Jimquisition: Too Cool To Be Cool

[Netrigan]

Duke himself is clearly an over-the-top satirical character. But that isn't the same as being used in a satirical way. Take Duke Nudem for example; they made a crappy flash game that lets you see naked women if you win. But they didn't mock it. There was no humour about how stupidly pseudo-macho that is. People were apparently expected to find that genuinely cool. Which it wasn't.

Duke Nukem hits the lowest common denominator so hard that I'm constantly wondering if I should be offended or not... and I find my indecision truly funny. If they winked at the audience, it simply wouldn't be funny any more. If they camped it up too much, it wouldn't be funny. But as long as it rides that white trash pro wrestling style for all its worth, I find myself oddly attracted to it.

And to see what happens when they do wink at the audience, check out Shadow Warrior. Which is funny in its own way, but didn't have the legs of Duke.

 

[Poisoned Al]

Ok show now if we only didn't have the narcissistic overweight British man who thinks he's just the buttered scones. I kid of course.

Oh God, if he was American, this would be weaponized annoying.

 

[NaramSuen]

The Canadian author Douglas Coupland is quoted as saying, "It turns out that only twenty percent of human beings have a sense of irony ? which means that eighty percent of the world takes everything at face value." Based on some of the criticisms Jim continues to receive, I must agree that this is true. He tells us quite explicitly that he is being ironic and some people still don't get it.

 

[Nurb]

I don't see how people hate him, he plays a "character" like colbert does... except for video games and more swearing

We get that. It's a bad character. It's derivative and not funny.

I consider this episode a disaster. Sterling must be the only person on the planet who thinks Duke Nukem is played straight and meant to be taken seriously. If he had ever played a Duke Nukem game, read any article, or just watched a fucking trailer, he would know different. Why didn't he learn something about this subject before writing this episode? Why does the escapist provide a platform for this junk?

Sterling's bad criticism of Duke Nukem is really just a bad criticism of satire in general. I don't mean to be cruel, but I wonder if he even understands what satire is.

How exactly is it derivitave?

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

I don't see how people hate him, he plays a "character" like colbert does... except for video games and more swearing

We get that. It's a bad character. It's derivative and not funny.

I consider this episode a disaster. Sterling must be the only person on the planet who thinks Duke Nukem is played straight and meant to be taken seriously. If he had ever played a Duke Nukem game, read any article, or just watched a fucking trailer, he would know different. Why didn't he learn something about this subject before writing this episode? Why does the escapist provide a platform for this junk?

Sterling's bad criticism of Duke Nukem is really just a bad criticism of satire in general. I don't mean to be cruel, but I wonder if he even understands what satire is.

How exactly is it derivitave?

No, no. We're not going to argue over what is or isn't original, or about how everything is borrowed from somewhere. It's a waste of both our time. But in my opinion, its derivative.

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

And he finally explains the joke to the people that didn't get what he was trying to do. Ahh, good to see.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

Whoops: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD0Faha2gow

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Someone named Jim Sterling on iTunes likes Tonetta. Therefore, I like this Jim Sterling by association.

 

[AyreonMaiden]

Badass once again. Spot on with Sonic. If he became self-aware, he'd be so much better. But nope.

Honestly I never thought Duke Nukem was funny. My attachment to the series comes in the form of the awesome arcade gameplay. It was one of my first FPS games.

 

[icame]

I liked it.
I certainly find Jimquisition MUCH easier to stomach than a lot of the stuff on this site. (Not ZP, Movie Bob or Extra Credits though)

This. Extra Credits is so pretentious it hurts to watch.

He was praising extra credits. Reading comprehension is a powerful tool.

 

[Maldeus]

Jim. If enough of your audience didn't get your shtick several episodes into your show that you had to explain it to them in very nearly explicit terms, you've done something wrong. The right solution to this is not to explicitly spell it out, but rather to actually make the shtick work. For the last twenty or thirty seconds or so, the shtick worked.

