Nov 9, 2020 https://youtu.be/MlfRhpOy6Yc I think the first time I ever really cared about a game columnist was when Jeff Gerstman (I think I’m spelling that right) got fired from IGN for giving a low rating to a critically derided game that was paying for ad spots on their website. He went on to form Giant Bomb, which I still look to for reviews to this day. For a while I didn’t “get” the appeal of Anthony Fantano. I just, sincerely, aggressively find his perspective on rap and the very qualities that might make a song appealing or interesting to not vibe with my own. But after spending way way too much free time watching longform video essays on dozens of games I’ve played and dozen I haven’t, I get the appeal of having a voice to anchor your critique and discussion around. Especially as I’ve realized no matter how intelligent someone seems and how much you agree, it’s never good to take their word as gospel (seems obv but hey took me a while). I disliked Fantano partially for my own disagreements but partially for the annoying way his fans acted online and in my irl friend groups. I knew people that were essentially walking /mu/ charts that would just repeat fantanos words verbatim when asked about the specifics of any given project or artist, and in hindsight that’s probably what turned me off from him or his fan base as a whole. All that to say that, as long as you’re taking a few grains of salt with it all, finding a specific author and engaging with the medium thru their lenses can be fascinating
Nov 9, 2020 Bruh I used to watch these all the time back in the day and after lockdown started I’ve been watching them more than ever. Some of my favorites are:
Nov 9, 2020 I caught the no Todd’s no masters in my feed but never peeped, prolly gonna do that today. Joseph Anderson is great, if u have the stomach for his longer videos pls pls check out Noah Caldwell Gervais; his videos are some of the most thoughtful and enlightening I’ve seen. All writers add their own “flavor” and his seems to be engaging the political and thematic implications of a text in as good faith as possible which is super refreshing, but also doing so from a distinctly folksy americana kinda way his videos on Kentucky route zero and the red dead series capture this the best imo
Nov 9, 2020 I don’t game anymore, rarely ever find it enjoyable but I really appreciate the amount of work that goes into the art form and I love hearing about breakthroughs etc even though I don’t plan to actually ever play any
Nov 9, 2020 I put them on in the background when I work occasionally when I'm bored of music or podcasts. Used to not be a fan at all but if someone sends me one I'll usually peep.
Nov 11, 2020 I've never watched dunkey but many people have said he's good so I will peep eventually. One of my pet peeves about these types of videos tho is in many cases the authors have such cringe senses of humor and wish they would just stick to being informative lol
Nov 11, 2020 He can be cringe at times but he is one of the few youtubers that makes me laugh out loud.
Nov 16, 2020 I’d honestly consider dunkey more explicitly comedic than informative but he does strike a fine balance. He’s the only trending gaming YouTuber who I don’t dislike and what’s more is I genuinely think he’s one of my favorite comedians in general in any medium. ^more serious ^more jokes
Nov 16, 2020 i’m feeling like dunkey’s past his prime lately after 2018, but i still like his new videos still, just not as much as the old ones
Nov 16, 2020 Video game essays, no. I like walkthrough videos, particularly games that I used to play or ones I never played. I do like film/TV reviews, film/TV essays. But I guess a video game essay channel is an appropriate Pandemic Pivot. The Pandemic has me contemplating buying a PS5, and I’m someone who completely skipped the PS4.
