Monday, September 1, 2014

An Irate Game Theory by Brandon Brown

Hey everybody. Since Bores is drilling himself deeper into the Skylanders hole with no intention to get out, the blog has been sparse.
So a reader offered to contribute content, his own theory on what the Irate Gamer is.
After this line, read Brandon's theory. Enjoy.


Just What is Up With the Irate Gamer Anyway?

    Hello there, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brandon Brown. It might not mean much right now, but let it be known for the record. Now, the following exposition assumes that you're vaguely familiar with the Irate Gamer's work at best (unless, of course, you're reading this from the blog; in which case, the majority of it will be preaching to the choir.) If you're not,  you will be by the end of this.

    Started in 2007 by Chris Bores, the Irate Gamer became one of the better known reviewers of the first game reviewing boom that occurred in the infancy of YouTube. Though his show was one of the more successful ones to come out of this lucrative time, it was also, quite possibly, the most universally reviled of all. The reasons for this ranging from, what many viewers perceived to be, a lack of substance suffocated with gratuitous special effects, intellectually dishonest representations of many beloved games, sub-par writing, acting, and direction, and even plagiarism from the works of other reviewers, most notably the Angry Video Game Nerd. However, the past transgressions of Mr. Bores will not be the main focus of this exposition, but will be cited at certain times to give backing to the assertions to which they apply.

    Let's begin with the very character of the Irate Gamer himself. If there's one thing Mr. Bores has  done right by the character, it's that he consistently gets mad about some of the details of each game that he reviews. Unfortunately, that's one of the only things about the Irate Gamer that is consistent. For example, he gets mad at Contra for being difficult, but then gets mad at Power Rangers on the Sega Genesis for being easy. On top of that, he's very inconsistent with how he treats his friends. In the MUSCLE review, he makes his friend Tony welcome to be a part of the review and even values his opinion of the game. In the review of Power Rangers on the Super Nintendo, however, he throws him out after making a simple observation. What's worse than this is the Irate Gamer's tendency to frequently dabble in a bit of the old ultra-violence. This can be seen not only in the ways that he destroys many of the games he reviews, which would be extremely gruesome if recreated on humans, but also in the ways that he just plays the games. Like in the Goonies 2 episode where the Irate Gamer repeatedly strikes an elderly woman in the game with a hammer, and takes pleasure in needlessly causing her pain.

    Not only does he dabble in that, but also in the occasional killing of other characters. Unlike the Angry Video Game Nerd's violent encounters with Freddy Krueger,  Jason Voorhees, and even Bugs Bunny, where his killings are more justified as his life appears to be in grave danger as a result of their actions, most of the Irate Gamer's homicidal incidents are either caused by an annoyance or, in the case of R.O.B. The Robot, his abusive nature.

    A truly odd phenomenon you might pick up on as you watch the Irate Gamer Show is that most of victims who are killed off in this fashion tend to reappear alive in a later episode. Though an average viewer could chalk this up to one of the many discontinuities that Bores' flawed writing lets slide, I believe that it's possible that they are apparitions formed by the Irate Gamer's conscience, the voices of his victims resonating with the hope that he will reflect on the consequences of his actions. Their cries fall on deaf ears, as the Irate Gamer doesn't pay them the attention that the reappearance of a previously killed off character should reasonably be getting or even show remorse for any of his actions, and since their deaths don't have any major impact whatsoever as far as the narrative is concerned, it's almost as if he wants the viewer not to think about it either.

    This isn't to say that he has only shed the blood of innocents in his 7-year run. The most justifiable is found in the Predator episode. While it's questionable as to why the Predator appears in the way that he does, it's unmistakable that he wants to kill the Irate Gamer. In spite of the Predator's uncharacteristic weakness, the Irate Gamer overpowers and kills him, and he never reappears in the later episodes. If you've seen the Season 4 story arc, you might be wondering why I've omitted the Odyssey clones, namely the giant one, but I'll explain that later.

    As deplorable or occasionally understandable each killing is, none of them is surpassed by his actions in the conclusion of his ET episodes. Following a highly improbable escape from the FBI, and the subsequent “reviews” which, for no explained reason, required him to return to the place that they were at in order to be completed, the Irate Gamer puts all of the ET games into a box with what is supposed to be an explosive device. The box is then retrieved by what we can assume are the aliens that brought ET home in the film. The Irate Gamer seems satisfied to have made the reunion possible. This is until he reflects on all of the displeasure that the games caused him over the past two episodes. Without any hesitation, he triggers the explosives, destroying the alien spacecraft in the process.

