So...this isn't really an episode as much as it is a setup for something new.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in a parody of the Game Ovethinker, but I really hope one of the episodes isn't dedicated to "Bob getting his show back."
Also, to that one guy who commented about this being a "comedy skit" in one of the other posts, how the fuck did you see this before anybody else did?
Interesting... Wonder how the Overthinker is going to get out of this one.
Need to point something out: Warui, the Japanese word for 'bad', is pronounced 'Wa-lu-ee', not 'Wa-ryu'. The name Waluigi is actual a play on words using this ('Wa-lu-ee-gee').
Evil Dopplegangers... Yeah, I know you don't care much for Venom or Shadow, so I take it you're not that into them? Or just if they're written well enough.
Also, I freaking LOVE Wario, probably my favorite Mario character, other than Luigi. I remember you saying "Even Wario has a defining characteristic", and I wasn't entirely sure what you meant by that, so hopefully, this will shed some light on the matter.
Aww, SHIT! I was hoping to see where you where going with the Kirby/Meta Knight/King Dedede thing! Damn it all!
Hey, my Grandma lives in Minnesota! And I was born there! No one cares? Oh...
I see where you're going with this, dude, and honestly, I don't really like it. Oh well, might as well watch and see how it goes anyway.
You have a brother? And you sent him all the way to Minnesota? Does he live near there or does he also live in Boston along with you? Also, where the Hell did you find out that Wario's Woods is an actual place? Are we just supposed to believe whatever you say? I know you're trying to make these videos fun and funny, but you're supposed to be the GAME OVERTHINKER, and you present your arguments like facts, so trying to blur the line between fact and fiction isn't going to make you look good.
The Antithinker sucks. Flat-out sucks. I get it, you hate douchebag gamers, what-ever. And HE rules the Antiverse? What about all the other anti-people and Internet celebrities there? What does this guy have that no other anti-guy have?
I don't so much hate what the Antithinker is doing so much as MovieBob is taking yet ANOTHER opportunity to make himself look like a self-important dick and demonize people who don't agree with him. That's just how it comes off to me.
And yeah, I GET that's what he does. He even admits to being obnoxiously intelligent, bitter, and self-important. That doesn't make it okay! I seriously hope this ends within 5 seconds of the next episode because I just can't take more than that of this annoying attempt to make the "hardcore" variety of gamers look bad. I keep trying to defeat MovieBob and his opinions, but he just makes it even harder to do every time!
((LOL, the word verification I had to type in was "trapp". How perfect is that?))
I don't like it. I hope the Antithinker dies within 5 seconds of the next episode. Not because he's an annoying stupid douche, but because he's just another way of MovieBob trying to make "hardcore" gamers look bad. YES! You hate the douchey FPS Online gamer trolls. WE GET IT! We don't want to see you devote a series of episodes just to demonizing them even more.
The video keeps freezing up at 2:44, and just keeps buffering. I've emptied my cache, watched it on both sites, and it's seizing up at the same place every time.
What the hell!? I kinda figured evil twins would be the thing during my ponderings today since the whole beware wario woods thing, but The Game Anti-Thinker? Da heck?
I mean I though the whole thing was hilarious, but seriously, what the hell? The video he was actually about to play seemed genuinely interesting and I actually wanted to hear the rest.
So this is an entertaining disappointment and while I can't wait to see more, you could have at least had the courtesy of finishing the real video.
I can't beleive you're going to set this up as a Commentary with plot, it' like you've been watching too much Atop The Fourth Wall or the Spoony one or something and decided "You know what the Game Overthinker is missing that those popular guys at Thatgauywiththeglasses.com got? Plot, or at least some kinda miniplot, you know, throw in a little continuity to freshen the audience," I mean you couldn't just keep things simple, could ya?
Oh well, I'll just have to wait and frikkin' see.
Also, why "Cheif"? No douchebag I know says that word. In fact, I don't know anyone who uses that word anymore.
Hey, remember when you used to use video games as a way of getting people interested in things like history and philosophy? That stuff was great, it brought a lot of thought and ideas to the table that a lot of us would have looked over without shining a light on.
For the past 6 months or so all Overthinker has done is point fingers and demonize. Your show wasn't about what sucked, but what was good. This 'Antithinker' episode is the icing on the cake for that, though I'd rather call it the crust on the shit.
We don't care about your personal gripes with people and tropes that you don't like! Bring back what we liked about your series and leave your opinionated bullshit for your memoirs!
Hell, the next episode better be about the interconnecting universe of the Nintendo franchises or I'm gone!
it's Xmas, he's allowed a goofy transgression. Can't say I oppose the idea of a big, squishy "hardcore" asshole to insult (and let's face it, they're outside the FPS crowd as well)
if the Antithiner is your opposite, what does that make the Underthinker? Is there an Anti-Underthinker? (I wonder if this is how the conversation went when they thought up Waluigi... )
Errrrr... hm. Not sure about this Bob! You already spend half of every video doing the "bro" voice and complaining about X-Box playing "douchebags", it seems like you're going round in circles making a character like this. We all know exactly what you think of these kinds of people, what can this possibly add? Is the idea bucket running low? Are you just trying to get a few more page hits by insulting people again?
I've been watching your videos for a while and mostly enjoying them, but I've said before that the worst thing about them is your elitist attitude and the way you use these ridiculous strawman arguments to make yourself look smart. Now you've got a whole strawman CHARACTER to hang all this bullshit on? That really is the greatest Christmas ever for you, then, isn't it? I guess we can look forward to wacky two-way "debates" between the two, and then you'll make yourself win every time.
I guess it's a fun idea for a Christmas special but I don't see how the character is going to be anything other than an extension of the regular jock voice. I dunno, maybe you've got some really cool ideas for this that you're not letting on yet... I won't judge until the next episode comes along, but it does seem like this is just going to be a retread of old arguments and yet another way for you to insult and patronise anyone who disagrees with you.
Also, c'mon, if I wanted to see a grown man jumping around his living room doing wacky voices and fight scenes, I could just watch the Angry Video Game Nerd. Is Mike Matei going to be in the next one? Or Super Mecha Death Christ? Damn, you even had 8-bit music in the background! Why does every online video guy have to do this stuff now?
Oh yeah, I also agree with A Tribe Called Helloween. Whatever you DO do with this character, please don't make us sit through the obligatory "action" episode where you take the show back and there's loads of cheesy fireball effects and bluescreening, and we're supposed to laugh because there's a 10 minute fight scenes full of nerd stuff like lightsabers and fire flowers... other reviewers have done that sh!t to death and it's never as funny as the creator seems to think it is.
*sigh* Why is it every time someone on the internet has a few videos going and then they toally snap and think they are movie directors?
I've seen this s**t to death done by the cast of that Guy with the Glasses and the AVGN. There at least it kind of would have fit in theory, but this is totally out of place. And not to mention how it just is not funny. I bet it was fun to you and that's nice and all, but it just looks stupid.
I watched every video, even when it was way too much overthinking (Bayonetta), completely missing the point (Metroid) or simply insulting (GameStop). But this? No thanks, I won't even bother with the next part.
Creative and unusual, to say the least. I'm not going to say that "You should do what you used to do!", as it is your show. I would say that I do prefer the intellectual musings to this episode. Perhaps it was intended as a light-hearted counterpart to the heavier year so far. I'm on board; I'm not bored!
I would say that there is a fair amount of "hardcore bashing" on this show as of late, though. I don't identify myself as a "hardcore", at least in the FPS-Xbox Live-Madden kind of way. Still, though the trends and attitudes presented by this demographic do cast a rather negative slant on gaming as a whole, I still think that most of the posts I've read so far for this video have hit the nail on the proverbial head: It would make more sense to criticize the attitudes themselves rather than criticize a stereotype / archetype of them. It would lend more strength to your arguments as a whole, and would probably avoid the angry response from people that can identify with that stereotype. Still, looking forward to seeing how this whole thing plays out and what topic ultimately this will be on in the end. Keep up the great work!
Well this is the Game Overthinker after all, always trying to see the bigger picture. So it's possible that he has some kind of abstract point that would be easier to explain with a satirical character's voice than with his own, but he needs to establish the character first. Or maybe he's just screwing around.
for what my opinion is worth, while bob has had a go at the new wave of "hardcore" gamers a few times, the only reason this seems so striking is because last months was "Worst Person". I mean I don't begrudge you when you speak out on the culture surrounding games it is arguably more important that the games themselves, as we are the ones the non-gamers interact with, not the games. That being said minutia like evil twins is arguably what you do best. But you know what, everyones a critic, I will keep tuning in, and will reserve judgement of these few episodes until they can be viewed in their entirety.
Guys, just wait and see what happens. youre judging something that hasnt even really happened yet. this is just a setup episode, this story could go anywhere. have a little faith in Bob. hes an intelligent, witty, and in my opinion, funny guy. just give it a chance. i doubt TGOT is gonna morph into atop the fourth wall, or the spoony experiment all of a sudden. this whole thing is probably just to lighten up the series for a bit, since the last few episodes have been kinda depressing, what with the "bad things are happening to the games industry" theme and all.
Dont complain about something you dont know shit about.
As I see it. Overthinker - Self-admitted Nintendo worshipper. Antithinker - The homophobic Xbox FPS fan. Possibly a Michael Bay fan. (must investigate further)
So when do we see a Sony version of good ol' MovieBob?
It's funny, I really do see this as Bob jumping the shark. I know he poked fun at the idea in his 25th video, but introducing a new character like this really does seem like "jump the shark" material.
And sorry to complain like this, it's just I can't see this as anything other than Bob reinterating what he's been saying for the past few videos. Although, he DID say, on his other blog, that "we might be surprised about his views on Halo". I don't know what he means by that, and if he's supposed to be an "Antithinker" then what else WOULD he say about Halo other than what we'd expect to hear him say?
I just realized that he claimed to have already conquered our dimension. So that's why violent first person shooters are so common? Also, as I see the Game Antithinker I keep thinking of LordKat, and occasionally Sean Fausz.
So... uhh, I hate to be yet another downer in this thread but at least I have something different to say.
Is this the end of The Game Overthinker? You made reference to the fact that Wario's Woods (and thus the character of Wario) was "closing the book that Mario opened" on the NES. So, if we're carrying this analogy through, does that mean antithinker is closing the book on the overthinker?
