Arena

Arena was a G4/G4techTV TV show about competitive gaming which aired from 2002 to 2004. The program's format featured teams taking on each other in the multiplayer video games of the time in the form of a LAN party. Many episodes of the series revolved around a continuing tournament format. Some video games overlap episodes, such as Unreal Tournament 2004 and Call of Duty. Teams are also given a chance to talk about themselves and explain the origin of their team name. Team ZoMBiE won the Tournament of Champions in 2004 to become the Ultimate Arena Champions. Team Kaizen won the Tournament of Champions in 2005 to become the Ultimate Arena Champions. The show was originally hosted by Wil Wheaton and Travis Oates, but both hosts left due to conflicts with the program's producer, Jim Downs, of which many were made public by Wheaton in a Slashdot posting. They were replaced by Lee Reherman and Michael Louden. The final hosts were Reherman and Kevin Pereira. The first two seasons were filmed in studio 2. In 2004, for the shows' third and final season, filming moved into studio 3, which was the largest studio in G4's old headquarters. When word of the TechTV buyout became public, and the show was going to be cancelled as a result, the series banked several episodes, and then scrapped the set in July 2004 to make way for X-Play, The Screen Savers, and Unscrewed with Martin Sargent, three former TechTV properties.

Directed by —, Arena leans on a strong ensemble — Wil Wheaton, Lee Reherman, Kevin Pereira — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The series landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about screen titles of 2002.