Showing posts with label YouTube. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YouTube. Show all posts
Monday, December 3, 2018
Why Nintendo's Creators Program Failed
Let the joyous news be spread the wicked old Nintendo's YouTube creators program at last is dead! Yes, people you've heard it. Nintendo has announced that they will be putting an end to their Creators Program. Nintendo's statement:
"We are ending the Nintendo Creators Program (NCP) to make it easier for content creators to make and monetize videos that contain Nintendo game content. We will no longer ask creators to submit their videos to the NCP, and creators can continue showing their passion for Nintendo by following Nintendo’s guidelines."
So, by ending the program Nintendo appears that the company is going to be a bit more easy on how content creators feature videos containing Nintendo games. Hearing this news, you can be certain a lot of gamers on YouTube or YouTubers who like to make videos featuring Nintendo content are pretty excited hearing this news. But why? What made Nintendo's program so unpopular?
As you know YouTubers get paid on YouTube by views and ad revenue. Gaming is one of the most popular genre with millions watching videos dedicated to video games as well as watching live streams of creators playing video games. Nintendo has been notorious in how they would take down videos and remove streams of creators featuring their content. In response to this Nintendo made a creators program in order to reach out to YouTubers and make things simple. This made things right? Wrong.
The program had YouTubers follow a strict set of guidelines in which they had to follow in order to not have their videos taken down. Along with the set of rules what made YouTubers upset was the fact that they couldn't live stream games as Nintendo as they viewed this as spoiling content and driving away people that would buy the games. Also you would have to send the video to Nintendo and wait three business days for it to be deemed "satisfactory". What also didn't sit well was that signing up for the program Nintendo would pocket and good chunk of the money, 30% of revenue for the channels and 40% for video content.
Nintendo had a program where a lot of YouTubers found to be a bit unfair and in some cases completely took advantage of their content. Famous YouTuber Pewdiepie said:
"I also think this is a slap in the face to the YouTube channels that does focus on Nintendo game exclusively. The people who have helped and showed passion for Nintendo's community are the ones left in the dirt the most.
And finally, when there's just so many games out there to play. Nintendo games just went to the bottom of that list. Even if more publishers starts implementing this idea of sharing revenue. Then fine, there's always going to be plenty of games out there, ready to become the next "Mienkraft" - Sounds cheesy, but it's true."
It's true that with how Nintendo's original program stood and how many YouTubers felt that it was unfair it would largely turn them off from signing onto the program and even not consider playing Nintendo games which would not only hurt the relationship between them and the company but also having their games be featured in videos which could lead to more people buying their games. The program will be ending March 20, 2019. What are your thoughts on this recent news and Nintendo shutting down their Creators Program?
Sunday, February 19, 2017
The Pewdiepie Problem: Now What
For the people who have been in a coma for the past few weeks, you have missed a major scandal involving mega internet superstar and YouTube Jesus Felix Kjellberg a.k.a. Pewdiepie. So here how it went down. Pewds made a video about a website named Fivrr that, by giving five dollars they will do anything you want. While discussing the company, he decided to make a couple of jokes by having two people holding up a sign saying Death to All Jews, subscribe to Keemstar and having a guy dress up as Jesus say Hitler did nothing wrong. Funny? Not according to Wall Street Journal who saw this and decided to make a story accusing Pewds of being a nazi. This has sparked outrage and led to probably one of the biggest internet celebrity scandals of the year, so far.
The scandal has led to the company he was signed with, Maker Studios who is owned by Disney, to drop him, the cancellation of his upcoming show on YouTube Red, and YouTube to demote him by removing his premium ad service. Pewds have been silent for a few days until he made a video addressing the video and apologizing for the joke.
“I'm sorry for the words that I used as I know they offended people, and I admit that the joke itself went too far,”
He continues on to say:
"I do strongly believe that you can joke about anything, but I also believe that there's a right way and not the best way to joke about things. I love to push boundaries, but I would consider myself a rookie comedian and I've definitely made mistakes like this before. But it's always been a growing and learning experience for me. And it's something that I actually learn to really appreciate. And I think this whole situation has definitely been that for me, and it's something that I'm going to keep in mind moving forward."