It's no surprise that you've got a lot on your plate with your reviews and now The Big Picture. And it at least appears that you're either putting more effort and/or time into those, or TGO episodes take a lot longer to produce. And with The Big Picture you at least have another avenue where you can talk about games, with the added benefit of not being necessarily restricted to games.
I dunno, it just seems like there are at least a few signs that this could be the end for The Game Overthinker series. On the other hand, you could just be having a bit of fun -- and that's cool. Unlike the rest of the people that seem to think you're being to pessimistic and focusing on bashing the "hardcore" gamers, I don't really care about that. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's necessary, sometimes it's neither... whatever.
I don't really have a problem with this. I do prefer it when Bob discusses more psychological and philosophical topics that really get me thinking, but this a silly, fun little diversion after all the serious topics this year.
And hey, it's winter break. Time to relax and whatnot.
Hey bob...been with ya a while...I got one thing to say. I hope this isn't the end of overhtinker and that anti doesn't last TOO long. This shtick wears out it's welcome quickly right not it's not bad i'm curious for sure but yeah...
You DO realize that he has an Xbox 360 AND he rents games for the system, right? He just doesn't own that many because he hasn't found many he want's to own rather than rent.
First: I love your stuff! Thanks for everything you've ever posted here or at The Escapist. I am always hungry for more.
Second and primarily: This is an unusual move for you. The Overthinker, previously a 'mask' you use to present your opinions and analyses in a quick and entertaining way, has now become a 'character'.
This to me parallells the evolution of (say) the Nostalgia Critic, Linkara, the Spoony One, and other e-famous video reviewers. It's kind of surprising. I've always felt that, even though TGO is not 'really' Bob Chipman the complete person, that it was You doing the talking.
Tropes Are Not Bad. Tropes Are Not Good.
I'm not disappointed, upset, or distressed. I'm eager to see what you do next with your avatar and his nemesis. Probably: use both characters to make a point. That would be in character for The Movie-Game OverBobThinker.
Oh, and PS - congratulations on being picked up by The Escapist for another show. Twice a week is never enough.
After reading the... wow... lots of comments after mine, I gotta say that I agree with the majority of them. It seems like one thing to bring both sides of the arguments that usually occur on this blog's comments, together.
Still, I gotta admit that I am interested in seeing where he takes it. It shows insight into how he thinks, and, while not much can be read from this episode, there's a few things that could have provoked his behaviour.
Let's start with the most optimistic. It's a light hearted Christmas special that didn't have the correct humor behind it, which... honestly, makes it seem like the other things I'm going to mention.
Or... he could be responding to his reception. It does make me feel bad, because I've been pretty harsh in the past -queue the Mario comment I made- and alot of other people have been too. If that's the case, it also shows his disregard for his viewers. One possible branch from that concept is that he's responding, not with bitter, sarcastic spite (like Yahtzee,) but is holding the Game Overthinker for ransom, pretty much with the mentality of: "If I act like the biggest douche ever, people have to beg for the old GO."
Those are just speculations, however, and I really hope the first case I listed is the case. As much as I want Bob to go back to his old topics (I believe the point where his videos saw a decline is when he openly admitted he was an evil genius capable of creating a doomsday device capable of destroying the world, in his mind.) I don't want to see him fail, or worse, become an internet icon of hate. As controversial as he is, it's very possible.
I agree with the "jump the shark" comments. To be honest, when you introduced the new show I thought of it as the "Everything OverThinker" show, so I was wondering what you were going to do to keep the Game OverThinker distinct. I guess this is my answer.
I could see this new sketch format as a way to differentiate your shows and have some fun as long as it doesn't get in the way of the overthinking. (Like Mousa the 14, I was also disappointed that you didn't at least finish the evil twins discussion.) A few people have brought up ThatGuywiththeGlasses.com, and while I think the Nostalgia Critic himself is good at balancing his antics with his reviewing, I would say a lot of the other shows on that site tend to overdo the shtick. As someone mentioned previously, Atop the Fourth Wall is really bad about it.
As for those asking about the relationship between the AntiThinker and the UnderThinker...well, I suppose that if the OverThinker is Ryo, then the UnderThinker is Dan--obviously a parody of the original, but made by a separate company, and thus not actually part of the OverThinker's canon. I guess that makes the AntiThinker Robert Garcia?
My goodness. All this talk. All this support, all this hate. All the mentions of AVGN, That guy with the glasses, and the like. The worlds are colliding!
Or maybe, it's just Bob trying to change the pace a little?
Here's a thought: It seems that since the My Vids don't suck competition, people have been down on Bob. For a while, he stuck with his original setup, and, people started to dislike it. He changes the pace, and everyone hates it. How about this? No one wins outright in this whole thing b/c people will be mad regardless. It's started to happen with AVGN, it happens on TGWTG, and even happens with Screwattack, as it does happen with most web stars that get too popular.
It is what it is. Just see where this leads. Keep an open mind, and remember, it's mostly opinion, until fact is used.
Just see where it goes.
My thoughts: it's different. Apparently, he's taking the approach of the alternate persona move, like Spoony, Linkara, AVGN, etc. If it works, it works. If not, it won't. But, we won't know until it fully fleshes out.
In hindsight, I haven't seen this much craziness since the Miz won the WWE title. You should see the comments on that one...
I am glad to see these comments, for one reason: there's no heavy bias towards one side or another, unlike on other web sites.
I would like to know how so many people can watch this show yet so many people are complaining about this episode before they even know where you're going with this. GameOverthinker is my favorite webshow; I'm confident that he has an actual point to make here.
definitely have no problem with you trying something different, parodying yourself, or even change the format and angle of the show for awhile, but please, please don't go the AVGN route and fill a third of every episode with skits and cheesy special effects. I'm sure you have better things do do.
wait a minute... in the Antithinker's universe, wouldn't the Japanese NOT come out with "gayass Asian crap"? Wouldn't "hardcore" stuff NOT be the mainstream? Actually, wouldn't that world's thinker not even be alive today due to the dramatic alteration of history caused by the Germans winning? Or was it due to the South winning? Or maybe the Roman empire didn't fall? Come to think of it, it'd be outright impossible for life to even exist on earth in the first place if certain factors like the distance from the sun, atmospheric conditions, etc. were upset from the way they are in our universe by even a tiny margin.... okay, I guess that's overthinking the whole bizzaro world concept a bit much. ^^'
@Bob And I have news for you, if you think all hardcore gamers are jock douchebags, who think anything not macho is gheeeeey, you're wrong. You may find this hard to believe, but I write poems for school. I'm not saying they're good or bad, but my english teacher likes them.
The reason people still watch his videos, depite their obvious hate for them is because they used to be his fans is because they have an underlying hope he'll say something they'll like. To put it bluntly, his videos were so good before he got the confidence boost from ScrewAttack, that they actually touched the hearts of gamers in general without resorting to hateful comments, and those that were hateful were relatively unheard of, so they were comforting to hear.
Now, he takes it too far, which is why the aforementioned people who still watch his stuff, but disagree with it, do so.
Totally worth it for the "cartoonishly off the handle" comment. Really, I just finished Other M and it seems everyone needs to chill out a little. It didn't scald out my eyes with hot pokers or rape my firstborn.
In fact, I had an enjoyable time playing a video game.
I am pretty excited to see where this is going, and as a fan of all of your webshows, I'll still be watching in the future whether you lose popularity or not.
However, I have to agree with some of the earlier posts regarding your hate of the first-person genre and, it seems, anything with big, scary guns. I'm no 'hardcore' gamer, but I love Sonic Colors, DKCR, and Mario Kart just as much as Halo, Borderlands, and Burnout. They might not be for everyone, but that doesn't make them a pox on the entire industry.
I agree with your opinions on the mouth-breathers on Xbox Live, but they're just the bad apples that have spoiled the bunch. 80% of the matches that I've played online have either been silent or mostly silent except for team-speak about the current match. I'm sure if the Wii had headphone/mic support there would be just as many trolls and just as much swearing and rage as there is on Xbox Live.
I would like to hear your thoughts on some of the "sillier" FPS's like TF2 and TimeSplitters.
Maybe I'm just having a little too much faith in him, but I think we probably shouldn't attempt to take this at face value.
For example, while he's clearly under the impression that games like Halo and Call of Duty do significantly pander to satisfying the gaming needs of jockass dudebro douchebags (and frankly, this isn't really so much an opinion so much as it is an empirical statement), I'm pretty sure he'd acknowledge most of them don't really say "chief" and that there are people who like Madden, Halo, or whatever other franchises/genres he doesn't care for that aren't wholly unlikable human beings (and if I'm not mistaken he pretty much admitted to the latter in his episode about FPS's).
So if any "hardcore" gamers feel offended, you should realize he may not be referring to you at all.
In fact, I think he's probably under the impression that all of the aforementioned is exactly what most people would expect him to think. You could, to some reasonable, argue he's terribly biased (most of us are, though), but if I were him I'd no doubt be aware of how people perceive me and what they would expect me to do; biased as you think he might be, I don't think he's quite so egotistical and deluded to the point where he just ignores all negative opinions people have him and refuses to acknowledge that some of them might have some ground to stand on.
He might have decided to have some fun with this by setting this up to make everyone think he's going TGWTG, but later we discover it's part of some odd point which he thinks can be more effectively made through this little shtick. Might be a cleverly disguised way for him to be able to poke fun at himself; lord knows I have fun with stereotypes people associate with me quite often.
Or maybe I'm the one who's overthinking with this and he might have just jumped the shark. Who knows.
Also, if anyone is really so curious as to what he was originally going to go with the doppelganger musing, I'm sure if people bug him enough he'll cough up the goods.
@Reptile Besides everyone knowing it's just a little skit he's doing, why would he respond as normal-Bob? If he did, it'd probably just be a "wait and see" type answer. If he answered as the AnitThinker (keeping in character for now) then he'd just piss off everyone who is already pissed at what he's doing. Or maybe he doesn't want to. It's his blog, he can do what he wants.
You've never met anyone like the stereotypical Xbox Live user while you've play? Good for you. When Xbox live and Halo were first big several years, about half the guys in my high school were exactly like the stereotypical Xbox Live user. Which view is more correct? Neither.
Actually, I think Reptile was referring to when he didn't respond to almost any of the comments in his other videos. It's probably because we're the worst when it comes to how critical we are of his videos. Criticism isn't fun.
Anyway, I made a few mistakes in my last comment, so I hope I did get the right message across.
