The PEOWW Conference: brentalfloss

Mark

It’s something we’ve all done at one time or another, no not ‘that’ you naughty-mined person. I’m talking about making up your own words to the music in a videogame. It might be a ballad about Mexican ninjas in GRAW 2 or something more retro like crushing goombas in Super Mario World or my personal favourite bawdy sea shanties during day long sessions on Pirates!

Mr. Brent Black a.k.a. brentalfloss has taken this idea and thanks to his natural lyrical talent not to mention professional background in musical performance ran and then sprinted with it. He’s produced a series of his ‘With Lyrics’ videos on Youtube and later Screwattack that are not only great songs but also wildly funny to boot. So after linking his videos in our forum for the last year I thought I’d pick his brain not only about his videos but his coming album and videogames in general.

PEOWW: So let’s start at the beginning. What inspired you to make the first ‘with lyrics’ video?

brentalfloss

Brent: Honestly, it was just a dumb little idea I had. I was excited about having a new MacBook and I wanted to do something cool with iMovie. I didn’t expect Mega Man 3 with Lyrics to become a phenomenon, but after it got front-paged on College Humor and featured all over the internet, I realized I had to make more “With Lyrics” videos.

PEOWW: What’s your creative process; do you pick a song then write the lyrics or just go with what inspires you at the time?

Brent: Every song has its own unique origin story. Sometimes I can’t get a tune out of my head and I start to attach lyrics, other times I think “Man I love this game, I should really make fun of it on the internet”… but I usually write a lyric and then leave it alone for a while; sometimes months. Then I’ll come back to it and realize “oh wow, this is kind of funny” and I’ll put it into production.

PEOWW: Have you ever received any support or maybe had any problems with YouTube?

Brent: My only problem with Youtube is their inconsistency; I can’t tell what they consider to be prohibited use of copyrighted material. If I could tell, I might be a partner. However, I can’t bite the hand that feeds me too much. If it weren’t for Youtube, I’d be nobody and you wouldn’t be interviewing me.

PEOWW: Does the NES or Nintendo games inspire you particularly to make the ‘with lyrics’ songs or is it something else?

Brent: I grew up playing the NES and SNES, so the music I hold most dear comes from the games on those consoles. But the “with lyrics” series is more inspired by my love of observational humor; early video games had so many ridiculous conventions that are ripe for satire, and that’s usually what attracts me to creating comedic lyrics.

PEOWW: Did you ever try the music maker from Mario Paint?

Brent: My friend was a Mario Paint fiend when it came out in 1992. I wrote tons and tons of songs on it and did my best (with my little 8-year old self) to improve the musical arrangements of the songs that came with the game…and that was BEFORE the emulator program they have now with sharps and flats. Back in my day, we had to put everything in C major or A minor, and we liked it! (Okay, enough crotchety old man…) I wish there were some way to have saved all the stuff I made on that damn game.

PEOWW: Are you working on any new songs you can tell us about?

Brent: Well, I am doing a parody of Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” about the Mario Bros franchise, as well as an auto-tuned love song version of the Mega Man 3 ending credits theme. Also, I’m preparing to record my first CD, which will probably be called “brentalfloss lives in your computer Vol. 1″

PEOWW: Any chance of the GTA3 song being on the brentalfloss album?

Rocking the mic at SGC.

Brent: The thing about the GTA3 song is that it’s an overlong musical number in three acts, and I’m not sure it would fit with the content on my first CD. Also, it has a chick in it and I can only afford to have my own vocals on this first one, but there’s a very high likelihood of a GTA3 recording and maybe even a music video of it in the next year.

PEOWW: Have you ever thought about starting a VG music based band like Power Glove or The Advantage?

Brent: Actually, yes. The problem with a band is that it takes a lot of time and I currently only have enough time and money to employ myself. I’d love to get a band together one day though; I watch videos of Freddie Mercury at Queen Concerts and think “Why aren’t’ I doing that?”

PEOWW: You’ve done lots of live appearances lately at SGC, Unicon etc. What’s it like meeting and dealing with fans?

Brent: It’s a blast. I think sometimes they expect me to be mean and sarcastic like I am in my “FAQ” videos, but meeting fans is generally awesome and really makes all the effort worth it.

PEOWW: Would you ever consider staging a live performances of VG music in a formal setting say like ‘Tour De Japon’ given your background in musical theatre?