    Any person who knows their history and/or keeps track of world events can reasonably infer that an attack on a vessel, military or civilian, is usually elevated to a global crisis soon after it occurs. By extension, an attack on an extraterrestrial vessel, could quite possibly spur a conflict of interstellar proportions. A conflict that could lead to an all-out war against humanity, one that could bring its extinction well into the realm of possibility, all because of one ultra-violent video game reviewer's petty annoyance with some poorly made games. Nevertheless, it won't matter because no matter how much trouble his weakness in the forebrain will cause him to get into, his most ideal scenario will always play out in the end. It's mainly because of Bores' anemic writing that all of the Irate Gamer's conflicts are ultimately rendered pointless and cheap, as he never really has to grow or overcome anything because something will always happen, whether logic permits or not, that will solve his problems for him. The ultimate casualties are the missed opportunities for interesting and satisfying stories, such as an interstellar war that could have been rich in science fiction themes; but even if Bores were to do such a thing now, it would seem like quite the afterthought given how far removed the subsequent episodes are from the idea.

    Now, it would be wise for me to get off the subject of killing before it becomes cancerous and corrupts the bigger theory ahead, so I'll now turn to the Evil Gamer for the time being. The Evil Gamer first appeared in the Super Mario Bros. 2 episode, and despite his namesake, he began as a relatively mild character who looked exactly like the Irate Gamer. Despite having less than a minute of screen time before hand, he attempts to violently takeover the Irate Gamer's show, but fails and gets killed by the Irate Gamer (trust me, we're past the whole killing thing... for now). He spends a considerable amount of time plotting against the Irate Gamer in Hell, yet this can only be assumed since none of the planning is shown or explained until it has been executed, and he eventually ends up roaming the Earth once more. The Monster Party episode begins with him explaining that he was the mastermind of certain attempts on the Irate Gamer's life, and that he is going to put his ultimate scheme to get rid of the Irate Gamer into motion very soon. Predictably, it ends in failure. It's also notable that the Evil Gamer's appearance changes to, based on Bores' Back to the Past video, what is assumed to be the way Bores looked in his younger years.

    The Season 4 story arc has the Evil Gamer demoted to being a simple minion of the Shadow Overlord (clever name, by the way, Bores). It's in the 7-Up Spot episode that we see Evil Gamer making an attempt to steal the Irate Gamer's Magnavox Odyssey so that the Shadow Overlord can make an army of robots based on the computer HAL that the Irate Gamer fought against during the History of Video Games series. After finally accomplishing something, the Evil Gamer, along with the original HAL who has been given a body and the name RED (which stands for, get this, Robotic Electromat[sic] Device. Pure genius), gives orders to the army of Odyssey clones to start a war.

    Irate Gamer responds by sending ROB the Robot, who, despite being completely disintegrated in the conclusion of the eponymous episode, has been repaired and reprogrammed to be one of the “good guys” (Again, I'll be explaining this at the end, which is near), out to fight the clones. Seven episodes (and two years in real time) later, the Shadow Overlord unleashes his final ace-in-the-hole: a giant Odyssey Clone which, oddly enough, is the only one that even begins to demonstrate that it's actually a threat. He does this by knocking down buildings and trampling the X-Men, half of them having just come back to life after being killed four episodes prior by, who else, the Irate Gamer (and here I was thinking that he should be the hero of the story. Syndrome from The Incredibles seems to be a more benign character than him, and a better written one I might add).

    A mysterious figure then appears before the Irate Gamer and takes him somewhere to “meet up with his friends”. This mysterious figure, for those who can recall the highly forgettable He-Man and the Masters of the Universe episode, is the same person who gave the Irate Gamer the Sword of Macguffin and the Power of Macguffin/Macguffin Force that accompanies it (No, that's not a cheap insult, it's merely the form of the plot device stripped of its total unoriginality). What does this omnipotent force afford him you ask? It pretty much just changes his shirt a different color, allows him to go inside a television, and gives him the ability to attempt to suspend disbelief to the point that one could think that the X-Men, despite having dealt with many superior behemoths, namely the Sentinels, throughout the comics, TV shows, and even the most recent film, are incapable of handling the situation yet a homicidal, third-rate, Internet video game “reviewer” and his merry band of severely underdeveloped companions are the only people who can get the job done.