I will say this, however. He'd be alot more loved if he got involved with his community. Part of the reason why everyone responds the way they do is because he isn't there to correct us when we're perhaps wrong in our criticisms. Even if we are right, him responding would make him seem more like a human being and less like... well, the one, the only, the controversial, the Game Overthinker!
It is possible, of course, that Bob's going to do a "Scott Pilgrim vs. Nega Scott" plot twist, where he and his doppelganger about to fight, but they wind up finding common ground (He's already mentioned that he likes BioShock, for instance) and they end up getting along at the end.
Nick, I would LOVE if he did that Scott Pilgrim style twist, let's hope he does some cool subversion like that. Because at the moment it looks like we're about to sit through more "jock voice" bullshit that we've all seen from Bob a hundred times already.
Look, Bob, I like you and continue to watch this show exactly because you 'don't' do the crappy video sequence shit that people like the AVGN do on a daily basis. I 'loved' the fact that you actually stuck to thoughtful topics and didn't digress to cheesy length-padding things tangentially related to your topic. I found it really interesting when you mentioned the real life Wario's Woods thing (assuming that you didn't make it up wholesale, a google search for "Wario's Woods Minnesota turns up nothing unrelated to the video game), but I honestly wish that you had returned to talking about evil twins in gaming instead of spending over half the video doing an entirely unfunny live action sequence culminating in the introduction of a personification of the type of gamer you loath.
Douchebag FPS gamer isn't even the opposite of Game Overthinker!! Anti-Overthinker would be someone who only sees the very surface of anything in gaming, seeing nothing beyond skin deep! It would be comical to watch something like that, some guy talking about what a game is about except he misses all of the obvious symbolism and deeper meanings etc.
My point being, this Anti-thinker thing had better last exactly 2 episodes. This episode being the first, next episode being the inevitable "taking back the show" episode that everyone else who has ever done this concept ever (read: EVERY OTHER GODDAMN PERSON ON THE INTERNET WITH A SHOW ABOUT ANYTHING) has done, and then I never want you to speak of this shit ever again. If I see this guy on here beyond the next episode of Overthinker, I will remove the bookmark I have on this blog and stop watching. Your shows over at the Escapist have become more interesting anyway.
I gotta say that I am interested in the possibilities. There are definitely meaningful explorations of subject matter that can be achieved with this. I really hope the first episode of the anti-thinker is a serious, sincere, and meaningful albeit parodied, discussion of some aspects of "hardcore" games - not just 10 minutes of angry satire. You´re appeal and strength is the intellectual treatment of video games that none of the other video game blog video personalities are not willing or capable of doing. If you had to be characterized within the personalities video game video blog personalities you would definitely be the video game professor/philosopher, not the video game comedian. There are plenty of good and not so good video game comedians out there and frankly going in that direction will not suit you - it is not your strong suit. Play to your strengths especially the ones others don´t have.
Maybe I'm biased here because I'm incredibly psyched to see an episode discussing evil doppelgangers since they're a trope I've always been in love with, but I was pretty disappointed to see the turn this episode took.
I watch TGO because I enjoy listening to someone's intellectual views on video games and their subculture. I don't watch TGO because I like silly story arcs.
Please stop, Bob. You're great at what you do, and that's staying behind the camera and writing killer commentary on the topic of video games. This is just silly.
Even as I disagreed with you, even as I felt constantly insulted by you, even as I wanted to grab you and shake you and say "AAAAAA THAT'S FUCKING WRONG", Bob, I always respected you for at the least, keeping your videos about games and subjects related to games. I've seen this "lol now I have a plot and 2-bit special effects isn't it clever." thing on TGWTG SO MANY TIMES, and it's always - ALWAYS annoying. As much as I've lost respect for the way your videos seemed to be increasingly less about analyzing games and increasingly more about preaching to the "I <3 Nintendo and everyone else can suck it" choir, I always kept coming back on the offchance that you might include some kind of insight that would make me think differently about this game or that one. Even when you basically accused my favorite devs of being fascists.
But this....I don't know. Not only is this "lol I have a stupid plot and 2-bit special effects", this is even more of the "FPS' are a garbage genre and only douchebags can find any truly intrinsic value to them as a genre" thing that you've been going at full tilt for the past, I dunno, six months?
I miss when you were on Youtube. At least then you actually lived up to your namesake.
I think a lot of you are really overreacting to this and not in a good way. This is MovieBob, the Game Overthinker! He obviously wouldn't go to the lengths of making a video like this and introducing the persona of the Antithinker unless it had a point; and it probably does. While everyone's certain he's just going to use this as a soap box to bash the hardcores, I honestly don't think that's the direction he's going to go. He's too clever for something like that. So everyone just calm down and give the man a chance to get to the point before you jump down his throat. I'm confident that at the end of this we'll all be a little wiser as we have been after so many Overthinker episodes.
Michael, I love Bob's work. I really do. But when somebody does something to piss in his cheerios, the last thing he is is clever. He's always been down on hardcore gamers, but this just smacks of the ridiculous over-the-top hatred he's directed at movies such as The Expendables and The Blind-side. Is it deserved? Perhaps. I won't say that hardcore gamers are a blessing unto this Earth, or that The Expendables was the greatest thing to grace the silver screen, but dead horse is dead. Time to let go.
The real kicker here is that for all I can find he made up all this Wario's Wood bullshit. I can't find any evidence that it exists no matter how hard I look, and I can't find any references to it in Native American folk-lore. So basically, he took an intriguing episode and pissed it away on another hard-core bashing session. I wouldn't be so angry if it wasn't for the fact that he's doing THE SAME FUCKING THING HE HATES THEM FOR!
Think about it: He's given FPS games, Sports Games, and Hardcore gamers the same treatment he decries them for giving platformers, anything Nintendo, casual gamers, and straight-up nerds. It's hypocrisy, it's ridiculous, and it demeans us all to try and pretend this is somehow relevant commentary.
Oh snap this is awesome. I love the idea of this show, and the antithesis self you've created. I'm impressed with your respect to narrative, and wonder who much internet shows you've watched, or did you want to really play around with this for the end of the year bit.
As someone who loves you, and agrees with you 100% of the time, could I ask you a favour, Bob?
Please stop lumping Uncharted in with Halo.
I know you're not the biggest fan of the series, but I think there's one thing you don't really realise about it, and you might even scoff when I mention it, but...
I love Uncharted (the second one, mind you) because there is an incredible amount of love in the game. The design of the statues and masks, the use of colours and attention to tiny details (such as getting the wood grain right), and the wonderful orchestrated score. I know you dislike the characters - but the thing is the series is a love letter to old adventure films, of course the protagonist has to be cocky.
The amount of time and effort and most importantly - the beautiful realisation of the game (seriously, check out some of the 900 pages of concept art for it) places is well above Halo to me.
Just a simple request from someone who also thinks SMB 3 is the greatest game of all time.
While I'll agree this sort of episode isn't what I watch the Game Overthinker for, and I'll just check it out briefly to see where it's going, a lot of you people are deluding yourself if you think that there was a time Bob never bashed hardcore gamers, did the "hardcore" voice, or made the commentary that he does today. That was part of his schtick from DAY ONE. The very first episode on Youtube involved him calling out hardcore gamers who wanted everything to be dark and gritty and badass. You're nostalgic for something that never existed.
Also, where's the evidence that this is a permanent change to the GOT formula? He admits at the beginning it's a change of pace from the dark, gloomy news as of late, and as a self-identified filmmaker, he probably wants the chance to test out his movie making every now and then. You may dislike what he's doing, but that doesn't mean he's obligated to make every episode the exact same.
And in response to Twinmill, I can't speak for the man, but Bob probably doesn't have time to refute every single criticism lodged against him. He's accepted that yes, people will criticize him, and that's okay. They can debate it while he, you know, gives us videos to debate.
Actually, no, we're not being nostalgic for something that didn't exist.
Back in episode one, he bashed Xbox LIVE, and used that picture of Ogre in a skirt to represent hardcore gamers, but that wasn't the only thing he did. If the Kirby episode was just a bashing of the hardcore without a second message (just give this game a chance), he wouldn't have gotten the same good reception he did. Even now, that video is much better than anything recent.
While yes, there is a possibility that his anti-hardcore rants just are getting old for alot of people, that isn't the whole truth, or that Kirby episode, simply put, when watched right after one of the more recent episodes, wouldn't have seemed so much better.
The problem?
The message went from common morals like "Give this game a chance," or "This is the Nintendo mentality," or "Jack Thompson is a douche," to something more controversial, like "Sony is a terrible console company."
@Twinmill Does he have a right to be constantly bashing a genre not made for him? I think that everyone is sick of him preaching his message that Nintendo is the best and FPS's come from hell. Does he have a right to be constantly stereotype hardcore gamers for the sole purpose of offending them?
Actually...yes he does. Here's the thing, these are HIS videos on HIS blog. If you don't like the subject matter or how he approaches it...STOP WASTING YOUR TIME WATCHING IT.
I myself thing there is nothing wrong with a little bit of parody. I like some shooters but I fully recognize that he is pretty correct in his assertions that the genre is a major (possibly THE major) factor causing the creative sterilization of the gaming world.
Besides, this video is dumb fun. You're taking it far to seriously...
Remember when Game Overthinker used to be about obscure bits of videogame trivia, social issues raised, presented, or highlighted by games, and introspective looks at what really makes up a genre/console/series/etc. and "where we've been, where we're going" stuff?
I miss those days.
Now it's just an endless parade of "LOL FPS GAMERS SUCK DON'T THEY" and "MAN NINTENDO SURE IS AWESOME ISN'T IT".
Game Overthinker never said Sony was a terrible company. He explained it quite clearly and, in my opinion, not that controversially, in his episode on the subject: Sony was right to be pissed when Nintendo screwed them over, and so they made the right choices at the right time, leading to success. Attempts to repeat those moves at the wrong time, however, led to failure. His statement was a warning against Sony instead of an outright condemnation.
He also hasn't excluded Nintendo from criticism. The aforementioned Sony episode? Admitted Nintendo's policies of being a dick during the 90s. He's also praised Bioshock, Half-Life, and other games on non-Nintendo systems.
And the FPS issue is similar to his argument on Sony, in that he pointed out when the genre was relevant and groundbreaking, but emphasizes that it's treading old ground and hindering progress. In every case, he's explained his point quite clearly. You don't have to agree, but first understand his arguments before you turn them into strawman issues and make the same mistake you accuse him of making.
