07Aug2010
Aussie Weekend Replay: “Hot Seat” and the Heart Rate Meter
We'll be doing a few Australian features this weekend. Wanted to focus on Hot Seat today. It's a standard episode, really. And given the big secrecy and excitement about what's going on with the American version of Millionaire, it's always fun to check around and see what other countries do for fun. Big money is on the line for the contestant in the video. We see a $100,000 question. While that's OK, the more interesting thing is the newest addition to the show. They are now strapping contestants to a heart rate monitor to each contestant to see how they are doing stress wise. Check out a video of it after the break.
Read MoreView Comments (3)26Jun2010
Weekend Replay: “Hot Seat” For $50,000
Any time I've posted a video of the hit Australian game show Hot Seat, a pretty good spin off of Millionaire, it's typically a $1,000,000 moment and it's pretty well known it's going to be a loss or it would have been known by someone. Let's try to mix it up. The contestant at the end of this clip faces one question for $50,000. Will the contestant win it, or will they be leaving with $1,000 instead? Check it out after the break. It's an exciting finish.
Read MoreLeave a Comment19Jun2010
“Millionaire: Hot Seat” Asks Third $1,000,000 Question Ever
The popular Australian spin-off of Who Wants to be a Millionaire called Hot Seat seems to be pretty dividing. It's clearly not the greatest game on earth but it's hard to deny there are some extremely exciting finishes. One of these situations comes from last Monday's episode. Contestant Paul Wolfenden entered the Hot Seat in the middle of the game and worked his way up through the chain. He became the third person ever to see the $1,000,000 question. Remember: in this version there is no walking away and no lifelines. Can he win the $1,000,0000? Or is he going to drop from $250,000 back to $1,000 (and remember, he can't walk away). Find out below.
Read MoreView Comments (2)05Jun2010
Weekend Replay: Big Winner on Aussie “Deal or No Deal”
The Australian version of Deal or No Deal has been on the air for seven years daily now and they've only had one $200,000 grand prize civilian winner. That was far back in 2004. They had a celebrity win $200,000 in 2007, but it's more exciting to see a regular player win.
Read MoreView Comments (15)28Mar2010
Weekend Replay: Intense “Hot Seat”
Continuing our accidental weekend of Millionaire, we're moving to Australia and their popular spinoff Hot Seat. I've said it before, but for repetition's sake here we go again: despite my initial fears the show is warming up to me. It's just Millionaire in a different package. And frankly the package tends to be more exciting than the US version is. Take this episode for example. The show can screw good contestants over occasionally and force them to take random guesses with no strategy, but it's hard to deny this is the most exciting episode of any version of Millionaire that has aired in a very long time. Not to mention the host, Eddie McGuire, is fantastic; it's got a nice set; and the game just flows and plays well. It's got a ni
Read MoreView Comments (39)14Mar2010
Weekend Replay: “Millionaire: Hot Seat”
Our next international video this weekend comes from Australia. It's a recent episode of the Who Wants to be a Millionaire spinoff called Hot Seat. We covered it when it first came out, and I bashed it a bit. At first glance, and after watching the first episode or two, I thought it was just a poor attempt to cash in on the Millionaire name. I've watched a lot more of it since, and I've changed my mind a bit. I'm actually starting to enjoy it quite a bit. Part of it is from host Eddie McGuire, who does a fantastic job. Another part is that the game is just flat out enjoyable. It's got the spirit of Millionaire with a new filler and it's still one of the better new quiz shows to come out this decade. [stream provider=video flv=x:/flashgameshows.com/wordpress/videos/hotseatpart1.flv img=x:/flashgameshows.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/hotseatpart1.jpg mp4=x:/flashgameshows.com/wordpress/videos/hotseatpart1.m4v embed=false share=false width=642 height=352 dock=true controlbar=over bandwidth=high autostart=false /] (more...)
Read MoreView Comments (18)21Feb2010
Weekend Replay: Aussie “Deal or No Deal”
We've finally got an exciting and/or interesting clip to show you for this week's Weekend Replay! We're going abroad this time, over to Australia and their edition of Deal or No Deal. Aussie Deal has been going strongly daily since 2004. It's come under incredible competition recently from the Who Wants to be a Millionaire spinoff Hot Seat, but it's still doing well. It's essentially the same format as ours. The top prize is $200,000 and the people holding the cases get to guess what is inside them for a $500 prize, much like the Dutch version. Where it becomes different (and superior) to ours is the variety of sub-games they have. One is Chance, where a player who has previously taken a Deal and plays the "What Would Have Happened" ending down to two cases has the option to give back the Deal to open his or her case. The British use this as "Banker's Gamble".
Read MoreView Comments (13)15Nov2009
Weekend Replay: “Millionaire Hot Seat”
I may have not been the biggest fan of the Australian version of Millionaire called Hot Seat, but it's grown on me a bit. Plus it's really hard to argue that it doesn't work. It's regularly right beside if not beating Deal or No Deal down under each night so apparently it's enjoyable. But the fact still remains that the show makes it so the first 14 questions of the game matter to nothing. All that matters is that final 15th question worth whatever prize money is left. Yeah, it can lead to some rather crappy endings for little money. On occasion it can lead to someone playing for a monster prize of $250,000 or $1,000,000, though, and that's always exciting. Here's a clip of a contestant going for the quarter of a million dollar prize from a recent episode.
