The Irate Gamer Timeline Part 4: 2012-2013

2012:

The new year crawls in with another 80’s video. The Bud Bowl ad campaign. A series of Budweiser commercials that showed beer bottles playing during the Superbowl. Not much to say there.

Around this time, Chris flew down to Florida to film the relaunch of Haunted Investigators. Despite the original version failing, he thought it would work this time. Spoiler alert: It didn’t.
While down there, he met with a young fan. The fan filmed the meeting and posted it on his YouTube account. Since he’s ten years older, I wonder how he feels about it now?

Through his mother sock-puppet account, Chris revealed that the contests are rigged. He only selects the most ardent of fans. Glad he doesn’t do these anymore.

Chris tried another new idea. IG Shorts. Skits where he interacts with a game sprite. First one involved a Lakitu.

After over a year, History of Video Games returns. Talking about the Fairchild Channel F. It’s been almost three years and he hasn’t even gotten to the 80’s.

We arrive to the first flag signaling the death of his channel. His Neo review of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. Though reading through, he didn’t gush over it. Something changed though… What’s weird is that this one is no longer on the channel.

He put out a short video promoting DatBoiDrew’s iOS game Up Up Ubi. I would later learn from Drew himself that Chris only played the trial version, not the full game. You couldn’t even do the whole favor Chris? It’s no longer on the channel.

Shortly after that, a review of Ninja Gaiden III (2012). Despite being a terrible installment derided for its lack of difficulty and content, Chris had nothing but adoration for it. Praising it for being a “mindless button masher”. It would almost feel like he’s trolling us if I didn’t know any better.  
He also made a comment along the lines of “Don’t compare it to something epic like God of War or Gears of War”. Did Chris think Gears of War was similar to God of War? They’re nothing alike. It’s no longer on the channel.

He put out a rant about the Michael Bay produced TMNT movie. I do not remember this at all. It’s no longer on the channel.

Then the second and final “Irate Short”, this one about Boos (the Mario ghost). What’s weird about this is that he re-uploaded it 8 years later. It’s just slightly shorter. He didn’t even delete the first upload.

He posts nothing for a month, then puts out a Men in Black III review. It’s no longer on the channel.

He would continue the storyline in May with Silver Surfer. Interesting thing to note, Chris wanted to do Silver Surfer back in 2008, but stopped because “The Nerd beat him to it”. Except AVGN’s Silver Surfer review was released June 2007. It’s like Chris didn’t know that he posted videos on another site first (those were the days).
The whole video is just Chris whining about how hard the game is. Never going into design failures, graphical failures, or pointing out how other shmups operate.

As for the story bits, he introduces a new character called Johnny Newscaster, guess what he does! The Genie returns but now he’s played by Chris (just like everyone else). When asked about Brad Harp, Chris said he moved away and “couldn’t do it”. He couldn’t get him for a weekend or something?
Leading up to the video, Chris started posting about the “Pixel Demon” all over his social feeds. When asked what that was about, he only responded with “PIXEL DEMON”.
In the episode proper, the Pixel Demon appears in Silver Surfer as he was sealed in a game that was “impossible to beat”, but IG beat it (with Game Genie) and now he’s coming. The Pixel Demon looks like a goblin.
IG uses his “Power of Inferno” to generate a surfboard, goes inside the game, throws a Bob-Omb at the Pixel Demon and leaves. All that build-up for nothing.

What came next wasn’t noticed by many people, but it was still a controversy. A Neo video on Sonic Generations.
He praised the game, said it’s just like the classics. But he claimed that you can’t skip the cutscenes. That’s odd, because I’ve played Sonic Generations and you can skip them. What happened here?
It turns out, Chris didn’t play the game. Rather, he stole footage from YouTube creator Cyberman65. We know this because Cyberman65 places a watermark on all his videos, and it was present on IG’s.
Chris got called out for this, with GotGame attempting damage control by crediting the footage to C65, while Chris (through his mother account) claimed he “sorted it out”. It’s unknown what went down as C65 has never opened up about the incident.
I’d say, “it’s no longer on the channel”, but Chris never put it on YouTube.