Even if Bob is controversial, so what? He never claimed not to be. The very act of analyzing games, the game industry, and gaming culture means controversy is bound to come up, and uncomfortable issues may be raised. Positions you disagree with will be taken, in order to get you thinking in return. Bob's referred to that as his goal on several occasions, making all claims of his "uniting gamers on what they agree with" pipe dreams.
Yeah, he talked about Nintendo's extra capitalistic ways, but he also agreed that Nintendo was a company, and that companies were out to get your money. I know the episode, and I know what he talked about in it.
One of the many things he said was that he saw that Sony wasn't fit to market consoles, and brought up how well the PS3 did in its earlier years to solidify his arguments. He also got in on the whole waggle war thing, dismissing Sony's attempt at improving -I don't know if it should be called this- Nintendo's technology entirely as copying.
He left it all for us to wonder if Sony was ever going to survive long enough in the console industry to make a fourth iteration of their PlayStation. In that video, it wasn't that he had bad intentions, like you derived from my post, but he was more than biased on the issue. It left for a bad argument with more holes than... well, my posts, and there was no further attempt to fill them in afterwards.
With that being said, yeah, I still stand by what I said. In his last video, he explained himself on the "hardcore" issue and, well no, I wouldn't say it worked or we wouldn't necessarily be here, would we? Before that? Not so much. The bottom line is that his videos are filled with hate towards the genre in general, not just the small group of assholes who happen to play in it anymore, and anyone's welcome to toss around the words BioShock and Half Life as much as they like, but those two games are so big in gamer culture, that even attempting to dismiss them would be like dismissing Mass Effect as a good RPG.
And you're right? So what if Bob's controversial. I'm glad he is, but he's going to have alot of people disagreeing with him, especially if he goes against the larger part of the norm, relentlessly. The fact is, supporters who don't have a reason to be offended by his work have spoken out and said he went too far.
I understand that, no, the Sony example isn't the best one, but what I didn't expect is for it to fail completely to convey my point among anyone. It should be pretty widely regarded that that episode had a considerably larger amount of bias in it with much less humility, in comparison to the earlier ones, where yes, the fact he was a Nintendo fan was backed with a more equal amount of humility, IE: a picture of him in a Mario suit.
Here's the thing: I just went back and watched the episode, "Tale of Two Games." I liked that episode. Why? Because for the small moments of pandering, it was mostly a fair commentary. I don't necessarily agree with everything in it, but that was more politics than pixels.
The part that has always stuck with me from that episode is Bob's statement that love or hate for gaming genres is an entirely subjective force, because I can get into that argument. It's true, it's completely subjective. I mean, I don't get into "bullet-hell" simulators like the shooters of old, but that doesn't make them shit, right?
Then came "Worst Person" A few minutes of acknowledging that FPS's don't suck, followed by 10 of explaining why they are to blame for everything that's wrong with gaming right now. Bam. The credibility he gained in those first few minutes flew out the window immediately for me. Why? Because it didn't matter. They were empty words, and this episode is just more emptiness and fluff. It's pointless. Now, the supporters of this can say "Hey, he's just having some fun. What's one innocent little skit?" But I didn't sign on for skits, and neither did you. Bob's hardline for this show has always been getting into the deeper meaning of issues, and exploring them intelligently. This as anything and everything other than intelligent. It took what promised to be an entertaining discussion and blew it away on a make-believe forest of evil, just so Bob could have another "hardcores suck!" dick-waving contest, and I'm deeply disappointed that this is how he chooses to do it. You want to have a fun episode, fine, do a fun episode. But don't tell me beforehand that what you have to say is going to change gaming forever, don't spend half of it setting up a point that you won't even draw conclusions on, and for God's sake do some research into the people you are parodying. Xbox Live isn't a product of First-Person-Shooters or hardcore gaming, it's a product of mob mentality.
I wonder, when he is criticized in one of his videos, does he even pay attention to the arguments? is "The game anti-thinker" the way he sees everyone who disagrees with him? very childish and stupid indeed... I'd say someone should make a parody of YOU, but in the last months you've become your own parody. Congrats Bob!
I think this could be an opportunity to do something meaningful and daring. Homosexuality in gaming is something that you have not discussed yet and using the homophobic (Im assuming) game anti-thinker to address it could be interesting, insightful and entertaining. So long as you avoid limiting yourself solely to satirizing homophobic Xbox Live trols. I also really enjoyed the episode that discussed the history of Sony´s entry into the gaming industry. I think the game AT would also be an appropriate vessel for an episode on Microsoft´s history in the industry. I think you can make this awesome.
I, too, would like to see an episode of homosexuality in gaming, or rather the gaming audience. Extra Credits covered how the game development side has still yet to fully explore homosexuality in games, and how much depth it can actually bring, but I do think there's also an issue for homosexual gamers.
Anyway, I said this in my first comment, but I'm still pretty interested on seeing how this plays out. I just hope my speculation was wrong and that it is just a harmless joke, a christmas special, and not the... other thing I listed.
At the very least, Bob's inflammatory remarks in his videos are inspiring me to work on my stories, and eventually, work on digitalizing them, hopefully into what can be considered resemblant of a game. I got a loooooong way to go and I'm not going anywhere fast, however.
lol. I liked the whole weird twin coincidence you found it was really creepy.
While I think the antithinker is a chance for Bob to talk about some issues in a different way and gain some freedom I don't thing we need any sketch comedy in the show. The content is so rich that he doesn't have to do the way of the AVGN and its what makes him so different from the other copycats out there that achieve no fame.
What I get out of the show is some deep thought on random topics that go overlooked. Afterwards causing me to have some inflection on how I feel about the topics. It feels good to have someone take these issues seriously and I believe he made the antithinker to set up a method to vent out something that doesn't fit his normal persona. Try not to take this at face value guys, like im seeing in most of the responses.
The antithinker may not be as much of a "character" as it is a alternate persona. It could be used not to alienate the things the overthinker doesn't do but give counter arguments to further balance the overthinker. It may come across more balance if he argues with himself rather than to make "disclaimers" like in the FPS episode. People who think he's biased will still think he's biased. But if he admits theres a part of himself on the other side of the fence of his OWN arguments (because humans are complex not 1 dimensional beings), I think he may get some sympathy from even his haters, lol.
By debating himself he may be able to keep himself a bit more neutral to gain greater understanding among people of various opinions instead of the people who just already agree with him.
At least thats what I HOPE is going on here, maybe I'm overthinking the overthinker? lol.
@popcorn: I agree but with only two gripes. 1: Isn't YOUR bitching pretty much YOU having an elitist attitude as well? #2 Can be summarized by this, "This guy's trying to have a mini- plot in his videos, wait... AVGN has a mini-plot in his videos, HE'S A WIPOFF!!!"
twinsaneincarnation: I don't think it's elitist to expect quality from someone who has produced quality in the past and "bitch" when something's not working, that's what fans are supposed to do. Likewise, Bob's not elitist when he bitches about FPSes not being very good or when he thinks Other M is better than Metroid Prime, but he is elitist when he portrays anyone who disagrees with him as a dribbling idiot, and puts words in their mouth to make them sound as dumb as possible.
He IS ripping off AVGN, with the 8-bit music, the overacting "bad guy" who torments the reviewer and the weak horror movie parody, but that's not a big deal since everyone is inspired by something and it's become a genre convention these days. The real problem is that this kind of self-indulgent crap always falls flat. Most viewers seem to agree that AVGN and others would be far better shows if they cut down the wacky side characters and Windows Movie Maker special effects, it's really just an excuse for the creator to show off his mediocre acting and directing skills in front of a captive audience. Like I said, it's never as funny as the creator thinks it is.
I always thought of Bob's opposite as being more like this: wears a trench coat, hangs out with a loudmouth pothead, and only talks for a few lines at the end of the movie to deliver the perfect line. Oh yeah, he also looks like Kevin Smith.
I stopped watching your show because I heard that you pulled a "storyline" like over in TGWTG. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and watching you again starting here and it was ok. I kinda like the antithinker now that I got to meet him, but we'll see how this goes.
You know what's ironic? Archie Comics version of "Sonic the Hedgehog" pulled a storyline just like this, where the evil universe Sonic took over his world and then tried to take over Sonic's. He's kinda got the same mindset as the Antithinker too
hm...
Also Protoman isn't evil, do you even play Mega Man? If you want an evil double for Mega Man, look at Bass. Protoman fits the "pallet swap" thing, but he's an ally, not an enemy.
Eh... this is where the episodes get overly silly, kinda embarrasses me to watch further and see him make an ass out of himself episode by episode, but I guess you cant go back
95 comments:
Must kill Bob on the inside to talk like that.
So...this isn't really an episode as much as it is a setup for something new.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in a parody of the Game Ovethinker, but I really hope one of the episodes isn't dedicated to "Bob getting his show back."
Also, to that one guy who commented about this being a "comedy skit" in one of the other posts, how the fuck did you see this before anybody else did?
Well as long as it doesn't take too long to get the next video(s?) then I am interested to see where this is going.
Wonderful. The game overthinker has become the Stephen Colbert of video gaming... what a fucking shock.
Um......ok! Definitely not what I was expecting on a Game OverThinker episode...
Still interested either way though, DIE GAME ANTITHINKAR
Interesting... Wonder how the Overthinker is going to get out of this one.
Need to point something out: Warui, the Japanese word for 'bad', is pronounced 'Wa-lu-ee', not 'Wa-ryu'. The name Waluigi is actual a play on words using this ('Wa-lu-ee-gee').
Just started watching...
Evil Dopplegangers... Yeah, I know you don't care much for Venom or Shadow, so I take it you're not that into them? Or just if they're written well enough.
Also, I freaking LOVE Wario, probably my favorite Mario character, other than Luigi. I remember you saying "Even Wario has a defining characteristic", and I wasn't entirely sure what you meant by that, so hopefully, this will shed some light on the matter.
Aww, SHIT! I was hoping to see where you where going with the Kirby/Meta Knight/King Dedede thing! Damn it all!
Hey, my Grandma lives in Minnesota! And I was born there! No one cares? Oh...
I see where you're going with this, dude, and honestly, I don't really like it. Oh well, might as well watch and see how it goes anyway.
You have a brother? And you sent him all the way to Minnesota? Does he live near there or does he also live in Boston along with you? Also, where the Hell did you find out that Wario's Woods is an actual place? Are we just supposed to believe whatever you say? I know you're trying to make these videos fun and funny, but you're supposed to be the GAME OVERTHINKER, and you present your arguments like facts, so trying to blur the line between fact and fiction isn't going to make you look good.
