Videogaiden

videoGaiden
Logo used for series 1 and 2
Starring	Robert Florence Richard Rankin Ryan Macleod Kenny Swanston Louise Stewart
Country of origin	Scotland
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	41
Production
Running time	10 mins (Series 1) 30 mins (Series 2) 11-13 mins (Series 3)
Release
Original network	BBC Two Scotland
Original release	December 2005
External links
Website	web.archive.org/web/20080629094300/http://www.consolevania.com:80/
BBC website	www.bbc.co.uk/videogaiden/

VideoGaiden is a Scottish computer games television show that was broadcast by BBC Two Scotland. Its creators and presenters, Robert Florence ("Rab") and Ryan Macleod, were responsible for the internet-distributed videogaming show Consolevania, upon which the show is based.

The show began as six ten-minute episodes on BBC Two Scotland, broadcast at around midnight on Fridays starting in December 2005. The episodes were also able to be viewed online from the BBC's web site. A second series, consisting of six half-hour episodes, was commissioned by popular demand and began broadcast on Sunday 5 November 2006 at 11:10pm, with episodes once again available on the BBC's website. A third series consisting of eighteen weekly 11-minute online episodes began in December 2007, with three half-hour TV specials episodes also being produced. A Christmas special aired on 23 December 2007.

A fourth series of the show was announced on December 31, 2015. Series 4 began in March 2016, and consists of six online episodes and one televised special.

Gaiden (外伝) is a Japanese word meaning 'side-story'; its use in the show's title is most likely a reference to Ninja Gaiden, a cult classic videogame known for its unforgiving difficulty level.

Each episode opened with a brief satirical mention of the show's status within the BBC and the feedback it has received. This was typically followed by the first of many discursive game reviews. These featured one of the two lead presenters walking around an indoor or outdoor setting discussing the game in question. Footage from the game was superimposed on background objects and occasionally cut to directly during the discussion.

Somewhat in keeping with the way in which Consolevania was shot on MiniDV, the majority of series was filmed on a Sony HVR-Z1U [1]. This small scale camera made in possible to shoot series in 16:9, but without an expensive DigiBeta kit and crew; something that the small production budget would not allow.

Recurring features unique to the first series were sketches about terrible videogames pitches (for example "Black and White Minstrel Show 2006"), Glasgow hard-man Barry Anoki reporting on videogames news, and "Devco", a soap about videogame development. The "Gaiden Top 100" was ostensibly a series of talking-head interviews on the best games of all time, but in fact provided thinly veiled mockery or game-inspired jokes.