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Angry Video Game Nerd

Started by Retinend, October 09, 2012, 09:50:29 PM

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Retinend

There's been a thread about him before in CC, and I recall that not many newcomers were convinced that he was any good at that time. I was one of them, but I've since come around, and in the last few days I've been bingeing on a dozen at a time. I remember that I was initially put off by what I saw as the pedantic, shallow nature of the early ones, but as the creator, James Rolfe, went on with them he managed to make a really effective persona out of what was initially an earnest presenting style (at least this is the story I've made for myself to believe).

I was one of the people repelled by him in the first thread, but I've completely turned over on this one. At first, the main thing that made me persevere was the nostalgia value. I don't play games much these days but I get a weird thrill out of looking up old games I used to play, and watching videos of even older ones. Having him narrate his frustrated experience of playing one (compared with the DIY "Let's Play" genre of breath-over narration) is extremely cathartic. In all, I think the AVGN videos are at their best, extremely good, and endearing in how ridiculously geeky his den becomes through the years (the Nintoaster shot always makes me laugh). This one I've just watched is a real journey. The feeling of achievement he explains is palpable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU21wBNSVWU&feature=g-vrec

And of course this non-videogame episode about sequel titling is another highlight. Again, extremely cathartic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEVzPCY2T-g

There's also a film coming out sometime next year, made completely independently with fan donations. Details are very thin on the ground, although "the shoot" was finished in the summer.

KLG-7A

I just... it's that forced anger, that constant sneering tone. Disgust that isn't real disgust, but a presenting style. People expect every sentence to be delivered that way, and so it inevitably has to be. It really grates on my nerves. It's like one of Charlie Brooker's angry, snappy sentences stretched out to ten minutes.

He's better than his clones, though.

It's Ashens I really can't stand. The same thing but in a pedantic, nerdy English accent and a sort of poor-man's Douglas Adams British sense of humour. Ugh.

I realise that it's pretty difficult to not read this post in AVGN's voice.

What were people's complaints about him in the old thread? here am thread

Old Nehamkin

I used to watch every one without fail around 4-5 years ago (christ) but I don't think I've actually watched a new one in years. I might check out some of the more recent ones. I do think he generally comes across as a generally good guy in real life and I find his non-AVGN stuff really endearing, particularly his reviews of obscure horror films.


Replies From View

I think he's nice when he's not doing the tiresome AVGN persona, and he's actually laughing with his friends and talking about films and games.  His series on 1980s board games has some fun bits.

Yeah, Ashens is annoying.  Videos of men moaning are ten-a-penny; it's nothing good or new, and it bothers me that people like him seem to be becoming famous doing this shit.

KLG-7A

He makes me a bit ashamed to be English, too. That voice. That's what English nerds sound like.

A "friend" from work said he was listening to Ashens to practice a sarcastic persona for his own YouTube videos. Shudder.

Retinend

#5
Oh, it turns out I do know who "Ashens" is. I watched one of his videos a long time ago and I'm amazed that he has any fans. He's a stereotype of a southern middle class thicko who owns all the blackadder DVDs.

edit: there are people who aspire to that? At least if they're imitating someone like Charlie Brooker there's a chance that they might eventually develop a sense for original critical insight, but Ashens's videos are nothing but overflowing contempt channeled at outdated technology, borne from a generally resentful and egotistical outlook. Ashens is to "dry" wit what Johnny Walker sipping atheist youtubers are to evolutionary biology. Obnoxious nerds can be far worse than bullish LADS.

KLG-7A

This person was socially incompetent and had no talent. Ashens speaks to people like this, which is why he has millions of fans. He had one adjective for all things, which was "awesome". He also described himself as "very left wing" before admitting that he votes conservative and admires Thatcher.

Ashens fan, ladies and gentlemen.

Replies From View

Ashens is also continually doing fake-laughing.  I hate that.

