Friday, January 8, 2021, marks the end of an era for American television. That's when TV stations around the country air the final episode of Jeopardy! featuring Alex Trebek as host. Since relaunching Jeopardy! as a syndicated game show in 1984, Trebek emceed thousands of episodes until just before his death from cancer in November.
Accordingly, Friday may also mark the end of an era for one of video gaming's most enduring franchises (and for Trebek as an enduring digital gaming personality rivaling football's John Madden). Since the first PC releases of Jeopardy! in 1987, there have been more than 40 distinct video game versions of the quiz show released across at least 27 different platforms (that includes 'Sports Edition' spin-offs and the like). That's an impressive run that spans the space between the Apple II and the PlayStation 5, crossing on the way into curiosities like the CD-i, Tiger Game.com, Google Assistant, and Facebook (the last of which is no longer available to play in any form but is still captured in contemporary coverage).
It's rare for a single gaming brand to encompass so much of gaming's short history. That’s especially true for a licensed brand that's not controlled by a single company—GameTek, Rare, Hasbro, Atari, Sony, THQ, and Ubisoft have all been attached to Jeopardy! games over the years. It's even odder to see an enduring video game franchise where the basic answer-and-question gameplay remains almost entirely unchanged over a three-plus-decade span (though some developers have done their best to tinker at the margins).
To mark the end of the Alex Trebek era, I've spent the past few weeks playing and examining as many Jeopardy! video games as I could. The result has been a fascinating trip through video game history and an interesting encapsulation of how video game technology and design have evolved over 30+ years.
And now, here is the host of Jeopardy..
Believe it or not, Alex Trebek's comforting face wasn't always a part of video game Jeopardy! The very first versions of the game in the late '80s appeared on the Apple II, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and NES without an on-screen host at all. Instead, the presentation focused on the contestant avatars and the screen-filling question board.
Game Categories. 2 Player 3D Action Adventure Alien American Football Android Arcade Award Award Series Awesome Basketball Buzz Card Christmas Crazy Credits Cricket Destruction Dress Up Driving & Parking Extreme Sports Fantasy Fighting Fireboy and Watergirl Flying Football Golf Halloween Holidays Hot Games IO iPhone Latest Made in the USA. “People said that video games were bad because they made you numb to death, made you register entrails splattering across a screen as a sign of success. In that moment, Val thought that the real problem with games was that the player was suppossed to try everything. If there was a cave, you went in it. Iplay is a premiere destination for PC game downloads. Over 2500 games, including action, arcade, adventure, hidden object, time management and simulation!
Advertisement It's not until 1991's Super Jeopardy! that publisher GameTek bothered to add an on-screen host at all. But even then, the developers eschewed Trebek in favor of an unnamed, big-headed, square-chinned host with a huge, goofy grin. I've taken to referring to this Trebek replacement (and his twin appearing in the Game Boy versions through 1996) as Guy Smiley, after the excitable muppet he resembles.
Trebek would have to wait for the 16-bit era for his digital debut, when he was finally rendered as full-screen pixel art with extremely limited animation (this was also the first time he appeared on video game box art). Both the SNES and Genesis versions even feature identifiable digitized speech samples of Alex saying things like, 'Here are the categories,' or 'You are correct' or 'Sorry..'
Considering the small size (and large cost) of game cartridge memory in those days, those speech samples were a significant indulgence from the developers. Even the tiny Game Gear version continued the tradition with a few surprisingly coherent digitized speech samples.
The mid-’90s start of the CD-ROM era would bring even greater amounts of Trebek into our virtual lives. Both the Sega CD and CD-i versions of the game featured a very grainy digitized video of Alex walking onto the stage and welcoming us with a 'Let's play Jeopardy!' The expanded CD storage also meant a lot more of Alex's voice, with short loading pauses prefacing phrases like, 'For $300, here is the clue,' or 'For game rules, select Help!' (it's truly a wonder that last one never became his catch phrase).
In the CD-i version, you can even hear Alex address you by name.. if your name happens to be among hundreds of canned recorded selections. Reading all those names must have been a fun recording session for Trebek in the ‘90s.
In the new millennium, digital Trebek would continue to change with the times. On the PS2, he appeared in full-screen DVD-quality video for the first time in a game. On the Wii and Nintendo DS, he appeared as a big-headed Mii-like avatar, aping the popular style of the time. On the Xbox 360, he resembled the system's gaunt, cartoony 'Avatars' (remember those?).
Advertisement Starting with the Wii version, Alex also started reading the thousands of clues included in the game (announcer Johnny Gilbert or a sound-alike read clues in many previous CD-ROM editions). That was an important addition that helped digital Jeopardy! hew more closely to the pace and feeling of the TV show's presentation.
Let's play Jeopardy!
Converting the game show basics of Jeopardy! into a video game probably seems simple, right? Just present the clue (aka 'the answer') on screen and ask the player to provide the response (aka 'the question'), right? In practice, though, there are dozens of little gameplay and presentation decisions that affect how a digital game of Jeopardy! has worked over the years.How do you represent the human players and/or computer opponents onscreen, for instance? Most versions of the game allow you to select from six to 10 different avatars, from cartoony drawings on the NES to black-and-white digitized photo horrors on the Game.com. But some versions (CD-i, Playstation/PS2, PS4/Xbox 360/Switch) don't feature any player avatars at all. Others, like the Wii and Nintendo DS, offer full-fledged Mii-style character creators for practically endless variety.