The Antithinker sucks. Flat-out sucks. I get it, you hate douchebag gamers, what-ever. And HE rules the Antiverse? What about all the other anti-people and Internet celebrities there? What does this guy have that no other anti-guy have?
I don't so much hate what the Antithinker is doing so much as MovieBob is taking yet ANOTHER opportunity to make himself look like a self-important dick and demonize people who don't agree with him. That's just how it comes off to me.
And yeah, I GET that's what he does. He even admits to being obnoxiously intelligent, bitter, and self-important. That doesn't make it okay! I seriously hope this ends within 5 seconds of the next episode because I just can't take more than that of this annoying attempt to make the "hardcore" variety of gamers look bad. I keep trying to defeat MovieBob and his opinions, but he just makes it even harder to do every time!
((LOL, the word verification I had to type in was "trapp". How perfect is that?))
I don't like it. I hope the Antithinker dies within 5 seconds of the next episode. Not because he's an annoying stupid douche, but because he's just another way of MovieBob trying to make "hardcore" gamers look bad. YES! You hate the douchey FPS Online gamer trolls. WE GET IT! We don't want to see you devote a series of episodes just to demonizing them even more.
The video keeps freezing up at 2:44, and just keeps buffering. I've emptied my cache, watched it on both sites, and it's seizing up at the same place every time.
....
What the hell!? I kinda figured evil twins would be the thing during my ponderings today since the whole beware wario woods thing, but The Game Anti-Thinker? Da heck?
I mean I though the whole thing was hilarious, but seriously, what the hell? The video he was actually about to play seemed genuinely interesting and I actually wanted to hear the rest.
So this is an entertaining disappointment and while I can't wait to see more, you could have at least had the courtesy of finishing the real video.
I can't beleive you're going to set this up as a Commentary with plot, it' like you've been watching too much Atop The Fourth Wall or the Spoony one or something and decided "You know what the Game Overthinker is missing that those popular guys at Thatgauywiththeglasses.com got? Plot, or at least some kinda miniplot, you know, throw in a little continuity to freshen the audience," I mean you couldn't just keep things simple, could ya?
Oh well, I'll just have to wait and frikkin' see.
Also, why "Cheif"? No douchebag I know says that word. In fact, I don't know anyone who uses that word anymore.
@ Bob
Hey, remember when you used to use video games as a way of getting people interested in things like history and philosophy? That stuff was great, it brought a lot of thought and ideas to the table that a lot of us would have looked over without shining a light on.
For the past 6 months or so all Overthinker has done is point fingers and demonize. Your show wasn't about what sucked, but what was good. This 'Antithinker' episode is the icing on the cake for that, though I'd rather call it the crust on the shit.
We don't care about your personal gripes with people and tropes that you don't like! Bring back what we liked about your series and leave your opinionated bullshit for your memoirs!
Hell, the next episode better be about the interconnecting universe of the Nintendo franchises or I'm gone!
it's Xmas, he's allowed a goofy transgression. Can't say I oppose the idea of a big, squishy "hardcore" asshole to insult (and let's face it, they're outside the FPS crowd as well)
Well... I guess it still technically is an episode about hacking.
Anyway... uhh, I guess all I can say is, I can't wait, but I still gotta ask, what provoked this?
I mean, I think I know what did -Queue Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds screaming "NERDS!"- but... well, I don't know.
I look forward to seeing where this is going. C'mon Bob, don't let us down.
(facepalm)
So basically this whole thing was non-sense... Just a way to plug your new show.
Haha, I have to admit, I am very amused. Much as the Nerd before him, the world of the Overthinker has taken on a canon universe of its own.
Though that fratboy voice does make me cringe! Way to go Bob, nice to see Overthinker effort in spite of what... TWO other shows you've got?
Cool...we've gone from just talking about the certain type of gamer to some fun parody. Boy I do love me some fun.
I don't think anyone has asked, so I will...
if the Antithiner is your opposite, what does that make the Underthinker? Is there an Anti-Underthinker? (I wonder if this is how the conversation went when they thought up Waluigi... )
Raiu? Waryu? Come on man, shit's embarassing.
Errrrr... hm. Not sure about this Bob! You already spend half of every video doing the "bro" voice and complaining about X-Box playing "douchebags", it seems like you're going round in circles making a character like this. We all know exactly what you think of these kinds of people, what can this possibly add? Is the idea bucket running low? Are you just trying to get a few more page hits by insulting people again?
I've been watching your videos for a while and mostly enjoying them, but I've said before that the worst thing about them is your elitist attitude and the way you use these ridiculous strawman arguments to make yourself look smart. Now you've got a whole strawman CHARACTER to hang all this bullshit on? That really is the greatest Christmas ever for you, then, isn't it? I guess we can look forward to wacky two-way "debates" between the two, and then you'll make yourself win every time.
I guess it's a fun idea for a Christmas special but I don't see how the character is going to be anything other than an extension of the regular jock voice. I dunno, maybe you've got some really cool ideas for this that you're not letting on yet... I won't judge until the next episode comes along, but it does seem like this is just going to be a retread of old arguments and yet another way for you to insult and patronise anyone who disagrees with you.
Also, c'mon, if I wanted to see a grown man jumping around his living room doing wacky voices and fight scenes, I could just watch the Angry Video Game Nerd. Is Mike Matei going to be in the next one? Or Super Mecha Death Christ? Damn, you even had 8-bit music in the background! Why does every online video guy have to do this stuff now?
Oh yeah, I also agree with A Tribe Called Helloween. Whatever you DO do with this character, please don't make us sit through the obligatory "action" episode where you take the show back and there's loads of cheesy fireball effects and bluescreening, and we're supposed to laugh because there's a 10 minute fight scenes full of nerd stuff like lightsabers and fire flowers... other reviewers have done that sh!t to death and it's never as funny as the creator seems to think it is.
When I saw the episode title I thought to myself "is this really going to be worth my time and attention?"
So I decided to check the comments before watching the video. I'm glad I did, because it seems the video wasn't worth my time and attention.
Remember that episode about politics in gaming? Or the episode pointing out how Luigi and Daisy were totally a couple? I miss the old days.
*sigh* Why is it every time someone on the internet has a few videos going and then they toally snap and think they are movie directors?
I've seen this s**t to death done by the cast of that Guy with the Glasses and the AVGN. There at least it kind of would have fit in theory, but this is totally out of place. And not to mention how it just is not funny. I bet it was fun to you and that's nice and all, but it just looks stupid.
I watched every video, even when it was way too much overthinking (Bayonetta), completely missing the point (Metroid) or simply insulting (GameStop). But this? No thanks, I won't even bother with the next part.
^^^delicious buttmad comments
Thanks for flipping the coin, Bob.
You see, he's just playing devil's advocate. Apparently a very typical, dumb one at that.
Yep, it fits.
Carry on.
Creative and unusual, to say the least. I'm not going to say that "You should do what you used to do!", as it is your show. I would say that I do prefer the intellectual musings to this episode. Perhaps it was intended as a light-hearted counterpart to the heavier year so far. I'm on board; I'm not bored!
I would say that there is a fair amount of "hardcore bashing" on this show as of late, though. I don't identify myself as a "hardcore", at least in the FPS-Xbox Live-Madden kind of way. Still, though the trends and attitudes presented by this demographic do cast a rather negative slant on gaming as a whole, I still think that most of the posts I've read so far for this video have hit the nail on the proverbial head: It would make more sense to criticize the attitudes themselves rather than criticize a stereotype / archetype of them. It would lend more strength to your arguments as a whole, and would probably avoid the angry response from people that can identify with that stereotype. Still, looking forward to seeing how this whole thing plays out and what topic ultimately this will be on in the end. Keep up the great work!
Uh.... didn't you have the game UNDERthinker as a foil?
*sigh* Why is it every time someone on the internet has a few videos going and then they toally snap and think they are movie directors?
Bob actually IS an independent filmmaker.
I'm really not a fan of this new direction, this is bordering close to irate gamer type show....and nobody wants that.
Well this is the Game Overthinker after all, always trying to see the bigger picture. So it's possible that he has some kind of abstract point that would be easier to explain with a satirical character's voice than with his own, but he needs to establish the character first. Or maybe he's just screwing around.
for what my opinion is worth, while bob has had a go at the new wave of "hardcore" gamers a few times, the only reason this seems so striking is because last months was "Worst Person". I mean I don't begrudge you when you speak out on the culture surrounding games it is arguably more important that the games themselves, as we are the ones the non-gamers interact with, not the games. That being said minutia like evil twins is arguably what you do best. But you know what, everyones a critic, I will keep tuning in, and will reserve judgement of these few episodes until they can be viewed in their entirety.
Guys, just wait and see what happens. youre judging something that hasnt even really happened yet. this is just a setup episode, this story could go anywhere. have a little faith in Bob. hes an intelligent, witty, and in my opinion, funny guy. just give it a chance. i doubt TGOT is gonna morph into atop the fourth wall, or the spoony experiment all of a sudden. this whole thing is probably just to lighten up the series for a bit, since the last few episodes have been kinda depressing, what with the "bad things are happening to the games industry" theme and all.
Dont complain about something you dont know shit about.
As I see it.
Overthinker - Self-admitted Nintendo worshipper.
Antithinker - The homophobic Xbox FPS fan. Possibly a Michael Bay fan. (must investigate further)
So when do we see a Sony version of good ol' MovieBob?
It's funny, I really do see this as Bob jumping the shark. I know he poked fun at the idea in his 25th video, but introducing a new character like this really does seem like "jump the shark" material.
And sorry to complain like this, it's just I can't see this as anything other than Bob reinterating what he's been saying for the past few videos. Although, he DID say, on his other blog, that "we might be surprised about his views on Halo". I don't know what he means by that, and if he's supposed to be an "Antithinker" then what else WOULD he say about Halo other than what we'd expect to hear him say?
I just realized that he claimed to have already conquered our dimension. So that's why violent first person shooters are so common? Also, as I see the Game Antithinker I keep thinking of LordKat, and occasionally Sean Fausz.
So... uhh, I hate to be yet another downer in this thread but at least I have something different to say.
Is this the end of The Game Overthinker? You made reference to the fact that Wario's Woods (and thus the character of Wario) was "closing the book that Mario opened" on the NES. So, if we're carrying this analogy through, does that mean antithinker is closing the book on the overthinker?
