Video Game High School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"VGHS" redirects here. For other uses, see VGHS (disambiguation).

***Video Game High School*** (often abbreviated ***VGHS***) is an action comedy web series from Rocket Jump Studios. It was written by Matthew Arnold, Will Campos and Brian Firenzi and directed by Matthew Arnold, Brandon Laatsch, and Freddie Wong. Rocket Jump Studios describes the series as "a show about best friends, first loves, and landing that perfect head shot".[1] The team at Rocket Jump chose to make a web series because they "strongly believe the foundations for the future of digitally distributed content will be laid by web series."

Since its release in 2012, the series has acquired a cult following and has been viewed over 150 million times on various online platforms.[2]

## Contents

 [hide]

* 1Premise
* 2Cast
	+ 2.1Main
	+ 2.2Supporting
	+ 2.3Guests and cameos
* 3Production and release
* 4Episodes
* 5References
* 6External links

## Premise[edit]

The series is set in the near future where video gaming elevates its best players to stardom by its position as the world's most popular competitive sport.[3] Video Game High School (VGHS) is an elite and prestigious facility that teaches a curriculum of video games of all genres.

The show's protagonist, BrianD, gains entry to the school after unwittingly defeating "The Law", an international first-person shooterstar, on live television. The show follows BrianD and the friends and enemies he makes at the school, playing on standard tropes of school dramas with a video game background.

The show uses live-action scenes with the characters to show action within the games. The games depicted are inventions of the show, with the first-person shooter depicted named *Field of Fire*.

## Cast[edit]

### Main[edit]

* Josh Blaylock as Brian Doheny (commonly referred to as BrianD), an FPS player and the main protagonist of the series.
* Johanna Braddy as Jennifer Matthews[4] (commonly referred to as Jenny Matrix), sophomore Junior Varsity team captain. She is The Law's girlfriend in season 1, and Brian's love interest and later girlfriend.
* Brian Firenzi as Lawrence Pemberton[5] (commonly referred to as The Law), the world's #1 amateur gamer. He is Jenny Matrix's boyfriend in season 1 and the principal antagonist of the season. In seasons 2 and 3 he becomes a recurring character and takes the role of an anti-hero.
* Ellary Porterfield as Kimberly Swan[6] (commonly referred to as Ki Swan), a video game developer and fighting game specialist who goes to the school to learn more about players. She is Ted's girlfriend and one of Brian's friends.
* Cynthia Watros as Mary Matrix, coach for the FPS Varsity team and Jenny's mother. (Seasons 2 & 3)
* Jimmy Wong as Theodore Wong (commonly referred to as Ted, and occasionally the gamer tag Gr8fulTed), Brian's best friend and the son of Rhythm Gaming teacher Freddie Wong. Ted wants to pursue rhythm gaming to make his father proud of him, though he is more talented at racing games.

### Supporting[edit]

* Chase Williamson as Shane Barnstormer (Seasons 2 & 3) (also goes under the alias Shane Pizza), the head R.A. and eventual class president. He is the main antagonist of seasons two and three, along with his brother Ashley.
* Bryan Forrest as Ashley Barnstormer (Seasons 2 & 3), Shane's fraternal twin brother and the co-antagonist of season three.
* Joey Scoma as Randall Merryweather (goes under the alias Jumpin' Jax), a dim-witted FPS team member.
* Benji Dolly as Games Dean, an FPS gamer with a suave personality.
* Rocky Collins as the Drift King (commonly referred to as D.K.), a senior student and the captain/monarch of the Drift Racing team. In Season 3, Episode 5 he was challenged by Ted for the Drift King title. After Ted is near the finish line, he stops and gives D.K. the voucher that was confiscated by Calhoun. Seeing this happen, he proposes that Ted be the next Drift King after he graduates. Ted rejects this by saying he 'has a career' in selling Napalm Green Corn Dogs at the Napalm Mega Mall as a summer job.
* Joel Dauten as Scott Slanders, co-host of *PwnZwn.*
* Clinton Jones as ShotBot, robot co-host of *PwnZwn.*

