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Angry Video Game Nerd

I

Imp the Dimp

Member
What's up with his film? I could swear he's been on it for 3 or 4 years which seems WAY too much for an indie production with little budget. Wasn't it supposed to be released in 2012?
 
O

one_kill

Member
nullset2 said:
The AVGN games episode was ok. It became as meta and self aware as when Arino played the Game Center CX DS game for the show.

Sorta unrelated: I find it amazing how James has such a humongous ego. He's dedicated to his characters to the utmost extent and blows them up bigtime as larger than life personas for no particular reason, even if they are, um, just him by the end of the day. Well, I guess that having a huge ego like that is what makes you have a successful career in the end.

Why does he always treat mike that badly, too? He always gets the short end of the stick and is shoved and bossed around in all cinemassacre productions. James doesn't even look him in the eye in the Mike and James play series. It doesn't even seem like he regards him as a friend or full-on collaborator at times ("Help by Mike" next to lines and lines of "Directed, Written, Starring... James Rolfe).

Grumble grumble movie when grumble.
Click to expand...
James comes off to me as being humble than egotistical.

Also, I don't think he treats Mike badly. I think you're looking into it too much.
 
A

andthebeatgoeson

Junior Member
TheYanger said:
Sure. Ever see Wall-E? A future where everything is done for you so we devolve into a society of those who cannot even act for themselves. This to me is the equivilent of any sort of handout that discourages actual improvement in people. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to help players, but it doesn't do that. As much as someone said earlier that Luigi going through the level for you is insulting, I think it's the opposite: You don't feel any satisfaction from luigi, rightly so (you do with tanooki because you're still 'playing'. On the flipside, Luigi takes a situation that a player might not even understand how to accomplish, and shows them how to do it, giving them a goal to strive for and a leg up in understanding how to go about it. It's the difference between someone being unable to throw a football, and you SHOWING them how to throw a football before you give it back to them to try again, and you just giving them a magic football that throws a perfect spiral every time with no effort.
Click to expand...

Please don't take this personal but I just had a lot of personal experience with what has been talked about that directly contradicts the assertion that it harms gaming. A lot of this helper crap has gotten me into certain genres that I would never consider and has taken me along a path I would have never considered.

If that helper crap after dying 5 times gets a casual gamer thru Mario, isn't it weird that some would rather them suffer or not finish the game, than get a helping hand? The mechanics of the 'game' are so pure, they cannot enjoy it 'their' way. I would just want you guys to take a step back and reevaluate that position.

Years ago, I was a RTS newb. Got my hands on age of empire 2. The genre is a bear but it has enough to hook me. I only play on the easiest levels, never multiplayer because of how good when an average player would be. But i ended up buying rise of nations, still only playing the computer on easy, never online. Hate to play for an hour or two and lose. Is it bad design? Or am I just too casual in the genre? Don't we all have genres where we are the casuals? Music games, mmo, sports, platformer, etc. Something where we haven't had the experience. And this may be the one game that hooks a person. Maybe their ticket into gaming.

At this point, I would like you to ask your self a serious question: who the fuck am I? Why do you get to dictate how someone else plays? Maybe they need that casual bullshit to get them thru. It could be bad design. Or it could be a necessary help in an arena they are not used to. We have played the hell out of every Mario game in existence but someone out there needs it or may give up on platformer entirely. We've all been there. Raged quit on a simple game because we didn't see what they were trying to do. Or the design sucked (looking at you kid Icarus ducking and falling to my death).

Why do we feel the need to protect them? As if they couldn't have fun unless it's hard and worthy. Good gameplay shines thru. I know because I've played thru resident evil 4 with the infinite rocket launcher 3-4 times, the infinite Chicago typewriter 10 times, the infinite hand cannon 6 times and still loved every minute of it. A gamer... Loving the cheats. And it diminished my experience not one bit. This is not our first example.

So, at the end of this I will walk you along the path of my gaming tangent: I started out with age of empire 2 while trying to find commandos. That led to rise of nations. I would still consider myself a newb. That them led to a healthy interest in advance wars and pikmin. And an openness to RTS games. You could call me casual but I blame that to developer aversion in the genre. But who knows, if there is still enough of a Wii u drought, I may pick up fire emblem because I keep hearing great things about the series. I lay all this out because we never know what experiences will take you on what direction. We have to depend on good gameplay and a recognition that all players start as a newb in each genre and may need a helping hand... Or suit
 
M

maharg

idspispopd
skinnyrattler said:
Please don't take this personal but I just had a lot of personal experience with what has been talked about that directly contradicts the assertion that it harms gaming. A lot of this helper crap has gotten me into certain genres that I would never consider and has taken me along a path I would have never considered.

If that helper crap after dying 5 times gets a casual gamer thru Mario, isn't it weird that some would rather them suffer or not finish the game, than get a helping hand? The mechanics of the 'game' are so pure, they cannot enjoy it 'their' way. I would just want you guys to take a step back and reevaluate that position.

