The Official Angry Video Game Nerd Discussion Thread

[Kitsune Sniper]

Honestly, he should have just done a Nerd episode on the Neo Geo series of products, like he did the 5200 and Colecovision. Sure he was somewhat inaccurate and wildly satirical, but it was funny. The size, weight, and the cost of the Neo Geo warrants satire. Could even get into the lackluster Pocket hand helds.

Alpha2099, I may order his game, although I don't use Steam.

Has he ever made any videos of items that he doesn't physically own - games or films? Hell, even that King of the Monsters 2 video doesn't show any footage from games he doesn't own carts of. It's all the same six or seven games.

I mean, yes, he could just use emulated versions or other console ports... but I don't recall him ever using emulation for his game reviews. He may have but I don't remember if he ever did.

[Gameguy]

Has he ever made any videos of items that he doesn't physically own - games or films?

Didn't he review the Nintendo World Championships 1990 carts? He borrowed the carts from that Pat guy.

[bigbacon]

Didn't he review the Nintendo World Championships 1990 carts? He borrowed the carts from that Pat guy.

I think used a repo cart. For some reaosn I remember that being said at the end of it

[Gameguy]

I think used a repo cart. For some reaosn I remember that being said at the end of it

They smashed the games at the end of the review, those were repros. I'm pretty sure they actually featured the real games too, somewhere they pictured the real carts next to the repros. Unless I'm mistaken about it for some reason.

[SparTonberry]

He had a repro of NWC that he may or may not have actually gotten in an ebay lot.
Pat brought his NWCs with him when he filmed the video with the Nerd.
He actually smashed a Zelda and a Top Gun with fake labels. He later made a behind the scenes video where they showed him double checking the real NWCs weren't the copies he was about to smash.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Even if it's a borrowed copy, it's still a -physical- copy. Not emulation. I should have worded my post better, apologies.

[Edmond Dantes]

The only thing I really see changing from one generation of cartoons to the next is the way the story is being told and the way the viewer is being addressed. I can only speak from my perspective here, but what I really hated about cartoons growing up is the way many of them treated me like I was too stupid to understand the greater story concept of continuity or basic things like cause and effect. Sure, I was between 3 and 6, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to notice when the hero gets some power or learns some lesson, only for it to never come up again or otherwise be significant to his/her story beyond the 22 minutes it was shown in.

Just wanted to mention here, the reason that happened was due to the nature of the beast--most 80s toons were sold directly into syndication, which meant there was no guarantee they would be shown in any sort of order (I've heard Robotech got confusing for this very reason), so writers generally wanted each episode to be a possible "jumping on point."

That said, its not like there wasn't any continuity at all in those days. Thundercats and Transformers were both very good about it, and even He-Man and She-Ra had a few episodes that were direct sequels to other episodes.

I honestly don't see how Ducktales or Batman were any better in this regard. Actually, that was one thing that annoyed me about Batman--sometimes a villain's entire character or motivation would change between their introduction, and their return appearance. Mad Hatter is a notable example.

Now I see the actual video wasnt posted here. He shows he at least has KOF 94, so he could do a small video of him running into Chizuru, thatd be some funny shit.

Chizuru wasn't in KOF '94. She first appears in '96.

[sfchakan]

And what's this about misusing funds? Last I saw of the movie was when the trailer was new.

I was saying that if he is that strapped for cash, then it's his own damn fault. If he needs more, then he needs to take care of it himself and honor his promises. This might mean creating more quality content and merchandise for his fans to enjoy. This might also mean working a real job again... Like a lot of other creative types who have to shelter and feed their families while working on projects. We didn't impregnate his wife now, did we? Well, maybe Stu did, I don't know. He keeps looking about with crazy eyes whenever he comes in the room...

He's had a metric shit ton of support financially from his fan base. He earns money from video plays on multiple services, merchandise sales, and was the recipient of more money than he originally asked for for his movie. This is all stuff that's obvious to anyone who looks at his projects and does not count any other dealings he might have that are not public. I'm not insinuating anything nefarious here, I'm just saying not everything is put out there in the open.

He ended up raising $325,327 from the kickstarter when he originally asked for $75,000. Later, he stated that he was unaware of the costs of shooting a movie... despite having studied and participating in "movie making" over half of his life in some fashion. Things like permits, taxes, and other shooting costs should not be that surprising to people who have done this thing before or read a good bit about it. You think someone who was serious about such a thing would have called each city or location to add these exact costs to their plan... if you have one... which might be a good idea when you ask for $75,000 from your fans! FFS!

This might sound like I'm bashing him a bit, and I am. I still like the majority of his work, from most of the AVGN stuff to Monster Madness and other things he does, though. I hope the movie turns out well (whenever it's released) and I may or may not buy it. However, anyone saying "oh, poor James" definitely needs to think about it a bit more.

[Greg2600]

He didn't misuse the funds, he didn't have a Hollywood movie background, and was unprepared for how much everything costs out there. In hindsight, he would have been better off filming in cities like San Francisco or Chicago or New York, where it's actually far cheaper. He admitted to this, but he also wanted/needed particular location shoots for the feel, such as the famous Vasquez rocks.

[rkotm]

I can't wait for the AVGN game (PC) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns4v2aZJ-Ic
I think September 5th???

[Alpha2099]

I can't wait for the AVGN game (PC) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns4v2aZJ-Ic
I think September 5th???

