"Zero Punctuation" and "Dev Diary" by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw - The only thing worth watching on The Escapist

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No shit, that's about when I started to feel really icky and out-of-place if I wore a T-shirt, a plain one, let alone one that advertised something "teh funnay!" on it.


At some point? Don't you get tired of watching and want to start doing?

Don't you stop craving simulated warfare and want to do something that actually produces real world results? Even if it's just a chicken casserole?
Here's the thing though. Yahtzee IS productive in games as a creative field ...or at least he WAS.
He's made games but now seems to be more interested in writing novels.
Has he ever actually REVIEWED any fantasy novels? It seems like he'd actually enjoy it but I don't know if anyone would actually watch it. Plus, he'd be a small fish in a big big pond.
 
Here's the thing though. Yahtzee IS productive in games as a creative field ...or at least he WAS.
He's made games but now seems to be more interested in writing novels.
Has he ever actually REVIEWED any fantasy novels? It seems like he'd actually enjoy it but I don't know if anyone would actually watch it. Plus, he'd be a small fish in a big big pond.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think he ever had or has right now a "fake" or "unserious" career... or that video games are only kids things and you should pile all yours up and light them on fire as some kind ritual when you turn 35, or forever be known as a manchild.

It's just that when you are a game reviewer, at heart? You need to realize in the back of your head your practical limits.

It doesn't entitle you to judge certain game genres as bad or proof of moral incompetence in the player base simply because you don't like them. Or that you do NOT have a right or even duty to use an audience who came to get your expert opinion to have to sit through your non-expert personal judgements too.

You need to be able to look at train simulators and COD clones as games and not indictments against those who play them because you, understandably, weren't the target audience. Judge them based on if they work, they don't have bugs, they are competently produced and have value for what they cost. If you aren't a fan? Then go full disclosure and say "I didn't get as much out of it as you might, but, it didn't crash on me and the graphics are immersive" , that should be enough. Or just pass on reviewing it, you can recuse yourself if you feel to biased, nobody would hold that against you.



And over the years? He's gotten markedly worse at failing that final test.... of not getting cranky and haughty as your pile of established work, whatever it is, grows larger. Which just makes people like me itch to turn around and tell him "you play games for a living , without gamers, you'd have nothing, but I'd still have my career, so drop the scorn against games you personally don't like but are worth the value to those who do. And don't call those people knuckle-dragging bros who probably voted for Fascism" .
 
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the older you get the more you realize the game you actually want to play isnt call of duty but lawnmower simulator
I won't deny that idea entirely, but I think the objective decline in quality in regard to CoD as a franchise certainly does also play a role as is the case with a lot of AAA games these days. If modern CoD would resemble something like the OG Modern Warfare I would very much like to play that despite my age.
 
I won't deny that idea entirely, but I think the objective decline in quality in regard to CoD as a franchise certainly does also play a role as is the case with a lot of AAA games these days. If modern CoD would resemble something like the OG Modern Warfare I would very much like to play that despite my age.
i moreso meant games like the cod ie shooters in general or other action games that arent much slower like jrpgs or something
 
I won't deny that idea entirely, but I think the objective decline in quality in regard to CoD as a franchise certainly does also play a role as is the case with a lot of AAA games these days. If modern CoD would resemble something like the OG Modern Warfare I would very much like to play that despite my age.
Video games today are joining movies in that they seek to become forever-services where each installment exists only to make callbacks and "remember that?" shoulder nudges at the last installment while setting up a half dozen dead-end plotlines, any one of which, or all of which, are just there to extend the franchise to the next installment.... eventually, it all becomes just a whirling directionless blob of recognizable bits that are not put together in any meaningful way.
 
i moreso meant games like the cod ie shooters in general or other action games that arent much slower like jrpgs or something
Sure fair enough. I tend to play a lot of slower stuff like RPGS or Strategy games in general, but that was even the case as a teenager. But I also try to play more taxing and faster games like Shoot Em Ups, Fighting or Rhythm games to keep my mind sharp.
Video games today are joining movies in that they seek to become forever-services where each installment exists only to make callbacks and "remember that?" shoulder nudges at the last installment while setting up a half dozen dead-end plotlines, any one of which, or all of which, are just there to extend the franchise to the next installment.... eventually, it all becomes just a whirling directionless blob of recognizable bits that are not put together in any meaningful way.

