If you’ll permit me this slightly off-tangent indulgence, I’d like to bid a fond adieu to indie games show Consolevania, whose last episode was released today, and can be downloaded here. There’s little content in this particular vid pertaining directly to Nintendo (save for a nod to World of Goo in its ‘Best of 2008′ list), but for my money, this - along with BBC Scotland offshoot videoGaiden - is (or rather was) the best games TV show you never saw, and so is more than worthy of a brief eulogy.

Always frank, funny, brutally honest, and clearly deliriously in love with the wonderful medium we call videogames, Consolevania was the brainchild of Rab Florence and Ryan McLeod, two likeable Glaswegians with a sharp sense of humour, who crafted a ramshackle but genuinely hilarious show which celebrated gaming perhaps better than any other program ever has. The final show carries a slightly apologetic tone, as Rab suggests he’s not proud of the verbal batterings he’s dealt out to certain games over the years. But while these were undeniably amusing, Consolevania was never about scathing reviews. Instead, it revelled in gaming’s inherent daftness, embracing its glorious idiosyncrasies, and evangelising about its most transcendental moments. Some of the best Consolevania pieces had me buying games I never otherwise would have considered. Its review of God Hand remains one of my favourite videogame critiques of all time, and the show’s enthusiastic appraisal of Super Mario Galaxy - “a wee fat man in space having the time of his life” - was another highlight.

I had wondered whether the show was due for a renaissance recently after an endorsement from the Guardian Guide - a Saturday supplement of unquestionably good taste, clearly - but if Rab’s insistence that the show’s hectic schedule had led the team to fall out of love with gaming, even if only for a short time, then it was best for Team CV to bow out. The final show’s well worth a watch, and if you’ve managed to miss it and wonder what the fuss is all about, you can download episodes from the official site, with special streaming versions you can watch on your Wii here, here and here.

So long then, Consolevania. WiiWii shall miss you.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 at 4:30 pm by Chris Schilling
Columns & Opinion, Surprises, Video, sadness.