The Absurd History of Bad Video Games

1:40:18 Honestly XBOX would be an even better state these days if they didn't bundle the Kinect with the Xbox One. Sure the digital rights system was lambasted by enthusiast gamers and the game and electronics media... But the average consumer probably wasn't really aware of any of that controversy. These days both Microsoft and Sony are steering completely into digital only futures. If the extra cost wasn't tacked on to the Xbox One bundle because it only came with the option for Kinect, XBOX probably would have been a healthier brand in the current day. Game Pass in my opinion is still incredible. Even though the cost is up by $3 and did go up by $10 initially for quite a few months, I even thought the value was still perfectly great at $30. The problem is a lot of people were not comfortable with the price going up by an additional 30%. Personally, I already subscribed to the stupid fortnite subscription so I was essentially just bundling in the cost of two things. A lot of people didn't share that perspective. In terms of having so many video games available, $30 is still a pretty great value, but people don't have that kind of expendable income and some more in the ballpark of 20 to $25 seems to be a better sweet spot for subscription media services. I still think it's freaking incredible and PSN still hasn't caught completely up to the value. It is nice that Sony has PlayStation Plus permanent game licenses that don't expire like Game Pass availability, but I still think game pass is quite a cool innovation and would have succeeded so much more if they didn't eliminate so much of the XBOX Brand identity by forcing extra cost into the console by making Kinect mandatory. Perhaps that would have worked if the hardware was more capable in the beginning and was undeniably a fantastic addition to ending game. If the voice commands were easier to implement and more accurate, maybe that could have been a decent use case, but probably not $100 useful. The Xbox One should have been absolutely just the box and the controller. Kinect should have been an optional add-on all along.

44:14 in some alternate universe we’d be making videos along the lines of “the bubsy 3D that we never got”

All of these games are better then the new woke chit

Simpsons Road Rage was a classic and I enjoyed that game as a 90s kid.

If your game hits these points — it’s fundamentally a TRASH. Here are the red flags that turn a potentially great experience into an absolute waste of time:



FIXED Optimization: If a game is built exclusively for top-tier hardware and locks you into a fixed resolution that you can’t lower, it’s trash. Optimization should be about giving the player control, not forcing you to suffer through unplayable frame rates because the devs didn't bother to include basic settings.



Developer Overreach: When developers prioritize their own "vision" over player freedom, they stop making games and start making glorified interactive movies. If you can’t tweak your settings or play how you want, the game doesn't respect your time or your hardware.



The "Early Access" Bait-and-Switch: There is nothing more frustrating than a studio selling a game that is clearly half-finished and riddled with bugs, expecting customers to just "deal with it" and wait for vague updates. If a developer is charging full price for an incomplete product—all while refusing to provide a clear roadmap or actual release dates—they aren’t treating the game as a project; they are treating the customers as free beta testers. If you’re shipping a broken product and hiding behind the "Early Access" label, your game is garbage.



Zero Replayability: A strictly linear experience is fine, but if there's absolutely no reason to return—no branching paths, no new playstyles, nothing—then it’s just a one-and-done failure. A game shouldn't feel like walking through a hallway.



Lack of Cinematic Immersion: Games today should feel like an experience, not a spreadsheet. If the aesthetic is flat and fails to draw you into the world, it loses its soul.



UI Clutter & Fourth-Wall Breakers: Nothing ruins a moment faster than an interface that clutters the screen or a HUD that constantly reminds you that you're just looking at a menu. If the UI is fighting the gameplay, the design has failed.

I remember Syphon filter, it’s the game that taught me what a Spook is😂

Amazing content
Tnx!

Skip the hoghschool book report intro. Video starts at 3:18. Hopefully millennials stop making videos soon as they age out. Bro didnt even include the names of the games in the chapter selections.. just some vague concept of what he considered relevant to the overall theme of the video. What a lame.

I figured out et as a kid with no instruction manual.

The Philips CDI failed for 1 reason, price. 700 dollars in 1991, adjusted for inflation that's about $1712.00 today. That is a hell of a lot for a not quite computer, not quite game console, not quite disc player, living room thing. They chased multiple prey, and lost them all. If that unit was released now at say $299-$399 and could be a "bridge" device, I bet it would do well.