That's the unfortunate state of the game's industry. Now I might be paraphrasing a bit, but I recall Yahtzee, when he wasn't such a faggot like he is today, talking about the golden age of gaming during the PS2 era when AAA was not only leading in terms of technology but also pushing forward games in general. AAA was allowed be inventive and risky back in the day thus pushing the envelope. And AA and A games were still in the portfolio of big companies. And nowadays as you say is just memberberries.
 
Video games today are joining movies in that they seek to become forever-services where each installment exists only to make callbacks and "remember that?" shoulder nudges at the last installment while setting up a half dozen dead-end plotlines
That's just the state of most media when the top priority is maximizing shareholder margins and thus, would rather die than take a risk so they regurgitate the same IP for the 20th time since that one already has an established viewer base and guaranteed profit.
 
That's the unfortunate state of the game's industry. Now I might be paraphrasing a bit, but I recall Yahtzee, when he wasn't such a faggot like he is today, talking about the golden age of gaming during the PS2 era when AAA was not only leading in terms of technology but also pushing forward games in general. AAA was allowed be inventive and risky back in the day thus pushing the envelope. And AA and A games were still in the portfolio of big companies. And nowadays as you say is just memberberries.
His usual "golden age of PS2" is him wanking off to SH2 and thats it. He never liked the MGS series, DMC or even stuff like Sly Cooper or Ratchet&Clank.
 
You need to be able to look at train simulators and COD clones as games and not indictments against those who play them because you, understandably, weren't the target audience. Judge them based on if they work, they don't have bugs, they are competently produced and have value for what they cost. If you aren't a fan? Then go full disclosure and say "I didn't get as much out of it as you might, but, it didn't crash on me and the graphics are immersive" , that should be enough. Or just pass on reviewing it, you can recuse yourself if you feel to biased, nobody would hold that against you.
No you don't. A one size fits all reviewer doesn't exist. Reviewers should be bias towards genres and have knowledge in them to review them other wise their opinion is worth nothing. A generic review can say "RE9 is a decent game, it's pretty, has horror elements and gun play", but that's it. An experienced horror fan can comment on how it's a sloppy copy of better games, an experience action fan can say it's a sloppy shooter with no enemy variety. An experience RE fan can tell you the story is a pile of wank and not worth your time. But an unbias reviewer with no genre experience or interest in the genre will see a generic, high production value 3rd person shooter with modern design elements and say "yes, this is good enough". Which then means every game gets 7-9 out of 10 because it's good enough.

There's a reason so many are using youtube reviews over the legacy media now. We don't need generic reviewer telling us if a game functions (which they would lie about any way). We want reviewers with genre experience to help find the gems in the slop bucket of UE5 games that all blend together.
 
Has he ever actually REVIEWED any fantasy novels? It seems like he'd actually enjoy it but I don't know if anyone would actually watch it. Plus, he'd be a small fish in a big big pond.
I don't think it would work. I don't think it's just video games, putting out two and a half minutes with animated stick figures is something he's clearly lost interest in. Plus, historically, he's struggled to get people onboard spin-offs. Adventure is Nigh or whatever spin-off he gets involved with only has a fraction of the views FR does these days, and FR doesn't pull in the same sort of numbers ZP did in its prime.

No you don't. A one size fits all reviewer doesn't exist. Reviewers should be bias towards genres and have knowledge in them to review them other wise their opinion is worth nothing. A generic review can say "RE9 is a decent game, it's pretty, has horror elements and gun play", but that's it. An experienced horror fan can comment on how it's a sloppy copy of better games, an experience action fan can say it's a sloppy shooter with no enemy variety. An experience RE fan can tell you the story is a pile of wank and not worth your time. But an unbias reviewer with no genre experience or interest in the genre will see a generic, high production value 3rd person shooter with modern design elements and say "yes, this is good enough". Which then means every game gets 7-9 out of 10 because it's good enough.