Jerzy Bondov

Ashens is very good at buying a thing that is obviously shit, opening the box, and then saying 'oh that's good isn't it?' at whatever it is. That's a skill that's in short supply, especially on YouTube.

Replies From View

Quote from: KLG-7A on October 09, 2012, 09:54:52 PM
He's better than his clones, though.

Somebody I used to like a lot was Stan Burdman, but his reviews have degenerated into AVGN-templated reactions over the last year or so.  He used to take the piss out of that stuff, but since becoming a youtube partner he's embraced exasperated exclamations of "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!!" without much difficulty.

There's something very odd to me about people being able to make a decent amount of money from adverts plastered over their stupid videos on youtube.  I've wondered before now if I'm just jealous like the youtube commenters have told me but nope - I'd hate myself if I was doing that.


One of the few game reviewers to stay in my subscriptions is Gaming Mill.  He's managing to keep a pretty unique persona going and does a lot of vintage computer games as well as newer ones.

Thursday

AVGN would be fine if he just dialled it back a lot, used metaphors besides fecal matter and stopped mugging then drinking that stupid beer (why does he do this? I really don't understand.) His videos are sometimes enjoyable in spite of him. It's amusing to see bad things old games did, and he does sometimes fill in a lot of interesting historical background, but it's like he's like he's really trying to put you off along the way.

KLG-7A

Quote from: Replies From View on October 10, 2012, 10:48:03 AM
One of the few game reviewers to stay in my subscriptions is Gaming Mill.  He's managing to keep a pretty unique persona going and does a lot of vintage computer games as well as newer ones.
He is fucking fantastic. I'm a bit worried about him being given exclusives like the recent Worms thing, I wouldn't want him to be influenced like mags were in the 90s. But I suppose it doesn't matter, they're not proper reviews. I suspect the guy behind the persona is in the games industry anyway.

Replies From View

Quote from: Thursday on October 10, 2012, 10:54:49 AM
AVGN would be fine if he just dialled it back a lot, used metaphors besides fecal matter and stopped mugging then drinking that stupid beer (why does he do this? I really don't understand.) His videos are sometimes enjoyable in spite of him. It's amusing to see bad things old games did, and he does sometimes fill in a lot of interesting historical background, but it's like he's like he's really trying to put you off along the way.

I suppose it's because he records many hours of gameplay, so he sometimes captures some pretty unusual and amusing glitches.  I recall enjoying the review he did of Super Pitfall because of the weird way he gets the game to finally end.

Replies From View

Quote from: KLG-7A on October 10, 2012, 10:55:01 AM
I suspect the guy behind the persona is in the games industry anyway.

There was some talk a while back that Gaming Mill is a guy called Shaun Garrod, who has his own youtube channel that isn't very good (maximumpyro).  From the brief glimpses we get of Gaming Mill's arms and hands, and the fact that they share a drawing style, I'd say they could be the same.  No idea what Shaun Garrod does, though.

KLG-7A

Well, that's weird. I've crossed paths with Shaun Garrod before, on the n3ta forum attached to Goaste (not-Goatse).

Still Not George

*leaves in a huff*

(Happy now, tagger?)

This is the video that made me love AVGN forever : http://cinemassacre.com/2006/06/29/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles/

He fucking nailed how I felt playing this game back in the day and mentions pretty much every single part that pissed me off as a kid, and it's nice to find that everyone felt this way and I wasn't just a cack-handed twat.

"You can just walk over it?". Brilliant.

My only problem with him is this insistence that the AVGN is a character - it's not, it's just him. It seems that, like the drinking of beer during rants, it was some way to try and make himself not seem too "uncool" but now he can't just admit it, he has to run with this idea that he's not entirely speaking from the heart and in his own voice, so that's a shame, and suggests the film will probably suck.

But it won't matter, because it's James Rolfe, and the fact that he's even making all these weird little videos is really great. Loving his current Monster Madness series too, and I'm not even a big horror fan. His love for the genre really comes across.


