TotalBiscuit is Speaking at Escapist Expo 2013!

[Simple Bluff]

I'm a big fan of TB, I have to say. As much as I like Yahtzee, I feel his reviews sacrifice a bit of informative content for the sake of comedy - which is fine, but people like TB balance it out.

Although, to be honest, I've never got that "Cynical" Brit thing. He's not that cynical at all, when you compare him to pretty much every other internet micro-celebrity. Most of his videos are generally positive, as far as I've seen (especially recently). I mean, he nearly always finds a flaw or two to bang on about, but that hardly makes him "cynical" - just thorough.

Anyway, it'd be interesting to watch him, Yahtzee and Jim on the same panel. Something to look forward to.

 

[Charli]

Yahtzee...and TB...and Jim in one room?

I...someone needs to film this for me. If the black hole doesn't suck in everyone in the room.

 

[RaikuFA]

Congrats to the TB fans that are happy to see him. I don'y like him(his attacks on used games and consoles. I believe his videos on lesser known games can hurt a games sales if its just a genre he doesn't like. Plus his fans act like his word is absolute law to the point where if they go "Totalbiscuit says..." Your argument is dead to me.)

I would love to see any evidence of a game, even terrible ones, seeing dips in sales after TB does a video on them. The only genres TB doesn't like are puzzle games and platformers. Even then he tries to balance his opinion and give the viewer enough information to judge for themselves.

Also, he doesn't "attack used games and consoles". He has a stance on used games, one that makes perfect sense with his PC background. He's never once falsely criticized a console, and has occasionally streamed console games as well as talk about them on his podcast. Most of the time he simply states facts and then gives his opinion, he doesn't unfairly judge consoles.

I'm currently working on a game that's a metroidvania platformer and I know he'll automatically ***** about it because it doesn't have Crysis like specs. Or because it's too much like a console game. And if I say anything that disagrees with him he'll get his legions of fans to attack me as if I just ran over his mom.

And didn't he compare used games to piracy? And call people out for daring to preorder games? I also believe he said he could care less about the people that watch his stuff pretty much saying they're disposal.

 

[Kristian Fischer]

If all he did was the snarky cynical routine then he'd be boring as ****. He's plenty of fun when he does stuff with his friends, whether podcasting, LPs or sundries. TB, Jesse Cox and Dodger complement each other very well.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

I'm currently working on a game that's a metroidvania platformer and I know he'll automatically ***** about it because it doesn't have Crysis like specs. Or because it's too much like a console game.

No, he has stated multiple times that a game doesn't have to be pretty to be good, and "being too much like a console game" is a ridiculous argument that I've never seen anyone make.

ever.

at all.

at all times.

the only difference game-wise would be the use of a controller.

And if I say anything that disagrees with him he'll get his legions of fans to attack me as if I just ran over his mom.

ehh, well, yeah, welcome to Youtube, I suppose, online celebreties are never known for their well-behaved fanbases or critics.

As has been stated before, his channel deals with PC games, for a PC gamer point of view, and customisation is a huge part of that.
Having multiple graphics, sound and gameplay options, maybe even mod-support, are the mayor strengths of PC-gaming, if a console game is ported over to PC, and it's poorly optimised in terms of performance or input then it doesn't matter how good of a console game it was, it makes for a crappy PC game.

 

[RaikuFA]

I don't think he called out anyone. But he stated multiple times that preordering a cat in a bag is not very smart.
No, he didn't say that people watching his stuff are disposable. Do post that screenshot. It should be fun.

I preorder games all the time. Mainly games from other regions that already have been played by other gamers.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.404997-TotalBiscuits-very-strange-behavior-in-this-Vlog-video?page=6#16840763

Apparently it was said in a vid where he asked why his revenue went down.

I'm currently working on a game that's a metroidvania platformer and I know he'll automatically ***** about it because it doesn't have Crysis like specs. Or because it's too much like a console game.

No, he has stated multiple times that a game doesn't have to be pretty to be good, and "being too much like a console game" is a ridiculous argument that I've never seen anyone make.

I have seen worse. Mainly from G4.

 

[Kristian Fischer]

All these YouTube people have to follow their online persona to keep their subscriptions going. TB is "cynical Brit", Jesse Cox is "wacky guy" and Angry Joe... Oh dear, oh dear...

 

[Spud of Doom]

This is pretty good news. Always nice to be able to get some more content for a small expo like that. If only it was within the realm of possibility for me to attend.

 

[RA92]

Eh. Colour me unimpressed. Never did like TotalBiscuit or his attitude. Too much snark. Also, his PC elitism is fairly off-putting.

Like how in his list of best ten games of last year, the first and second place went to console games?

 

[Simple Bluff]

I'm currently working on a game that's a metroidvania platformer and I know he'll automatically ***** about it because it doesn't have Crysis like specs. Or because it's too much like a console game. And if I say anything that disagrees with him he'll get his legions of fans to attack me as if I just ran over his mom.