Is anybody in the wrong? Are things being too PC? Is Pewdiepie a nazi? This scandal, and whole ordeal has been an example of certain media outlet sensationalizing certain things just to cause a scandal and most importantly to get views and clicks. For those who don't know what sensationalism is, it's basically when media takes something and completely run away with giving bogus and untrue stories just for attention. It is unethical and goes against journalistic morals. Not all media do this and this isn't a caution to distrust all media outlets. I am however shocked that out of all places, Wall Street Journal is responsible of this.
Pewds is of course not a nazi, unless he is a part of some secret club and that's a probable as me winning the lottery. He did however got himself in this situation and Wall Street Journal saw an opportunity to pounce and they did just that. As for Disney and YouTube, they did want was logical and you can't be really mad at that as they saw a potential problem and scandal and protected themselves and their money. It what corporations do.
The question is now what is to be done after the interwebs have shitted itself and threw it at the nearest fan? Well, Pewdiepie did what he was suppose to do. He acknowledged the issue with his joke and apologized and set the story out. He should also be aware that this will not be the last of it and there will be a target on his back. I think he has learned a lesson not to give people ammunition to attack. As for Wall Street Journal, they did what they sought to accomplished, not what he said as a attack to get him, but get their story and get their views. Other news sources who do nothing but sensationalize will be out to do the same and how this thing exploded will give just enough reason to do so.
What are your thoughts?
Monday, May 23, 2016
Who You Gonna Call When You Hate the New Ghostbusters?
The Ghostbusters reboot just around the corner. We haven't had anything Ghostbusters related in a while with the last movie, a sequel, made in 1989, a couple of failed projects to get a third movie made, and a video game made almost 6 years ago in 2009. With the smell of nostalgia in the air, you can can feel the excitement or better yet the hate.
The new Ghostbusters has been the subject of internet hate. Fanboys have taken to repeatedly down vote trailers and have even gone as far as to harass director Paul Feig and cast members. It's has gone pretty much downhill ever since it was announced that who was directing it and that the reboot would feature a mostly female cast. The most recent of the negativity has come from YouTuber cinemasscre. Cinemasscre, real name James Rolfe, has pretty much made a 6 and a half "non review" discussing about how much he is not going to see and review the Ghostbusters movie. I could talk about how absurd, childish and the lack of professionalism that a supposed amateur movie reviewer on YouTube would go to make a 6 minute rant about how much they're not going to see a movie, but that's another day and another topic. This inspired me to finally talk about the movie and address the hate that the movie has brewed.
Some opponents of the movie claim that the movie is just another cash grab for the studios to make money off a popular franchise. Hollywood has been the culprit of doing this for the past years and this could spark a debate on truly if Hollywood should should stop the trend of making remakes or reboots just to make quick cash instead of coming up with new innovative ideas and concepts and that is a actual problem. Whether that is the case for this particular movie or not is up to debate. One thing is for sure is that issue will not be resolved with giving the director and cast death threats and harassment.
Bottom line it's just a movie. It's no need to get this worked up over a movie. No movie is worth this much hate. No movie is worth sending the cast and director harassment and death threats. For the people citing nostalgia and claiming that the movie will ruin the franchise, if one reboot is capable of doing that, then your childhood nostalgia and the franchise itself had nothing to stand on. If this is truly bad then I think the franchise is be just fine, it survived Ghostbusters 2. You can still watch the original Ghostbusters movie and enjoy that. You can even watch Ghostbusters 2 which wasn't as charming and funny as the first one. The new reboot doesn't take anything away from those movies. The new Ghostbusters reboot might be fine after all, then again you wouldn't know that if you're too busy downvoting trailers and making "non review" videos.
P.S. Harold Ramis probably wouldn't be upset over the new reboot. We tried contacting his ghost but reportedly its held in storage in a firehouse in downtown Los Angeles.
What are your thoughts on the negative wave of hate on the new Ghostbusters reboot. Is it justified?
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Why Watch Video Games When You Can Play Them Yourself?
"Watching another person play video games is like going to a restaurant and have someone eat your food for you. If you like 'em, play them."
The response from the gaming community has not been nice. Gamers have taken to YouTube, Twitter and other forms of social media they could and posted some nasty remark. Some have gone far as to give him threats and even wishing him to get cancer. Whether Kimmel knows it or not after all of the vocal response to his comments towards the gaming community of YouTube and Twitch, there is more to Let's Plays and Twitch streams than just watching other people play.