Years ago, I was a RTS newb. Got my hands on age of empire 2. The genre is a bear but it has enough to hook me. I only play on the easiest levels, never multiplayer because of how good when an average player would be. But i ended up buying rise of nations, still only playing the computer on easy, never online. Hate to play for an hour or two and lose. Is it bad design? Or am I just too casual in the genre? Don't we all have genres where we are the casuals? Music games, mmo, sports, platformer, etc. Something where we haven't had the experience. And this may be the one game that hooks a person. Maybe their ticket into gaming.

At this point, I would like you to ask your self a serious question: who the fuck am I? Why do you get to dictate how someone else plays? Maybe they need that casual bullshit to get them thru. It could be bad design. Or it could be a necessary help in an arena they are not used to. We have played the hell out of every Mario game in existence but someone out there needs it or may give up on platformer entirely. We've all been there. Raged quit on a simple game because we didn't see what they were trying to do. Or the design sucked (looking at you kid Icarus ducking and falling to my death).

Why do we feel the need to protect them? As if they couldn't have fun unless it's hard and worthy. Good gameplay shines thru. I know because I've played thru resident evil 4 with the infinite rocket launcher 3-4 times, the infinite Chicago typewriter 10 times, the infinite hand cannon 6 times and still loved every minute of it. A gamer... Loving the cheats. And it diminished my experience not one bit. This is not our first example.

So, at the end of this I will walk you along the path of my gaming tangent: I started out with age of empire 2 while trying to find commandos. That led to rise of nations. I would still consider myself a newb. That them led to a healthy interest in advance wars and pikmin. And an openness to RTS games. You could call me casual but I blame that to developer aversion in the genre. But who knows, if there is still enough of a Wii u drought, I may pick up fire emblem because I keep hearing great things about the series. I lay all this out because we never know what experiences will take you on what direction. We have to depend on good gameplay and a recognition that all players start as a newb in each genre and may need a helping hand... Or suit
Click to expand...

I'm not even remotely against designing games to help new players get into them. Almost all games do this, including OLD mario games. The most common way is giving you progressively harder challenges. SMB 1-1 is easier than 1-2 is easier than 1-3. A good game leads you through the challenges, giving you new ones one at a time until you're able to finish the game.

I'm not saying it's wrong to have mechanics to help new players, I'm saying this seems like a bad mechanic.
 
O

one_kill

Member
maharg said:
I'm not even remotely against designing games to help new players get into them. Almost all games do this, including OLD mario games. The most common way is giving you progressively harder challenges. SMB 1-1 is easier than 1-2 is easier than 1-3. A good game leads you through the challenges, giving you new ones one at a time until you're able to finish the game.

I'm not saying it's wrong to have mechanics to help new players, I'm saying this seems like a bad mechanic.
Click to expand...
It's not though.
- It's completely optional
- It limits your progression in the game if you keep using it
- You can still die by falling into pits and lava

V dude, it's an optional part of the game. Get over it.
 
M

maharg

idspispopd
one_kill said:
It's not though.
- It's completely optional
- It limits your progression in the game if you keep using it
- You can still die by falling into pits and lava
Click to expand...

So, let's just get this optional thing over with once and for all. Your definition of optional and mine differ. You don't have to pick up the sword in The Legend of Zelda but it's still an integral part of the game's normal mechanics. It is only optional if you are specifically making the game harder for yourself. If a game presents you with something it is part of the game. Please stop (and I mean this generally, not specifically to you) equating it with cheat codes, which truly are optional.

The other things are also but they don't actually make it a good mechanic. They make it somewhat less bad. If anything they defeat its purpose as a 'helper', so in a way they defeat even the purpose you're championing.
 
Z

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Top 10 Nerd’s Unexpected Moments

Honorable Mention: Action 52 (Shit Pickle cameo)
10.) Power Glove (landing the plane in Top Gun)
9.) Odyssey (the gun)
8.) Zelda 2 (beating Dark/Shadow Link with the Power Glove)
7.) Ikari Warriors (exploding car scene)
6.) Back to the Future Revisited (Top Gun scene)
5.) Transformers (ending scene/Fami-tron)
4.) Halloween (Frankenstein scene)
3.) Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (ending scene)
2.) Super Mario Bros. 3 (discovering the evil symbols)
1.) Star Wars (ending scene)
 
Z

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Holy crap, next week's James & Mike Monday is gonna be freakin'
Sonic '06.
Kind of neat considering how, despite being so new, would get a ton of requests, so it's sort of their way of reviewing the game, even if it's not in the AVGN style.
 
D

Downhome

Member
I am really enjoying the videos that James and Mike have been doing together. I hope they continue this for years to come, and maybe even expand the videos as well. They remind me of me and my cousin that used to game together and act up with before he moved away a few states over. We haven't had times like that in five years or more now. I miss it. These videos take me back.

