BUZZ! Quiz TV is a game/quiz-show virtually hosted by a smarmy host of the same name. Unlike something like Jeopardy, Buzz! eschews intellectual-type questions for mostly general trivia and pop culture stuff, no matter what the category or subject. And being someone who enjoys the genre it's perfectly fine with me. Being a casual, non-gamer style game, Buzz! Quiz TV is extremely easy for 1 through 8 players to just jump into and get going. While there is an actual single player mode, the game is really geared towards multi-player, either locally or online. The Blu-ray Disc comes stocked with 5,000+ questions divided into five different "channels" (Music, Movies & TV, Sports, Brainiac and Lifestyle). Even when being presented a Brainiac channel question, studying or cracking open a book beforehand is certainly not a requirement. Most of the questions are fair, and some are easy to make an informed guess on, so it's really designed for players of all ages.

For $59, the game includes the hugely improved wireless buzzers. To be honest, the one thing that kept me from playing the original Buzz! games on the PlayStation 2 more often were the unwieldy wires going everywhere. It was such a hassle to wrap and unwrap (and untangle) the mess every time anyone wanted to play. The nicely built new buzzers still have one big red light up "buzz" button and 4 color-coded "answer" buttons, and are quite comfortable to hold. They require a small USB dongle to be plugged into the PS3 itself as to allow the buzzers to be quickly paired, and to keep them from interfering with any PS3 controllers or Bluetooth headsets already paired with the console. The buzzers, which are powered by 2 AA batteries a piece, turn off automatically when they aren't being used. They are actually designed to be 100% compatible with the PlayStation 2 and the older Buzz! games as well, which is definitely a nice touch.

Upon first starting up the game, if connected to the PlayStation Network, you will notice that a v1.10 Software Update is already available. Not only does the update add new characters, buzz noises and options, it also adds Trophies and the Sofa vs Sofa online play. In general, besides the online functionality, one huge change to the series is the new community aspect. You can now create your own quiz questions, either from within the game or from the official website (MyBUZZquiz.com/), and they can be uploaded, searched/browsed, shared with other players or friends, and even rated. There are already over 1000 new user-created quizzes available to download and play, and many of them are actually well thought out.

Whereas the original Buzz! games had a little more in terms of multimedia-type questions, with audio and video clips and such, Quiz TV plays out a little differently. There are a number of fun gameplay and scoring twists as before, and plenty of questions, but they are presented in a more standard quiz-like, multiple-choice format. The single, multiplayer and Sofa vs. Sofa modes also are somewhat different from each other in terms of organization and length. Overall, the game is way more streamlined than before (for the better), and it's possible to squeeze quite a few more sessions into the same amount of time. It feels like there is a little less variety as compared to previous games, and there's a reason for that. Starting today (Thursday 9/25), Sony will begin offering various Quiz packs for download via the PlayStation Store. The custom quizzes and downloadable official content packs will extend the life of the game quite a lot. The online play is also very seamless and solid, and there have been no shortage of players competing thus far.

The game's presentation is fantastic as expected. Everything from the over-the-top stereotypical characters, to humorous writing, to the voiceovers for the questions are dead on. Buzz! Quiz TV is more of a parody than an actual representation of a game show, but either way, it should amuse most anyone that plays.

Buzz! Quiz TV is everything you would expect a new-generation version of Buzz! to be. The slick package and general knowledge/pop culture-theme is very casual friendly, and the new wireless buzzers peripherals really make the game. It could have used a little more variety out of the box, in terms of gameplay types and topics, but what is included will undoubtedly last until the next full-featured installment.