People do watch Let's plays as a means to test out the game. They want to see if it is fun or good enough to buy for themselves. It works almost as better than reading a review online or in a magazine. You see the not only the game in action, but you see someone's reaction to playing the game.
Aside from watching it as a decision to buy the game or not, and most importantly, Kimmel isn't realizing is that Let's Plays are a form of entertainment. People are not mainly watching just to see someone play a game. People watch it as a means of entertainment. It's more about who's playing the game. People love watching other people react playing games as it can be sometimes comical. Watching YouTubers like Pewdiepie and Markiplier react to what's happening in the game is indeed funny. It's more about the person's personality than the gameplay itself. That is the reason why these people have millions of views and subscriptions.
This isn't an attack to what Kimmel said. This is more of an explanation as to why people watch Let's Plays. Of course it's normal how Kimmel, and others, react to Let's Plays. They don't get it and it's perfectly fine that they don't. It's not for everybody. Of course you would not get it and ask why would people watch Pewdiepie making weird noises playing Minecraft and Markiplier making funny faces everytime he plays Five Nights at Freddy's. The answer would be that people enjoy it and it's more than just watching someone play a game. However they can at least inform themselves and try to understand why it's popular. At least that's what he tried to do when after the outrage he invited YouTube celebrities Markiplier and MissesMae on his show and actually allowed himself to get educated. Whether he changed his views on Let's Plays is up to him.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Does eSports Need ESPN?
Even though it has been here for years, eSports is starting to get its recognition and is starting to come into the mainstream. With million dollar prizes that seem to grow and grow each year and tournaments getting almost as big coverage to match. It is even being covered on sports channels like ESPN. You can say thing are good, but they are not.
Ever since eSports tournaments have been broadcast on channels like ESPN, there have been some form of backlash against it. There have been backlash again sports fans asking why are they watching people playing video games. Even one of the former commentator, Colin Cowherd, has gotten headlines for bashing the channel's decision to show tournaments.
"Here's what's going to get me off the air. If I am ever forced to cover guys playing video games, I will retire and move to a rural fishing village and sell bait. You want me out? Demand video game tournaments on ESPN because that's what appeared on ESPN2 yesterday."
Sadly even the president of the channel, John Skipper, has some not really positive remakes about it. The president has publicly commented on eSports by saying that it is not a sport.
It's one thing for fans to be against it and probably another when you some of the commentators have something negative to say about it, but it's the worst when you have the head of the network bashing it. I can talk about how, just like any sport, eSports can be just as demanding and its participants train just as much as athletes in sports, but that's another story. So, the question is that should these tournaments pack up their things and go somewhere else? Do they need to stop airing on ESPN?
eSports have been getting quite the number of hits online on Twitch and other streaming sites. Just last year, Dota 2's international tournament pulled in almost 20 million viewers, along with League of Legends and its 32 viewers online. With these numbers, and them growing each year as last year Dota only had one million. It is obvious that these tournaments are not going to be losing any sleep if they don't air on TV. Also, considering the fact that people prefer to watch things online than on TV, It would be wise not to pass up a deal with Twitch, or any other streaming service to solely broadcast tournaments online.
I do understand that these eSport tournaments need a network like ESPN to get spread awareness and get a bigger and broader audience, but the respect is clearly not there. It's one thing to bash, it's another to do so blatantly and try to make money off of it. It's hypocritical that the president sees eSports this way but doesn't see a problem collecting all of the money it makes for the company. Maybe eSports does need to stay after all. To make a point that Skipper and the channel's fans that criticized the airings are out of touch and eSports is here to stay and that it's not just a sport. It's something more.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Sony, YouTubers, and Digital Media Part 2: Do YouTubers Belong Outside of YouTube?
Last week I talked about a video YouTuber Joshua Ovenshire, Jovenshire, made about concerning Cable, Digital Media. To recap, Ovenshire made a case that due to PlayStation Vue, we might see the final nail in the coffin for cable as its service can offer channels you want for a cheaper service. What I had to say about is that the service Vue, will not be the cable killer. Cable still has its hooks in everything that even with the popularity of the Netflixes and Hulus it won't be going away. We have a service similar service compared to Vue, Sling TV and that did nothing to Comcast. Vue could be the potential to something, but we won't see the death of Cable anytime soon.