    So, after over six months of real time, the cloaked stranger takes the Irate Gamer to a place where we see his frequent punching bags (I mean, friends) and an elderly fellow named the Sage Elder (refer to Shadow Overlord comment) who tells them that they must pilot a Megazord just like in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, as the Wise Sage points out. “Quiet you, you wanna get us all sued?” says the Elder not realizing that a simple name drop is trivial compared to the blatant lifting of copyrighted ideas and footage found over the next two episodes (Episodes which Bores fully intends to sell on a DVD for the purpose of economic gain despite not owning of all their content or likely even having the proper authorization to profit from it).

    Their plan hits a snag as the Megazord is out of power, and the Irate Gamer must use the Power of Macguffin/Macguffin Force in order to make it fully operational. Conveniently, the way he is told to summon it is by “reviewing” another game: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for the Sega Genesis. (Now here's a fast fact: This episode was my main motivation for escalating my distaste with the Irate Gamer Show to the point of actually writing about it. More specifically, it was the fact that he “reviewed” a game on the Sega Genesis, which was the first console I ever played extensively and could recall fond memories of.) After successfully regaining power, the Irate Gamer and company take on the giant Odyssey Clone. Despite the stock footage having put up a strong fight, the Megazord falls and is about to be destroyed.

    In the final episode, the Genie saves the day just before the giant Odyssey Clone can finish the Irate Gamer Team. He diverts the Clone's attention long enough for the Irate Gamer to “review” Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for the Sega CD. It's when the Genie becomes fatigued that the Megazord reaches full power once more. This time, Irate Gamer is equipped with the Sword of Macguffin (which, despite originally being made of plastic and small enough to be handled by a single man, is now the same as the sword used by the Megazord in the TV show). The Irate Gamer makes short work of the Clone, with the Clone yielding and uttering “Please don't hurt me.” before being killed. The citizens of Nondescript Greenscreen City, populated by a few guest stars, some of whom were former detractors of his, and, as the credits read, “a lot of Chris Bores's” (Now that's guaranteed to have a red line under it, SuperGGangsta.), make a joyful noise unto the Zord. Even the departed X-Men cheer from the heavens despite having been sent there by the Zord's pilot in the first place. The body of the giant Odyssey then crushes the Shadow Overlord, making RED and the Evil Gamer free to go get pizza, and the Irate Gamer inspired to “review” more games in the future; and there you have the Season 4 story arc in summary (An arc that would probably take as long, if not a shorter lapse of time, to watch it as it would to read it).

    Now, before I get to the big reveal, I'll give my final thoughts on how Mr. Bores can improve future episodes should he decide to keep the show alive. First and foremost, the very structure of the reviewing portion needs an almost complete makeover. So little is actually done right (among those most of the basic facts) with his current reviewing format that each flaw continually becomes more obvious with each episode, culminating in the last two episodes where he transparently shows us that even though he and everyone around him are in “immediate danger”, the Irate Gamer still has all the time he needs to play and review games with the same demeanor and amount of content as other less perilous episodes. Despite what that little metahumor suggests, I'm not so dense as to not mention that Mr. Bores most likely spends more time than that playing the games, but such gems as the Brutal Legend and South Park: Stick of Truth IG Neo episodes seem to raise doubts on the notion. Last but not least, he should sharpen the writing as a whole. Besides the reviewing, the plots should be more complex, the characters, Irate Gamer most of all, should be more likable, the comedy should be more set-up and deliberate instead of opting for the Seltzerberg-esque approach which has plagued his videos in varying degrees. I could go on, but, quite frankly, enough is enough. Now we get to the marrow, and perhaps the very soul, of this misguided work of fiction we know as the Irate Gamer.

