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Game Commentary, With Funny Added - Zero Punctuation
Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw is described as a "British-born, currently Australian-based writer and gamer with a sweet hat and a chip on his shoulder." That melange of Python and Steve Irwin has combined, somehow, to produce some of the most hilariously insightful games commentary I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. Via Gamers With Jobs I came across Croshaw's first video review on The Escapist site, all about the the Heavenly Sword demo and the Resident Evil 5 trailer. He talks a mile-a-minute, does his own wonderfully primitive animation work, and manages to walk that tightrope between jerk and brilliant with seeming effortlessness. He's slated to put one up every week, and since the first post has released a look at the cult classic Psychonauts , and some cutting commentary on the console war. Go watch, please; just make sure you can a.) use NSFW sound and b.) won't get looked at weirdly for laughing aloud.
Everybody raise your hand if you thought "Game Commentary, With Funny Added - Zero Punctuation" was a reference to the usual kind of articles here at slashdot :)
WTF is Twing-Twang? And do I really want to see that on my new HD-TV?
Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!
"He's slated to put one up every week, and since the first post has released a look at the cult classic Psychonauts , and some cutting commentary on the console war. "
For those who still own a computer.
If you didn't listen all the way to the end, it is worth repeating -
PSYCHONAUTS IS AVAILABLE FROM STEAM REALLY CHEAP! If you don't buy it, you have forfeited your right to ever again complain about lack of originality and fun in games.
While you are at it, so is Vampire: Bloodlines, which with the unofficial patches is a really good game these days, the new Sam and Max episodes, and Bioshock, (but if you haven't already heard about the last one and how good it is you are probably dead).
Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die
http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/reviews/
Okay, for those that didn't read the end of the summary, I am going to quote it:
"Go watch, please; just make sure you can a.) use NSFW sound and b.) won't get looked at weirdly for laughing aloud."
Seriously. It took all I had not to laugh out loud about the newest rant about consoles... It's amazingly true and with him speaking so fast and the video actually having content at the same time, it's non-stop funny. (Well, okay, the beginning is a bit weak.)
Oh, and he's right about Psychonauts... That was an excellent game.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Zero Punctuation is the name of the series of videos, dumbass.
It's a standard comedy genre in the UK. Fast delivery, fast edits, initially pioneered by Victor Lewis Smith in the 80's. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j39oSM9ppo
These days Charlie Brooker carries the torch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB70wuweyQI
Ben is brilliantly funny, but owes more to these two men than Monty Python.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. --Albert Einstein
I'm not sure what's wrong, but when I go to the site, I don't find anything. No article, no link to an article, no link to an external item (like a sound), no player to run an external sound, nothing. It certainly is funny that the article is completely missing. :(
But I use Netscape, maybe it has some wierd feature that doesn't work. So I then tried the site on Internet Explorer and the Flashplayer comes up. Which is damned funny, because Flash does work in Netscape. So I have no idea why this doesn't work.
Anyway, having listened to his article, he does have some funny points, but at times I thought I was listening to someone speak French or Spanish; it was nearly incomprehensible at times. Does the guy think he has to make a twenty minute speech in a minute and ten seconds? There was a movie - I think it was The American President where one of the characters tells the other he needs to cut down on caffeine. This guy is waaay beyond a cafeine buzz; to misquote Lloyd Bridges in Airplane!, this would be a good week for the guy to quit taking amphetamines.
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The lessons of history teach us - if they teach us anything - that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us.
He needs to team up with Ms. Webb. You know I was always afraid that I would turn back into a tv watching freak like my parents. TVTonic is doing this. It is scary. I can sit on my couch and watch funny videos and then learn how to make funny videos on my couch. Without cable but with a cable modem of course.
Added Pressly: "Oh, and by the way, milk is nothing but liquid meat."
"And the game is fun. Fun. Remember? Like when games where fun to play and didn't feel like a second job" (cue to Warcraft box image).
Loved that site, thanks!
Yes, I'm in camp A. Want me to describe what genre it is? FUN. That's the genre. Yes, there's adventure elements. Yes, it's a platformer. Yes, there's shooting. But, primarily, it's FUN. Funny as hell, Fun as hell to play - it's one of those games that when people who game don't own it, I (a) try to hard-sell them on it, and (b) wonder what's wrong with them that they didn't get it originally. When you play it, there's this goofy smile on your face. Why it didn't sell better is beyond me - I bought it after trying the demo ("a platformer? Meh. Waitaminutethisisreallyfun...."), and I thought it would sell tons.
Go buy a copy. Help Tim make more original games.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
One of the things I really hate are links to a page where you have to click a link and browse around to find the content (I couldn't). Your link got me straight to the content, and I didn't have to disable adblock!
Thank you.