In the second half in the video Ovenshire made an opinion that as Digital Media is growing and TV is dying, channel executives will start needing YouTubers, Vine stars, and other internet celebrities in order to create content for their shows online. I know considering that Ovenshire being a YouTuber himself he would think this way.
I'm not going to deny that YouTubers and YouTube are done and are doing things with networks. Grace Helbig has a talk show on E! Timothydelaghetto has been on the comedy improv show Wild N Out and Epic Meal Time have a show on FYI . It has always been like this since Fred had his deal with Nickelodeon to do a series and a few movies. However I don't know how he came to the conclusion that as channels make the transition online equals a high demand for YouTubers and Vine stars to work for these channels.
There is still a big stigma with how networks and Hollywood is willing to work with internet celebrities as they still see them as regular people that just film themselves on camera doing whatever and upload it to YouTube. And there is a valid reason why. There hasn't been a YouTuber or a Vine star who has found any success outside of YouTube. Epic Meal Time haven't had good luck with shows outside of YouTube as they had a couple with G4 and Revision3. Both fell through. Hopefully Epic Meal Empire won't? Helbig's show is on thin ice as it is being proven time and time again on E! unless you are a Kardashian, or if your talk show doesn't have the words Chelsea Handler on it nobody will be willing to watch it. Also Lucas Cruikshank, Fred, after all the deals he's done as Fred is right back to where he started, on YouTube. Not acting as Fred, just doing vlogs. These people have millions of people watching their content on YouTube but are simply failing to get these fans and viewers to follow them outside of YouTube or enough for them to transition into something beyond YouTube.
Again there is no connection that as content is migrating to digital formats that these companies are going to rely on YouTubers and Viners. There is the fact as there have been deals where we've been getting shows premiering on Hulu and Netflix, due to the audience that use these formats, these networks and people who have been doing online content have been doing the same things they have always done by hiring talent, overlooking internet celebrities all together. There might be deals in the future, but not in the way or not as many as Ovenshire thinks there will be.
What are your thoughts?
Again there is no connection that as content is migrating to digital formats that these companies are going to rely on YouTubers and Viners. There is the fact as there have been deals where we've been getting shows premiering on Hulu and Netflix, due to the audience that use these formats, these networks and people who have been doing online content have been doing the same things they have always done by hiring talent, overlooking internet celebrities all together. There might be deals in the future, but not in the way or not as many as Ovenshire thinks there will be.
What are your thoughts?
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Sony, YouTubers, and Digital Media Part 1: Is Cable Truly Done For?
YouTuber Joshua Ovenshire A.K.A The Jovenshire, from Smosh Games, made a video concerning the recent announcement Sony made at E3 this year. Starting soon, Sony announced that it would be expanding its service, PlayStation Vue to more cities, Los Angeles and San Francisco. PlayStation Vue is a service allowing its users to purchase single cable channels and stream on the PlayStation 4. In the video, he states that PlayStation Vue will be a big deal as, what he claims it will change media forever. Ovenshire is acknowledging the current trend with digital media. It is popular with the younger demographic as this generation is starting to prefer watch content online compared to watching shows on TV. There are less and less young people watching TV. But the question is will this move on Sony be or will it be the beginning of the end of cable?
First of all, cable isn't going anywhere. It is true that people are preferring to watch shows online, companies like Time Warner and Comcast have their hands in things have they have in so deep that not even Superman can loosen their grip. Cable stations are, slowly but surely, adapting to digital formats and have been doing so in order to compete with the Netflix and the Hulus. Ironically, cable companies are working with these services like Hulu in order to get people who prefer watching things online to watch their channels. Also, the offer Sony is making to its customers isn't new. It is very similar to Sling TV. Sling TV, like what Sony is hoping to do, is an online TV service the offers channels for $20 a month, cutting out cable. Sling has barely made a dent competing with Comcast's second quarter earnings. Sony may have a harder time as not that many people are buying PS4s for TV.
Ovenshire might be on to something. Eventually we might see cable go, but it's going anywhere soon. Vue service offers more channels than Sling, yet Sling is cheaper with its $20 compared to Vue's $50, but I highly doubt that PlaySation Vue will be the cable slayer, especially considering how Sling has fared and the number of people who buy PlayStation 4s to do things other than playing games. For something to make people who really jump from its gonna have to be a much better service provider.