    Trusting that you'll recall the reappearance phonemenon that I mentioned (if you don't, I suggest scrolling up a bit), I'll continue with the example of the Evil Gamer. The change in his appearance which I spoke on earlier has a more symbolic meaning than it seems to let on. This is because the Evil Gamer represents Bores' opinions of the Angry Video Game Nerd. At first glance, he looks identical to the Irate Gamer and, despite not being much of a friend to him, has a noticeable yet downplayed presence in the show until he unsuccessfully attempts to kill him. Following this failure, the Evil Gamer continues to bear the same resemblance and attempt to kill the Irate Gamer. It's after the Evil Gamer's escape from Hell that his appearance changes to that of the younger Bores and his schemes turn even more cartoonishly grandiose, with him spawning an entire army of clones who oppose the Irate Gamer with a Magnavox Odyssey.
   
    Translated, the identical appearance refers to vast similarity between AVGN and the Irate Gamer (which is widely believed to have been caused by Bores plagiarizing AVGN material) and Evil Gamer's initial presence represents James Rolfe's intention to ignore Bores' work. The Evil Gamer's fruitless efforts in Hell represents the “retaliatory” increase in production scale that AVGN episodes of the time began to see. The change in appearance, logically, represents the Irate Gamer becoming a more different reviewer than the AVGN by depicting AVGN as what he used to look like. The Magnavox Odyssey represents the old technology that the AVGN built his show on and the clones represent the mindless entities who are assumed to be his fans.

    Let's now move onto RED and the Giant Odyssey Clone. While RED could possibly be, by loose interpretation, a more contemporary gaming personality such as JonTron considering Evil Gamer brought him to life in his more refined form and he commands a sizable following, RED most likely represents Mike Matei as he previously did battle with the Irate Gamer, is close to Evil Gamer, and commands a sizable following alongside Evil Gamer. While the battle I refer to occurred during the History of Video Games series, it represents another incident where Mike Matei leaked a PM that was sent to the AVGN's YouTube channel by Chris Bores wherein he confessed that he was fully aware of the similarities between their programs, and even showed interest in doing a crossover. The Giant Odyssey Clone is a collective representation of AVGN's fame, credibility, character, and influence. In more concise terms, the Giant Odyssey Clone is everything that AVGN built. It's portrayed as only being destructive, and most of the time that it's onscreen, it is seen muttering “Destroy.” with every building it knocks down. This changes when it is brought to the brink of destruction by the Irate Gamer, at which point it cries “Please, don't hurt me.” However, it must be noted that the deus ex machina in the form of the Genie was the only thing that made Irate Gamer victorious, otherwise, he and his friends would most likely have fallen. Oddly enough, the Genie himself has a symbolic meaning, but he does not represent a specific person.

    In fact, he represents the Cheetahmen 2 incident that occurred in 2012 which he exploited to turn misinformed AVGN fans and former detractors into his fans through the use of the Ebegging spoof video (cleverly titled Ebegging: The Spoof). To those who turned, the Giant Odyssey Clone and all that it stood for had been destroyed indefinitely.

    And now, as we come to all of these conclusions, we answer the titular question: just what is up with the Irate Gamer anyway? The answer may come as a shock, but I will explain it as gently as possible. The Irate Gamer represents everything that society at large believes is wrong with gamers. Among these things are immaturity, antisocial behavior, exaggerated motions when seen playing (like in various movies), and the pathological need to kill. On the other hand, he also represents everything that many gamers want to be. That is, his character and the events that make up the show's continuity are the embodiment of the fantasy he has constructed within his mind, a trait widely believed to tap into the escapist fantasies that many gamers construct when left to their own devices. What makes the show suffer in its quality lies in the deeply rooted and tightly coiled tether of harsh reality that keeps his fantasy from truly becoming as elaborate and gratifying as he wishes. The harsh reality being that he is actually a repressed, mentally off-balanced, homicidal weakling who is the polar opposite of what he imagines himself as. It is in the finale that he finally receives the adoration he needs in order to make his fantasy complete. However, like the peace that Adrian Veidt brokered in Watchmen, his ultimate victory isn't truly won.

    Like the Irate Gamer wouldn't have been able to save the day without the Genie suddenly sparring with the Giant Odyssey Clone, Bores wouldn't even have a prayer of taking down the AVGN had it not been for the Cheetahmen 2 incident. There is a disconnect, however, as not only did the incident not destroy anything that the Giant Odyssey Clone signified, AVGN remains far more popular than the Irate Gamer to this day. On top of that, when the Irate Gamer expects to be further praised on the news for what he just did, the newscaster instead drops some more cold, hard reality by saying that the Power Rangers were responsible for the saving the day (because apparently newscasters like their metahumor with a strong dash of karma).