Brent: Actually, I think about it a lot. The problem is that video game enthusiasts and musical theatre enthusiasts rarely occupy the same demographic, so it would have to be a universal franchise like Mario or Zelda. However, I do think the Nintendo-based Broadway musical is on the horizon in the next 10-20 years.

PEOWW: In one FAQ you’ve talked about listening to ‘One-Winged Angel’ from Final Fantasy VII while working out, are there any other VG songs you listen to for doing mundane things? Personally I find driving to the Space Harrier theme very satisfying.

Brent: Video game music completely infests my iPod. I use certain themes to get hyped up when I have to get up early or go running… rock versions of the Ducktales moon theme and techno versions of Mega Man themes figure prominently.

PEOWW: Okay let’s get the standard ‘Top five videogames of all time’ question out the way.

Brent: In no particular order… Final Fantasy IV, Deus Ex, Thief: The Dark Project, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Chrono Trigger … I should mention the fact that this list changes daily.

PEOWW: You’ve talked about Deus Ex being a favourite of yours before, what did you think of Yahtzee’s Deus Ex song?

Brent: All I can say is… Yahtzee beat me to the punch. But I’d still like to do something for Deus Ex one day; amazing game.

PEOWW: Okay this is a personal grudge of mine that I’d like your thoughts on… Banjo Kazooie BETTER than Super Mario 64. Discuss.

Brent: They’re two games with the same formula. Banjo Kazooie has a better score and more clever use of music, but I honestly think Mario 64 has better pacing; very hard to compare the two.

PEOWW: What did you think of Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts?

Brent: Honestly, I didn’t play it. I rarely enjoy updates of classic games; it feels like you’re watching a remake of your favourite classic film.

PEOWW: While we’re talking retro games, do you think things like the Wii’s Virtual Console, Playstation Network or the Xbox’s Live Arcade is a good way to get kids into classic retro games or an attempt by greedy publishers to keep wringing money out of old intellectual properties?

Brent: Both. But I’m always happy when I learn about how the new generation of gamers is enthusiastic about the classics. It must be how old people feel when they find out an 18 year old loves Casablanca.

PEOWW: You’ve called yourself “The biggest nerd for the longest time” so do you think the general perception of videogames has changed in the last few years or is it still the domain of the nerds and shut-ins?

Brent: Gaming has become much more mainstream nowadays, and the demographic of core gamers is wider than it has ever been. That said, you still don’t see very many studly jocks and hot cheerleaders at Gaming Cons.

PEOWW: Have you ever been caught up in the ongoing console wars be it Nintendo vs. Sega or Xbox vs. Sony?

Brent: Nope. Every console on the market is owned by at least one of my friends, so I don’t get caught up in it at all.

PEOWW: What new releases (if any) are you looking forward to this winter?

Brent: Super Mario Bros Wii, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, and the potentially awful Aliens Vs. Predator.

Banjo Kazooie y'all.

PEOWW: Please don’t say the new Aliens game will be bad, if it is several Peowwsters will most likely commit seppuku. Anyway… We’re always trying to convince people to try games that they might not have otherwise because they ‘flopped’ or they might have a reputation as being a lemon like: Two Worlds, Earth Defense Force or Fuel. Is there any game you’d like to shout a recommendation out to?

Brent: Archon (NES). It’s similar to chess, except that when you land on the same spot as another piece, you duke it out to see who gets to stay on the space. Very fun.

PEOWW: What was the last website you bookmarked?

Brent: I honestly can say I don’t bookmark websites because Safari and Firefox do such a good job filling in the rest of a URL when you only know the first few letters.

PEOWW: Thank you for your time Brent, any last words for our readers?

Brent: Stay in school, learn a valuable skill, and be aware that purchasing my upcoming CD will make your penis bigger.

You can watch more ‘With Lyrics’ videos HERE along with Brent’s regular FAQ series and other goodies like his ‘Literally Shorts’ videos. His album is due out this autumn and we’ll try to catch up with him again then.

The Best of brentalfloss:

Rich vs. Kirsten – The Ready-Up Interview

While at Insert Coin ’09 in July we had a chance to chat to various people involved both directly and indirectly with the show.