But don't get me started on the Nostalgia Critic. What a fucking annoying prick. Much prefer the Nostalgia Chick if I have to watch anything from that site, at least she's kind of cute and doesn't constantly mug at the camera and overact.

Replies From View

Quote from: KLG-7A on October 09, 2012, 11:12:50 PM
He makes me a bit ashamed to be English, too. That voice. That's what English nerds sound like.

Two youtube reviewers from the UK I've enjoyed are Collieuk and Spinnyfuck, who've both done no new videos for a while but have nice collections in their archives.  I would have found them by searching for old spectrum let's plays, rather than them being "recommended" by youtube like AVGN and Ashens.  They're just very honest reactions to games they're often trying for the first time, and they're often very funny.  Don't expect comedy gold but they pass a bit of time if you're in a nostalgic mood.

Phil_A

Quote from: KLG-7A on October 10, 2012, 11:30:36 AM
Well, that's weird. I've crossed paths with Shaun Garrod before, on the n3ta forum attached to Goaste (not-Goatse).

Oh god yeah, I remember Shaun Garrod from a no longer existing fan forum for a certain writer whose name rhymes with "Saul Nose". I think he was actually banned from there after issuing death threats to other members. Or so I heard.

There are a couple of retro game review series I really like - Lazy Game Reviews and Ancient Dos Games, both of which produce really good, informative videos without allowing the host's personality to become too dominant.

I used to like Ashens when he talked about things that weren't from Poundland, but I think since he started putting out videos weekly the quality has really dropped - it's become far too easy just to point a camera at some tat and go "Look at this! It's tat!" How much is there to say about knock-off Chinese action figures, really? And there was a weird thing last year when his channel was used to promote a "film" that basically just a long ad for Alienware PCs.

He seemed like a nice enough chap in my brief internet dealings with him. Although this was quite a few years ago, so it's possible he could've turned into a raging egomaniac in the meantime, maybe.

Replies From View

Quote from: The Region Legion on October 10, 2012, 11:59:50 AM
My only problem with him is this insistence that the AVGN is a character - it's not, it's just him. It seems that, like the drinking of beer during rants, it was some way to try and make himself not seem too "uncool" but now he can't just admit it, he has to run with this idea that he's not entirely speaking from the heart and in his own voice, so that's a shame, and suggests the film will probably suck.

How is it not a character?  It's not to say it doesn't come from an honest perspective, but Rolfe talks about "the nerd" in third person and has said in his various interviews and behind the scenes things that he sometimes has to consider whether or not it'd be appropriate for "the nerd" to say certain things he's written.  You can see from loads of other reviews he's done of things like films and board games that his responses are not limited to the AVGN character, so I don't know what you mean.

KLG-7A

Quote from: Replies From View on October 10, 2012, 11:59:59 AM
Spinnyfuck, who've both done no new videos for a while
Spinnyfuck is HAROLD GONK now: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdduScmqYAqlIzc7ER0xcjA

These honest, real, genuinely insane people are much better than AVGN.
Quote from: Phil_A on October 10, 2012, 12:02:37 PMa no longer existing fan forum for a certain writer whose name rhymes with "Saul Nose"
Ah, Mr. Griffo.

Quote from: Phil_A on October 10, 2012, 12:02:37 PMHe seemed like a nice enough chap in my brief internet dealings with him.
He probably is. I just hate him. I'm so tired of that middle-class sarcastic Brit nerd persona. It's really my problem, but I just can't be around people who can be relied on to say something is "of dubious quality" four times a day in an oh-so-fucking-wry tone of voice before taking a sharp intake of breath combined with a Dara O'Briain "moving swiftly on".

Replies From View

Quote from: Phil_A on October 10, 2012, 12:02:37 PM
Lazy Game Reviews

Is that the one who sounds a lot like Clive James?  I think that's him.  To my ears, anyway.