First of all, cable isn't going anywhere. It is true that people are preferring to watch shows online, companies like Time Warner and Comcast have their hands in things have they have in so deep that not even Superman can loosen their grip. Cable stations are, slowly but surely, adapting to digital formats and have been doing so in order to compete with the Netflix and the Hulus. Ironically, cable companies are working with these services like Hulu in order to get people who prefer watching things online to watch their channels. Also, the offer Sony is making to its customers isn't new. It is very similar to Sling TV. Sling TV, like what Sony is hoping to do, is an online TV service the offers channels for $20 a month, cutting out cable. Sling has barely made a dent competing with Comcast's second quarter earnings. Sony may have a harder time as not that many people are buying PS4s for TV.
Ovenshire might be on to something. Eventually we might see cable go, but it's going anywhere soon. Vue service offers more channels than Sling, yet Sling is cheaper with its $20 compared to Vue's $50, but I highly doubt that PlaySation Vue will be the cable slayer, especially considering how Sling has fared and the number of people who buy PlayStation 4s to do things other than playing games. For something to make people who really jump from its gonna have to be a much better service provider.
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Hating Pewdiepie
Recently we have heard that famous YouTuber Felix Kjellberg, or who you may know as Pewdiepie, earned $7 million dollars last year. That is $3 million more than what he has earned the previous year. Pewdiepie is the most popular YouTuber uploading content daily with millions of people watching it and have over 37 million subscribers. Pewdiepie has earned this not only through ads, but through sponsorship with companies. Not everyone is happy about this. He has gotten a ton of backlash and outrage over the recent news of his earning. The outrage was loud enough for Pewdiepie to make a video addressing this. In the video Pewdiepie said the following:
“Money is a topic that I have purposefully tried to avoid for the five years that I’ve been making videos, because I just feel like it’s not important to anyone.”
"Whenever it comes out how much I made a certain year, people just get so shocked. A lot of people were also very, very angry. They thought it was unfair. They thought I just sit on my ass all day and I just yell at the screen."
"To see so many people upset about this whole thing is sad."
It is understandable to see why people are upset about hearing this. You have some people who slave away at their 9 to 5 jobs and make nowhere near 7 million dollars, some don't even barely make enough. You slave away at your job and you hear this person not only makes videos of him playing Minecraft and making goofy noises while doing so, but people are willing to throw a boat load of cash at him. It's enough to send you up the wall in a fit of rage.
I know it is easy to write these people off as haters, but should we? No. Again, you can easily understand why people are mad, but I don't think people understand what goes behind what he does. Yes Pewdiepie does make weird noises while playing video games, even he has said that was true, but surprisingly there is a lot that goes in to doing what he does. There's more to his videos other than him playing games and making funny noises. There is a ton of research and looking into the demographic of a particular game he has to look into instead of saying I'm just gonna play Game X. There is a lot of time going into knowing what people want to watch. Not only that, but to keep them entertained. Pewdiepie is suppose be a very entertaining personality on YouTube and that is what people like about him and is what keeps his views and his bank account in the millions.
I'm not going to tell these people who are upset about this to just shut up and get over it as in some ways they can be outraged. However what I can do is ask people to try to understand why he is making as much as he can. I'm sure if they do, they probably wouldn't be as mad as they are.
What are your thoughts on this? What are your thoughts on people who are upset about how much Pewdiepie makes?
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
YouTube vs Twitch: Who Will Get the Streaming Crown?
YouTube is planning to revamp and relaunch their live streaming service. The reason behind is because YouTube wants to put its live streaming in a direction that will cater to gaming and eSports companies and viewers.
"Gaming and eSports in particular are going to be a big driving force for the new-look YouTube Live," one source said. "There'll be huge opportunities for established streamers and organizations soon and I would say that the record numbers of eSports viewers are only going to grow when Google starts promoting and partnering with these events."
As you can tell, this us starting to sound a bit like another site that allows. People to live stream playing video games. What site could that be? Of course Twitch. Twitch hosts over 45 million users with 12 billion minutes of streaming games. Only last year that Google, YouTube's owner, tried to buy Twitch before its deal with the site fell through and Amazon ended up buying it for 1 billion. So Google and YouTube has learned the motto if you can't buy it, beat it. But can they?