I do hope the Nerd continues as well though. I just want to see these expand also.
 
J

JonnyBrad

Member
Zonic505 said:
Holy crap, next week's James & Mike Monday is gonna be freakin'
Sonic '06.
Kind of neat considering how, despite being so new, would get a ton of requests, so it's sort of their way of reviewing the game, even if it's not in the AVGN style.
Click to expand...

Its the N64 Superman of last gen.
 
Darkmakaimura

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
Finally catching up on all these. I love that nostaglic feeling I get when watching AVGN. Something about the room he broadcasts in even reminds me of the 80's.
 
N

N4Us

Member
I love how he has this silent moment of disbelief when he had to start all over from not saving

xSoqjyi.png
 
T

thefro

Member
Looks like we're getting a 2-part Christmas episode, so look for the movie to get even more delayed.

https://twitter.com/cinemassacre/status/412673592246009857

The Nerd said:
I'm an expert at screwing my schedule, with an AVGN Christmas episode so long, I'm splitting in two parts. Trying to get it done this week!
Click to expand...

ComputerMKII said:
I'm a fan of the Joueur du Grenier* ("the Attic Gamer") and I've heard it was inspired by Angry Video Game Nerd. Should I check that series out? Where to begin?
Click to expand...

I'd start from the beginning... his early episodes are the best and pretty much all high-quality. There's some great episodes later on but it's more hit and miss and some of them are a bit too bloated in length.
 
R

Rapscallion

Member
The Sonic 06 video was pretty funny. Funnily enough, the level they were playing is one of the better and less frustrating levels in the level. Kind of wished they had him play as Silver, or one of the later levels like that god forsaken train level.
 
T

ThirstyFly

Member
Holy hell, how did that game even happen? Is there some kind of crazy development nightmare like Aliens that caused it to be that bad?

Please tell me there's some interesting story that explains it.
 
M

maharg

idspispopd
Holy crap that looks bad (I haven't played it). It's like someone tried to speed up Shenmue and dropped sonic into it.
 
M

Malajax

Member
ThirstyFly said:
Holy hell, how did that game even happen? Is there some kind of crazy development nightmare like Aliens that caused it to be that bad?

Please tell me there's some interesting story that explains it.
Click to expand...

There really hasn't been much explanation other than SEGA rushing the game to launch. Key people left and the team was split in order to develop Secret Rings for the Wii. It was ultimately the culmination of a lot of bad decisions made over the 5 years prior to that release.
 
$

$200

Banned
I love how they assumed the game was overhyped and a Sonic game couldn't actually be that bad...until they started playing.
 
M

maharg

idspispopd
Jacobi said:
Eh IMO they tried to make a GTA out of Sonic
Click to expand...

The 'open world' part of it seems like the least of its problems. The actual gameplay segment looks like rapid fire really simple QTEs and a camera that doesn't let you tell what's going on.
 
A

Aaron Strife

Banned
Malajax said:
There really hasn't been much explanation other than SEGA rushing the game to launch. Key people left and the team was split in order to develop Secret Rings for the Wii. It was ultimately the culmination of a lot of bad decisions made over the 5 years prior to that release.
Click to expand...
It was kind of a process where Sonic Adventure was ok but padded out with tedious bullshit, and Sonic Team got it in their heads that people liked the tedious bullshit and slowly let it take over the games. Sonic 06 only exacerbated the problem by having a dev cycle of like 6 months.
 
Z

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Wolfgunblood Garopa said:
As bad as that game is, James played it like someone who doesn't normally play games and has maybe played one other 3D game before.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it seemed like he never played the Adventure games, considering he wasn't aware of the Homing Attack. I recall he only played the Genesis games, based on that one video he did based on Sonic memories.
 
A Black Falcon

A Black Falcon

Member
That video was very hard to watch... I mean, a 20+ minute video of someone playing a 3d Sonic game who doesn't know how to attack (the air lockon spin attack)? Gah! The game even had tutorial texts on the bottom of the screen telling them how to do it, but neither one paid any attention to it. Painful. Sure the game is bad, and the video show off the horrendous loading times and bad camera angles for sure, but otherwise it's not very useful because they don't know how to play 3d Sonic games at all, and didn't read the instructions or tutorial either.
 
P

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
I think it's actually an interesting look at what happens when someone he isn't comfortable with this kind of game first plays it. Stuff some of us may not think about and tune out like the tutorial for getting through the parts you can just mash jump, or use tails to hover talk about it and didn't work at all for him, as he would fail what it talked about before it spoke out that point.

That + the initial death as tails stuck out to me. He was moving back and forth on the whale which lead to running right off the side of the pier and later found out it's one of those typical 3D sonic segments where you don't need to input anything at all.
 
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