There's also someone called RetroGamerVX who does some decent geeky system stuff, but he overplays the "Englishness" too much for my liking.

Jerzy Bondov

Now. Don'tgetmestartedonYahtzee. AnexemplaryexampleofoverwrittensubBrookerforcedvitriolanduninventivesmiliework. Aboutaseffectiveasawolfmadeoutofchocolatetryingtocatchanantonthesurfaceofthesun. *music suddenly starts playing*

Replies From View

Quote from: KLG-7A on October 10, 2012, 12:14:25 PM
Spinnyfuck is HAROLD GONK now: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdduScmqYAqlIzc7ER0xcjA

These honest, real, genuinely insane people are much better than AVGN.Ah, Mr. Griffo.
He probably is. I just hate him. I'm so tired of that middle-class sarcastic Brit nerd persona. It's really my problem, but I just can't be around people who can be relied on to say something is "of dubious quality" four times a day in an oh-so-fucking-wry tone of voice before taking a sharp intake of breath combined with a Dara O'Briain "moving swiftly on".

Thanks for the new Spinnyfuck link.

As for Ashens, I must give him credit for introducing me to Gaming Mill in the first place, by mentioning him in one of his videos.  Otherwise, he's just a bloke who reacts to tat as if nobody else knows it's tat, and he's shaking his head at some kind of consensus opinion that we need to be shaken out of.  It's just tat; what do you expect?  I can't understand the appeal of pointing out that tat is tat, and especially not in such a sarcastic, condescending way.

There's a new video up of him experiencing Minecraft for the first time.  He treats it in much the same way:  moaning that there's a lot of monotonous mining to be done when it should just be the same as Lego.  He's playing it with a friend of his - another youtube gamer - and I imagine this dynamic reveals something of what he'd be like in real life (since people have brought that up).  Nice enough, but endlessly attempting to derive humour from the practice of moaning about this and that.

NoSleep

Quote from: Thursday on October 10, 2012, 10:54:49 AM
AVGN would be fine if he just dialled it back a lot, used metaphors besides fecal matter and stopped mugging then drinking that stupid beer (why does he do this? I really don't understand.) His videos are sometimes enjoyable in spite of him. It's amusing to see bad things old games did, and he does sometimes fill in a lot of interesting historical background, but it's like he's like he's really trying to put you off along the way.

It would be an improvement if he appeared to be a bit drunk on the beer, at least.

NoSleep

Quote from: The Region Legion on October 10, 2012, 11:59:50 AM
This is the video that made me love AVGN forever : http://cinemassacre.com/2006/06/29/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles/

He flipping nailed how I felt playing this game back in the day and mentions pretty much every single part that wipsy me off as a kid, and it's nice to find that everyone felt this way and I wasn't just a cack-handed clam.

"You can just walk over it?". Brilliant.

As I said in the earlier thread, the above is his finest moment.

Nice to see that my post gets quoted censored - "cack-handed clam". Excellent.

Quote from: Replies From View on October 10, 2012, 12:08:23 PM
How is it not a character?

I think it takes more to be a "character" than doing and saying the exact same things you would normally say, about a subject you personally have as much passion in, but just swearing a lot. It's a persona, perhaps, but not a "character". The fact that James talks about the nerd in third person, like some kind of method actor, doesn't lend what he's doing any legitimacy. There's no difference between him as AVGN, Board James, Bullshit Man or any of his other "characters". He's just wearing different things.

And that's fine - like I said, I like his work and even though not every AVGN episode or line makes me laugh (and sometimes I might actually cringe) I like that there's this guy out in the suburbs of Philadelphia who's been making his own little movies since he was a kid and just kept doing it, and that he's built himself a life on it. Very admirable.

But AVGN is not a character.

Replies From View

So how far removed from a person must a persona be to become a "character", then?  What's the amount of "legitimacy" needed, and how much "method acting" must occur?

NoSleep

We all have personas whilst only some of us are actors.