In this episode Rich talks to Kirsten from Ready Up about the event, scary nurses and Shannon Matthews.  For more information about Ready Up visit their website at:

http://ready-up.net/

The Karoshi Drop Interview

Rich

PEOWW (the Bleoww) recently met Matt Lord, the man behind Karoshi Drop T-Shirts, at Insert Coin ’09 (an event he had a hand in organising).  Karoshi Drop specialises in making tees for the gaming community and, whilst it’s focused mainly on the fighting/shooting end of the spectrum, they also do custom designs including a bunch of Fallout 3-inspired ‘Vault 101′ shirts for some of our PEOWWsters.

We chucked him in front of a camera with Tiq for a little interview action.  The vid is at the bottom of this feature but I decided to catch up with Matt afterwards for a little Q&A to see how the event went.

Rich: So, you were at Insert Coin but you also had a big involvement in getting it set up.  Aside from selling shirts what roles did you have in making the event happen?

Matt: Compared to everyone one else involved I had little to do with actually getting the cabinets to the show. I quickly became the alternative entertainment guy.  If it was not an arcade cabinet, and it was at the show, it had my hand in it somewhere.  So getting Radio Sega and Fastfoot Media on board to DJ was me I was running around a lot of the day meeting and greeting people. So pretty much one 1/100th of the effort and work than anyone else put it.

Matt (left) and bemused helper guy.

Rich: You were pretty busy throughout the weekend, did the event meet your expectations and did you get much business come your way?

Matt: Yeah in so many ways. The event was awesome and I can’t believe what everyone managed to pull off in the end as pretty much everything was friends helping out.  But think about it, how epic was that weekend? That’s the culmination of two guys and a bunch of their friends coming together and making it happen.  When it started it was meant to be fifty cabinets and a bunch of us arcade nerds bringing down a crate of beer. It quickly became so much more than just us on the Arcade Otaku forum.  We even had a guy come over from Canada with a flight case of all the Type X2 games and a shit load of motherboards. Now thats passion for you.

Rich: I’m guessing it didn’t all go super smoothly thought, right?

Matt: I had problems with my stock turning up on the Friday afternoon when i should of been on the road at 9:30am the same day. So I was unable to get a lot of new designs out which i thought would of gone down well at the show. I’m sitting on about 4 or five new designs which I could take to print right now but I just dont have time, but I sold a fair few shirts, most of which were preorders before the event.  I was able to touch base with a lot of my buyers who I’d  never met before and met a lot of new ones as well as set up possible collaborations for the future. Thing is my website is not even up yet so unless you know one of my haunts you cant buy off me, but I’ll sell privately on various forums. I was gutted we did not get to have our Karoshidrop vs Peoww super battle. AI guess I will get another time to hand your asses to you guys hahaha.

Rich: Yeah, but you can keep all that Japanese fighting shite – we’ll be picking Bomb Jack for 2010!  So, Has IC’09 inspired you to make any more retro designs?

Matt: Oh God, I don’t know yet.   Did you see my flyer with the Egret2 cabinet with the tenticles coming out?

Rich: It’s on my kitchen table right now, funnily enough.

Matt: Well that was something me and one of my artists (thanks Mufu) banged out a couple of weeks before the event. I was able to put it on the flyer but it was too soon to go to press on the tees. I really love arcade cabinets, arcade sticks and the like so I’m working a a few bits to do with that. There is also some other stuff which im not allowed to talk about yet but its pretty cool if it happens. Like the coolest thing ever! Can’t say much more than that.

Rich: Karoshi Drop furry ears perhaps?  So, did you get much of a chance to play anything there?  Any favorite games from the event?

Matt: I think over the whole time I was there I had about seven credits total worth of play. I played Aliens, Blazblue, Street fighter 3.3 (thinks for a moment) yeah I also tested my copy of Money Puzzle Exchanger which I picked up off a friend of mine. I had to chuck someone off the Neo 19 at the event but it was cool because he had not seen the game before and was just as eager to see what it was all about.

I was upset that Strike Witches never made it to the show floor. I was really looking forward to playing that. It’s a brand new hori shooter with super hi-res graphics but with Blazblue. KOF12 and Tekken taking up the few wide screen cabinets we had there, something had to be left behind.

Matt's stall at IC'09.

Rich: KaroshiDrop is aimed at gamers primarily.  So have you been a gamer for a long time?