The canned avatar options usually present a decent variety of skin tones, ages, clothing, and male/female options available to choose from. The one exception is the Game Gear version, which for some reason only offers pasty, white avatars (and before you suggest it, other versions managed more onscreen diversity with much more limited hardware color palettes).
Early Jeopardy! games seemed really enamored with these avatars, to the point where they’d pause the proceedings for upwards of seven seconds for a canned animation after a player buzzed in or gave a response. This perhaps reached its apex on the Sega CD, where the onscreen avatars repeat the same five-second canned video loops to accept unseen applause (or hang their heads to sad 'awwws' from the audience) after every response.
Text entry becomes an issue once you move away from the PC keyboard and into the console space. The makers of video game Jeopardy! can't seem to agree on the best way to show an on-screen keyboard (OSK)—options range from the Game.com's full QWERTY setup to a single horizontal alphabetical line on the SNES and PlayStation 2. Regardless of the layout, clicking through an onscreen keyboard is a laborious and time-intensive process, made worse in many versions by slow controller response times and annoying 'clicky' sound effects.
Editor's note: This story was originally published on Dec. 16, 2020. The Houston Rockets have traded James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets, sources tell ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne.
THE HOUSTON ROCKETS' culture in the James Harden era, which bridges two owners and now four head coaches, might be best summed up by a former staffer's three words:
'Whatever James wants.'
Unless they were on the front end of a back-to-back set, it was essentially a sure thing that the Rockets stayed overnight -- or even an extra day -- after games in Los Angeles, Phoenix and other road cities that rank among Harden's favorite stops.
If the Rockets had two or three days between games, it was a good bet Harden would call for an off day and charter a private jet to party in Las Vegas or another city. Minecraft pe release date. He always gets an excused absence from the first practice after the All-Star break for the same reason.
'Just James being James,' those currently within the franchise say. But these circumstances are drastically different than at any previous point of the perennial All-Star's eight-year Houston tenure.
Harden has pushed the Rockets to upgrade every offseason, saying he would want to be traded if they couldn't contend, sources said. And he had final say on things beyond just travel and practice schedules as well. He could call the shots on personnel moves, both on the roster and the coaching staff, a power he flexed to push for the firing of head coach Kevin McHale and departures of co-stars Dwight Howard and Chris Paul, sources said.
And the Rockets considered it good business to do what Harden wanted to keep a historically elite player happy. But when Harden tried to rush the Rockets to trade him in recent weeks despite the lack of an offer that they considered fair value, it wasn't the annual ultimatum for improvement. It was something more.
By leaving the Rockets twisting in the wind while camp opened with little communication, Harden made his absence the focus of rookie head coach Stephen Silas' first days of practice. And by blowing off the NBA's COVID-19 protocols, partying maskless during the pandemic and boasting about it on Instagram, Harden revealed what could come if he doesn't get his way.
'Yeah, he's going to act up,' a former Rockets staffer said.
'He's never heard 'no' before.'
Teams that can make real offers for James Harden
MULTIPLE ROCKETS OFFICIALS acknowledge that the entire organization has been 'complicit' in the culture that has been created over the past eight years.
'We knew who the boss of the organization was,' a former Rockets assistant coach said. 'That's just part of what the deal was when you go to Houston. The players, coaches, GM, owner all know.
'I don't blame James. I blame the organization. It's not his fault. He did what they allowed him to do.'
Yet there is not a consensus among current and former Rockets officials and staffers that empowering Harden to such extremes was the wrong path. The Rockets were trending toward NBA irrelevancy before Harden's arrival in Houston, missing the playoffs each of the previous three seasons.
Former Rockets general manager Daryl Morey took a calculated risk in projecting that the reigning Sixth Man of the Year would become a bona fide superstar when he shipped Kevin Martin, then-rookie lottery pick Jeremy Lamb and a package of NBA draft picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Harden. The Rockets haven't missed the playoffs since, the only franchise that can make that claim.
Houston hasn't accomplished its ultimate goal during its run with Harden, advancing to the Western Conference finals twice but never past that point. But the brilliance of Harden, the 2017-18 MVP and a top-three finisher in the balloting four other times over the past six years, provided Houston realistic hope of contending that only a handful of teams have each season.
He's also one of the sport's most durable stars, routinely ranking among the league leaders in minutes and often playing through injuries such as sprained ankles and shoulder bruises that would cause other players to rest. All these things made it easy for the Rockets to look the other way when it came to Harden's hard-living lifestyle.
'If they have multiple days off, everybody knows: James is going to fly somewhere else and party,' a member of last season's coaching staff said. 'But he's going to come back and have a 50-point triple-double, so they're OK with it.'
But the lack of discipline and attention to detail hasn't been OK with Paul and Russell Westbrook, ultimately leading to breakups between Harden and those two stars.