Twitch has made itself know to be the place online where you can go to watch people playing games live. Anything that will try to compete with that will have a hard time to beat Twitch, including YouTube. YouTube has their work cut out for them. Although YouTube still dominates as the source for gaming content with Let's Plays and people who had became internet famous for playing video games like Pewdiepie, Markiplier, and The Game Theorist, Twitch is slowly coming for that crown. Twitch hasn't taken YouTube's place but it's starting to take its spotlight. So it's no wonder that YouTube is trying to outdo Twitch. The question is will it?
Twitch has made itself know to be the place online where you can go to watch people playing games live. Anything that will try to compete with that will have a hard time to beat Twitch, including YouTube. YouTube has their work cut out for them. Although YouTube still dominates as the source for gaming content with Let's Plays and people who had became internet famous for playing video games like Pewdiepie, Markiplier, and The Game Theorist, Twitch is slowly coming for that crown. Twitch hasn't taken YouTube's place but it's starting to take its spotlight. So it's no wonder that YouTube is trying to outdo Twitch. The question is will it?
As I said earlier it will be hard to do, but it seems that it won't be likely for YouTube to upstage Twitch with live streaming gameplays. Twitch has put itself in a niche that people will most likely stool prefer to do eSports and do live streams no matter what YouTube does. Twitch has made itself synonymous with live streaming games. There's also the question of content. YouTube as it is now seems like a mini basic version of Twitch and until we see the finish product, which their probably won't be that much improvement, it will still come off as a basic Twitch.
YouTube and Twitch are two different sites with different content. Again, Twitch is mainly for live streaming video games and YouTube has become a palette for creating other gaming content like shows and other forms of entertainment. They should stick to what works for them.
What do you think?
YouTube and Twitch are two different sites with different content. Again, Twitch is mainly for live streaming video games and YouTube has become a palette for creating other gaming content like shows and other forms of entertainment. They should stick to what works for them.
What do you think?
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Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Does It Suck? - Smosh Food Battle: The Game
For those who don't know who Smosh are, they are a comedic YouTube duo comprised of one Ian Hecox and one Anthony Padilla. They upload videos of them in querky nerd skits referencing movies, video games, and current pop culture on YouTube that millions of people, mostly kids, watch. Since the creation of their channel in 2005, they have garnered more than 14,000,000 subscribers and billions of views. They have their own gaming channel as well, Smosh Games, which millions are subscribed to as well.
So what do you do when you are one of the top elite of nerdy gamers on the internet and made a business out of it? You further expand your business and make a video game of course. That's exactly what they did. Smosh Food Battle: The Game has been out for a while, and honestly I've been curious about how the game would turn out when I heard about it along with some of their fans. The question is: Does It Suck?
The Rundown
Smosh Food Battle: The Game is an action adventure game. You control Anthony as he goes on a quest to rescue people from his town from monstrous donuts. You start on a world map as you make progress not only by beating levels, but collecting stars. You will eventually need stars to go on until the ending. You get them by exploring the levels solving puzzles and beating enemies, getting three per level. The game is basically Metroidvania as you will need to acquire and upgrade weapons in order to beat the game. You need weapons to further explore levels and you will need to upgrade them to beat harder enemies. The way you do this is by collecting food.
The upgrade system involves you forging food items and combining them into items like food or clothing. With this being a free and pay app on your phone, unless you can buy your items, unlike me, you will be replaying levels, a lot.
The Controls
The controls of the game are simple. You tap on everything with the touch screen of your phone. When you play as Anthony, you drag your finger on the screen to steer him in whichever direction you want him to go. When fighting enemies, depending on the weapon you have, you tap on the enemy to hit them. I had a bit of a problem with the controls in the first time playing. They seem to be all over the place. I would try to attack an enemy and would often bed up running into them leaving me wide open to get hit. It does take awhile to get use to and work around this. Luckily the enemy AI is simple and you can pick up their attack patters.
Music
Honestly, I'm not really a fan of the music. It's somber and doesn't match the feel of the game. It's almost like you're playing the musical score of Desperate Housewives while fighting giant donuts.