    Given the fact that this may not be the end of the Irate Gamer Show, maybe the Irate Gamer will come to grips with the issues that he has. Maybe he will fulfill that fantasy that he created for himself. Maybe he will get better; but should that not be the case, anyone who has the indignation to be critical of Mr. Bores would do well to steer clear of future blunders.



So what do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Do you think Bores is really smart enough to pull this off? Discuss among yourselves.

55 comments:

  1. I highly doubt Bores will be able to pull something like this off... but, he could surprise us.

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  2. Oh, and happy Labor Day, Dan! And everyone...

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  3. While this is a very interesting and well-written theory, I don't think Bores could pull off something with this amount of complexity and deep thought put into it.

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  4. It's interesting to see other people writing stuff for the blog, so that's cool first off. I'd really like to see more like that in the future.

    This article was also really good, but I feel that it put way more thought into Bores' work than even Bores has probably put into it. Still an entertaining read, though!

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  5. FB Update:

    "Our Pursuit of the Paranormal continues to blow me away. We are doing things that I've never seen any other ghost hunter pull off. A lot of great research finally paying off. I cannot wait to share with you some of my adventures around Halloween time!"

    I'm curious as to what these things no other ghost hunter has pulled off are.

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    1. Over-selling everything- especially his ghost crap- is what Bores does. By Halloween the ground-breaking new proof of the afterlife will be dialed back to "the stud finder blinked when i asked a yes-or-no question."

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    2. Implying that's not what it is already. ; p

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    3. Looking at the comments, even his most die-hard fans are begging him to do another game review. Chris of course will just give them the middle finger.

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  6. Truth be told, this theory has about as much chance of being true as the Mass Effect 3 indoctrination theory. Generally these theories only have credibility if the writers in question haven't already proven themselves incapable of telling a consistent story and haven't also already proven themselves to be utterly immature, histrionic money-chasing ballbags whose only incentive is to make as much money as possible as quickly as they can. That's why the IT was always giving BioWare's Casey Hudson and Mac Walters far too much credit and that's why your theory gives Bores too much credit. Bores couldn't come up with something as elaborate and subliminal as this on his best day - hell, not in his best decade. He's shown not even 1% of the competence or restraint required to make anyone believe that he could do this.

    My conclusion - Brandon Brown needs to start writing stories and doing his own reviews. They'd be pretty damn good and thought-provoking if this is anything to go by.

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  7. I think you're overanalysing it.

    There's no thought in his storyline or his characters behind clichÄ—.

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  8. A lot of you are assuming that Brandon is saying Bores intentionally made these representations. I don't think that's the case.

    I drew a lot of comics as a kid, through my teen years, and have considered using my old characters in upcoming games. Looking back I see the characters and themes changed a lot depending on what was going on in my life. I never consciously made those decisions, though.

    I'm about to hit the road but maybe I'll write about it on my own blog when I get home.

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  9. wtf this is some Alex Jones level stuff right here

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  10. when I wrote in the wiki "The Irate Gamer appears to be a parody of the ravenous male gamer loser" I was kinda kidding. While it is possible that irate gamer is faking this (i.e making a story that fits this theory), the fact of the matter is:

    1. Why branch out into this many genres?

    2. Why spend years setting up your own failure? I mean he would have to be aware that he didn't beat AVGN and that the ending was him failing. Everything we know about Chris is that he is a smug jackass who wants people to feel sorry for him. The ending where the newscaster fails to report his contribution is supposed to be another attempt to portray him as a social outcast were supposed to feel sorry for. Its same stupid thing he did in the corpse party review.

    3. Most gamers do not fantasize about killing the x-men or other awesome people, and they definitely don't fantasize about killing innocent or weak people. Its a trend for irate gamer to hide from people who could hurt him but outright be an asshole to people who are trying to help him. We could say this is a satire but satire tends to have hints of being a satire and the irate gamer show doesn't have any. You are literally expected to laugh when Chris Bores expects you to laugh.