* Will Campos as the voice of ShotBot

* Zachary Levi as Ace (Season 1), teacher of FPS 101.
* Harley Morenstein as Dean Ernie Calhoun, a former VGHS student who values the heart of the game itself.
* Brennan Murray as Wendell (Seasons 2 & 3) (gamer tag TacoBoy14), a dorky student and also close friend of Ki. He often helps out with Ki, especially during her election for class president; this also led to the two falling out. However they eventually become friends again.
* Freddie Wong as a fictionalized version of himself. He is a world-famous rhythm gaming expert, teaches rhythm gaming at VGHS, and is the father of Ted Wong. In Season 3, Episode 4 he is killed off after he has a collision while riding his motorbike without a helmet. According to Ted, Freddie had no idea how to ride a motorbike.
* Nathan Kress as New Law (Season 3), who comes into play after The Law is kicked off of Napalm Energy's High School FPS team and is given The Law's I.P. and title. Due to this he is often now referred to as The Law.

### Guests and cameos[edit]

* Matthew Arnold as Zoostcaster[7]
* Cliff Bleszinski as TheJackrabbit[8]
* Meghan Camarena as Rapwnzel[9]
* Will Campos as Buddy Phelps[7]
* Joanna Sotomura as The Duchess Of Kart [10]
* Wesley Chan as K-Pop[7]
* Arden Cho as Korean TV Host[7]
* Maddy Rae Cooper as O'Doyle
* Desmond Dolly as Acid Reflux,[7] Quad Student #2,[7] and Goon 2[8]
* Justine Ezarik as Bella[11]
* Chris Hardwick as Newsanchor[12]
* Tony Hawk as Himself[13]
* John Hennigan as Crazy Napalm Suit[14]
* Clinton Jones as Clint Lockwood[7]
* Brandon Laatsch as Brandon[7]
* Shira Lazar as Rosalie[*citation needed*]
* Stan Lee as Stan L33t[8]
* Tara Macken as Ronin[9]
* Joel McHale as The President of the United States[13]
* Burnie Burns
* Ruben Raul as Criptix (Season 4)
* Ashton Paudi as AshiX (Season 1 & 2)
* Ethan Newberry as Clutch[7][9]
* Conan O'Brien as Newsanchor[13]
* Kara Petersen as Freezerburn[7]
* Noah as Cheeto the Cat[15][16]
* Michael Rousselet as Alliterator[7][9]
* Jon Salmon as Chip Trigger[7]
* Phillip Wang as Oldboy[7]
* Nicole Wyland as Moriarty[7][9]
* LeeAnna Vamp as Esme[7]
* Maureen McCormick as Mrs. Barnstormer[*citation needed*]

## Production and release[edit]

*Video Game High School* is co-created by Freddie Wong, Will Campos, Brian Firenzi and Matt Arnold. In addition to acting as showrunner, Arnold is also a writer, as are Campos and Firenzi (founder of 5secondfilms.com). The series is based on a concept by Campos and Chris Pappavaselio.

The team was able to raise funding for the series through Kickstarter, where they set a funding goal for $75,000 to be raised in a 30-day period. That amount was quickly pledged in less than 24 hours and continued to climb from there. On October 22, 2011, pledging came to a close, with $273,725 raised for the project from 5,661 backers.[3]

Principal photography began on October 25, and ended in late November. The final four days of shooting took place at the Eagle Mountain iron mine and Mojave Desert. Post-production started shortly after and ended in early 2012. The trailer for the series premiered on YouTube on May 11, 2012, on freddiew's channel.[17][18]

Later, the first season of the show was edited into a two-hour movie and released on DVD, Blu-ray and online.

## Episodes[edit]

Main article: List of Video Game High School episodes

Season 1 episodes were released in May, June, and July 2012, first on the RocketJump website, and a week later on YouTube channel "freddiew." People who pledged to the project's fundraiser received HD digital downloads and DVDs. The Kickstarter fundraiser for season 2 ended in February 2013 with the project more than sufficiently funded. The second season was released in July and August 2013.

In July 2013, Freddie Wong said that a third season was being worked on,[19][20] and filming began in March 2014.[21][22] Season 3 episodes were being released once per week starting on October 13, or could be purchased for immediate viewing through Vimeo On Demand which includes 4K HD, HD and SD downloads of the episode(s) purchased.[23]RocketJump announced on October 30 that season 3 would be the last of the series.

Netflix currently streams all 3 seasons of the show, but only season 3 is in 4K UHD, with most episodes doubled up to make individual 30 minute episodes.[24]

# *Video Game High School*

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"VGHS" redirects here. For other uses, see VGHS (disambiguation).