Visuals
For an app game on your phone or iPad, the visuals are nice. Ian and Anthony are drawn is a cartoonish style that is reminiscent of a cell-shaded Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. This matches the over the top style off the game. Playing the game with killer donuts and edible food weaponry is like something out of Looney Tunes. I mean your fighting donuts, would everything be drawn epically like Gears of Wars or something?
Final Verdict
So, does it suck? Not at all. Smosh Food Battle: The Game is pretty decent. I wasn't expecting it to be this good. I'm impressed with how the final product turned out. Even if you are unwilling to fork over some cash for crystals or whatever, replaying the levels doesn't seem like a chore as you can always find something new to explore or find new and interesting ways to destroy donut monsters. The ONLY drawback is how everything works with the touch screen. It's not bad, it just can get get a tad bit annoying sometimes. It can leave you to be resourceful and work around it. Maybe that was Ian and Anthony's plan? What the hell it's free, play it. Smosh Food Battle: The Game gets 3.5 Killer Bearclaws out of 5.
Music
Honestly, I'm not really a fan of the music. It's somber and doesn't match the feel of the game. It's almost like you're playing the musical score of Desperate Housewives while fighting giant donuts.
Visuals
For an app game on your phone or iPad, the visuals are nice. Ian and Anthony are drawn is a cartoonish style that is reminiscent of a cell-shaded Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. This matches the over the top style off the game. Playing the game with killer donuts and edible food weaponry is like something out of Looney Tunes. I mean your fighting donuts, would everything be drawn epically like Gears of Wars or something?
Final Verdict
So, does it suck? Not at all. Smosh Food Battle: The Game is pretty decent. I wasn't expecting it to be this good. I'm impressed with how the final product turned out. Even if you are unwilling to fork over some cash for crystals or whatever, replaying the levels doesn't seem like a chore as you can always find something new to explore or find new and interesting ways to destroy donut monsters. The ONLY drawback is how everything works with the touch screen. It's not bad, it just can get get a tad bit annoying sometimes. It can leave you to be resourceful and work around it. Maybe that was Ian and Anthony's plan? What the hell it's free, play it. Smosh Food Battle: The Game gets 3.5 Killer Bearclaws out of 5.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Dear Sam Pepper, Fuck You (Metaphorically)
YouTube celebrity and former Big Brother contestant Sam pepper is coming under a ton of scrutiny this week after his latest prank video he posted this week. In the prank video, Pepper performed a bit of pranks where he touched several women inappropriately with a fake hand. The reaction of the video has been mostly negative and by negative I mean he's being crucified. Pepper has gotten a bombardment from not only people on the internet, but from fellow and top YouTubers as well. The video has been removed after people have requested.
As a response to the backlash, Pepper has decided not to apologize on his Twitter account or make an apology video. Instead he created a video claiming that the prank video was a "social experiment" by showing how sad sexual harassment occurs with men... by touching women's butts with a fake hand. Most people didn't buy it and it is rightfully so as his explanation doesn't make the slightest sense, especially considering that Pepper has a lot of prank videos doing the same thing and he hasn't considered them to be "social experiments."
The controversy has led to a number of women stepping up, making videos on YouTube giving testimonies about their past encounters with Pepper. They tell us experiences about how he took advantage of them and were sexually assaulted by him. YouTube user, thisbedottie, gives us an insight of Pepper's devious behavior when she agreed to go with him to see a movie after a meet and greet. Pepper told her that this will be "there little secret. At the movies Sam forced him self on the then 16-year-old by kissing her and trying to get her hands on certain parts of his body while putting his hands on hers. Again, thisbedottie isn't the only one who have had the same experience with Pepper.
YouTuber Laci Green has reached other women who have been assaulted sexually be Pepper. One of the women Green contacted stated an encounter where Pepper forced himself on the her and masturbated on top of her.
The only good thing about this is that people are coming forth to talk about not only sexual assault, but being sexually assaulted be a person in the public eye like Pepper.Often most women who have been sexually assaulted rarely come out to report it due to them either not being believed or based on ridicule of being sexually assaulted, especially by someone famous. This has happened before. There have been other counts of famous YouTubers that have harassed other women. Hopefully this will lead more women to come out and Sam will get what he deserves in the end.