    4. All the troll accounts and delays. Even if we do take into account the meta behind Chris Bores trolling and bullshit it doesn't change the fact that Chris repeatedly makes commentary on his work that doesn't match up with anything written here. This could be a subtle take that at AVGN and "loser" gamers but its far from insulting any gamer his actions are so pathetic and its definitely not an insult of AVGN's work because multi-accounting is not something AVGN is associate with, I don't even thing avgn "fanboys" were associated with mufti-accounting. While I understand that you are talking about only the story and what we can watch, the fact of the matter is that Chris Bores rarely differentiates himself from irate gamer.

    5. This all depends on the cheetahman 2 incident aka the "does anyone remember this?" incident. And while this may work the problem is that Irate Gamer's interpretation of the incident was... very skewed and uninformative.

    TLDR: Chris's mind is very warped and there's still a small chance this theory is spot on but the problem is that Chris's mind is very warped and thus there are few explanations for the stupidity and rampant garbage that occurs in the reviews both meta and fiction aside from "I had a stupid idea but I'm gonna do it anyway".

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  11. Wow Brandon, what you theorized isn't that far from the truth. What with all the sock-puppet accounts, ignorance of constructive criticism, and general all-around douchebaggery.

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  12. http://yahtzeecrowshawsucks.blogspot.com/

    ...

    Yes, I actually did it.

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  13. How odd. For those that don't follow the Smash updates as much as I do ( I am pretty sure I hit religiously a while back with this,) a very interesting thing has popped up. All-star mode is available from the get-go. Funnily enough this disproves at least one leaker since his relied on the fact that the full roster wasn't unlocked and backed up will all stars being locked. Which would be physically impossible in this game.

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  14. But that's just a theory. A Game Theory.

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  15. Movie time:

    https://vimeo.com/ondemand/avgn

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    1. Let me guess... there's a scene where the Nerd actually does one of the horrific things he'd rather do than play the game (i.e. have a buffalo take a diarrhea dump in his ear.)

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    2. ^Surprisingly not. But you know what, this was REALLY good. You can just feel the passion and hard work put into it oozing out with every passing second. It's not perfect, though. There are a few scenes that might drag on a bit longer than needed, some characters were kind of useless, but the story itself was a creative take on the history of the game and it was still very fun and cheesy over-all. If you're an AVGN fan... well, you've probably already seen it, but if not, go see it! You'll love it!

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    3. Okay guys, I haven't finished watching it but I'm about 30 mins in but why hasn't AVGN sued cockburn inc? They used his face without permission and taking them down would prevent eee tee two so I don't get why he didn't do it. Does he do it later or something?

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    4. Went in expecting it to be bad, and I was pleasantly surprised. I loved the practical effects. Well done, James.

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    5. So i saw the movie yesterday with couple of my friends and we did not like it at all. Why? Well simply the movie just was not entertaining or funny at all.

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    6. @Juho
      Well sounds like a severe disappointment. Mind sharing the worst moment in your opinion?

      I still haven't finished watching the movie though I will admit the first 30 min is pretty boring. At least have some background gags or something.

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    7. Okay finished watching the movie. It was pretty silly but otherwise I liked it. I felt like a few scenes could have been removed and that the CEO of cockburn just fazed out of story and thus they could have saved 20 or so minutes if they just cut those scenes out. The eee tee sequel game subplot went nowhere and that beginning definitely needed some trimming. The movie only becomes entertaining near the end where more obvious throwbacks to AVGN reviews show up including one to his review of TMNT 3. One major problem I do have though is that most if not all these throwbacks pertain to his movie reviews and not his game reviews. The message to the movie also seems confused, the beginning making it clear whether gamers are idiots for buying games they don't like but the ending has the characters agreeing that gamers can take care of themselves.

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  16. Very interesting, Brandon. I will have to consider this when I compile my worst moments list in a few months (over Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, and Super Smash Bros. 3DS, of course). If I may damn Chris with faint praise, he does at least show enthusiasm towards the Skylanders (albeit towards the trading figure aspect rather than the game aspect). Even so, if this "retirement" is as real as he says it is; I think it's just as well. Personally, I don't expect much for the next few months besides more Skylanders, more 80s stuff (which he also shows enthusiasm towards, at the very least); and possibly some ghosts and Monster Party skullduggery.