Matt: Oh god yes! I first started playing back on my brothers ZX Spectrum when I was about 5 but it really took off when I moved to Hong Kong and my dad bought my brother and I a PC Engine. It is still one of my main gaming platforms. Living in Hong Kong is when I got my first real taste of arcade gaming.  Back in the Eighties as a kid in Hong Kong you either swam, skateboarded or played video games. I had a gromit in my ear so I could not swim without having to have a very attractive swimming cap on my head and water tight putty in my ears. I used to skateboard a lot and I was pretty good too for an 8 year old but that was put on hold the moment my local arcade got street fighter II in. It’s a shame because before the gromit I was a really good swimmer, competition standard. Games are way more important than that though.

Rich: Yeah, swimming is shit anyway.  At least playing games doesn’t involve contact with other people’s piss, right?  A few of your boys were there from shmups.com and obviously some of those chaps are pretty intense gamers.  Have you 1CC’d any shooters or are you more of a chilled out credit-feeder?

Matt: Intense is a rather strong word heheh. I am neither, I will maybe credit feed a game once just to see what it’s like even then I wont complete it. Then I use the one credit to practice and get a bit better at it. My reaction times are not quite as good as the better shmups players and my hit box awareness is pretty shit too. The short answer would be I’ve never one credited any shmup not even Blazing Star which i owned for a long time and is easy.

I was a bit gutted because they had Muchi Muchi Pork and I was unable to play it. That is the most played game other than Taiko Tatsujin that I played when i was in Japan last year.

Rich: Oh, we’ll challenge you to a shooter next year then.  So, if you’re not a hardcore shoot ‘em up player, what is your game?

Matt: Short answer: puzzles and 2D beat ‘em ups. I pay a lot of Street Fighter 3.3 and my big puzzle game right now is Money Puzzle Exchanger, but I also play a lot of Magical Drop 3. I have a mean Felicia on Vampire Saviour.

I like Street Fighter 4 (note: like, not love).  It’s a great game but it’s no Street Tighter 3.3.  Other than arcade gaming I also play a lot of RPGs.  Right now I’m playing Odin Sphere which is so pretty for a PS2 game. It had me hooked.

Rich: A very pretty game.  The cuntish boss characters will soon put you off though.  Anyway, did you pick up any goodies at IC’09?

Matt: Hellz yeah! I managed to pick up two arcade cabinets – an Egret2 and a Cyberlead – which I’ve been lusting after for the better part of four or five years. There was Money Puzzle Exchanger which ive been waiting for about a year and a half to get off a guy called Penhoes. King of fighter 2001, Super pang and I nabbed a CPS2 Street Fighter Alpha 3 board too.  It’s all about Rainbow Mika ya know .

Also, a couple of ball tops and an Marquee holder for my Egret2 Cabinet which I did not need to buy because when i opened it up there was one in the base of it hehe. I got one for sale do you need one?

Rich: Not right now!  Will there be an IC’10 and will you be involved in it?

Matt: Just let me give Poolchamp/Alan a phone call. . .  it would seem there is a very, very, super-high probability that it would happen. If I was asked to be involved again I would do what was needed of me. I imagine it would be the official shirts for sale and I would probably loan my cabinets for the event. I’ve not got tech experience and I’ve got no fucking muscles to lift shit, so other than making the shirts and possibly doing interviews like this to help promote the event and the hard work the guys do I will keep doing that. if it was to happen it would not be called IC’10 it would be called Insert Coin Expo or I.C.E . . . but i can neither confirm or deny that it will be happening at this point

If there was to be an announcement, I would imagine it would be in the next couple of weeks. . . If it was to happen.

Okay, I’m going to go now :-S

Rich vs. Gary – The RetroGT Interview

While at Insert Coin ’09 in July we had a chance to chat to various people involved both directly and indirectly with the show.

In this episode Rich talks to Garry from Retro Game T-Shirts about T-shirts, retro gaming, MAME, Insert Coin ’09 and lots more. For more information about RetroGT visit their website at:

www.retrogt.com

The PEOWW Conference: Mirek Dymek (Reality Pump).

