Youtube's impact on gaming

[Asura]

What do people think about YouTube, "Let's Play" culture, and its impact on gaming - particularly retro gaming?

I was thinking about this tonight, after the NGPC thread this weekend, as I went to YouTube to look up "King of Fighters Battle De Paradise", which is an obscure, Japanese-only NGPC title; it's something of a Mario Party/RPG thing with a KoF theme.

Point is, I've known about that game for many years, but I didn't really know what it was. I had thought it was an unreleased KoF game, a bit like R1/R2 (actual fighting games). I was able to watch a 5-minute video, which gave me a pretty good grounding in what the game is like, and also prevented any chance of me ever importing it, because it's clearly one of those titles which requires a fair bit of Japanese comprehension to glean much enjoyment.

This made me think. I, in the past, have ordered many retro games on recommendation, pretty much sight unseen. Back in the days of GameFAN, you only got small screenshots and a verbal/written description. I imported titles like Cyberbots, or Another Century's Episode (1/2/3) knowing, in honesty, very little about them, and that discovery was part of the charm.

Similarly, I find it much easier to part with retro games these days because there are so many videos (and soundtrack-videos) online for almost any game imaginable.

Has YouTube affected anyone else's retro/import gaming? How?

[Yakumo]

You Tube has plus and minus points on Retro Gaming. The plus side is that we can now see an older game in action and get a better idea of how it is before buying. The downside is that there are now more dicks on YouTube who know sweet FA yet act as if they know it all. many of them weren't even alive when the games they are talking about were released.

[importaku]

The worst impact of youtube is those annoying game hunter style shows where they trawl flea markets and games shops trying to lowball everything then bragging when they managed to get a rare game for peanuts. The fallout is everyone who watches one thinks that anything that's old is now automatically worth a fortune.

[Jaz]

GameSack and RetroCore. That's two notches in the win column.

[Marmotta]

many of them weren't even alive when the games they are talking about were released.

I don't think that's really too relevant. It's not like historical events, where being a primary source makes a difference, as anyone can pick up a game made in 1985 now and play through it - same applies to movies. Obviously, to be able to comment on it requires a degree of knowledge about systems and games of the time, which can also be acquired through playing them; "Teens react to NES" comments like "oh, it's so ****. Why would anyone choose this over the Xbox One?" are not indicative of having done so.

To be honest, there are a lot of retro gaming channels on YouTube which I'm not too fond of because they spend about 80% of any given video taking about the first time they bought a certain game over what it's actually like to play.

[beecee]

agree with Jaz's post...

its my first port of call nowadays if i need to see what a game looks/plays like after hearing about it (normally from a post in these forums)

[Marmotta]

Edit: double post.

[QualityChimp]

I saw Gradius V on sale here last week.
30 seconds on YouTube watching a video and I'd bought it!

I enjoy watching retro videos, but usually have the sound off.
I watch the first two minutes of Yakumo's comparison videos and then get a nostalgic urge to play the arcade version of each game as that's always first!

[charlesr]

I know your post was mostly aimed at Retro, but.... my kids like Minecraft. As such, they are also obsessed with Stampylongnose on Youtube and The Diamond Minecart also on youtube. For minecraft this makes sense because the game is different for everyone and it gives you ideas of what you can achieve, so you can then go off and do your own thing.

But they also like watching people play Skylanders, which is the same for everyone (unless you don't have all the elements, but these sidepaths are non essential). Surely this just spoils the game? I asked him and he said he wants to make sure he doesn't miss anything along the way, but this assumes the people playing don't miss anything which from watching a little I think is a very poor assumption.

[charlesr]

I saw Gradius V on sale here last week.

Whaaa, what a treat! You'll love it.

[QualityChimp]

Yeah, it's brilliant, but tough!

[charlesr]

Side scrolling shooter in high difficultly level shocker, not.

[QualityChimp]

Well, I never really had any problems with the Game Boy version of Nemesis, but I'm not sure what I said, but it feels like everything in this game is trying to shoot me!

That first boss that forces you into a ring of hoop-shooting guns, then traps you between two lasers, then starts revolving, is a proper git.

[wakka]

The downside is that there are now more dicks on YouTube who know sweet FA yet act as if they know it all. many of them weren't even alive when the games they are talking about were released.

Do you need to have been alive when something was created in order to pass comment on it? Tough call for Shakespeare scholars.

I don't really get how YouTube could be perceived as a bad thing for retro gaming. Now we can see footage of virtually any game, any time and anywhere. Perhaps it has robbed a little of the romance of the obscure for some, but if anything I think it only makes the hobby richer. 95% of what's produced will be dross, but 95% of anything is dross!

[dave heats]

Personally I really enjoy having so much retro content on there. It’s let me go back and revisit some of the old games i started out with on the NES (mostly total dross), and also reminded me how good some of the soundtracks were back then. It’s mostly helped separate rose tinted retro memories from real life in many cases too.

I tend to avoid any form of vlog on any subject matter, as I find 99% of them simply like the sound of their own voice, and their opinion is of no interest to me whatsoever. But as single source for footage of basically any game ever released, I don’t see how it could be a bad thing.

I know what you mean about missing the old feeling of discovering random games without any prior knowledge of them, and you could still do this if buying retro by just avoiding any youtube videos. But I would argue with modern day releases those days are long gone, with every tiny stage of a games development being exposed to web, new trailers, new gameplay footage, new bollocks, it’s all out there long before the game is even released.

In your case with KOF Battle De Paradise Asura, I would argue that youtube proved very useful, and stopped you buying an incomprehensible clanger!