It's no surprise that you've got a lot on your plate with your reviews and now The Big Picture. And it at least appears that you're either putting more effort and/or time into those, or TGO episodes take a lot longer to produce. And with The Big Picture you at least have another avenue where you can talk about games, with the added benefit of not being necessarily restricted to games.
I dunno, it just seems like there are at least a few signs that this could be the end for The Game Overthinker series. On the other hand, you could just be having a bit of fun -- and that's cool. Unlike the rest of the people that seem to think you're being to pessimistic and focusing on bashing the "hardcore" gamers, I don't really care about that. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's necessary, sometimes it's neither... whatever.
I don't really have a problem with this. I do prefer it when Bob discusses more psychological and philosophical topics that really get me thinking, but this a silly, fun little diversion after all the serious topics this year.
And hey, it's winter break. Time to relax and whatnot.
Wow, talk about extreme stereotype. As a hardcore gamer I'm seriously offended. Is this really who you think hardcore gamers are really like?
Hey Bob pulled a Spoony on us...
That was... pathetic.
Hey bob...been with ya a while...I got one thing to say. I hope this isn't the end of overhtinker and that anti doesn't last TOO long. This shtick wears out it's welcome quickly right not it's not bad i'm curious for sure but yeah...
Also can't one online reveiwer just reveiw XD?
Out of curiosity, have you played an Uncharted game?
It may shock you to hear, but there's an intense amount of love put into those games.
Of course he didn't play it, it's not a Wii game.
You DO realize that he has an Xbox 360 AND he rents games for the system, right? He just doesn't own that many because he hasn't found many he want's to own rather than rent.
Hello, Bob.
First: I love your stuff! Thanks for everything you've ever posted here or at The Escapist. I am always hungry for more.
Second and primarily:
This is an unusual move for you. The Overthinker, previously a 'mask' you use to present your opinions and analyses in a quick and entertaining way, has now become a 'character'.
This to me parallells the evolution of (say) the Nostalgia Critic, Linkara, the Spoony One, and other e-famous video reviewers.
It's kind of surprising. I've always felt that, even though TGO is not 'really' Bob Chipman the complete person, that it was You doing the talking.
Tropes Are Not Bad.
Tropes Are Not Good.
I'm not disappointed, upset, or distressed. I'm eager to see what you do next with your avatar and his nemesis.
Probably: use both characters to make a point. That would be in character for The Movie-Game OverBobThinker.
Oh, and PS - congratulations on being picked up by The Escapist for another show. Twice a week is never enough.
After reading the... wow... lots of comments after mine, I gotta say that I agree with the majority of them. It seems like one thing to bring both sides of the arguments that usually occur on this blog's comments, together.
Still, I gotta admit that I am interested in seeing where he takes it. It shows insight into how he thinks, and, while not much can be read from this episode, there's a few things that could have provoked his behaviour.
Let's start with the most optimistic. It's a light hearted Christmas special that didn't have the correct humor behind it, which... honestly, makes it seem like the other things I'm going to mention.
Or... he could be responding to his reception. It does make me feel bad, because I've been pretty harsh in the past -queue the Mario comment I made- and alot of other people have been too. If that's the case, it also shows his disregard for his viewers. One possible branch from that concept is that he's responding, not with bitter, sarcastic spite (like Yahtzee,) but is holding the Game Overthinker for ransom, pretty much with the mentality of: "If I act like the biggest douche ever, people have to beg for the old GO."
Those are just speculations, however, and I really hope the first case I listed is the case. As much as I want Bob to go back to his old topics (I believe the point where his videos saw a decline is when he openly admitted he was an evil genius capable of creating a doomsday device capable of destroying the world, in his mind.) I don't want to see him fail, or worse, become an internet icon of hate. As controversial as he is, it's very possible.
Also... *Hugs Smashmatt*
I agree with the "jump the shark" comments. To be honest, when you introduced the new show I thought of it as the "Everything OverThinker" show, so I was wondering what you were going to do to keep the Game OverThinker distinct. I guess this is my answer.
I could see this new sketch format as a way to differentiate your shows and have some fun as long as it doesn't get in the way of the overthinking. (Like Mousa the 14, I was also disappointed that you didn't at least finish the evil twins discussion.) A few people have brought up ThatGuywiththeGlasses.com, and while I think the Nostalgia Critic himself is good at balancing his antics with his reviewing, I would say a lot of the other shows on that site tend to overdo the shtick. As someone mentioned previously, Atop the Fourth Wall is really bad about it.
As for those asking about the relationship between the AntiThinker and the UnderThinker...well, I suppose that if the OverThinker is Ryo, then the UnderThinker is Dan--obviously a parody of the original, but made by a separate company, and thus not actually part of the OverThinker's canon. I guess that makes the AntiThinker Robert Garcia?
/looks up "Wario's Woods" on wikipdedia
My goodness. All this talk. All this support, all this hate. All the mentions of AVGN, That guy with the glasses, and the like. The worlds are colliding!
Or maybe, it's just Bob trying to change the pace a little?
Here's a thought: It seems that since the My Vids don't suck competition, people have been down on Bob. For a while, he stuck with his original setup, and, people started to dislike it. He changes the pace, and everyone hates it. How about this? No one wins outright in this whole thing b/c people will be mad regardless. It's started to happen with AVGN, it happens on TGWTG, and even happens with Screwattack, as it does happen with most web stars that get too popular.
It is what it is. Just see where this leads. Keep an open mind, and remember, it's mostly opinion, until fact is used.
Just see where it goes.
My thoughts: it's different. Apparently, he's taking the approach of the alternate persona move, like Spoony, Linkara, AVGN, etc. If it works, it works. If not, it won't. But, we won't know until it fully fleshes out.
In hindsight, I haven't seen this much craziness since the Miz won the WWE title. You should see the comments on that one...
I am glad to see these comments, for one reason: there's no heavy bias towards one side or another, unlike on other web sites.
I would like to know how so many people can watch this show yet so many people are complaining about this episode before they even know where you're going with this. GameOverthinker is my favorite webshow; I'm confident that he has an actual point to make here.
bob (version 1 or 2)
definitely have no problem with you trying something different, parodying yourself, or even change the format and angle of the show for awhile, but please, please don't go the AVGN route and fill a third of every episode with skits and cheesy special effects. I'm sure you have better things do do.
wait a minute... in the Antithinker's universe, wouldn't the Japanese NOT come out with "gayass Asian crap"? Wouldn't "hardcore" stuff NOT be the mainstream? Actually, wouldn't that world's thinker not even be alive today due to the dramatic alteration of history caused by the Germans winning? Or was it due to the South winning? Or maybe the Roman empire didn't fall? Come to think of it, it'd be outright impossible for life to even exist on earth in the first place if certain factors like the distance from the sun, atmospheric conditions, etc. were upset from the way they are in our universe by even a tiny margin.... okay, I guess that's overthinking the whole bizzaro world concept a bit much. ^^'
We minnesotans are too important, we uh.. invented spam!
Anyway interesting episode, can't wait to see what happens next.
@Bob
And I have news for you, if you think all hardcore gamers are jock douchebags, who think anything not macho is gheeeeey, you're wrong. You may find this hard to believe, but I write poems for school. I'm not saying they're good or bad, but my english teacher likes them.
Why is the Bob hatedom so well represented here? I haven't really thought about it until now, but it's definitely been this way for a while.
@Jostphina and Ezenwa
The reason people still watch his videos, depite their obvious hate for them is because they used to be his fans is because they have an underlying hope he'll say something they'll like. To put it bluntly, his videos were so good before he got the confidence boost from ScrewAttack, that they actually touched the hearts of gamers in general without resorting to hateful comments, and those that were hateful were relatively unheard of, so they were comforting to hear.
Now, he takes it too far, which is why the aforementioned people who still watch his stuff, but disagree with it, do so.
Totally worth it for the "cartoonishly off the handle" comment. Really, I just finished Other M and it seems everyone needs to chill out a little. It didn't scald out my eyes with hot pokers or rape my firstborn.
In fact, I had an enjoyable time playing a video game.
I am pretty excited to see where this is going, and as a fan of all of your webshows, I'll still be watching in the future whether you lose popularity or not.
However, I have to agree with some of the earlier posts regarding your hate of the first-person genre and, it seems, anything with big, scary guns. I'm no 'hardcore' gamer, but I love Sonic Colors, DKCR, and Mario Kart just as much as Halo, Borderlands, and Burnout. They might not be for everyone, but that doesn't make them a pox on the entire industry.
I agree with your opinions on the mouth-breathers on Xbox Live, but they're just the bad apples that have spoiled the bunch. 80% of the matches that I've played online have either been silent or mostly silent except for team-speak about the current match. I'm sure if the Wii had headphone/mic support there would be just as many trolls and just as much swearing and rage as there is on Xbox Live.
I would like to hear your thoughts on some of the "sillier" FPS's like TF2 and TimeSplitters.
Maybe I'm just having a little too much faith in him, but I think we probably shouldn't attempt to take this at face value.
For example, while he's clearly under the impression that games like Halo and Call of Duty do significantly pander to satisfying the gaming needs of jockass dudebro douchebags (and frankly, this isn't really so much an opinion so much as it is an empirical statement), I'm pretty sure he'd acknowledge most of them don't really say "chief" and that there are people who like Madden, Halo, or whatever other franchises/genres he doesn't care for that aren't wholly unlikable human beings (and if I'm not mistaken he pretty much admitted to the latter in his episode about FPS's).
So if any "hardcore" gamers feel offended, you should realize he may not be referring to you at all.
In fact, I think he's probably under the impression that all of the aforementioned is exactly what most people would expect him to think. You could, to some reasonable, argue he's terribly biased (most of us are, though), but if I were him I'd no doubt be aware of how people perceive me and what they would expect me to do; biased as you think he might be, I don't think he's quite so egotistical and deluded to the point where he just ignores all negative opinions people have him and refuses to acknowledge that some of them might have some ground to stand on.
He might have decided to have some fun with this by setting this up to make everyone think he's going TGWTG, but later we discover it's part of some odd point which he thinks can be more effectively made through this little shtick. Might be a cleverly disguised way for him to be able to poke fun at himself; lord knows I have fun with stereotypes people associate with me quite often.
Or maybe I'm the one who's overthinking with this and he might have just jumped the shark. Who knows.
Also, if anyone is really so curious as to what he was originally going to go with the doppelganger musing, I'm sure if people bug him enough he'll cough up the goods.