Rich

To this day, PEOWW’s  biggest guilty gaming pleasure is Two Worlds.  An Oblivion-esque RPG romp that justifiably took a lot of criticism due to a whole host of technical problems.  It was released in a fairly shoddy state with a framerate that made EDF look silky, pop-up that seemed to spawn entire continents before your eyes and a crash rate that makes Burnout look a quiet sunday drive in the country. Despite the problems though there was a lot of fun to be had out of the game, especially if you had eight of you playing at once (and if you remembered to turn the grass textures off!) and while it wasn’t a patch on Oblivion, the game it most closely resembles), the item handling and combat were probably a little better in Two Worlds.  It’s not for everybody but a gang of you versus some giant trachidises made for a great gaming experience. A sequel, The Temptation, was announced some time ago and is one of our most keenly awaited games so we had a quick chat with Reality Pump’s CEO, Marik Dymek, to see what they have in store for us this time around.

PEOWW: Hi Mirek and thanks for talking to PEOWW.  Our online community had a lot of fun with Two Worlds and found it to be a very underrated game especially considering how good the multiplayer mode was. What was your reaction to the bad reviews that followed the release of the game?

Mirek: Two Worlds was our first big RPG project. Therefore we didn’t think of making everything perfect right from the beginning. Of course we have had to learn some things the hard way but this is ok. We take a lot of time to analyze the feedback from the press AND the fans. Thus we didn’t think about the bad reviews as negative but take it as an encouragement for the new project.

PEOWW: One of the contributing factors to the bad reviews was talk of Two Worlds being an ‘Oblivion killer’.  Was that description anything to do with yourselves?

No. We build up our information strategy on the game itself. We have enough good arguments for this way. The comparison to other RPG games is all sourced outside the company.

PEOWW: Looking at the positives.  Two Worlds had a huge and varied game world and an entertaining story.  What do you think is more important for games now: a well written andengaging single player story or well balanced mutiplayer experience?

We are going to implement them equally. I think in an up to date RPG both sides must be represented in a way that satisfies all kinds of players. Thanks to our experiences from the first part we can now concentrate on these very important game features much more. Therefore the realisation of a gripping SP story AND a fascinating MP part is within reach.

PEOWW: PEOWW does have a contingent of achievements fans.  The ‘find all locations’ one in Two Worlds caused me particular pain as it took an extra twenty hours to do after finishing the game.  Can we ask you to please, please, please don’t put the same achievement into the sequel!

Two Worlds was our first console project. Therefore we had to gain know-how in this section first. But be sure such things won’t happen in 2WII! We have learned much from our first console project and can act much more versed now.

PEOWW: That said, the achievement did take you to some great locations (the desert and glacier were both beautiful).  The overall graphic design was great on Two Worlds but hampered somewhat by the dodgy framerate and pop-up.  Did this cause any tension between the artists and the coders?  Can we expect a smoother experience in The Temptation?

We will definitely improve the framerate in 2WII. The developers learnt a lot from their first big RPG project and all this knowledge is now used for creating an even better gaming experience. All technical aspects of the game we will be totally new designed. We have even created a new engine which is much more powerful.

PEOWW: Two Worlds had a great special edition package.  What can we expect for TW2? A map, a shirt, soundtrack CD?  Maybe a figurine of the hero’s gothic sister?

Of course we will offer a great special edition package for TWII again. But I can’t tell you anything about the contents right now. Be sure that we will think about something very special to even top the “ingredients” of the first game!

PEOWW:

Yes, this feature will be in the new game too. But we will change some statistics and rules to fit this feature better into the balancing system. For example you have to learn a special skill now to be able to use the stacking system. The more you invest into this skill, the better the stacking will work.

PEOWW: A few things we’d like to see in the new game are; – Summoned creatures to be as powerful as they look!  More than one as well please! – For other magic classes to be as good as the necromancy one (the ‘poison cloud’ spell is by far the strongest in the game). – an easier to manage quest log and clearer map!

Whatever we can do

PEOWW: When can we expect The Temptation to arrive?  Will it come during the summer games drought or will it be bundled in with the big releases at the end of the year?

It’ll be later on this year. More information will follow soon!

The PEOWW Conference: Jim Sterling

Rich

Jim Sterling is the Reviews Editor over at Destructoid (nice site, shame about the community) and is well-known in the industry for his uncompromising review style, cutting wit and… for wearing a monocle.

After an interesting year (a well-publicised 24 hour stint on Singstar for charity, a marriage and a move over to the United States) PEOWW decided to catch up with him and talk about some of the issues facing gamers and gaming website these days.

Peoww: Hi Jim, thanks for talking to PEOWW. So I guess the first thing we need to ask you is how did you get into this ‘writing about games’ business?

