James Rolfe / James D. Rolfe / Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN) / Rex Viper and Cinemassacre / Screenwave - Now with not much grieving about a 41-year old man still making videos on YouTube. We're the balls on the dick.

[BrunoMattei]

Same. JonTron isn't that funny anymore either, I think they all just got really annoying and political or decided to play it way too safe. They're just corporate douchebags now, but some just show off their true colors.

It might just also be growing up, realizing these assholes all sound the same, and are just boring to watch after a while.

I remember reading a few old articles he made which were funny. I think it was the Superheroes thing before capeshit took off.

Jontron is still great. Fuck you.

 

[KillThemCrackasBabies]

Same. JonTron isn't that funny anymore either, I think they all just got really annoying and political or decided to play it way too safe. They're just corporate douchebags now, but some just show off their true colors.

Jon is the same as he ever was, you might have just outgrown the style.

 

[100% VIRGIN M00TY]

Well I wouldn't say that, he used to be a game reviewer, now he is a reaction channel that reacts to everything but games. I watch him now and then but I am not a huge fan of reaction channels, I think he relies a bit too much on his big budget set skits as well. Least he changed with the times I guess?

I think tastes have changed over the years, the AVGN is one of the few remaining angry reviewers, that era has long since past. Now we want more information than just "fuck piss shit this game", and so we have analysis videos, such as the almost 8 hour analysis of Omega Ruby and the almost 8 hour analysis of Morrowind.

And if documentaries are not your thing then you go down the other path in the evolutionary tree and arrive at the memey reviews like Ssseth or Uberdanger, and then you have stuff that is a mix of both like Running Shine.

The other issue is that nobody is able to swear on Youtube anymore so what is the point in even trying to anger review. That is where something like a Ssseth style review shines because while the algorithm will pick up the words "suicide" or "fuck" it probably won't notice the hentai images you edit into the video.

 

[ZombiefiedFerret]

such as the almost 8 hour analysis of Omega Ruby and the almost 8 hour analysis of Morrowind.

God damn, who does this? how bad does your autism have to be to do this? lol

 

[Anchors-Away]

God damn, who does this? how bad does your autism have to be to do this? lol

Best thing about that video in question is the description is full of errors and mistakes he made. Imagine making an 8 hour long video and having to catalogue all your fuck ups

 

[Sinner's Sandwich]

How the mighty have fallen. I really liked AVGN but I wasn't interested in what's going on behind the scenes. Today is the first time I visited this thread and I'm kinda shocked to see that the AVGN I knew is no more, that Mike left and that he doesn't even write his own scripts anymore. Perhaps reading this thread was a mistake but on the other hand I now appreciate the old videos more. Also like Bible said: The truth will set you free.

 

[Tootsie Bear]

How the mighty have fallen. I really liked AVGN but I wasn't interested in what's going on behind the scenes. Today is the first time I visited this thread and I'm kinda shocked to see that the AVGN I knew is no more, that Mike left and that he doesn't even write his own scripts anymore. Perhaps reading this thread was a mistake but on the other hand I now appreciate the old videos more. Also like Bible said: The truth will set you free.

James was best at reviewing rare consoles and hardware, and his Monster Madness was great too. What lost me is his resort to overusing toilet humor and profanity; it gets boring after a while. But what made me lose interests in him was when it was reveled he didn't play the Resident Evil game he reviewed as the nerd character. I couldn't believe how lazy he got that he wouldn't worry about playing the game but have someone do it for him. From that point I hadn't watched any of his videos.

 

[Seventh Star]

Jontron is still great. Fuck you.

negative

Jon is the same as he ever was, you might have just outgrown the style.

That is... definetly not true. He had a skit heavy approach for a while and is now somewhat closer to what he used to be, but it still doesn't compare to his older material. He tended to be a bit more explosive and fun to watch. I still love that style but it's very hard to find, only some of OneyPlays has anything resembling it.

James was best at reviewing rare consoles and hardware, and his Monster Madness was great too. What lost me is his resort to overusing toilet humor and profanity; it gets boring after a while. But what made me lose interests in him was when it was reveled he didn't play the Resident Evil game he reviewed as the nerd character. I couldn't believe how lazy he got that he wouldn't worry about playing the game but have someone do it for him. From that point I hadn't watched any of his videos.

The Tiger games will always be the most fun watch for me. I love those shitty things, especially Game and Watch games.

 

[100% VIRGIN M00TY]

God damn, who does this? how bad does your autism have to be to do this? lol

You have to be very high functioning, I guess you could see it as a novel in video essay form. Probably take a week to watch the entire thing.

James was best at reviewing rare consoles and hardware, and his Monster Madness was great too. What lost me is his resort to overusing toilet humor and profanity; it gets boring after a while. But what made me lose interests in him was when it was reveled he didn't play the Resident Evil game he reviewed as the nerd character. I couldn't believe how lazy he got that he wouldn't worry about playing the game but have someone do it for him. From that point I hadn't watched any of his videos.

He didn't even play Survivor? He just takes the script and sits on his couch and reads it out verbatim? Fuck.

 

[Rhysuu]

You have to be very high functioning, I guess you could see it as a novel in video essay form. Probably take a week to watch the entire thing.

He didn't even play Survivor? He just takes the script and sits on his couch and reads it out verbatim? Fuck.