The peak of the franchise's Harden era came during Paul's first season in Houston, when the Rockets had a league-best 65 wins during the regular season and built a 3-2 lead over the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals. But the Rockets lost the last two games of that series with Paul sidelined -- 'a hamstring away' is a phrase that will forever haunt Houston fans -- and the chemistry between the ball-dominant co-stars blew up the following season.
One of Paul's biggest beefs, sources said, was that Harden basically opted not to participate in the Rockets' offense when the ball wasn't in his hands, sometimes barely stepping over half court while spectating when Paul had the ball. Harden quickly tired of Paul barking about his concerns, which included lobbying coach Mike D'Antoni to implement more structure and movement in an offensive system that revolved around Harden's isolations, sources said.
Rockets management believed those issues could be ironed out and wanted to run it back with the Harden-Paul duo last season. Those plans changed as soon as Westbrook became available.
Harden insisted the Rockets get the deal done, saying he'd demand a trade if they didn't find a way to bring his childhood friend and former OKC teammate to Houston, sources said. The Rockets paid a price that was considered steep at the time -- Paul, 2024 and 2026 first-round picks, and swap rights in 2021 and 2025.
Sources said Westbrook frequently expressed his displeasure during the season with not being able to 'play my game,' as he put it. There were questions about the Harden-Westbrook fit when they were pushing to play together again, including D'Antoni privately expressing his concerns, sources said.
Those concerns were quieted, internally and externally, when Westbrook thrived after the Rockets' switch to small ball opened up the floor. He averaged 32.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game while shooting 53.1% from the floor over a two-month span before the coronavirus pandemic halted the season.
HOUSTON'S CASUAL CULTURE appalled Westbrook. In Oklahoma City, despite the fact that he enjoyed the same sort of superstar privileges as Harden has had in Houston, the Thunder operated with the discipline of a military unit under Westbrook's watch. The Rockets were a stark contrast, especially last season under D'Antoni, who was never known as a disciplinarian and who was a lame duck in the last year of his contract after extension negotiations infamously fizzled twice over the summer.
Westbrook didn't tolerate tardiness. With the Rockets, scheduled departure times were treated as mere suggestions by Harden and others.
Io Card Games
'Nothing ever starts on time,' a former Rockets staffer said. 'The plane is always late. The bus is never on time. .. It's just an organized AAU team.'
No I Said Game
On one occasion in the Florida bubble, Harden waited to get his daily COVID-19 testing until just before the Rockets' film session was scheduled to start. When he wasn't on time, Westbrook barked, 'Start the film! Start without him!' D'Antoni explained that they'd just have to start over when Harden arrived, which didn't do much to calm Westbrook.
Whether Westbrook or Harden wanted out first isn't clear, but they no longer wanted to play together, a season after the Rockets mortgaged their draft future to make it happen.
Free Bingo Aol
Morey, the man who negotiated that deal with owner Tilman Fertitta's approval, made his exit before either star asked to be traded. Rafael Stone, who was promoted to general manager after Morey's resignation and move to become president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers, was left to deal with the messy aftermath.
As one high-ranking Rockets source told ESPN in November, the franchise was 'willing to get uncomfortable' by going into the season with disgruntled superstars on the roster. The Rockets ended up trading Westbrook just before camp opened, sending him to the Washington Wizards for John Wall (fresh off a two-year injury layoff) and a protected future first-round pick, an admission that the previous offseason's deal to acquire Westbrook was a disastrous decision. Warfare games pc.
But Houston has its heels dug in regarding Harden, refusing at this point to consider an offer unless it includes a young franchise cornerstone and a bundle of first-round picks and/or promising players on rookie deals. Sources say Harden, who had been singularly focused on trying to force his way to the Brooklyn Nets, has indicated to the Rockets that he would be agreeable to a trade to the 76ers or other select contenders.
After the Rockets let it be known they would not be swayed by unhappiness, Harden delayed his arrival to camp, instead choosing to hang out with rapper Lil Baby -- gifting his friend a Prada bag stuffed with honey buns, a $100,000 brick of cash (aka a 'Honey Bun') and a Richard Mille watch worth well into six figures for Lil Baby's birthday -- while leaving Silas hanging.
I Said Games Games
Harden reported to the Rockets on Dec. 8, a week after his teammates, tested negative for the coronavirus for an NBA-mandated six consecutive days and finally practiced with the team on Monday. He had a 'good conversation' about basketball strategy with Silas, according to the coach, who had minimal communication with his point guard until that point.
On Wednesday, Harden spoke to the media for the first time since his late arrival to training camp but did not directly answer questions about his desire to be traded.
The Rockets hope Harden, who played 21 minutes in Tuesday's preseason victory over the San Antonio Spurs, will be professional as they patiently explore the trade market, searching for a deal that wouldn't doom the franchise to a long, painful rebuild.
'You can't get mad at your kid if you let him eat candy every night and then suddenly one night you don't and they throw a tantrum,' an ex-Houston assistant coach said. 'You're the one who let them eat candy every night.
Funny Who Said It Questions
'The Rockets turned the organization over to James, and now they have to live with the fallout.'