2000s Game Show Is Getting a Reboot

G4 TV’s Arena was a popular game show series that featured two teams competing against one another in multiplayer video games. Now, the show is seemingly returning. In a recent post on G4’s LinkedIn, the network teased that reboot was on the way. In a graphic that also promotes Name Your Price and the brand’s recent partnership with Smosh, Arena is displayed with a photo of Xavier Woods (a.k.a. Austin Creed), the WWE Superstar who is also one of the rebooted network’s personalities. While WWE and G4 previously revealed they’d be working on a show together, it is unclear if Arena is that show. No other information on the Arena reboot is available.

The show’s format showcased teams playing against each other in the multiplayer video game of the time in the form of a LAN party, with episodes of the series featuring a continuing tournament format. In some cases, video games overlap with popular games such as Unreal Tournament 2004 and Call of Duty. Members of each team were also given a chance to discuss themselves and explain the inspiration behind their team names. Game freaks may be happy up hear that the show, which aired from 2002 to 2005, is making a comeback. The original show was hosted by Wil Wheaton and Travis Oates. Both hosts left due to conflicts with the program’s producer, Jim Downs. Wheaton in a Slashdot had no problems discussing their creative differences publicly. They were eventually replaced by Lee Reherman and Michael Louden Louden would then be replaced by Kevin Pereira. 

All of the hosts had their own level of popularity before getting the hosting gig on the game show. Wheaton is best known for playing Wesley Crusher in the tv phenomenon Star Trek: The Next Generation. Reherman played one of the “Gladiators” named Hawk in the original 1989-1996 version of American Gladiators. As for Pereira, he hosted G4’s Attack of the Show!, and eventually when on to host the show’s current reboot and its spinoffs Vibe Check and The Loop. He was also the host of the game competition series Let’s Ask America and the truTV show Hack My Life.

Let’s Ask America was a game show where the players used Skype and webcams to compete for a cash prize by answering questions posed to people all across America. There were three rounds, as well as a bonus round. Outside of airing in the U.S., there was also a version that aired in France, Arabia, and the Philippines. A local show also began airing in Cincinnati, Ohio beginning in 2014 by Bob Goen.