September 5th is the deadline to pre-order and have a chance to be in the game as an NPC. They have not officially announced a release date yet, but they will at an upcoming convention -- I think it's PAX. Right now it's just "sometime in September". I already pre-ordered.

[JakeM]

He didn't misuse the funds, he didn't have a Hollywood movie background, and was unprepared for how much everything costs out there. In hindsight, he would have been better off filming in cities like San Francisco or Chicago or New York, where it's actually far cheaper. He admitted to this, but he also wanted/needed particular location shoots for the feel, such as the famous Vasquez rocks.

Yes, and to add to this, sfchakan, indy film making is way way way harder than people think. Most small budget looking movies without any CGI in them can easily cost a million dollars. Theres all kinds of small things you have to deal with , hes done small short projects his whole life, and its nothing compared to doing a full length film with a full cast and multiple locations. Even if he gets the film done, he may not make all the money back. Its a great sign he has been talking to Lloyd Kaufman and done some stuff with him, hes probably going to release it through Troma. I know that $350,000 is a lot of money, but its almost jack shit in the film world when you want to release your film world wide and take it to a lot of good film fests.

[sfchakan]

You guys are ignoring the fact that film making is something he's been into for... the majority of his life. He should have been well aware of all of this stuff from books, interviews, documentaries and extras. I know I am and I've never made any sort of movie, short or long form!

Researching all the costs for a project you're going to ask other people to fund just seems like a no-brainer!

You can say that he was ignorant of this stuff, but I can't buy it. From my point of view, he was being irresponsible if the actual costs exceeded his budget. Either the plan needed more research or he misused the money. It's that simple. It is his fault and no one else.

[JSoup]

(I've heard Robotech got confusing for this very reason)

I don't recall it being particularly confusing on that point, Cartoon Network made sure to point out before the start of each episode that the episode number was important (a trend carried over to Toonami and Adult Swim later). That said, they apparently did do a minor level of episode skipping and splicing, thinking that a drama wouldn't sell as well as a another space faring action adventure. So a few of the more wordy episodes (particularly early on in the Macross saga) got cut down. I only recently learned that the first episode in the series was never shown on TV, they skipped straight to episode two to get right to the action.

[JakeM]

I know I am and I've never made any sort of movie, short or long form!

Youre kinda only blaming him having human error issues, when it can be him and a whole lot of other people messing stuff up. If youve never been apart of a film project, and youre not involved with his project and seeing where mistakes are being made, then you shouldnt be so rough on him. I mean, hes gone from only working with friends on projects on weekends, to having to work with a ton of behind scenes workers and other people. You should probably be talking to him about stuff instead of us if youre so mad.

[Gameguy]

Even if it's a borrowed copy, it's still a -physical- copy. Not emulation. I should have worded my post better, apologies.

He could still borrow an AES from someone for a review, if he wanted to do it. I would think it's much harder to borrow actual Nintendo World Championships carts yet he was able to pull that off. There's so many things to review he probably just didn't get around to it.

You guys are ignoring the fact that film making is something he's been into for... the majority of his life. He should have been well aware of all of this stuff from books, interviews, documentaries and extras. I know I am and I've never made any sort of movie, short or long form!

Even professional filmakers can go overbudget or have their films ruined before completion, just look up Lost in La Mancha.

[InsaneDavid]

He ended up raising $325,327 from the kickstarter when he originally asked for $75,000. Later, he stated that he was unaware of the costs of shooting a movie... despite having studied and participating in "movie making" over half of his life in some fashion. Things like permits, taxes, and other shooting costs should not be that surprising to people who have done this thing before or read a good bit about it. You think someone who was serious about such a thing would have called each city or location to add these exact costs to their plan... if you have one... which might be a good idea when you ask for $75,000 from your fans! FFS!

The tall and short of all this is the syndrome of people who live outside of California not realizing how expensive it is to do things in California. Plain and simple.

Surprised he just didn't shoot most of it in Sunnyvale or the surrounding areas, since it's supposed to be based around an Atari game and all and would have been far cheaper than shooting in Southern California. Still expensive, don't get me wrong, but nowhere as bad.

[sfchakan]

Youre kinda only blaming him having human error issues, when it can be him and a whole lot of other people messing stuff up. If youve never been apart of a film project, and youre not involved with his project and seeing where mistakes are being made, then you shouldnt be so rough on him. I mean, hes gone from only working with friends on projects on weekends, to having to work with a ton of behind scenes workers and other people. You should probably be talking to him about stuff instead of us if youre so mad.

I'm not really mad, I was just responding to the "oh poor James" sentiment about him supposedly being cash-strapped.

[Greg2600]

The tall and short of all this is the syndrome of people who live outside of California not realizing how expensive it is to do things in California. Plain and simple.

Surprised he just didn't shoot most of it in Sunnyvale or the surrounding areas, since it's supposed to be based around an Atari game and all and would have been far cheaper than shooting in Southern California. Still expensive, don't get me wrong, but nowhere as bad.

David, I've spoken in the past to a few filmmakers based in San Fran, and as I said, they rave about the ease and in-expense of shooting up there. Particularly for smaller projects. I don't think he could have done some of those location-based stunt scenes though as cheaply. Oh well.

[Jorpho]

Do you figure it's easy to do filming at the Vasquez rocks?