Sterling: Natural progression, really. I had actually been trying to break into the comedy business beforehand, but never quite understood that I preferred writing material rather than performing it. I’d been doing some incredibly small-time videogame reviews for a now defunct Web site, but never thought to try and make a career out of it because I don’t know what’s good for me.

One day I did, and had to confess to myself that I was actually much better at it than comedy.

Peoww: How did you get involved with Destructoid and does the success of the site surprise you? Two million readers a month for an independent site that’s only two years old is pretty good going!

Sterling: I was reading an issue of GamesTM when I saw an article on how people make money from the games industry. I was attempting to break into games media at that point, so I was naturally interested. One section was about videogames journalism and Destructoid was featured. By that point I’d already secured a freelance gig with IGN Insider, so I think that made me look promising to Niero and Nick Chester. I sent them the old spiel — “big fan of your site, would love to write for you” etcetera. It worked.

As for the success of the site, it was already doing huge traffic when I got there, so I never saw the massive explosion that older writers were around for. I’d say I’m more surprised that I ever managed to be successful there, personally.

Peoww: As the reviews editor do you get to pick and choose the games you want to review or do you find yourself letting other people review the bigger games so that you can enjoy them at your leisure?

Sterling: Review duties are mostly split between myself and Nick. As editor-in-chief, Nick often gets a lot of early game code so he can get reviews done fast. We generally have a very open system. I’ve got a release schedule of games and my core review team can look through it and sign up for whatever game they want. Each member of my team generally has a different interest, so we rarely step on each others’ toes. So far the system works well.

Peoww: Has there been times where you’ve vetoed a review? What’s worse – seeing a bad game get a good review or seeing a gem get ripped apart? On this site there is a fairly large group of us who really like Two Worlds but that got a panning everywhere and even cult titles like EDF received plenty of bad reviews.

Sterling: I’ve never had to veto a review, and I like to think I’d never do that. My main job is making sure the text as written falls in line with the numerical score awarded. As far as the writer’s opinion, that’s their deal. Despite working together closely on reviews, Nick and I tend to have polar opposite views on games. We “fight” over games a lot, but we respect that each man’s opinion is his own. Even though all of Nick’s opinions are blatantly wrong and he’s an unrelenting sex pest.

As far as what is worse to see, I do hate to watch a game with huge flaws get glossed over. That’s the power of hype though.

Peoww: How much pressure does a site like Destructoid get from software companies to give good reviews? There have been a couple of high profile stories recently about this with Atari and Eidos trying to delay bad reviews of Alone in the Dark and the new Tomb Raider. Does Destructoid’s independent status protect them from that kind of pressure?

Sterling: I have no problem pissing off a publisher, but then, it’s not me that has to talk to most of them. We’ve upset people, certainly. Some publishers want nothing to do with certain reviewers, for example.

Most of them are big enough to take it on the chin. Sega Europe, for example, are a great bunch of guys who have always been graceful, regardless of the ratings we give their games. A lot of PR folk are cool people. If anything, the only pressure comes from not wanting to upset those that you’ve gotten to really know and like. You have to give the review to someone else if you think it’ll be too personal though.

Peoww: Destructoid uses a 10 point scale which you recently redefined in order to make things clearer. Given the choice would you switch it to a different scale? Perhaps marking out of 100 or even just using a buy/rent/avoid type system?

Sterling: I try and take as much thought out of review scores as possible. That’s why each number has its own summary. A reviewer is meant to write the text, then line up the tone of the text with the score summary and find which is appropriate. I think it’s ridiculous to write a review and then independently go “I think I’ll give this a 7″ or whatever.

I like the ten-point scale, allowing for maybe a .5 here and there. 100 points are too unwieldy, I think. What, exactly, is 72 or 38? There is no way you can choose a percentage score without it being completely arbitrary. I like the system we have. It’s incredibly self-explanatory.

Peoww: As the Reviews Editor, do you have the option to change the score if it isn’t reflected by the text or would you always go back to the reviewer?

Sterling: I read through each review before it’s posted. If I felt the score did not reflect the text, I’d talk it through with the writer first. We had one issue a while back with the Fracture review, where we felt the text and the score did not sync up, among other problems. This was before I was more strict with review posting. We had it re-reviewed, and I feel the score was a lot more accurate … but not much more flattering.

That was a learning curve for me. Destructoid started off as a bunch of guys just dicking around, we’re all learning to be professionals. I fully admit that I am learning as I go with this reviews editor gig. I’ve never been an anything editor before.