James hasn't played any of the games in question for a while. I could probably dig it up but the Screenwave Media guys said in a Reddit AMA that they do all of the gaming, writing and recording themselves. They get James to show up, have him act it out and then he goes back to doing whatever he does. The last video where he put the effort in to do most of it himself was Earthbound. That was kind of the nerd swansong, his last real video before fully passing the reigns over.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

James hasn't played any of the games in question for a while. I could probably dig it up but the Screenwave Media guys said in a Reddit AMA that they do all of the gaming, writing and recording themselves. They get James to show up, have him act it out and then he goes back to doing whatever he does. The last video where he put the effort in to do most of it himself was Earthbound. That was kind of the nerd swansong, his last real video before fully passing the reigns over.

Personally I think his last real AVGN video was Majora’s mask since he seemed to actually give more of a shit about Majora’s mask compared to many of the more recent games he talks about

 

[northstar747]

oh jesus james is pushing 40 has a wife and two kids. I get it in the real world with a real job he d be grinding 40+ hours a week. But when your family obligations are literally in the next room what are you gonna do yell at your family that "daddys busy working playing these shitty games"

Make "ykwbs" videos about your family yelling at you for playing shitty games videos?

also I remember the world james grew up in where you read Nintendo power on the bus played vidya with you elementary school friends

What more of a nostalgia well is there to tap.

Rental Reviews just didn't fucking work jesus what was that shit. They tried to Ape RLM and failed.

 

[VictimizedMinch]

AVGN was always my go to angry manchild who gets mad at video game guy. Stopped watching him years ago but still sucks his channel is going to shit.
Think we'll get another Channel Awesome situation?

 

[PeriodicTrouble]

AVGN was always my go to angry manchild who gets mad at video game guy. Stopped watching him years ago but still sucks his channel is going to shit.
Think we'll get another Channel Awesome situation?

In order to have a Channel Awesome type of situation, you need someone that is petty, vindictive, and is unable to let go of grudges like Allison Pregler and Holly Christine Brown. Bootsy just explained why he was gone from cinemassacre and that's it. Kyle Justin just seemed to disappear and has moved on with his life. Mike Matei is very loyal to James and wouldn't do that kind of thing. Everybody was professional enough to move on, instead of trying to ruin james' reputation and livelihood considering that it would also effect innocent people aka his children. Maybe the screenwave people might do something like that, but who knows.

 

[X Pac Heat]

AVGN was always my go to angry manchild who gets mad at video game guy. Stopped watching him years ago but still sucks his channel is going to shit.
Think we'll get another Channel Awesome situation?

doubtful. who is going to have a grudge and air out bad behavior? mike matei!? lmfao

the closest we ever would have gotten already came with the bootsy departure but still not anywhere like change the channel or anything he just kind of laid out why he left.

the screenwave people have no reason to ruin an ip they own, and have far worse skeletons in their closet than james or mike based on justin silvermans history. james probably is under some heavy contract or at the very least has no reason to sink the ip either since he still benefits from it

 

[Disheveled Human]

I never really cared too much about shows like james and mike monday's I really enjoyed the movie stuff like rental reviews and monster madness. The AVGN stuff fell off the side of a cliff for me the past 4 years or so but that is probably more me growing up and not finding poo poo pee pee toilet humor jokes too interesting. The AVGN stuff that is ok to watch now a days is the ones he goes in depth on about the history about the games, generally they are the ones james played the most or learned about the most when he was growing up. All in all this year was a write off and they had to make cuts starting with people on payroll, hopefully they will add new and interesting series in the future.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

AVGN was always my go to angry manchild who gets mad at video game guy. Stopped watching him years ago but still sucks his channel is going to shit.
Think we'll get another Channel Awesome situation?

Doubtful since the only people who would have major skeletons in their closet are the Screenwave people who would try to keep quiet. A channel awesome situation only happened because Doug was an autism magnet.

 

[ICameToBooli]

The new vids are still pretty decent. I like the Ikari Warriors review the most.

>video posted 7 years ago
I feel old now, fuck you

 

[José Mourinho]

I'll still watch AVGN but it's sad to see AVGN crumbling.

Granted few of the episodes during the Screenwave era were okay but nothing too magical. Even so, this isn't the AVGN I loved, this is just a show literally written and filmed by outsiders and James Rolfe just needs to voice his lines. Surprisingly no mention of any feedback from James whether he modifies it at all.

 

[Rich Evans Apologist]

James hasn't played any of the games in question for a while. I could probably dig it up but the Screenwave Media guys said in a Reddit AMA that they do all of the gaming, writing and recording themselves. They get James to show up, have him act it out and then he goes back to doing whatever he does. The last video where he put the effort in to do most of it himself was Earthbound. That was kind of the nerd swansong, his last real video before fully passing the reigns over.

Yeah, the Earthbound one is really really good. I throw that one on every now and then, just as background noise, because it's just got this genuine feeling to it. The little montage with the nerd-icons of old also takes on a different meaning when you consider what was to follow. It's bizarre to think how long ago that came out - three years as of late April. I guess it would feel like it was just yesterday, given there hasn't been much else to recall from the channel since.

Personally I think his last real AVGN video was Majora’s mask since he seemed to actually give more of a shit about Majora’s mask compared to many of the more recent games he talks about

It was interesting to see that he didn't really like MM that much, and it probably got him a lot of ire from people for no real reason. But I'd much prefer that to the dreck that has come out more recently - I really get the impression that James has moved on from most games, bar a small handful, and is mostly interested in other shit. But if it's a choice between reading some lines for a fat paycheck or getting a normie job... I mean, why wouldn't you take the first?

I just really hope that, from time to time, he puts in the grind for a real episode here and there between the chaff. But I'm increasingly starting to think that's a little optimistic - it does seem like he may have put the kibosh on ever channeling his old passion again.