There's a reason so many are using youtube reviews over the legacy media now. We don't need generic reviewer telling us if a game functions (which they would lie about any way). We want reviewers with genre experience to help find the gems in the slop bucket of UE5 games that all blend together.
Legacy media worked because there would usually have a bunch of reviewers that all specialties and could tell you what was good and what wasn't. It's much worse now because someone like Yahtzee could use his paper dolls for 3 or 4 minutes and I'd still not know if it was actually good or not, and I'm not going to sit through a 20-minute deep dive that's also meaningless. There are huge video essays that say the thing about Mario 64's camera issues and other quirks that a 4chan post could do the same thing with.

The remaining legacy media sites have alienated people for years with op-eds pissing on them and glazing every live service game that gets released.
 
>Ad for Blu-Ray "bundle" of a YouTube series
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I'm sorry, I didn't fucking realize that we were still trying to copy AVGN in the year of our lord 2026.
 
I'm sorry, I didn't fucking realize that we were still trying to copy AVGN in the year of our lord 2026.
I mentioned this before, but the post-Escapist Fully Ramblomatic is among Yahtzee's worst video content. The old stuff is way better.

As for the idea of a physical BR release, I find the principle of defending physical media honorable (in theory—I find predatory companies like LRG despicable) but it never seems to come up in any of his videos.
 
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I don't know why these still appear on my recommended, I have their channel blocked
anyway, here's your self-proclaimed comedian and writer's habanero-tier, freshest original take in his latest video - MAGA and blumpf are fascism and nazis, he even takes potshots at blumpfy's wife
in hindsight I'm glad TotalBiscuit died and I didn't get to see him turn into this
oh and the outro has FOUR tranny flags in the supporters list now
 
View attachment 8931430
I don't know why these still appear on my recommended, I have their channel blocked
anyway, here's your self-proclaimed comedian and writer's habanero-tier, freshest original take in his latest video - MAGA and blumpf are fascism and nazis, he even takes potshots at blumpfy's wife
in hindsight I'm glad TotalBiscuit died and I didn't get to see him turn into this
oh and the outro has FOUR tranny flags in the supporters list now
Yahtzee's always been like this. Use to take potshots at the Dubya and the pre-Trump era of the Republican party plenty of times in 2007-2012., His 2011 review of Fable 3 where he represents Dubya as evil and Obama as good.
In hindsight, his quips are extraordinarily soyllennial and got more nauseating in retrospect with how progressives exercised an increasingly amount of influence throughout the 2010's on both the gaming industry and society as a whole. I think the reason 18 year old me in 2007 put up with is shitty political takes in his reviews is because the videos he made were a fresh breath of air in an era where videogame critiques were usually from blog/forum posts on a niche site or at the time, the era of webcomics (mostly Penny Arcade) was the only true mainstream outlet on the internet viewed by a majority that was willing to say what they wanted about anyone. Because everything in the "gaming journalism" was summed up with the infamous Jeff Gerstman firing from Gamespot in 2007. With Yahtzee's debut, it was like "woah, someone out there isn't ballsucking the new Bioshock game?"
Yeah, right around 40 is when you start not liking video games as much and instead really get into repair shit. Being like "Ohhhhh boy~ Today I get to put in a NEW shower head FUCK YEAH~~ ARGHHH IM GONNA MATCH THE TILE SET NIGGA~"
This unironically very true. At least for me in my mid 30s. I feel like a kid giddy going into a Ace Hardware/Lowes/Home Depot ready for Spring/summer yard/indoor projects.
But also just leaving videogames for a while helps reset my dopamine to enjoy it on my spare time. Less you play videogames, more each minute is far more enjoyable.
 
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View attachment 8931430
I don't know why these still appear on my recommended, I have their channel blocked
anyway, here's your self-proclaimed comedian and writer's habanero-tier, freshest original take in his latest video - MAGA and blumpf are fascism and nazis, he even takes potshots at blumpfy's wife
in hindsight I'm glad TotalBiscuit died and I didn't get to see him turn into this
oh and the outro has FOUR tranny flags in the supporters list now
Just had a vile image in my head of him trying to do his own stand up routine like stephen colbert but about video games.
"How about those 1s and 0s! And that trump!"
*audible Wraithdolf sighs*
 
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