Nah my problem with "but games that are shit on release can be fixed by dedicated fans!" is that it's not our job to fix the creators' messes. Like sure, people can do that if they want, but that doesn't mean you get to ignore the fact that the game is shit and is only playable now because some unpaid fan modded it to make it bearable. That's bullshit.

No such a thing as bad videos games. At least not when ur high

Looking at the video when he said bubsy 3d has a good framerate, it looks to have about 8 fps...and saying Crash bandicot taught people how to do 3d is....a good portion of the game is 3d models on a 2d plain...it's newer then Mario 64 and does half as much.

One of the best video essays I have ever seen, keep this content coming!

To the American Idol game: they released it in other countries, were they also had an Idol show (at least i know this from germany) it was very confusing when the judges did not looked like the judges we knew as a child (before knowing it is "based" on American Idol)

what is the game at 21:57? i knowi played it when i was really young and completely forgot about it until now

Damn, Nintendo was getting garbage traps flooded on their system before the Eshop even existed

I know it's probably not the most well known in history, but could you please do a deep dive into VR game history? There is so much drama involved in it, and I still fully support it because I do believe in it. But titles that are interesting to look into their history: Nostos, NeverDawn, Nyx, Oathbreakers, Project Elysium, Banners of Altrus, DraconiOrder, Dreamworld, Oathbreakers and Orbus. And for those that are still hanging on by a thread... Zenith and Illysium. Some have been pulled back by the community like with Echo VR (and rightly so, I love that game). Some of the Orbus players rallied together to make a new project, Eldramoor. Orbus hit me hard ngl, I feel that when it died, the connection to the community also did too, so I'm glad Eldramoor is getting developed.

excellent video good sir

It's funny when Little Britain was on it seemed that everyone was consciously aware that it was a free speech high water mark and that it wouldn't be too long before the culture got so puritanical that it would condemn the show. Nobody seems to retain that sort of information though, they just follow the pattern even if they can see it coming.

Its crazy video games started in the 70s

Little Britain is brilliant. You describe it perfectly and it's so sad they became pussies and apologised. It's not wrong to take the mockery out of everyone

So basically stupid people destroyed gaming, just like the destroy everything else. I cannot stand low IQ mouth breathers.

I liked Kane and Lynch

54:20 why you're talking German "schadenfreude" xD

And the beginning features music from one of the best games ever made, Earthbound. I replay it every year.

Corporate garbage like warner always mess with things they don’t understand, those suits need to stay TF out of the creative process and stay in their cancerous corrupt towers

are no bad video games only bad players.

Fucking love the earthbound background

Hydelide

I don't know if I agree with your opinions about AVGN and Jekyll and Hyde. Your point seems to be that he bought the game second hand and didn't have the booklet that explains everything. If you're reviewing a 20, and by now 40 year old game, the fact that the game becomes completely indecipherable without the booklet is kind of a legitimate problem for an obscure game. And there are plenty of games out there that do a perfectly fine job of explaining themselves without ever referring to the booklet. If the game is counterintuitive and doesn't really explain itself I think that's a legitimate criticism. You yourself admit that even when you know how the game works it isn't really fun, So even if they had innovative ideas it seems like the game just doesn't work. The best you can say about it is that it isn't as indecipherable as it first seems, but it falls way short of a decent game, and I would argue that AVGN has given the world more entertainment value out of that game by lambasting it than that game ever gave to anyone with its gameplay, and even if you like that game It's pretty likely that the only reason you or anyone else knows anything about it is the fact that he covered it, so it doesn't seem like his antics have really hurt the game, so cut James some slack.

just to put into perspective what is happening: i work as a waiter/garcon and we have a co-worker that we call "Homer" ( we call him in good spirit and it is a fun thing, even for him, but he is slow and lazy and likes beer too much - hence the name). the day before yesterday a collague of mine started calling him cristiano, because "he stands around most of the time and doesnt do anything to help the team" ( which is also true of him). so now "Homer" has become "Cristiano", which feels like an upgrade for him, but is it really?

1:25:33 this is perfect. As a Kid I love this game only because of the cinematic and that first mission.

1:17:21 or the fact that Fallout games basically don't run on pc without fan patches and mods.

I beat E.T. through total luck on the very last screen. I didn’t know to look for a symbol. I happened to be on the right spot. I never played it again and didn’t find out until a couple decades or so later when I started watching YouTube videos about old games. All those years I thought you just went to last screen and wait for the ship. Anyway. Cool video to fall asleep to.