I can perfectly understand why people don't like him, but this is pretty unfair.
The above video is TB's review on the recent indie title Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. It's a puzzle-platformer (kinda) that was designed for consoles (or console controllers, at least). In the video, TB points out it's lack of original aesthetic and graphics.

He then goes on to say that it's the best game of all time, in his opinion, and urges everyone to buy it. Another game he did recently was State of Decay - he moaned at length about the graphics and optimization problems (to the point where it was getting tiresome, as tends to happen in a lot of his stuff, admittedly), but still gave a very positive impression of the game by the end of the video, noting it had unique and fun gameplay.
TB isn't unfair, he has his preferences but he's pretty good at distinguishing his own biases from genuine design flaws.

And yeah, I suppose you're right when you say you'd be attacked by fanboys if you made fuss with him, but that's hardy his fault. He's actively denounced that kind of stuff again and again.

And this comes back to why I don't get his Cynical Brit persona. He can be very inflammatory, knee-jerky, and downright unpleseant, but most his commentary is actually pretty damn positive.

EDIT: Fixed youtube video.

 

[RaikuFA]

I'm currently working on a game that's a metroidvania platformer and I know he'll automatically ***** about it because it doesn't have Crysis like specs. Or because it's too much like a console game. And if I say anything that disagrees with him he'll get his legions of fans to attack me as if I just ran over his mom.

I can perfectly understand why people don't like him, but this is pretty unfair.
The above video is TB's review on the recent indie title Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. It's a puzzle-platformer (kinda) that was designed for consoles (or console controllers, at least). In the video, TB points out it's lack of original aesthetic and graphics.

He then goes on to say that it's the best game of all time, in his opinion, and urges everyone to buy it. Another game he did recently was State of Decay - he moaned at length about the graphics and optimization problems (to the point where it was getting tiresome, as tends to happen in a lot of his stuff, admittedly), but still gave a very positive impression of the game by the end of the video, noting it had unique and fun gameplay.
TB isn't unfair, he has his preferences but he's pretty good at distinguishing his own biases from genuine design flaws.

And yeah, I suppose you're right when you say you'd be attacked by fanboys if you made fuss with him, but that's hardy his fault. He's actively denounced that kind of stuff again and again.

And this comes back to why I don't get his Cynical Brit persona. He can be very inflammatory, knee-jerky, and downright unpleseant, but most his commentary is actually pretty damn positive.

EDIT: Fixed youtube video.

OK, seems fair. I still get annoyed at people thinking his word is law though.

 

[Strazdas]

TotalBiscuit is coming? Damn, sucks Susan isn't around anymore. I'd love to see them get into a huge debate at the Expo. They don't seem to get a long XD

My entire exchange with the man was, I believe, all of two comments in a forum thread. Hardly a rivalry of epic proportions.

well you can always turn it in a manner of AVGN and TGWG fight which spanned multiple videos and even turned into a (acted) real life fight!

Also, I wouldn't call him all that smart. All he does is spout spec numbers and frame rates the entire video whenever he is talking about a specific game, and the rest of the time he talks like an entitled PC gamer. He may raise a good point every know and again, but he usually just complains how a game is not optimized for a pc port, or how every game in the history of ever isn't open world. Usually, whenever someone calls a commentator smart that is because they share a similar opinion to that commentator, and likes hearing their own opinion coming from someone else.

Well you havent seen many of his veodeos then. ALso its pretty much fair criticism to say a game is poorly optimized when it actually is poorly optimized. anyone that played GTA4 on PC will know how bad PC ports can be. and there are worse, like Bully or Lost Planet. heck, they would show you a controller as a tutorial and would tell you to "press left sohulder button" in the game. they didnt even bother translating that!

Thank goodness I found nerdcubed.

And thank God for JIM that you showed me nerdcubed!

OK, seems fair. I still get annoyed at people thinking his word is law though.

No critics word is law, ever. but its interesting to see different opinions. Heck, i disagree with a lot that Yathzee says but i still love his videos.

 

[daibakuha]

I'm currently working on a game that's a metroidvania platformer and I know he'll automatically ***** about it because it doesn't have Crysis like specs. Or because it's too much like a console game. And if I say anything that disagrees with him he'll get his legions of fans to attack me as if I just ran over his mom.

And didn't he compare used games to piracy? And call people out for daring to preorder games? I also believe he said he could care less about the people that watch his stuff pretty much saying they're disposal.

He gives indie games slack when it comes to graphics options. Especially since most of them aren't really graphically intense anyway. He gives the graphically intense and Triple A titles a lot shit for it though. Other than that he really only cares if your games runs at 60 fps, and at the proper resolution.

He has some strong opinions on used games, and I think the comparison to piracy is actually a pretty logical, but this really has nothing to do with the discussion at hand. As for pre-orders? He discourages them because often times they popular games that people pre-order end up sucking and then all people do is ***** about while the publisher laughs all the way to the bank.

Also, him saying his audience is disposable is an outright falsehood, he's call the occasional individual disposable, but never the entire audience.