People hating on the VGC

[Voor]

^^^that and he grew out of it too. James is a 40 year old dad like myself, and if you watch enough of his stuff, it’s easy to spot that he enjoys his other projects much more, but keeps doing AVGN because that’s his moneymaker. They are very hit and miss these days, but occasionally you’ll get a really good one (like earthbound from last year).

[mbd36]

I never disliked the VGC in any way, to each their own, he's pretty honest in his reviews and though he does swear (covered by expletives), it's all done in a very mature manner, unlike other critics such as the Nostalgia Critic or Angry Videogame Nerd, whom I both oppose as they go off the deep end swearing like a lunatic and obsessing about toilet humor which gets pretty tiresome. That would be like watching some noisy, destructive kid running amok in an antique shop or museum, hollering obscenities like lunatic and breaking everything he sees. I prefer my reviews to calm, mature, and honest, Siskel and Ebert did that, and so does the VGC.

AVGN isn't a critic, he's a fictional character who appears in comedic sketches about old video games. The real James Rolfe isn't even a gamer, he's more into movies.

[Voor]

I never disliked the VGC in any way, to each their own, he's pretty honest in his reviews and though he does swear (covered by expletives), it's all done in a very mature manner, unlike other critics such as the Nostalgia Critic or Angry Videogame Nerd, whom I both oppose as they go off the deep end swearing like a lunatic and obsessing about toilet humor which gets pretty tiresome. That would be like watching some noisy, destructive kid running amok in an antique shop or museum, hollering obscenities like lunatic and breaking everything he sees. I prefer my reviews to calm, mature, and honest, Siskel and Ebert did that, and so does the VGC.

AVGN isn't a critic, he's a fictional character who appears in comedic sketches about old video games. The real James Rolfe isn't even a gamer, he's more into movies.

The interesting thing about that is that his partner, Mike, is waaaayyyy more animated and into gaming than James.

[mbd36]

I never disliked the VGC in any way, to each their own, he's pretty honest in his reviews and though he does swear (covered by expletives), it's all done in a very mature manner, unlike other critics such as the Nostalgia Critic or Angry Videogame Nerd, whom I both oppose as they go off the deep end swearing like a lunatic and obsessing about toilet humor which gets pretty tiresome. That would be like watching some noisy, destructive kid running amok in an antique shop or museum, hollering obscenities like lunatic and breaking everything he sees. I prefer my reviews to calm, mature, and honest, Siskel and Ebert did that, and so does the VGC.

AVGN isn't a critic, he's a fictional character who appears in comedic sketches about old video games. The real James Rolfe isn't even a gamer, he's more into movies.

The interesting thing about that is that his partner, Mike, is waaaayyyy more animated and into gaming than James.

I agree. Mike is basically AVGN in real life.

[VideoGameCritic]

I love the AVGN and wish he'd release new stuff on disc. I don't like watching stuff on YouTube. I want something I can keep.

As for the whole "fictional character" thing, I think that's mainly a cover to protect him in this increasingly politically-correct society where everything you've ever said gets put under a microscope and will be held against you.

I think those tantrums we truly heart-felt, albeit embellished for dramatic purposes. But if you say "it's all an act", you sort of abdicate all responsibility.

So for all those people who I have offended in the past, rest assured the Video Game Critic is only a fictional character!

[Voor]

Nah, and don’t think it’s anything like that. you can watch old non-AVGN videos from a decade ago (before the political environment we’re in now) and it’s obvious James is just a chill dude who likes making videos.

AVGN became more popular than his other projects, which helps him do videos for a living, and probably fund his less popular stuff.

[Matchstick]

that and he grew out of it too... if you watch enough of his stuff, it’s easy to spot that he enjoys his other projects much more...

This hit me a few years back, around the time of that Halloween episode where he got possessed by the arcade game, or around the Planet of the Apes episode. It just didn't seem like his heart was in it anymore. It also seemed like he was much more interested in making short films than really devoting time to gameplay, and I can appreciate that. But once I realized that he seemed to be pretty much "over it," I checked out.

I told YouTube to stop recommending me the Cinnemassacre channel, and never looked back.

What's funny is, I always knew that he was playing a character, and never once got the vibe that he was actually acting like his true self in his videos. From the way he's constantly referred to as "The Nerd" to the way he wears the same sort of uniform every episode, nothing about it seemed "real." I mean, he has his own theme song, for Pete's sake!

What made me take a step back is when I'd read the comments for the videos and see people treating "The Nerd" as a real person. Some actors are hard to separate from their most well-known roles, I guess. I thought Indiana Jones was real when I was about four years old, so I suppose I can't really judge anyone else for feeling a similar way.

[DrLitch]

rest assured the Video Game Critic is only a fictional character!

Lets hope a female voice with British accent does not start narrating your life.

Angry Videogame Nerd, whom I both oppose as they go off the deep end swearing like a lunatic and obsessing about toilet humor which gets pretty tiresome.

I was watching an old crime film from the 50's and thought to myself "these are the most nicely spoken street thugs I have ever seen".

I am not a huge fan of the Angry Videogame Nerd, he was mildly amusing in select scenes but his act got old. His peak was a decade ago. That said, he has left a footprint on the retro scene and numerous other channels have adopted or evolved upon his style.

[ThePixelatedGenocide]

As for the whole "fictional character" thing, I think that's mainly a cover to protect him in this increasingly politically-correct society where everything you've ever said gets put under a microscope and will be held against you.

Nah, he's made videos as himself, where he's offered more nuanced takes on the games. And when he forgets to play the character, he's always more chilled out. (Some of the lesser AVGN episodes are basically just James talking about games.)

The AVGN was originally a parody of angry gamers in general. The sort of folks who think a grading scale should contain just three scores: worse than war crimes, favorite guilty pleasures, and classics.

His only real bias is Nintendo over Sega. His comparison of their two 16-bit consoles is filled with technical errors, because he used a misleading Nintendo ad from the 90's as his one reference. For example, the ad implied the SNES can use all 256 colors during high resolution mode. (The reality is more like RPM Racing.)

Today, his best AVGN episodes focus on the mini-movies attached, like his Hunter S. Tompson tribute. It's clear that's where his real passion lies.

[MSR1701]

AVGN is a personality I watched years ago (and seeing an earlier post in this thread about the AVGN being 10+ years active is another shiver of age catching up to me...), and while some were amusing at the time, the larger impression he left on me was the concept of the angry gamers that he was parodying - the rant and rave crowd. Unfortunately, I have run into gamers that watched his videos and voice their thoughts of the games the AVGN reviewed as if said thoughts were their own, without ever having played the games.

An interesting example is the CD-i Zelda games. I have zero means of playing these legitimately, though I did try them VERY briefly on an emulator before the thing crashed, and aside from very unorthodox controls, the games were far from the worst things I have ever played (though by Zelda series standards, the bar of expectations is far higher than most other series). (note - for an interesting view on the Zelda CD-i games, check out the European Speedrunner Assembly (ESA) on YouTube; they have had several runs of the CD-i Zelda games (occasionally in other languages, which is a hoot), and the runners and commentators offer interesting thoughts)

Over recent years I've drifted away from internet personalities for viewing (other than T90Official for Age of Empires II tourneys), usually sticking to marathon channels such as Games Done Quick, Speedgaming and the like. Most can go overboard, and I find it refreshing to view channels where the content is aimed to be family friendly, which results in very interesting workarounds for people who are normally very profane on their Twitch streams (looking at you, Kiezaron).