240 Seconds of Gaming was created in 1998 for distribution in the Real Player from Real Networks, the leader in streaming media players at the time. The show initially just featured Scot Rubin and Jim Downs as co-hosts with one or both of them chiming in on the game or product based on their personal experiences.
When other AGN contributors had strong feelings about a game, or Jim/Scot were unavailable, they would co-host an episode.