E3 happened again. All that remains of his 2012 coverage is a blooper reel.
He harped on Nintendo being “kiddy” after the Wii U reveal, called South Park: The Stick of Truth one of the “worst in show” because he couldn’t get an interview, and a baffling moment where he asked a Sony representative if God of War Ascension would contain “the humor” the series is known for.

After E3, he released a review of Lego Batman 2. Another one I don’t remember. It’s no longer on the channel.

Next… This one is going to require some context.
At the time, James Rolfe had been going through controversy involving crowdfunding campaigns. The first one was his personal IndieGoGo fundraiser for the AVGN movie. His goal was $50k. His fans quickly surpassed it and by the end he got $325k. Some very ill-informed people with substantial followings started making asinine claims. From ignorant takes like “James should pay for the movie out of pocket” or “Filmmaking is not that expensive” (one person even cited the Jackass movies, even though the first movie still cost $5 million before marketing), to outright malicious claims like “James is scamming you, he’s pocketing the money”. There was no evidence to any of that.

It would eventually blow over, but it would flare up again after James agreed to appear in a promotional video for someone else’s Kickstarter campaign. One for a “fixed” version of Cheetahmen II. Despite having zero involvement in the actual project outside of appearing in the promo, and the presence of other content creators like Pat Contri and The Game Chasers, James got all the heat.

Seeing a moment of vulnerability, Chris pounced and released “Ebegging: The Spoof”, an annoyingly smug parody with Chris criticizing the concept of crowdfunding and people that do it are really crooks that just want to take your money. Though most critics called this out, some of them changed their opinion on Bores, calling him “officially cool”.
The weirdest part? It’s still up. Even with a certain event that happened in 2020.

Following that, Chris would release another 80’s video. This one on Colorforms. Barely remember anything about this one. I think he only had one set of Colorforms so he had to pretend he had multiple or something…

Then a rant about The Hunger Games, and how the movie’s camera is terrible. He acted like he was a film expert; claiming he would film it better. He also had an awful clickbait thumbnail that had Jennifer Lawrence on it, but a large banner that reads “Down and Dirty” covering her chest (implying she’s topless). It’s no longer on the channel.

Over on GotGame was a review of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. I don’t remember much of it, but a later event indicates that he didn’t get far and the footage was likely stolen.
As well as G1 Megatron jokes. Someone at GotGame seemed to really like that inclusion as it’s used in the promo video on their YouTube channel. By the way, the site is still alive.  

Speaking of GotGame, the next video was a sketch Chris made for them. Real Real Gaming. It’s that old joke you’ve seen in cartoons involving video games so realistic that they come out of the TV.
This one prompted a big WTF from viewers when GotGame founder Steve Masters introduced Bores and welcomed him on the show. To which Bores responded “Welcome”. It was a strange moment that I’m surprised they didn’t try to fix.
Video is no longer on the IG channel, but it is on GotGame’s YouTube channel.

If his review of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure was the knife, his preview video on Skylanders Giants was the hand pushing it into the channel’s heart. A four-and-a-half-minute video showcasing what he knew about the then-upcoming sequel. This got views. A lot of them. It was the main factor that convinced Bores to go into overdrive on Skylanders content.
By the way, I didn’t chronicle every Skylanders video, just a few. There will be a lot of them passed over as he deleted so many of them.

Afterwards, he put out a short video on Dead or Alive 5. It was notable for coming out the same day as the game. However, the video felt unscripted and rushed. Mostly focused on the women in the game. It’s no longer on the channel.

Then a short video on Resident Evil 6 that, like DOA5, came out the same day as the game. Like before, it felt unscripted and rushed. It’s no longer on the channel.

I also uncovered that his contests were still rigged. Not only picking the most loyal fans, but also making them repeat winners.

After another long wait, the next IG review came out. X-Men for NES. This one was annoying as Chris decided to dress up like all six playable characters. No other actors. That included Storm (who received a lot of weirdly misogynistic jokes). At least he didn’t wear blackface…
Not much to say about the review. The game is legit trash, so it was easy to talk about even for him.
As for the story bits, Chris basically turns into a Mary Sue when he has the X-Men cowering in fear after he easily swats Wolverine away. Just for annoying him. Then he uses the “Power of Inferno” to attack Cyclops and shatter Iceman. How is this supposed to be our hero? He’s eviler than his evil twin.

