I understand - it’s similar to how Jon Stewart constantly covers the Democrats and Republicans - not because he likes them but because they are highly relevant and easy to pick apart for comedic purpose.
So Yahtzee is a vulture who picks apart the bloated corpse of the latest AAA monstrosity.
The problem is that no matter how pointed his criticisms are, the attention he gives to these games boosts their popularity. It doesn’t help that he criticizes ALL games he reviews to the point where it’s often difficult to tell whether he even likes the game or not.
If other key reviewers were out there covering the Indie/Amateur/Non-Western scene such that there’s no need for another, it wouldn’t be a problem. But for a “serious gamer” like Yahtzee to take gaming so un-seriously that he feels the need to play every craptastic AAA game on the market is a shame.
It’s true that nobody cares about the way in which some obscure niche game sucks, but many gamers care about learning about non-AAA games which are great.
And for that purpose, Yahtzee is useless.
It’s true that those aren’t AAA games, but they are still mainstream and they are rare exceptions to the AAA rule.
Zylon
4682
And you’re useless for the purpose of powering a fusion reactor. What’s your point?
Popeye
4683
That’s like the whole joke. That he viciously and humorously criticizes games is his whole schtick. I don’t think Modern Warfare 3 needed a niche comedy video on the Escapist for appeal.
It’s true that nobody cares about the way in which some obscure niche game sucks, but many gamers care about learning about non-AAA games which are great.
And for that purpose, Yahtzee is useless.
That’s what like, other websites are for. Including the one you are currently posting on!
If he reviewed non-AAA games nearly every review would be a hilarious cutting down of all the flaws and mistakes some random indie developer made… and I wouldn’t get the joke because I’ve never heard of the game.
P.S. He’s also done a few other Xbox Arcade/indie reviews. And, tbh, I didn’t like those reviews. When he’s earnestly telling me some random Eastern European survival horror game is actually good I don’t laugh. I might think about buying the game, but it’s not entertaining.
Quitch
4684
We’ve already been over this, no he doesn’t.
If powering a fusion reactor was of tremendous value, I would likely feel unhappy with myself for not being able to power one. This may lead me to research how to fuel one and then find a way to take part in that process.
For gamers, having a light shined on non-AAA games is more valuable than a 10% raise in their “receive snark” stat from viewing the latest Yahtzee piece. Yahtzee would be more valuable to the gaming community if he promoted great games.
The “paying the bills” argument is reasonable, but that doesn’t account for Yahtzee’s Extra Punctuation column, where given the chance to post whatever he wants he continues to focus on the AAA industry.
The key to happiness for gamers with respect to games is to play great games. So while (perhaps) not maximizing his own wealth, an increase in Yahtzee’s focus on non-AAA games would make him happier and gamers happier.
Let us not forget that Notch’s path to wealth was precisely to focus on the non-AAA side of game development.
We need a Notch version of game critic, a much more comprehensive version of the fine folk at Hardcore Gaming 101.
Disagree. Showing people why some AAA game isn’t the be all and end all of gaming is important, and snarking on some popular game might just get people to look at other alternatives.
A functioning fusion reactor is of tremendous value. Think before you speak.
Yahtzee’s reviews are entertainment. That’s it. He chooses games that are current and fertile ground for his brand of entertainment. Not everything has to advance the human condition.
Zylon
4688
I love how it entirely escapes koontz’s tenuous thought process that if Yahtzee did exactly what koontz thinks he should be doing, most of us wouldn’t even know who Yahtzee is.
Foxstab
4689
In risk of putting this thread back on the rails: ignore the nitwits who don’t ‘get it’ and have some beef with Ben and lets get back to enjoying the show.
I bet he’d work in a Mr. Fusion Home Reactor.
Zylon
4691
Some disassembly required.
I agree with this, and further believe that we’d all probably be better off if we looked at reviews primarily as entertainment. Hell, I probably make more buying decisions based on discussions with friends and threads on these boards than from any review.
The forum effect can sometimes be a bad thing. I’ve bought a few games that I ended up thinking were absolutely awful because QT3 was very enthusiastic about them.
I’m not talking tripe, and (again, because people don’t read my words) I wasn’t referring to his MW3 video in particular but more my general disagreement with his stance on games having to stand on SP rather than MP. And fine, more time and money was spent on the single player portion of the game - great. That’s still half the game. Moving away from Yahtzee, a reviewer should be playing and analyzing every portion of the package. A reviewer of Street Fighter should probably play every character, or a reviewer of a complex RPG like Alpha Protocol should do four or five playthroughs before giving it a write-up.
For those who don’t read whole posts: again, I wasn’t talking about his MW3 video. This is a general thread on Yahtzee and my first post in the thread, so I threw out a few thoughts about a) thinking he was funny and hoping he’d review a different genre of game more often, and b) disagreeing with his stance on MP.
Foxstab
4695
Ok, you voice your unique personal opinion.
Time flow resumes. Life now moves on.
it is at this point that you become horribly wrong. There are very few ways you can finish that sentence without becoming very wrong.
Some correct choices “should relate his/her experience” and “share his/her opinion”. You start making a check or to-do list for reviewers and you start missing the point, badly.
Oh, I don’t know. I feel a good review should contain enough information that the reader can form an opinion that might differ from the reviewer’s. This can be difficult to do for some subjects, but it applies fairly well for games.
Not that Yahtzee is really trying to do reviews, he’s mostly making fun of games, even games he expressly says he likes. Even the best games tend to have some silly bits, or things that can be slanted that way.
Exactly. A lot of people (including me) have been saying this for awhile now. He plays a game and does a funny take on it. It doesn’t end up on metacritic.
Yahtzee’s reviews are fine as reviews and as entertainment. Whether or not I agree with them, I enjoy hearing his opinions and they sometimes contain insights from a perspective that is fully-formed and useful as a critical lens, and the fact that many of them extend from a consciously artificial persona doesn’t do any harm to them. They are not on par with what Red Letter Media does for film, but I think it’s important to know the limitations of what you’re good at, and he does.
They aren’t “reviews” they are video game based comedy skits. They are as much “reviews” as what the Mega64 guys do.
He’s really good at analogies and funny pictures and pointing out the obvious (this game is brown and grey, this game has a silly plot, this game has the usual game mechanics ect) but they are not meant to be serious criticism.
