I hate playing video games, which makes me the odd man out with most of my friends. The last video game I was addicted to was “Mike Tyson’s Punch Out” (which is just such a sad statement: “My favorite video game is 20-years-old, and stars a rapist from Brooklyn”), so I’m not up on all the latest titles and releases. That’s why I was surprised the first time I went to escapistmagazine.com and to the Zero Punctuation video review section, and found I was hooked.
The reviews are written and performed by Yahtzee Croshaw, “…British-born, currently Australian-based writer and gamer with a sweet hat and a chip on his shoulder.” I watch his reviews about video games that I have heard of but have never played and have virtually no interest in playing. But his humor and writing are so funny and spot on that I will go to the site several times a week and watch one of the reviews. His reviews are done in Windows Movie Maker, and are simple clip art animation, which he narrators at a break-neck cadence.
If I had to wager a guess, I would say that Yahtzee approaches his reviews under the simple premise “I’m smarter than you, that’s why you are watching me and not the other way around,” which I find really entertaining.
The first review that I watched was of Halo 3, which my roommate was in the middle of playing at the time. So I might be bias, but watching someone point out every stupid element of a game that I have had to watch someone play for the past three days straight was just sheer enjoyment.
At this point I need to state that the reviews are not always for all audiences, and are not above using profanity, sex, and inappropriate humor in general. But for the mature nerd, it’s a very entertaining way to kill time.


Posted by
Matthew Byrd