Yahtzee Wrote a Book

[Enkidu88]

I honestly wasn't expecting to like it really, but it was really kind of fun. Since I used to play WOW way back in the day when there were no expansions, it was fun to read a spoof of that kind of environment. It's not exactly great literature, but then I wasn't expecting it to be, it is Yahtzee not Hemmingway.

That said I probably won't be buying it, might try getting it from a library at some point but definitely not buying it. Because I just don't think he can stretch out that kind of humor into an entire book. Even in the few pages of the sneak peak they gave us, after the novelty of the humor and setting wore off there isn't really much left. The characters, what there were of them, weren't interesting or even vaguely involving. And if there is any semblance of a coherent plot I didn't really pick up on it.

Maybe the finished product has that, but like Yahtzee once said back in his review of the Darkness demo on youtube, the point of the extract was to get me to buy the book. And in that it failed. Maybe when I read some reviews of the finished product I'll change my mind.

 

[Aptspire]

Pretty funny. The premise is interesting, and I really liked the developers conversation.

me too. I'll most likely pick it up

 

[Comma-Kazie]

I preordered mine yesterday--I can't wait for it to ship!

 

[ResiEvalJohn]

I wish I could read this from the beginning because I was a little confused at first, but once it got going I had quite a few lol moments. This book certainly won't appeal to everyone, but if you've ever played an MMO before, I think you'll get a kick out of it. I can't wait to pick it up now!

For the people who say it sucks, stop complaining already and go write your own damn book about MMOs if you think you can write better.

I wasn't 100% keen myself, but I don't think that people should be able to write better in order to say they thought something was rubbish; I think Stephen King is a terrible writer, but someone must like him that keeps him on the Bestseller list, and I doubt my writing is a patch on what his is to his publishers.

Well, I think they should at least try, so

 

[Nemu]

Sweet, thanks for the pre-order info, tho I wish I could get it on my Kindle, instead. =/

It's definitely a first novel- not spectacular, but not cringe-worthy. 8 bucks is cheap, so I'm willing to give it a read.

 

[Therumancer]

From what I heard it sounds interesting, and I might pick it up eventually, but I'm not in a huge hurry.

I'm not sure how well Yahtzee's style of humor would translate into that medium (assuming that's what he's doing). Sort of like when I rushed out to pick up a copy of Warren Ellis' "Crooked Little Vein" and while amusing it seemed to be lacking something compared to his comic work on things like "Transmetropolitan". For whatever reason his style just worked better in that format.

 

[Fbuh]

He's an excellent comedic writer, though that isn't unexpected. It reminds me of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

 

[duchaked]

I have a feeling some haters are hatin' just cuz...well okay the point's already been made lol

I'm not sure about what I think, but I'm sorta distracted right now (and not wanting to preorder anything else with all these games coming out)

as always...time will tell what's good and what's not

 

[DayDark]

Well you're probably right in that most people go in with their own expectations anyway, though I'm confused by your assertion that Psychonauts is not a popular game.

re: his justification of his critiques with an argument. If your critique is so flippant, picking up on things just for LOLs then surely the only real justification is 'this doesn't really make the game any worse, I'm just saying this to get you all coming back to watch my video every week to see what I'll say next.' I'm not sure he's ever said this, let alone in every episode.

I see your point, but I don't particularly get that vibe from him, that he is simply talking out his arse if he can't find flaws, every game has flaws, and you can mostly hear when he has actually enjoyed a game, because the review won't be as menacing. He'll still rip into the flaws, but either that is superficial flaws, or he also highlight some parts he liked.

By the way, you said something earlier:

If it were all true personal opinion, and he does indeed have a gamer's heart pumping away in his chest, then every so often a ZP would be a love filled sonnet how utterly spectacular a game was and how everyone should go out and buy it immediately. I may be wrong, but this has probably never happened.

He has, he still critique some flaws, but the overall vibe of the review is positive, those reviews would be Portal, Psychonauts, which I find to have become popular lately, and wasn't before. Those are just the two I can remember, but I'm pretty sure there are more.

He's still a dick though, but people like dicks I guess. I get it. I like arrogant and smug people who genuinely have a right to be arrogant and smug. Ricky Gervais. He has every right to be arrogant (and yet I think a lot of it is act I suspect it's not all for show)he's done like a bunch of stuff and it's all been very good and critically acclaimed. Yahtzee's done this one thing that's proved popular, and subsequently (and previously) proved time and time again that anything else he does is naff. Yahtzee may be smug and self-assured now, but he's in for a shock now he's venturing out of the gaming sphere and into the grown up world of literature where people aren't going to be charmed by Gordon Freeman references and dick jokes.

I can assure you that he has gotten flack for his video game reviews as well, he isn't always right, and people hammer at him when he isn't.

Also it's not just Yahtzee. Penny Arcade sucks balls as well, but that's an argument for another day!

Thanks all, it's been fun.

oh no I like them too! I'll guess will meet again then

 

[f0re1gn]

It probably will never ship to Estonia (no one will buy it here but me and maybe 2-3 other people), but I'll hopefully pre-order it before I go to the army

 

[MrSpectabular]

Yeah I have to admit I was baffled how I managed to avoid a warning and you got one for effectively complementing his joke. ;D

 

[M4rsch]

Good grief, Yahtzee...

 

[OANST]

Yeah I have to admit I was baffled how I managed to avoid a warning and you got one for effectively complementing his joke. ;D

I think that maybe they were just looking for any reason to slap me down a notch, as I constantly point out the bad editing in their articles and then said unkind things about their star's writing abilities. Maybe not, though. Maybe that particular mod really is an imbecile.

 

[Darzen]

i've preordered 2.For me and a friend of mine.

 

[Deadlock Radium]

My only request is that Yahtzee, Please make an audiobook version.

It would rock.

FUCK YEAH! That would be AWESOME! But the audiobook will be very short if it'll be read in Zero Punctuation-style though..

 

[Nmil-ek]

Eh, I can say I've read worse. Maybe I only don't like it so much because I don't have much of a clue as to what's going on.

Would I say I've written better? Probably, but he's published and I'm not so Mr. Croshaw has already one-uped me in the field of writing right there.

Thats not so much writing as it is connections, yahtzees a big name in the games industry even if he is just an entertainer it's far easier for publishers to see the cash profit in an established name with a large following. Personaly I thought this was pretty amature, then again I'm not published either but from his first sentance of this chapter he broke the 101 of writing hook the reader if the first paragraph cant hook you it dampens the whole experience from that point on.

And the narrative is really jarring feels like reading someones facebook rather than a novel and even as a parody you potentialy waste alot by not exploring the background in detail. Meh.

 

[Spinozaad]

You got to admire the amount of Fan Fascism. When someone says it sucks they 'have to back it up' or 'do better themselves', yet you can safely go 'OMG IT'S AWESOME' without any kind of argumentation.

Funny.

As for the thing itself. Meh. I like 'Articulate Jim' better, but that's partly because I don't care about the entire premise.

 

[Kavonde]

Damn, man, this is good stuff! Although I think the end of your excerpt might've given away the big twist. Still, I'll definitely pick the book up when it's out. A Pratchett-style fantasy comedy set in an MMO...yeah, I'm sold.

EDIT: Also, holy crap. What's with the massive negativity and astronomically high literary standards? I didn't know half the Escapist's reader base was composed of bitter, unpublished English majors.

Yahtzee may not be Sir Terry, but he's got a unique idea and the chapter's entertaining. Chill.