Yo Bob, why aren't you responding to anybody?
@Reptile
Besides everyone knowing it's just a little skit he's doing, why would he respond as normal-Bob? If he did, it'd probably just be a "wait and see" type answer. If he answered as the AnitThinker (keeping in character for now) then he'd just piss off everyone who is already pissed at what he's doing. Or maybe he doesn't want to. It's his blog, he can do what he wants.
You've never met anyone like the stereotypical Xbox Live user while you've play? Good for you. When Xbox live and Halo were first big several years, about half the guys in my high school were exactly like the stereotypical Xbox Live user. Which view is more correct? Neither.
Moral of the story: Chill out everyone.
@Axle
Nearly 80 percent of players on Xbox Live, simply don't talk at all.
Actually, I think Reptile was referring to when he didn't respond to almost any of the comments in his other videos. It's probably because we're the worst when it comes to how critical we are of his videos. Criticism isn't fun.
Anyway, I made a few mistakes in my last comment, so I hope I did get the right message across.
I will say this, however. He'd be alot more loved if he got involved with his community. Part of the reason why everyone responds the way they do is because he isn't there to correct us when we're perhaps wrong in our criticisms. Even if we are right, him responding would make him seem more like a human being and less like... well, the one, the only, the controversial, the Game Overthinker!
It is possible, of course, that Bob's going to do a "Scott Pilgrim vs. Nega Scott" plot twist, where he and his doppelganger about to fight, but they wind up finding common ground (He's already mentioned that he likes BioShock, for instance) and they end up getting along at the end.
It'd be a nice subversion.
Nick, I would LOVE if he did that Scott Pilgrim style twist, let's hope he does some cool subversion like that. Because at the moment it looks like we're about to sit through more "jock voice" bullshit that we've all seen from Bob a hundred times already.
I LOL'D.
Hilarious episode. Comedy comes to TGO.
Looking forward to the continuing saga!
Look, Bob, I like you and continue to watch this show exactly because you 'don't' do the crappy video sequence shit that people like the AVGN do on a daily basis. I 'loved' the fact that you actually stuck to thoughtful topics and didn't digress to cheesy length-padding things tangentially related to your topic. I found it really interesting when you mentioned the real life Wario's Woods thing (assuming that you didn't make it up wholesale, a google search for "Wario's Woods Minnesota turns up nothing unrelated to the video game), but I honestly wish that you had returned to talking about evil twins in gaming instead of spending over half the video doing an entirely unfunny live action sequence culminating in the introduction of a personification of the type of gamer you loath.
Douchebag FPS gamer isn't even the opposite of Game Overthinker!! Anti-Overthinker would be someone who only sees the very surface of anything in gaming, seeing nothing beyond skin deep! It would be comical to watch something like that, some guy talking about what a game is about except he misses all of the obvious symbolism and deeper meanings etc.
My point being, this Anti-thinker thing had better last exactly 2 episodes. This episode being the first, next episode being the inevitable "taking back the show" episode that everyone else who has ever done this concept ever (read: EVERY OTHER GODDAMN PERSON ON THE INTERNET WITH A SHOW ABOUT ANYTHING) has done, and then I never want you to speak of this shit ever again. If I see this guy on here beyond the next episode of Overthinker, I will remove the bookmark I have on this blog and stop watching. Your shows over at the Escapist have become more interesting anyway.
Dear Gameoverthinker/antithinker
I gotta say that I am interested in the possibilities. There are definitely meaningful explorations of subject matter that can be achieved with this. I really hope the first episode of the anti-thinker is a serious, sincere, and meaningful albeit parodied, discussion of some aspects of "hardcore" games - not just 10 minutes of angry satire. You´re appeal and strength is the intellectual treatment of video games that none of the other video game blog video personalities are not willing or capable of doing. If you had to be characterized within the personalities video game video blog personalities you would definitely be the video game professor/philosopher, not the video game comedian. There are plenty of good and not so good video game comedians out there and frankly going in that direction will not suit you - it is not your strong suit. Play to your strengths especially the ones others don´t have.
Maybe I'm biased here because I'm incredibly psyched to see an episode discussing evil doppelgangers since they're a trope I've always been in love with, but I was pretty disappointed to see the turn this episode took.
I watch TGO because I enjoy listening to someone's intellectual views on video games and their subculture. I don't watch TGO because I like silly story arcs.
Please stop, Bob. You're great at what you do, and that's staying behind the camera and writing killer commentary on the topic of video games. This is just silly.
Even as I disagreed with you, even as I felt constantly insulted by you, even as I wanted to grab you and shake you and say "AAAAAA THAT'S FUCKING WRONG", Bob, I always respected you for at the least, keeping your videos about games and subjects related to games. I've seen this "lol now I have a plot and 2-bit special effects isn't it clever." thing on TGWTG SO MANY TIMES, and it's always - ALWAYS annoying. As much as I've lost respect for the way your videos seemed to be increasingly less about analyzing games and increasingly more about preaching to the "I <3 Nintendo and everyone else can suck it" choir, I always kept coming back on the offchance that you might include some kind of insight that would make me think differently about this game or that one. Even when you basically accused my favorite devs of being fascists.
But this....I don't know. Not only is this "lol I have a stupid plot and 2-bit special effects", this is even more of the "FPS' are a garbage genre and only douchebags can find any truly intrinsic value to them as a genre" thing that you've been going at full tilt for the past, I dunno, six months?
I miss when you were on Youtube. At least then you actually lived up to your namesake.
i feel like ive been Rickrolled
Has anyone ever watched XboxAhoy on Youtube? hat guy is awesome!
I think a lot of you are really overreacting to this and not in a good way. This is MovieBob, the Game Overthinker! He obviously wouldn't go to the lengths of making a video like this and introducing the persona of the Antithinker unless it had a point; and it probably does. While everyone's certain he's just going to use this as a soap box to bash the hardcores, I honestly don't think that's the direction he's going to go. He's too clever for something like that. So everyone just calm down and give the man a chance to get to the point before you jump down his throat. I'm confident that at the end of this we'll all be a little wiser as we have been after so many Overthinker episodes.
Michael, I love Bob's work. I really do. But when somebody does something to piss in his cheerios, the last thing he is is clever. He's always been down on hardcore gamers, but this just smacks of the ridiculous over-the-top hatred he's directed at movies such as The Expendables and The Blind-side. Is it deserved? Perhaps. I won't say that hardcore gamers are a blessing unto this Earth, or that The Expendables was the greatest thing to grace the silver screen, but dead horse is dead. Time to let go.
The real kicker here is that for all I can find he made up all this Wario's Wood bullshit. I can't find any evidence that it exists no matter how hard I look, and I can't find any references to it in Native American folk-lore. So basically, he took an intriguing episode and pissed it away on another hard-core bashing session. I wouldn't be so angry if it wasn't for the fact that he's doing THE SAME FUCKING THING HE HATES THEM FOR!
Think about it: He's given FPS games, Sports Games, and Hardcore gamers the same treatment he decries them for giving platformers, anything Nintendo, casual gamers, and straight-up nerds. It's hypocrisy, it's ridiculous, and it demeans us all to try and pretend this is somehow relevant commentary.
Oh snap this is awesome. I love the idea of this show, and the antithesis self you've created. I'm impressed with your respect to narrative, and wonder who much internet shows you've watched, or did you want to really play around with this for the end of the year bit.
I commend you.
As someone who loves you, and agrees with you 100% of the time, could I ask you a favour, Bob?
Please stop lumping Uncharted in with Halo.
I know you're not the biggest fan of the series, but I think there's one thing you don't really realise about it, and you might even scoff when I mention it, but...
I love Uncharted (the second one, mind you) because there is an incredible amount of love in the game. The design of the statues and masks, the use of colours and attention to tiny details (such as getting the wood grain right), and the wonderful orchestrated score. I know you dislike the characters - but the thing is the series is a love letter to old adventure films, of course the protagonist has to be cocky.
The amount of time and effort and most importantly - the beautiful realisation of the game (seriously, check out some of the 900 pages of concept art for it) places is well above Halo to me.
Just a simple request from someone who also thinks SMB 3 is the greatest game of all time.
Eeer... OK... I guess...
We'll wait and see what comes out of this, but you gotta admit, Bob: This was a weird episode, if it ever was one.
One thing, thoug:
"Warui" doesn't mean "bad man". It just means "bad". The adjective.
While I'll agree this sort of episode isn't what I watch the Game Overthinker for, and I'll just check it out briefly to see where it's going, a lot of you people are deluding yourself if you think that there was a time Bob never bashed hardcore gamers, did the "hardcore" voice, or made the commentary that he does today. That was part of his schtick from DAY ONE. The very first episode on Youtube involved him calling out hardcore gamers who wanted everything to be dark and gritty and badass. You're nostalgic for something that never existed.
Also, where's the evidence that this is a permanent change to the GOT formula? He admits at the beginning it's a change of pace from the dark, gloomy news as of late, and as a self-identified filmmaker, he probably wants the chance to test out his movie making every now and then. You may dislike what he's doing, but that doesn't mean he's obligated to make every episode the exact same.
And in response to Twinmill, I can't speak for the man, but Bob probably doesn't have time to refute every single criticism lodged against him. He's accepted that yes, people will criticize him, and that's okay. They can debate it while he, you know, gives us videos to debate.
Actually, no, we're not being nostalgic for something that didn't exist.
Back in episode one, he bashed Xbox LIVE, and used that picture of Ogre in a skirt to represent hardcore gamers, but that wasn't the only thing he did. If the Kirby episode was just a bashing of the hardcore without a second message (just give this game a chance), he wouldn't have gotten the same good reception he did. Even now, that video is much better than anything recent.
While yes, there is a possibility that his anti-hardcore rants just are getting old for alot of people, that isn't the whole truth, or that Kirby episode, simply put, when watched right after one of the more recent episodes, wouldn't have seemed so much better.
The problem?
The message went from common morals like "Give this game a chance," or "This is the Nintendo mentality," or "Jack Thompson is a douche," to something more controversial, like "Sony is a terrible console company."
@Twinmill
Does he have a right to be constantly bashing a genre not made for him? I think that everyone is sick of him preaching his message that Nintendo is the best and FPS's come from hell. Does he have a right to be constantly stereotype hardcore gamers for the sole purpose of offending them?