Read MoreView Comments (2)24Oct2009
BuzzerVision: Wipeout Australia
Wipeout Australia is basically exactly like US Wipeout and Total Wipeout, just with Australians. And if you don't know what Wipeout is, clearly, you've been living under a rock or something. Anyhow, I present to you two clips from what could be considered the best episode in Wipeout history (yes, for all three versions). In the first clip, a double Sweeper arm can do some interesting things; in the second, an extraordinary finish to the Dizzy Dummy round. EDIT: Hey, these actually work now. [stream flv=x:/flashgameshows.com/wordpress/videos/WipeAus1.flv width=420 height=240 img=x:/flashgameshows.com/wordpress/videos/WipeAus.jpg bandwidth=med mp4=x:/flashgameshows.com/wordpress/videos/WipeAus1.m4v /] [stream flv=x:/flashgameshows.com/wordpress/videos/WipeAus2.flv width=420 height=240 img=x:/flashgameshows.com/wordpress/videos/WipeAus.jpg bandwidth=med mp4=x:/flashgameshows.com/wordpress/videos/WipeAus2.m4v /]
Read MoreView Comments (5)11Aug2009
Australian “Millionaire: Hot Seat” $250,000 Attempt
While we here are celebrating Who Wants to be a Millionaire's 10th anniversary on ABC and getting frustrated by Regis nearly costing people $100 questions night after night, Australia's Millionaire: Hot Seat is amazing me and doing well. If you don't know about the show, six people play the game. One person sits in the seat at a time. If a question is answered right they move up the chain but if they get a wrong answer he or she is out of the game and the highest value on the chain is eliminated. Each player has a Pass they can use just once. Whoever answers the 15th question correct gets whatever value he or she is on. I'm not a fan because they really took a different game and shoved the Millionaire branding on it. I figured it would fail because of it, but I was really wrong as it's catching up to Deal or No Deal in Australia. Here's a recent moment from the show that shows everything I don't like about the format. The contestant has not been in the seat the entire show and by the grace of others missing all he has to do is answer one question during
Read MoreView Comments (8)23May2009
Weekend Replay Part 1: “Millionaire Hot Seat”
We've got two videos for you this weekend. One is from the new British game show Divided which I'm sure will, aptly, divide the crowd here. But first here's one that seems to be pretty unanimous in its opinions: it's Australia's new show Millionaire Hot Seat. It's actually been remotely popular and got picked up for more episodes. I say remotely popular because it's still being beaten by Deal or No Deal by a decent amount, but it hasn't been as god awful in the ratings as anything else has for them. People will tune into anything with the word Millionaire apparently. I left out the first part since it's really boring. Here are the final two parts.
Read MoreView Comments (4)26Apr2009
Weekend Replay: Full Episode of “Millionaire: Hot Seat”
It's been Millionaire mania around here the past few days. The show seems to be booming this year. We posted the first bit of Australia's Millionaire spinoff called Hot Seat early last week. The show was competing directly against Deal or No Deal down under, and Deal is winning the battle. Find out why as you can watch the rest of the episode right here. The entire show just gives a feeling of, "eh". Too soon.
Read MoreView Comments (14)20Apr2009
Debut Episode of Australia’s “Millionaire Hot Seat”
We've talked a lot about the new spin-off of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? called Hot Seat. It finally aired today and we've got a video of it. Luckily they changed the money chain at the last second so it's not so unbearably cheap. The top five figures are now $20,000; $50,000; $100,000; $250,000; $1,000,000. It's a huge improvement from the $15,000; $25,000; $50,000; $250,000; $1,000,000 that it was originally. They redid the theme music a bit (with a really annoying bass slide before each cue), there are some set changes like the information tickers on every other show on the planet these days and the logo planted in more places. The most hysterical change is the Hot Seat itself. It's absolutely puny right now. It's amusingly small. But regardless, take a look. It didn't turn out as bad as I figured, but it's still something I'd rather not see us take over permanently.
Read MoreView Comments (8)09Apr2009
Specifics on “Millionaire: Hot Seat”
All the people that complain about the clock and new editions to this season of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? should really thank Michael Davies personally that we're not getting the new edition that 2waytraffic is shopping around called Millionaire: Hot Seat. We've discussed it briefly before. Thanks to a commenter, we got the specific rules to the show. It's tough to screw up Millionaire but 2waytraffic and Australia's Channel Nine have done it amazingly. We've gone over the rules previously. Six players, all in a line of chairs. The first in line comes to the Hot Seat. If the player gets the question right, he or she stays on and moves up the money chain like normal. If the player gets the question wrong, that player is eliminated from the game, the next player in line comes to the Hot Seat, and the top dollar value on the money chain drops off. Each player has a "Pass" lifeline to use, where they can pass the question to the next player in line, and the player who used the "Pass" moves to the back of the line. A wrong answer just eliminates the
Read MoreView Comments (17)08Apr2009
“Millionaire: Hot Seat” Comes to Australia in Two Weeks
Since production company 2waytraffic has taken control of the hit quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, they've been toying around with different ways to implement and use the format. The first was a spinoff called 50:50 which was based around that Lineline and, quite frankly, blew. The newest comes from a trial run in Italy but Australia as well as others have picked it up. It's the new fast paced, multiplayer edition of the show called Millionaire: Hot Seat. For our Australian friends, the show debuts Monday, April 20th, at 5:30PM on Channel Nine, directly against Deal or No Deal. Deal's been a steamroller for basically anything else in its path so we'll see how this does. For the non-Aussie friends, the rules. Six players line up to play the game. Same 15 question chain to $1,000,000. The player out in the Hot Seat answers questions under a time limit like before: 15 seconds for the first five, 30 for six through ten, and 45 for the final questions with an appropriate amount of time for the final one. No walking away. If the player is wrong, t
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