Batman Kickstarter (w/discussion of FOMO sales method)

Ha ha! The branding! It kills me. Now you have reviewers selling T-shirts and can coozies with their logos on them. It's insane. Remember when we were ragging on folks for having those cartoon avatars? Now you also have to have a clever program name too...

I think some folks get comped just to tweet about games too...I see tweets all the time "LOOK AT ME, I"M PLAYING THIS HERE GAME THAT IS CURRENTLY ON KICKSTARTER- GO PLEDGE TODAY!" or something to that effect.

I mean when Shut Up & Sit Down passive aggressively tell your campaign to fuck off, you know your strategy is rubbing critics the wrong way.

www.shutupandsitdown.com/a-single-games-news-05-03-18/

And Monolith did sense a disturbance in the force since they posted a "rebuttal"

Not wanting to read board game reviews and not reading books are not mutually exclusive and to suggest otherwise is a gross generalization. I don’t like to read board game reviews by and large because they (and, I suspect, the people writing them) are boring. Sorry, that’s just how it is. It’s an outdated means to review something and it’s best to adapt to the times because your platform is always shrinking and you’re going to die out otherwise.

That being said, the overwhelming majority of video reviews, if you can call them that, are complete garbage. The standard formula is awful. Standing in front of the games wall for the intro, with a poorly shot “hands in front of the camera” rules explaination in the middle, always followed up with stating, “That’s not all the details, just an overview,” so what’s the fucking point, then back to the games wall for a final thoughts that somehow managed to include no actual review. The hobby seems content with that and there is the real problem. Go check out some video game reviews by ACG. This guy *nails* how video reviews should be done, just funny enough to be entertaining, clearly knows his shit, and included an *actual* review.

Frohike wrote: I mean when Shut Up & Sit Down passive aggressively tell the campaign to fuck off, you know your strategy is rubbing critics the wrong way.

I don't watch a ton of review stuff, but SU&SD has struck me as one of the more reasonable sites out there.

Here is the direct link to the article.

www.shutupandsitdown.com/a-single-games-news-05-03-18/

MattDP wrote: Complete threadjack but... What's the point of video reviews? What's the appeal? Why the love?

I think it has evolved to ludicrous levels, but I do think they were largely helpful once upon a time.

I used to like watching rules explanations made by... Fuck I can't recall his name. Bearded professor dude. Infamous for calling miniatures "dollies".

Anyways, he was a decent resource for explaining particularly finicky games to noobs and let's face it, people can learn to play games better through visual explanation rather than just reading rules. Hence why some folks play a game or two solo prior to explaining the game to others on game night to ensure they have it down pat. He'd also throw in his thoughts about the game, which were usually pretty salient.

I think video reviews were doing ok before the advent of folk like Drakenstrike and shill reviewers like undead viking (what game doesn't he love?)

It just turned into an ugly monster now.

I'd still rather read a good review, especially since everyone with a camera and narcissism has a review channel on YouTube.

I do think they can still have a place, the good ones just get lost in all the noise of clamoring for sweet recognition and YouTube bucks.

Colorcrayons wrote: I used to like watching rules explanations made by... Fuck I can't recall his name. Bearded professor dude. Infamous for calling miniatures "dollies".

Board Games with Scott (Nicholson)!

The only video reviews ever worth watching were Steve Weeks’. The dim lamp lighting, the original songs, his Texan drawl...so much better than all of these self-styled goofballs and their walls of games and can coozies.

The bigger the wall of games behind a video "reviewer" the more I question just how discerning a gamer they are. I get that a good reviewer needs depth of experience, but some seem to equate ownership with expertise.

Msample wrote: The bigger the wall of games behind a video "reviewer" the more I question just how discerning a gamer they are. I get that a good reviewer needs depth of experience, but some seem to equate ownership with expertise.

yeah, if you show me your wall of games and I'm seeing a lot of who cares garbage then I know I can just keep on walking by

Michael Barnes wrote: The only video reviews ever worth watching were Steve Weeks’. The dim lamp lighting, the original songs, his Texan drawl...so much better than all of these self-styled goofballs and their walls of games and can coozies.

I think Weeks is from Alabama originally. Huntsville?

Either way, I agree. I'm sure it's nostalgia (already?!) for 10-15 years ago when Weeks was singing 'Cube Confusion', Chris Farrell wrote in favor of Beowulf and I would read GW reviews on the old Kulkmann's Gamebox. Seemed the hobby was, I dunno, more innocent and fun? I didn't get a sense that anyone was doing any of this work for comped games or fame.

I rarely check out video reviews/previews and never listen to podcasts. I tried watching a video where a cute girl teaches how to play Dungeon Degenerates. Except she says she can't teach it in the video and will just go over some stuff so its more like an overview really. Then she starts describing the different stuff in the game while the camera is almost always pointed at her instead of what she's describing. I didn't finish it as it was clear I wouldn't actually learn anything from it. I'll stick with online rulebook pdf's and component pics when available for learning and written reviews for reasons others have stated.

Msample wrote:

Frohike wrote: I mean when Shut Up & Sit Down passive aggressively tell the campaign to fuck off, you know your strategy is rubbing critics the wrong way.

I don't watch a ton of review stuff, but SU&SD has struck me as one of the more reasonable sites out there.

Here is the direct link to the article.

www.shutupandsitdown.com/a-single-games-news-05-03-18/

I found the SUSD post to be riddled with inaccuracies, and Monolith's response professional.

SUSD were also the blokes who complained about the source material and it's relationship to the game. This, despite never reading the source material themselves. If you want to criticize Howard, have it it. He's a tragically flawed individual, and his writings occasionally reflect it. But don't use second hand summaries to support your arguments. Read a fucking book.

drewcula wrote:

Msample wrote:

Frohike wrote: I mean when Shut Up & Sit Down passive aggressively tell the campaign to fuck off, you know your strategy is rubbing critics the wrong way.

I don't watch a ton of review stuff, but SU&SD has struck me as one of the more reasonable sites out there.

Here is the direct link to the article.

www.shutupandsitdown.com/a-single-games-news-05-03-18/

I found the SUSD post to be riddled with inaccuracies, and Monolith's response professional.

SUSD were also the blokes who complained about the source material and it's relationship to the game. This, despite never reading the source material themselves. If you want to criticize Howard, have it it. He's a tragically flawed individual, and his writings occasionally reflect it. But don't use second hand summaries to support your arguments. Read a fucking book.

I thought their argument about selectively sanitizing some of the racism but leaving tits & ass in the game was pretty accurate. SUSD do have a tendency of tumbling down rabbit holes of arguments that they haven't fully backed up with research or experience but that particular tidbit did ring true.

I just came to the realization that this $320 Batman game, loaded to the gills with everything and representing an entire product line.......

Is shovelware.

Shovelware! lol. Technically it's still vaporware, but this publisher is likely to deliver the goods on schedule.

There is a lot of contempt in this thread for this Batman Kickstarter, and even I turned against it. But in all honesty, most of the criticism here could have easily been said about Cthulhu Wars during its initial Kickstarter campaign. We all know that Cthulhu Wars turned out to be a good game, but at the time of the Kickstarter, that was not a known thing.