***Video Game High School*** (often abbreviated ***VGHS***) is an action comedy web series from Rocket Jump Studios. It was written by Matthew Arnold, Will Campos and Brian Firenzi and directed by Matthew Arnold, Brandon Laatsch, and Freddie Wong. Rocket Jump Studios describes the series as "a show about best friends, first loves, and landing that perfect head shot".[1] The team at Rocket Jump chose to make a web series because they "strongly believe the foundations for the future of digitally distributed content will be laid by web series."

Since its release in 2012, the series has acquired a cult following and has been viewed over 150 million times on various online platforms.[2]

## Contents

 [hide]

* 1Premise
* 2Cast
	+ 2.1Main
	+ 2.2Supporting
	+ 2.3Guests and cameos
* 3Production and release
* 4Episodes
* 5References
* 6External links

## Premise[edit]

The series is set in the near future where video gaming elevates its best players to stardom by its position as the world's most popular competitive sport.[3] Video Game High School (VGHS) is an elite and prestigious facility that teaches a curriculum of video games of all genres.

The show's protagonist, BrianD, gains entry to the school after unwittingly defeating "The Law", an international first-person shooterstar, on live television. The show follows BrianD and the friends and enemies he makes at the school, playing on standard tropes of school dramas with a video game background.

The show uses live-action scenes with the characters to show action within the games. The games depicted are inventions of the show, with the first-person shooter depicted named *Field of Fire*.

## Cast[edit]

### Main[edit]

* Josh Blaylock as Brian Doheny (commonly referred to as BrianD), an FPS player and the main protagonist of the series.
* Johanna Braddy as Jennifer Matthews[4] (commonly referred to as Jenny Matrix), sophomore Junior Varsity team captain. She is The Law's girlfriend in season 1, and Brian's love interest and later girlfriend.
* Brian Firenzi as Lawrence Pemberton[5] (commonly referred to as The Law), the world's #1 amateur gamer. He is Jenny Matrix's boyfriend in season 1 and the principal antagonist of the season. In seasons 2 and 3 he becomes a recurring character and takes the role of an anti-hero.
* Ellary Porterfield as Kimberly Swan[6] (commonly referred to as Ki Swan), a video game developer and fighting game specialist who goes to the school to learn more about players. She is Ted's girlfriend and one of Brian's friends.
* Cynthia Watros as Mary Matrix, coach for the FPS Varsity team and Jenny's mother. (Seasons 2 & 3)
* Jimmy Wong as Theodore Wong (commonly referred to as Ted, and occasionally the gamer tag Gr8fulTed), Brian's best friend and the son of Rhythm Gaming teacher Freddie Wong. Ted wants to pursue rhythm gaming to make his father proud of him, though he is more talented at racing games.

### Supporting[edit]

* Chase Williamson as Shane Barnstormer (Seasons 2 & 3) (also goes under the alias Shane Pizza), the head R.A. and eventual class president. He is the main antagonist of seasons two and three, along with his brother Ashley.
* Bryan Forrest as Ashley Barnstormer (Seasons 2 & 3), Shane's fraternal twin brother and the co-antagonist of season three.
* Joey Scoma as Randall Merryweather (goes under the alias Jumpin' Jax), a dim-witted FPS team member.
* Benji Dolly as Games Dean, an FPS gamer with a suave personality.
* Rocky Collins as the Drift King (commonly referred to as D.K.), a senior student and the captain/monarch of the Drift Racing team. In Season 3, Episode 5 he was challenged by Ted for the Drift King title. After Ted is near the finish line, he stops and gives D.K. the voucher that was confiscated by Calhoun. Seeing this happen, he proposes that Ted be the next Drift King after he graduates. Ted rejects this by saying he 'has a career' in selling Napalm Green Corn Dogs at the Napalm Mega Mall as a summer job.
* Joel Dauten as Scott Slanders, co-host of *PwnZwn.*
* Clinton Jones as ShotBot, robot co-host of *PwnZwn.*