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  17. *cleans off cobwebs from channel* Wow, I am so lazy considering I really should have done this a few or so months ago. I have finally at least recorded the last of the Boktai LP I started a year ago. it will be uploaded in it's entirety soon and I will move on to Megaman Battle Network (still have to finish the third game in the series though, friggin Bubbleman) I think I am starting to overcome my little speaking problem.

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  18. My take on Irate Gamer is that his proper "Irate Gamer" section of his channel has gradually turned from his main thing, to a minor chore, to a festering wound on your back that you just want to get rid of. I can see from his haste in finishing season 4 (or whatever it was on) and declining effort in his last videos, that he just wants to finish it off as quickly as possible.

    He really doesn't care about being Irate Gamer anymore. In the last season it was just "okay let me kill a few guys to remind people I'm irate, get my superpowers and save the day- I don't really care I just want to wrap it up".

    My analysis of him is not as dramatic as Brandon's. It's not about fulfilling some megalomaniac fantasy, as least not how I see it. I do not support his horrid writing or characterization. I think he got just tired of the fantasy and angry guy shtick and it really shows. Now he is just some guy who like to talk about the collectibles he has.

    The transformation of his website to blog shows this pretty well. He talks less and less about gaming and more about toys and memorabilia stuff, some video game related and some not. He seems perfectly fine with this status, not trying to mend any wounds with the video game community, because he just wanted to slowly slide away from this community for who knows how long.

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    1. This is possible but why would he keep bragging about his subscriber account.

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    2. Because in the end it's really all that he's got.

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  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  20. I have commented before on what I believe Chris’s motivation might be- he is (or at least was) suffering from Wayne’s World delusions. He thought he could post a few show concepts on YouTube and some network executive would see it and sign him up to produce a fully funded show on his concepts. This belief lead to Haunted Investigators and the Road Trip show. In fact, Chris & Scotties Road Trip is VERY similar to a scene in Wayne’s World where the main characters stand in front of a blue screen and show various cities around the USA.

    One night Chris discovers the caustic video game reviewer and he thinks this is another possible way for him to get his own big show somewhere. All he has to do is add special effects from his video editing suite and presto- instant riches! Chris buys some systems and some games while writing scripts.

    Then Chris realizes he has a problem. He doesn’t know enough about games to critique them or comment on them in a way that won’t sound fake so he “borrows” material from other sources like AVGN. Remember that Chris sees nothing wrong with this. He took lines from other reviewers. He took footage from the OfficeMax Elf Yourself page for one of his Christmas specials. He took material for History of Video Games and his “movie”.

    By some fluke, Chris gets promoted very heavily on YouTube and builds a fairly large subscription base. Now that he finds himself in the spotlight he craved so much he launches new shows like I Rate the 80s and HovG because he still believes some executive is going to cut him a blank check.

    Over the years Chris has been intensely jealous of James Rolfe’s success but in 2012 and 2013 his jealousy got the better of him. When the AVGN was getting trashed over the Cheetahmen 2 KickStarter and his movie fund-raiser Chris made his spoof and shout-out video which not only kicked virtual dirt in the AVGN’s face but was also a sort of therapy for Chris. Revenge that was cathartic for him, if you will.

    Fast-forward to 2014. The controversies have made Chris weary. He never got the attention he wanted nor the big check from some network. He is too lazy to do adequate research or to develop new material that is genuinely funny. He certainly cannot produce content in a manner suitable for the instant gratification age of the internet. Pursuit of the Paranormal was a flop. Irate Gamer has sunk so badly there is nothing Chrs can do to revive it. He half-assed the ending to his movie because he just doesn’t care about Irate Gamer anymore.

    His subscribers are leaving, his views (and revenues) are down across all of his shows except one- Skylanders videos. For some bizarre reason these get views so Chris focuses on these against the wishes of his subscribers. Chris has realized there will be no network executive calling him and no fat checks. When the Skylanders fad dies Chris will have nothing left because his older fanbase will have moved on and the Skylanders fans will be playing something else.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Well, we ALMOST got the full week of radio silence that would have made a fitting tribute- intentional or not- to James' great week of triumph, but Bores got three blog entries up on Friday.

    Personally, I'd like to see an AVGN movie thread.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know I said I wasn't gonna talk about Asalieri, but he crossed the line. He supports the piracy of the AVGN Movie:

      http://i.imgur.com/nLiMHA1.png

      The link has been blurred out of respect for James's work.