As a response to the backlash, Pepper has decided not to apologize on his Twitter account or make an apology video. Instead he created a video claiming that the prank video was a "social experiment" by showing how sad sexual harassment occurs with men... by touching women's butts with a fake hand. Most people didn't buy it and it is rightfully so as his explanation doesn't make the slightest sense, especially considering that Pepper has a lot of prank videos doing the same thing and he hasn't considered them to be "social experiments."
The controversy has led to a number of women stepping up, making videos on YouTube giving testimonies about their past encounters with Pepper. They tell us experiences about how he took advantage of them and were sexually assaulted by him. YouTube user, thisbedottie, gives us an insight of Pepper's devious behavior when she agreed to go with him to see a movie after a meet and greet. Pepper told her that this will be "there little secret. At the movies Sam forced him self on the then 16-year-old by kissing her and trying to get her hands on certain parts of his body while putting his hands on hers. Again, thisbedottie isn't the only one who have had the same experience with Pepper.
YouTuber Laci Green has reached other women who have been assaulted sexually be Pepper. One of the women Green contacted stated an encounter where Pepper forced himself on the her and masturbated on top of her.
The only good thing about this is that people are coming forth to talk about not only sexual assault, but being sexually assaulted be a person in the public eye like Pepper.Often most women who have been sexually assaulted rarely come out to report it due to them either not being believed or based on ridicule of being sexually assaulted, especially by someone famous. This has happened before. There have been other counts of famous YouTubers that have harassed other women. Hopefully this will lead more women to come out and Sam will get what he deserves in the end.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Smosh the Movie: Will it be a Smash or go Smush?
YouTube viewers Rejoice! It has been announced that the comedic YouTube duo, Smosh (Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox), will be making a full feature movie. According to Variety, Smosh have partnered with Lionsgate who will be deal with global distribution rights for the movie. According to the press release, the movie is being helmed as a Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure of 2014 with a bit of Road Trip thrown in to the mix. The movie will have the duo embarking on a wacky and zany adventure to erase an embarrassing clip from being seen by all, particularly Anthony's crush in the movie, Anna.
For those who haven't heard of Smosh, they are a part of the YouTube elite. When people say that in order to make money and be famous on YouTube you have to had an account in 2005, they're mostly referring to them. Smosh has made an empire on YouTube. Their main channel consists of them posting comedic videos from the duo that are being watched by over 18 million subscribers. They have broken off to other projects. They have a gaming channel and a channel that produces other content like cartoons.
Smosh, new feature film adventure is the most recent of the current trend of other YouTube celebrities that are trying to venture off from the site and are trying to make some money in Hollywood. Musical comedic duo Garfunkle and Oats have a TV series on IFC, Grace Helbig is getting a show on E!, and Epic Meal Time has a cooking show on FYI. All of this has started with Fred, a character Lucas Cruikshank created by posting videos of him as the character on YouTube. Cruikshank's Fred character has led to a series on Nickelodeon and a movie, which was also distributed by Lionsgate.
While it is cool while Smosh have a major movie on their hands, the question is how will it fare to the general public that doesn't sit down in from of a computer to watch videos all day. Honestly, they will have their work cut out for them. They will be presenting their stuff to an almost different format. These will not be the same core audience of people who sit in front of a computer to watch content. It is known that people who watch videos on YouTube have short attention spans, so the transitioning content from a 3-5 min video to an hour and a half movie will be a big task. A matter of fact it will be really hard. Will their fans actually sit in front of a screen to see the same content for over an hour? You also risk losing the quality of the content in the video like certain jokes by stretching them out and risking them not be funny. Going back to Cruikshank, Fred the Movie was a disaster. It was universally panned by critics and moviegoers and only 7.6 million people saw it.
I'm not dooming the movie before it even comes out nor am I saying that it can't be done. Again, it will be a hard task. There is a possibility that the Smosh can pull it off and the movie might do well. Regardless if it does well or not, it is fascinating to see Smosh try to do something outside of their comfort zone of posting YouTube videos. Like the other YouTube stars I mentioned earlier, I'm sure they know that their time on YouTube is short. You can't capitalize off of YouTube forever. You have to try other markets and do something bigger and different. It will be interesting to see if they can actually venture off from web content and make a name for themselves in Hollywood.
What are your thoughts on how the movie will fair? Do you thing it will be good or will it be bad?
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