@REPTILE 0009
Actually...yes he does. Here's the thing, these are HIS videos on HIS blog. If you don't like the subject matter or how he approaches it...STOP WASTING YOUR TIME WATCHING IT.
I myself thing there is nothing wrong with a little bit of parody. I like some shooters but I fully recognize that he is pretty correct in his assertions that the genre is a major (possibly THE major) factor causing the creative sterilization of the gaming world.
Besides, this video is dumb fun. You're taking it far to seriously...
@Genya
Then why doesn't Bob simply stop playing FPS's instead of constantly ranting about them? The genre isn't going away anytime soon.
Remember when Game Overthinker used to be about obscure bits of videogame trivia, social issues raised, presented, or highlighted by games, and introspective looks at what really makes up a genre/console/series/etc. and "where we've been, where we're going" stuff?
I miss those days.
Now it's just an endless parade of "LOL FPS GAMERS SUCK DON'T THEY" and "MAN NINTENDO SURE IS AWESOME ISN'T IT".
@Twinmill, @John, @Reptile
Game Overthinker never said Sony was a terrible company. He explained it quite clearly and, in my opinion, not that controversially, in his episode on the subject: Sony was right to be pissed when Nintendo screwed them over, and so they made the right choices at the right time, leading to success. Attempts to repeat those moves at the wrong time, however, led to failure. His statement was a warning against Sony instead of an outright condemnation.
He also hasn't excluded Nintendo from criticism. The aforementioned Sony episode? Admitted Nintendo's policies of being a dick during the 90s. He's also praised Bioshock, Half-Life, and other games on non-Nintendo systems.
And the FPS issue is similar to his argument on Sony, in that he pointed out when the genre was relevant and groundbreaking, but emphasizes that it's treading old ground and hindering progress. In every case, he's explained his point quite clearly. You don't have to agree, but first understand his arguments before you turn them into strawman issues and make the same mistake you accuse him of making.
Even if Bob is controversial, so what? He never claimed not to be. The very act of analyzing games, the game industry, and gaming culture means controversy is bound to come up, and uncomfortable issues may be raised. Positions you disagree with will be taken, in order to get you thinking in return. Bob's referred to that as his goal on several occasions, making all claims of his "uniting gamers on what they agree with" pipe dreams.
Yeah, he talked about Nintendo's extra capitalistic ways, but he also agreed that Nintendo was a company, and that companies were out to get your money. I know the episode, and I know what he talked about in it.
One of the many things he said was that he saw that Sony wasn't fit to market consoles, and brought up how well the PS3 did in its earlier years to solidify his arguments. He also got in on the whole waggle war thing, dismissing Sony's attempt at improving -I don't know if it should be called this- Nintendo's technology entirely as copying.
He left it all for us to wonder if Sony was ever going to survive long enough in the console industry to make a fourth iteration of their PlayStation. In that video, it wasn't that he had bad intentions, like you derived from my post, but he was more than biased on the issue. It left for a bad argument with more holes than... well, my posts, and there was no further attempt to fill them in afterwards.
With that being said, yeah, I still stand by what I said. In his last video, he explained himself on the "hardcore" issue and, well no, I wouldn't say it worked or we wouldn't necessarily be here, would we? Before that? Not so much. The bottom line is that his videos are filled with hate towards the genre in general, not just the small group of assholes who happen to play in it anymore, and anyone's welcome to toss around the words BioShock and Half Life as much as they like, but those two games are so big in gamer culture, that even attempting to dismiss them would be like dismissing Mass Effect as a good RPG.
And you're right? So what if Bob's controversial. I'm glad he is, but he's going to have alot of people disagreeing with him, especially if he goes against the larger part of the norm, relentlessly. The fact is, supporters who don't have a reason to be offended by his work have spoken out and said he went too far.
I understand that, no, the Sony example isn't the best one, but what I didn't expect is for it to fail completely to convey my point among anyone. It should be pretty widely regarded that that episode had a considerably larger amount of bias in it with much less humility, in comparison to the earlier ones, where yes, the fact he was a Nintendo fan was backed with a more equal amount of humility, IE: a picture of him in a Mario suit.
Here's the thing: I just went back and watched the episode, "Tale of Two Games." I liked that episode. Why? Because for the small moments of pandering, it was mostly a fair commentary. I don't necessarily agree with everything in it, but that was more politics than pixels.
The part that has always stuck with me from that episode is Bob's statement that love or hate for gaming genres is an entirely subjective force, because I can get into that argument. It's true, it's completely subjective. I mean, I don't get into "bullet-hell" simulators like the shooters of old, but that doesn't make them shit, right?
Then came "Worst Person" A few minutes of acknowledging that FPS's don't suck, followed by 10 of explaining why they are to blame for everything that's wrong with gaming right now. Bam. The credibility he gained in those first few minutes flew out the window immediately for me. Why? Because it didn't matter. They were empty words, and this episode is just more emptiness and fluff. It's pointless. Now, the supporters of this can say "Hey, he's just having some fun. What's one innocent little skit?" But I didn't sign on for skits, and neither did you. Bob's hardline for this show has always been getting into the deeper meaning of issues, and exploring them intelligently. This as anything and everything other than intelligent. It took what promised to be an entertaining discussion and blew it away on a make-believe forest of evil, just so Bob could have another "hardcores suck!" dick-waving contest, and I'm deeply disappointed that this is how he chooses to do it. You want to have a fun episode, fine, do a fun episode. But don't tell me beforehand that what you have to say is going to change gaming forever, don't spend half of it setting up a point that you won't even draw conclusions on, and for God's sake do some research into the people you are parodying. Xbox Live isn't a product of First-Person-Shooters or hardcore gaming, it's a product of mob mentality.
I wonder, when he is criticized in one of his videos, does he even pay attention to the arguments? is "The game anti-thinker" the way he sees everyone who disagrees with him? very childish and stupid indeed... I'd say someone should make a parody of YOU, but in the last months you've become your own parody. Congrats Bob!
I think this could be an opportunity to do something meaningful and daring. Homosexuality in gaming is something that you have not discussed yet and using the homophobic (Im assuming) game anti-thinker to address it could be interesting, insightful and entertaining. So long as you avoid limiting yourself solely to satirizing homophobic Xbox Live trols. I also really enjoyed the episode that discussed the history of Sony´s entry into the gaming industry. I think the game AT would also be an appropriate vessel for an episode on Microsoft´s history in the industry. I think you can make this awesome.
I, too, would like to see an episode of homosexuality in gaming, or rather the gaming audience. Extra Credits covered how the game development side has still yet to fully explore homosexuality in games, and how much depth it can actually bring, but I do think there's also an issue for homosexual gamers.
Anyway, I said this in my first comment, but I'm still pretty interested on seeing how this plays out. I just hope my speculation was wrong and that it is just a harmless joke, a christmas special, and not the... other thing I listed.
At the very least, Bob's inflammatory remarks in his videos are inspiring me to work on my stories, and eventually, work on digitalizing them, hopefully into what can be considered resemblant of a game. I got a loooooong way to go and I'm not going anywhere fast, however.
lol. I liked the whole weird twin coincidence you found it was really creepy.
While I think the antithinker is a chance for Bob to talk about some issues in a different way and gain some freedom I don't thing we need any sketch comedy in the show. The content is so rich that he doesn't have to do the way of the AVGN and its what makes him so different from the other copycats out there that achieve no fame.
What I get out of the show is some deep thought on random topics that go overlooked. Afterwards causing me to have some inflection on how I feel about the topics. It feels good to have someone take these issues seriously and I believe he made the antithinker to set up a method to vent out something that doesn't fit his normal persona. Try not to take this at face value guys, like im seeing in most of the responses.
The antithinker may not be as much of a "character" as it is a alternate persona. It could be used not to alienate the things the overthinker doesn't do but give counter arguments to further balance the overthinker. It may come across more balance if he argues with himself rather than to make "disclaimers" like in the FPS episode. People who think he's biased will still think he's biased. But if he admits theres a part of himself on the other side of the fence of his OWN arguments (because humans are complex not 1 dimensional beings), I think he may get some sympathy from even his haters, lol.
By debating himself he may be able to keep himself a bit more neutral to gain greater understanding among people of various opinions instead of the people who just already agree with him.
At least thats what I HOPE is going on here, maybe I'm overthinking the overthinker? lol.
@popcorn: I agree but with only two gripes. 1: Isn't YOUR bitching pretty much YOU having an elitist attitude as well? #2 Can be summarized by this, "This guy's trying to have a mini- plot in his videos, wait... AVGN has a mini-plot in his videos, HE'S A WIPOFF!!!"
twinsaneincarnation: I don't think it's elitist to expect quality from someone who has produced quality in the past and "bitch" when something's not working, that's what fans are supposed to do. Likewise, Bob's not elitist when he bitches about FPSes not being very good or when he thinks Other M is better than Metroid Prime, but he is elitist when he portrays anyone who disagrees with him as a dribbling idiot, and puts words in their mouth to make them sound as dumb as possible.
He IS ripping off AVGN, with the 8-bit music, the overacting "bad guy" who torments the reviewer and the weak horror movie parody, but that's not a big deal since everyone is inspired by something and it's become a genre convention these days. The real problem is that this kind of self-indulgent crap always falls flat. Most viewers seem to agree that AVGN and others would be far better shows if they cut down the wacky side characters and Windows Movie Maker special effects, it's really just an excuse for the creator to show off his mediocre acting and directing skills in front of a captive audience. Like I said, it's never as funny as the creator thinks it is.
I always thought of Bob's opposite as being more like this: wears a trench coat, hangs out with a loudmouth pothead, and only talks for a few lines at the end of the movie to deliver the perfect line. Oh yeah, he also looks like Kevin Smith.
I stopped watching your show because I heard that you pulled a "storyline" like over in TGWTG. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and watching you again starting here and it was ok. I kinda like the antithinker now that I got to meet him, but we'll see how this goes.
You know what's ironic? Archie Comics version of "Sonic the Hedgehog" pulled a storyline just like this, where the evil universe Sonic took over his world and then tried to take over Sonic's. He's kinda got the same mindset as the Antithinker too
hm...
Also Protoman isn't evil, do you even play Mega Man? If you want an evil double for Mega Man, look at Bass. Protoman fits the "pallet swap" thing, but he's an ally, not an enemy.
DON"T CALL ME CHIEF.
Eh... this is where the episodes get overly silly, kinda embarrasses me to watch further and see him make an ass out of himself episode by episode, but I guess you cant go back
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