There’s a Skylander unboxing still on the channel.

A trailer for the Haunted Investigators relaunch. Now going by Pursuit of the Paranormal. We’ll get into that when the time comes.

Then came another 80’s video, covering TMNT comics. Didn’t he already do that? No, that was only the Archie line, this is going to cover Mirage. … Then he talks about Archie again. This is a problem Chris will run into much later, re-reviewing media he already talked about without acknowledging the original. Perhaps that’s why he deleted the first TMNT comics video.

Following that was his 300th video. Wow, if getting 200 is a tall order now, 300 is an absolute pipe dream. Unless he does daily Let’s Play videos, but that’s never going to happen.
It’s no longer on his channel.

Then his second Skylanders game review. A six-minute video on Giants. The longest Neo video on a single game. It wasn’t the worst. Surprisingly, it’s no longer on his channel.

Remember how he remastered the first History video? He did it again for the second. Both parts. Only where the first episode had very few changes, this one was far more drastic. It was much shorter and changed some jokes. I have no idea what he was trying to go for with this series.

As the year closed out, Chris would release more Skylanders videos and a new DVD. I Rate the 80’s. I imagine it’s full of illegal copyrighted material.
He also posted a “making of” on the channel that’s still there.

2013:

The year opens with the last History remaster. The changes weren’t as drastic, and some were even an improvement. Like getting Al Alcorn’s name right and removing the watermark from his “exclusive footage”.
I guess Chris was proud of all these remasters as the original versions were all taken down, while these new versions are still up.

Oh wow, I forgot he did a video on New Super Mario Bros. 2. That one must have been extra boring. It’s no longer on the channel.

He put out the History of Video Games DVD he promised when he started revising the first three episodes. He calls it the Silver Age because he believes the Golden Age comes after. That is not how that works.  

During an activity lull, a fan on Facebook asks if Sonic Generations would ever go on YouTube. Chris says it won’t and claims “someone put that together while I was at E3.” Who? He never says. It also sounds like a fake excuse as the Sonic Generations video was uploaded before E3 2012.

In celebration of the fifth Die Hard movie, A Good Day to Die Hard, Chris looks at the NES game. Another boring review. Story bits? Here’s the odd part. The next few videos do not feature anything from the storyline. Except for R.O.B. They’re basically just standard IG videos in HD. There was this gag involving Sgt. Powell but he keeps calling him Carl as that was his character on Family Matters. His fans attempted to turn it into a meme but failed.

The next video on the channel is about the characters in Skylanders Swap Force. There were probably others, but I didn’t catalog them.

After that is a new 80’s video about *checks notes* Uncle O’Grimacy? Oh right, the short-lived Grimace variant made to promote Shamrock Shakes. I should mention that Chris is obsessed with McDonaldLand and its characters. He doesn’t bring it up much on the channel, but it’s clear from some of the gags, and being part of a “Bring Back McDonaldLand” group on Facebook.

In celebration of G.I. Joe Retaliation coming to theaters, Chris looks at the first NES game. It’s not really a bad game so Bores just complained about the difficulty.

Bores did an interview with a small channel about Skylanders. However, it seems to have been deleted. But the channel name was “thetitainumdrago”.

A Neo review of Injustice: Gods Among Us, where Bores claims he “took his time”. A weird change since he never does that with Neo. He complained about Wonder Woman’s boobs and that Harley Quinn’s supermove was not as cool as The Flash’s. It’s no longer on the channel.

In celebration of Star Trek: Into Darkness (seeing a pattern?), Chris looks at the 25th Anniversary game released on NES. I remember it being full of annoying jokes and his own OC Starfleet member, Lieutenant Drunkard.

Time for E3 2013, and Chris completely scrubbed this year from the channel. Not even a blooper reel.
Reading through my recaps, I couldn’t really find anything horrendous. Just a lot of boring interviews and uninformed moments. Par for the course.