 

[Zetsubou^-^]

i think jim's point was that duke was played so seriously as a macho jerk that lack of obvious irony makes it harder to play the game. at least in the game, hes idolized (even in that little clip there was a statue)regardless of how he acts. even if the entire game is supposed to be taken as satirical, the fact that hes worshipped as a hero in game gives it the impression that being a macho jerk is acceptable as long as you save the world. the fact is, he doesn't have any redeeming qualities at all, and the fact that no one in game calls him on this is like giving him free license to continue.

basically because he doesn't get called on it, he can't relate to the player. the player subconsciously or not, should realize that his actions are wrong, and that makes it harder to even root for the guy. it would be different if he was like jim said: a guy who is a jerk regardless of people's reactions, a "jerk for the LOL". he used dante as his example of a relate-able character, and sonic for... well, he might not be a full jerk, but definitely is an example of a character type that doesn't relate to people anymore.

i'd say another good example of "what works" would be Travis from no more heroes. hes not exactly a nice guy, but his motives and the comedy mostly comming at his expense makes him resonate with people on some level.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

I dont think people understand what he's saying about DN, its not that he's a serious character, it's that in the game world he's taking to seriously, as in nobody in the world looks down at him. Anyway, I'm not saying to agree with him, I'm saying to discuss what he meant, not what you misunderstood.

You're putting words in Sterling's mouth. If that is what he meant, he misspoke.

"As Duke Nukem Forever speeds towards a release date, I can't stop thinking about the biggest problem I have with the franchise and this game in particular- the complete lack of evidenced irony. Duke Nukem is not a man we're supposed to pity, or laugh at or be disgusted with in any way. [Describes Duke] ...But rather than make that a point of comedy with the character, we're supposed to actually think he's a brilliant, wonderful guy. To me, this is the fundamental difference between Duke Nukem and Sam Stone from the Serious Sam series. One is played straight, the other not so much."

It only gets worse. Face it, Sterling needs a laugh track to know he's watching comedy. If he doesn't have his hand held through every single joke, it goes completely over his head. It's like he can't infer things without having them explicitly spelled out.

Duke Nukem goes over Jim Sterling's head. Just think about that.

lack of obvious irony makes it harder to play the game

I don't lament the lack of "obvious irony". Are things really so bad that Duke Nukem is too subtle for gamers to comprehend? Lack of obvious jokes makes it harder for Sterling to understand the jokes. If we restrict the discussion to what he actually said in the video, that's all this is.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

Am I the only one that thinks he sounds like Robin Leach? And on Duke taking himself serious, I see him as those 90's action heroes that acted all serious but no one took them seriously.

 

[Faux Furry]

Hmm. Sonic the Hedgehog re-imagined as an intentionally out-of-touch character subject to meta-humor? That would pretty much make Sonic into Animal-Man(as written by Grant Morrison). Considering that he's an anthropomorphic hedgehog, that might just be the right move for Sega to take with him at that!

I always saw Duke Nukem as a blonde Al Bundy with guns (both in the literal sense and in reference to his muscles), an image that doesn't lend itself too well to a character meant to be taken seriously. Now, if the crappiest [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7gkn6WQ44M] DNF trailer of them all is a hint of what Duke thinks of his own actions taken throughout the game, there may yet be hope.

 

[BreakdownBoy]

This show really sucks. How can someone be paying this guy to talk this dribble? I would say this guy has a face for radio but then his voice aint so hot either. Should stick to writing articles.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

Am I really seeing escapist content being congratulated for successful trolling? I really hope the escapist isn't producing videos that have no information or entertainment value except to troll. Was everything he said about Duke Nukem purely for trolling purposes? When did this become 4chan/b/?

By the way, trolling is not the same as irony or satire. I don't see how you could confuse the two, but it looks like Sterling and some of his fans here have done just that.

 

[default]

You know what? I'm actually really starting to like you Jim You're funny and you have a lot of really good points to make.

 

[Friendshipandmagic]

According to that poll that I liked that majority is still better than half the site and more than 1/5 the active community than those that actually like this. Liking or disliking may be subjective, but if you want to watch it so badly, go watch it somewhere else. This site as spoken and they don't want it. You tell me how the numbers are now suddenly subjective.

You didn't get anything close to getting the "entire sites" opinion. You got the people who bothered to click on the thread.

So, you don't speak for anybody really.

 

[Xman490]

Sonic Colors was an unimpressive game besides the character lines? I thought it was pretty good, as well as pretty pretty. From the flashing colors of his world to the speed that halted the least often ever, Sonic came off as the coked-out speed freak jokers felt he should be. His lines, however, not only fit that character but also were rather annoying (Yes, I know you're going to beat the bolts out of the big bad boss. Just shut up about it, Sonic.)