Peoww: Will we ever see games journalism ever get away from thinking that 7 means average? Even the Atari/Eidos stories recently were based on the idea that anything under an 8 means ‘bad’.

Sterling: We probably won’t. People have a hard time adjusting to our scale and throw incredible hissy fits when something doesn’t jive with industry standards, whatever those are. Amusingly, most readers will continue to mock the “IGN” scale while being confused by a true ten-point one.

I don’t think it’s just games media though. Anything below a seven looks bad in all things. Must be some strange human brain deficiency.

Peoww: Do you think things like the Wii’s Virtual Console or the Xbox’s Arcade is a good way to get kids into classic retro games or an attempt by greedy publishers to keep wringing money out of old intellectual properties?

Sterling: It can be both. I think each platform’s digital distribution methods are great ways to bring back some old games, sometimes with extra features, but they’re obviously a nice quick buck as well. What I want to see is more games like Castle Crashers — brand new games with retro flavors. CC brought back the old school brawler genre, and I don’t think such a feat would be possible in the retail marketplace

Peoww: Do you think the general perception of videogames has changed in the last few years or is it still the domain of the nerds and shut-ins?

Sterling: That all depends. You could argue that the Wii has helped change the perception of videogames, but I also think the Wii changed what videogames are, and not always for the best. Stuff like Wii Sports Resort or Wii Music are not what I’d like to think of as videogames (but that’s not my call). Ultimately, videogames are changing to cater to what some would term “real” people, appealing to the iPod generation and the people who think FOX News is a credible source of information. However, I don’t think the “nerds and shut-ins” stigma will ever go away — Nintendo of America does a great job of drawing that distinction and letting the “real” people know who the freaks are.

Peoww: With Peter Moore recently saying that EA need to focus on casual gamers and with Nintendo more or less ignoring the so-called ‘hardcore’, can you see gaming eventually becoming something that you’ll get bored of or are you a fan of the new gaming trends introduced by the Wii and DS?

Sterling: Well, I think you can already deduce my opinion on most “casual” games from the last answer. I don’t think the kind of games we “hardcore” folk love will ever really go away though. They make too much money for that. We will also continue to see obscure classics like Killer 7 or Okami being made, even if they don’t sell well, because there are still visionaries in this industry, however well hidden they may be.

There is room for what many call “casual” games and “hardcore” games in this industry, and titles will be made to appeal to all sorts of demographics. I try to shy away from calling games casual or hardcore, really. I think the only real distinction to be made is between good games and shit games.

Peoww: One of our mutual readers says ‘ask him about why he left us for the colonies (he’s just about to / moved to the US)’. Will you continue writing and do you hold down a regular day job or do you write full time?

Sterling: I moved to the US just last week, actually. I did this because it’s hard to marry someone from America if you’re sitting in England. Relationships tend to favor proximity.

I will continue to write, of course, because I have no other talents (and even the writing is questionable in that regard). I was recently able to quit full-time work and now write for a living. At least, that’s what I’m trying to do. It’s still in the trial phase right now, but hopefully I can devote all my time to games media instead of having to spend all night in a South London cab office.

Peoww: Do you have any favourite games journalists from the past and present and have they influenced you in any way?

Sterling: Penny Arcade’s Tycho Brah is a bit of a writing love of mine. I must confess that I have learned from his ability to italicize seemingly meaningless words to create an incredibly funny emphasis. Another favorite is GamePolitics’ Dennis McCauly. One of the few writers in this industry that I would call a “journalist.” He’s also a really nice chap.

Peoww: You recently wrote a fairly strong article titled ‘Why people who whine about review scores are wankers’. What was the most extreme or or just plain weird reaction you ever received from one of your reviews or features?

Sterling: I would have to say that the reaction to my Patapon review was pretty amazing. I gave the game a 6.5, which marked it as a decent game, and I felt that I clearly explained why I did not consider it a great game. Cue News4Gamers and its wonderfully melodramatic community, and suddenly we get the phrase — “It’s official. Destructoid hates innovation.”

I was also told that rating GTA IV an 8.0 was “flying in the face of every other review out there.” Apparently, saying Grand Theft Auto IV is “great” is some act of rebellion. Sorry I did not think it was perfect!