After finishing up his E3 coverage, Chris unveiled a major overhaul of his website. Turning it into a blog. Would it provide informative thoughts and important news? Nope. Enjoy Chris finding random nerd stuff and gushing on how cool it is. That’s basically 99% of it. He didn’t even give status updates on his videos.
He did post a video announcing the site change, but that’s gone now. In fact, the Irate Gamer website no longer exists. I’m surprised he hasn’t tried to get it back.

Nothing but Skylanders and a vlog about Man of Steel since E3…

Eventually, he puts out a new review. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for SNES. By the way, the storyline is back. No idea why it was halted for three videos.
The review itself was just a lot of nitpicking. No actual points.
But why Power Rangers though? Well… this is the beginning of the end for his story.
Shadow Overlord and Evil Gamer unleash their ultimate weapon. A giant robot with HAL controlling it. You probably see where this is going.
Throughout the episode, various characters show up to bother IG. Then it ends with the robot attacking and the monk that gave him the sword back in He-Man shows up to “take him to his friends”. To be continued! In seven months.

About a week after the Power Rangers video, a major surprise dropped. The Irate Gamer Game was real, and it was on iOS.
Released on the App Store as “TIGG”, the game would set you back $4 bucks, or you could play the “Lite” version for free. To put it nicely, it was a garbage fire. Bad controls, very few enemy types, boring levels, the only saving grace was the art in the comic book style cutscenes (which were littered with bad jokes and pointless references).
Did Chris make a video on it? He did… two months after release. We’ll get there.

But first, his review of Disney Infinity. It was boring. It’s no longer on the channel.

Then he talked about Diablo III. There was an Evil Gamer appearance. It’s no longer on the channel.

Then Rayman Legends. Evil Gamer appears again. He also says it’s “good for a kid’s game”. It’s no longer on the channel but keep this video in mind for later.

Almost a year after he posted the trailer, Chris finally talks about Pursuit of the Paranormal. Turns out he was shopping the pilot to various networks, but none of them wanted it. Even saying he emptied his bank account. Instead, he settled for a small theater and premiered it the same day as Pokemon X & Y. Oops.
The DVD would be out shortly after that. When talking about the content, Chris would say over and over that he got a “90-minute conversation” with a ghost. The special is only 53 minutes long. It was also edited like a reality show. It showed me that Chris really wanted to be on TV.

Well, he kind of got to be on TV. Around October he appeared on a local morning news show. Talking about the screening. That’s still up on YouTube.

We have reached the video where he talks about the Irate Gamer Game. He claims the reason it took so long for him to talk about it as that there were still bugs to iron out (except that didn’t happen). For some bizarre reason, he claims the game is just like Angry Birds. Clearly, Chris never played Angry Birds.
What’s weird is that the video is still up on his channel. Two reasons why I find it odd. First, the game no longer exists! It was delisted from the App Store a month after the video went up. He does indicate that in the title saying “(Now Defunct)”, but that only leads into the second reason. A video he made in 2015 talking about the game. I’ll get to that when we get to that year.

He then posted a vlog about the Pursuit of the Paranormal premiere. Claiming it had a great turn-out but doesn’t show any evidence to this. Even doing a contest to give away DVDs.
There’s a moment where there’s applause but it sounds like a stock effect. It’s no longer on the channel.

Over on his site he posted some text reviews. They were poorly written.

His Sonic Lost World vlog. Not review, a vlog. All he did was complain that the game gave him motion sickness. That’s it! Though some people noticed that the copy he was holding was still sealed. Strange… It’s no longer on his channel.

Around this point I found Chris was still plagiarizing others. Though it was on his blog and not on video. Since the site is gone, the evidence vanished too.

The year would end with a Skylanders stop-motion short. It was basically Toy Story without the conflict. The Skylanders come to life when nobody’s looking and go see the new Swap Force toys. The video also features Chris’ stepdaughter, Emmy. I wonder if she remembers doing this. Considering she’s likely a teenager now, I could see her looking back and cringing.

Next time: 2014-2015