      Delete
    2. The first website article from September 5th about the Pokémon and Tekken collaboration (Pokken Tournament) interested me. Except Bores had to ruin it with one line.
      Ignoring his comment about "crazy" characters like Execute and Voltorb, he wrote the following line:

      "Lets add blood mode and do this right!"

      Yeah, I highly doubt that's going to happen, Bores. Nintendo is not about blood and gore substances in their games. I know Pokémon is made by Game Freak, but they are a company copyrighted by Nintendo.
      Get Mortal Kombat out of your head when it comes to how fighting games should be! Besides, I highly doubt you're going to give this game any more attention from here on out, so why bother?

      Delete
    3. Not to mention, this article is at least one week late. You can find videos of Pokken Tournament on YouTube dating back to late August.
      Still playing the role of a sloth when it comes to news information [and videos], eh Bores?

      Delete
  22. Anyone took a look at this? Top 5 game reviewer tropes

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LgTU1F4XqA

    Seems so fitting for Irate Gamer, especially 5, 4 and 1.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know, I think Chris Bores uses a rating system most people use. I mean he only has two ratings; no I hate the game and yes I like the game.

      Delete
    2. Or in the case of Irate the 80s, "Nostalgic Overload" and "Nostalgic Mediocre."..

      Delete
  23. On Facebook:

    "Pretty much stole the show during the Mind Body Spirit panel today as most of the questions were directed to me since I kept answering peoples questions with actual facts rather than beating around the bush like some other panelists did. I take what I do very seriously and I am disgusted how some people claim to be psychic, etc. when they are obviously using simple cold reading tactics and can't even keep their lies straight from one sentence to the next."

    I'd like to see the video of this panel discussion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe it'll be uploaded somewhere else on YouTube? I'd love that to be the case, just to see Bores' fantasy version of the event not be anywhere close to how he described it.

      Delete
    2. Actually, is this it? If so, it seems you need to pay money to actually view it online. Anyone willing to take the dive?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej0xR39r3ig

      Delete
    3. Uh this is the guy who claims to understand spirits in the afterlife and how they are disrupted by certain actions. I don't think he's one to talk about using actual facts.

      Delete
    4. http://thejourneymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/cleveland-expo-pdf-20141.pdf

      Delete
  24. There is something really funny about a "ghost hunter" trashing other "ghost hunters" and talking about "facts" and shit. Wow. Next you're going to see a ufologist arguing with someone that claims to have seen a flying unicorn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or someone that believes in Reptilian shape-shifters running the government trying to discredit someone that believes in the Illuminati.

      It's all bullshit in the end, and any "facts" you have are straight from your ass.

      Delete
  25. I want to know where Irate Gamer stands on Gamergate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chris has said some VERY misogynistic statements before, both in videos and in articles for his website, so I think we can all guess his position on that. (Assuming he's even heard of it.)

      Delete
    2. He wants attention, he'll obviously call all gamers misogynists.

      Delete
    3. Oh and there's an addon that blocks the corporate jackasses who are in on the censorship. Hey gaming websites, its not nice to say that all gamers are misogynists because you can't be bothered to to investigate your own corruption and failure to uphold your moral standards.

      https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/gamergate/

      P.S I'm testing this addon on right now. I'm not sure if it actually works.

      Delete
    4. DO not install the addon. It merely directs your browser to Internet Aristocrat's video everytime you visit a blacklisted site. Naturally this prevents you from seeing first hand the stupid ass articles they've put where the literally act as if they don't have to demonstrate basic transparency and accountability and literally say their entire audience are sexist jerks for wanting non-corrupt practices.

      As much as I like to see these dumb cronies out of a job, any addon that simply censors and stop me from getting info is not an addon that I want to use.

      Delete
  26. Well, this was bound to happen. The validity of the smash leak is now out. I will not post the details but I will post a link about all the information surrounding it. So spoilers for those that don't want to know which characters are in.

    http://smashboards.com/threads/the-ninka_kiwi-vaanrose-4chan-esrb-leak-post-mortem-analysis.366774/

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hallelujah, I finally beat boss rush on Intense in Brawl. I might actually finish Sakurai's wall of achievements. Although it is still kind of embarrassing that it took me this long to do it.

    ReplyDelete