Playing Sky Gamestar

Playing Sky Gamestar - as the title suggests - is an ongoing series of live streams I run on Extra! focusing on playing old games from the defunct game service Sky Gamestar (later called simply "Sky Games"). Sky Gamestar was part of Sky Active (originally called "Open...."), a set of digital interactive television services offered by Sky UK, as part of its digital TV service and found on its digibox-branded set top boxes. In modern times, Sky's interactive services would probably be referred to as apps. The Sky Gamestar service could be found in a dedicated "Interactive" menu via the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) or TV Guide, alongside other interactive services such as PlayJam (a similar games' service), an "app" version of QVC and the previously mentioned Sky Active.

Sky Gamestar, as well as Sky Interactive and Sky Active, were discontinued in 2015, leaving many of the games unplayable. That was until a YouTuber by the name of 'Evil Hamburger 64' made a video about Sky's Interactive services, and documenting his search for the old games. The video garnered enough attention that employees from one of game companies who developed games for the Sky Games service, Denki Games, decided to take the time to finally re-release the long lost portfolio for publicly for fans to enjoy. The games were made playable in a custom built emulator and available to play via a web browser.

The games were not all that advanced in all due respect, being that the set top boxes were built with limited hardware designed mainly to work as digital television boxes, so the games were designed with these limitations in mind. A lot of the games were effectively reskins of simple platforming games, puzzle games and more, and were often licensed games based on well known properties or TV shows, often affiliated with Sky or the channels that were broadcast on the service. Licensed media included that from Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros, BBC and more.

Not all games were licensed, such as Sky Gamestar's iconic game "Beehive Bedlam", a puzzle game so popular with Sky customers, that after the Sky Gamestar service was closed down in 2015, the game made a comeback as an app via Sky Q boxes in 2020.

Thanks to Denki's part in preserving gaming history, I have dedicated a series on my channel to playing these old games, to both advertise them to others and for the ability to enjoy playing them as I did growing up.