by Midway for the arcades in 1993. It was later ported to multiple home systems, including MS-DOS, Amiga, Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Genesis, 32X, Sega Saturn, Super Nint ...

'' carried. Rather than simply not covering these titles, the on-screen talent of the show would act out gameplay sequences from these games instead. ''The Zone'' was notorious for its low budget; according to one member of the crew, the show was filmed in a disused storage room. The show was cancelled in 1995, after just one year on air. The precise reasons for the cancellation of ''The Zone'' are not known. The final episode made fun of the fact that the show had gotten the axe; however two episodes remain unaired.

Legacy

Due to the aged nature of the content, the potential rights issues concerning footage and the distinct lack of a market, it is unlikely that ''The Zone'' will ever see any sort of official release on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

or other home video formats. However some dedicated fans and former crew have posted episodes of the show on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, usually captured from VHS tapes that were used to record the show on their first airing.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zone (Channel Nine), The Australian non-fiction television series Nine Network original programming 1994 Australian television series debuts 1995 Australian television series endings Television shows set in Australia Television series by Beyond Television Productions Television shows about video games Video gaming in Australia

Overview

Legacy

See also

References

External links