* Will Campos as the voice of ShotBot

* Zachary Levi as Ace (Season 1), teacher of FPS 101.
* Harley Morenstein as Dean Ernie Calhoun, a former VGHS student who values the heart of the game itself.
* Brennan Murray as Wendell (Seasons 2 & 3) (gamer tag TacoBoy14), a dorky student and also close friend of Ki. He often helps out with Ki, especially during her election for class president; this also led to the two falling out. However they eventually become friends again.
* Freddie Wong as a fictionalized version of himself. He is a world-famous rhythm gaming expert, teaches rhythm gaming at VGHS, and is the father of Ted Wong. In Season 3, Episode 4 he is killed off after he has a collision while riding his motorbike without a helmet. According to Ted, Freddie had no idea how to ride a motorbike.
* Nathan Kress as New Law (Season 3), who comes into play after The Law is kicked off of Napalm Energy's High School FPS team and is given The Law's I.P. and title. Due to this he is often now referred to as The Law.

### Guests and cameos[edit]

* Matthew Arnold as Zoostcaster[7]
* Cliff Bleszinski as TheJackrabbit[8]
* Meghan Camarena as Rapwnzel[9]
* Will Campos as Buddy Phelps[7]
* Joanna Sotomura as The Duchess Of Kart [10]
* Wesley Chan as K-Pop[7]
* Arden Cho as Korean TV Host[7]
* Maddy Rae Cooper as O'Doyle
* Desmond Dolly as Acid Reflux,[7] Quad Student #2,[7] and Goon 2[8]
* Justine Ezarik as Bella[11]
* Chris Hardwick as Newsanchor[12]
* Tony Hawk as Himself[13]
* John Hennigan as Crazy Napalm Suit[14]
* Clinton Jones as Clint Lockwood[7]
* Brandon Laatsch as Brandon[7]
* Shira Lazar as Rosalie[*citation needed*]
* Stan Lee as Stan L33t[8]
* Tara Macken as Ronin[9]
* Joel McHale as The President of the United States[13]
* Burnie Burns
* Ruben Raul as Criptix (Season 4)
* Ashton Paudi as AshiX (Season 1 & 2)
* Ethan Newberry as Clutch[7][9]
* Conan O'Brien as Newsanchor[13]
* Kara Petersen as Freezerburn[7]
* Noah as Cheeto the Cat[15][16]
* Michael Rousselet as Alliterator[7][9]
* Jon Salmon as Chip Trigger[7]
* Phillip Wang as Oldboy[7]
* Nicole Wyland as Moriarty[7][9]
* LeeAnna Vamp as Esme[7]
* Maureen McCormick as Mrs. Barnstormer[*citation needed*]

## Production and release[edit]

*Video Game High School* is co-created by Freddie Wong, Will Campos, Brian Firenzi and Matt Arnold. In addition to acting as showrunner, Arnold is also a writer, as are Campos and Firenzi (founder of 5secondfilms.com). The series is based on a concept by Campos and Chris Pappavaselio.

The team was able to raise funding for the series through Kickstarter, where they set a funding goal for $75,000 to be raised in a 30-day period. That amount was quickly pledged in less than 24 hours and continued to climb from there. On October 22, 2011, pledging came to a close, with $273,725 raised for the project from 5,661 backers.[3]

Principal photography began on October 25, and ended in late November. The final four days of shooting took place at the Eagle Mountain iron mine and Mojave Desert. Post-production started shortly after and ended in early 2012. The trailer for the series premiered on YouTube on May 11, 2012, on freddiew's channel.[17][18]

Later, the first season of the show was edited into a two-hour movie and released on DVD, Blu-ray and online.

## Episodes[edit]

Main article: List of Video Game High School episodes

Season 1 episodes were released in May, June, and July 2012, first on the RocketJump website, and a week later on YouTube channel "freddiew." People who pledged to the project's fundraiser received HD digital downloads and DVDs. The Kickstarter fundraiser for season 2 ended in February 2013 with the project more than sufficiently funded. The second season was released in July and August 2013.

In July 2013, Freddie Wong said that a third season was being worked on,[19][20] and filming began in March 2014.[21][22] Season 3 episodes were being released once per week starting on October 13, or could be purchased for immediate viewing through Vimeo On Demand which includes 4K HD, HD and SD downloads of the episode(s) purchased.[23]RocketJump announced on October 30 that season 3 would be the last of the series.

Netflix currently streams all 3 seasons of the show, but only season 3 is in 4K UHD, with most episodes doubled up to make individual 30 minute episodes.[24]