Peoww: What kind of advice can he give people for if they ever have undertake a marathon Singstar karaoke session for charity?

Sterling: Do it at Wardrox’s house.

Peoww: What are your views on DLC? Peoww’s official standpoint is that we want everyone connected with Namco to die in a fire.

Sterling: I’d agree with that, with the one condition that you download fuel for the fire at 200 Microsoft Points per log.

Peoww: One last reader question: “Oh and ask him what’s the worst sonic game he’s ever played and why do Sega keep molesting my childhood so?”

Sterling: I only ever played the demo for Sonic 2006, but it really is breathtakingly bad. The game is so buggy and poorly designed that I found myself being impressed. A game so terrible it’s impressive, that’s quite an achievement.

Shadow the Hedgehog was probably the worst Sonic game I’ve played in full. Sonic Advance 2 & 3 are also rather dire.

As for Sega molesting your childhood, it shouldn’t wear such short skirts, the little minx.

The PEOWW Conference: Dr. Stuart Ashen

Mark

Ashen

Dr. Stuart Ashen the self-proclaimed “internet cunt and failed psychologist” is better known to his legions of fans (over eighteen thousand subscribers and counting) as Dr. Ashen, the video reviewer on YouTube who looks a little like Simon Pegg in a killer suit.

His reviews are a mix of technical insight and sarcastic ribbing with tat such as the Pop Station and the KenSingTon Sport Vii reviewed but he also has a great line in comedy sketches featuring poorly made God Monsters and call centre Cybermen. So when he announced he was releasing a DVD of his works Peoww sent me to interview (read: hassle) him to get the lowdown on what to expect.

Peoww: So what’s on the new (plug-plug) Ashens DVD?

Ashen: Everything you ever needed. You know that empty feeling of dread you sometimes get when you wake up, as if you’ve wasted your life and you’ll never achieve anything? Buying my DVD cures that instantly. It contains well over 3 hours of footage comprising nearly all my gadget reviews and cartoons. And there’s all-new content – two fresh reviews (of 5 different things) and two animations and some extra stuff that’s hidden.

That’s over 20 minutes of exclusive footage! Well, exclusive until some worthless little pisscrane rips it and uploads it to YouTube, of course. Also: You get a free lanyard with every DVD. Yes, really.

Peoww: Cool. So what’s in the Dr. Ashen’s book you’re writing?

Ashen: As we say around these parts: “A load of ol’ squit.” It collects written nonsense that I’ve posted on my website over the years, and has heaps of new silliness to boot. It’ll only be a self-published thing with nothing about video games or POP Stations in, and I therefore expect it to sell about three copies worldwide. (Two of which will be returned.)

Peoww: What first inspired you to do a video review?

Ashen: An Ebay link for the original POP Station was posted on a forum I used to frequent. I ended up buying it, and ad-libbed a quick video to show it to the other forum members who were interested. Somebody must have sent it to B3ta as it was in their newsletter the following week. I only expected about twenty specific people to watch it, so didn’t introduce myself or put my website address on it or anything. The main reason I made a second video was to prove that I’d made the first one!

Peoww: Has there ever been a gadget or system too bad to review?

Ashen: No way – the worse it is the better, generally. I did buy a Gizmondo and never reviewed it though. I got it to try out some weird, unfinished ‘augmented reality’ games you could play with its camera after seeing footage on YouTube. Sadly the footage was taken from a PC-based development kit and the actual Gizmondo code was totally unplayable. Everything else on the machine was a bit dull so I ended up selling it on without filming anything.

Peoww: So just how much of your time is spent hunting Ebay for potential review fodder?

Ashen: Very little, I’m pleased to say. The usual routine is that a gaming site / blog spots something, loads of people e-mail me about it, I make a search on Ebay and then wait for one to turn up. I have found a couple of items by searching for things like “Fake PS3” and “Like Wii” but that’s pretty much a dead end these days.

Peoww: How supportive if at all have YouTube been?

Ashen: I’ve never had any support from YouTube. They did contact me once, just before they introduced the ad-revenue-sharing Partner programme in the UK. They allowed me to apply early “as special thanks for the great videos you make!” So I applied and they turned me down flat because “Your account does not contain sufficient original new content that represents the uniqueness of our community.” I applied again after I was featured on the front page for the second time, and I was again turned down with the same response. So I think it’s pretty safe to say I’m not the sort of thing they’re interested in on an ongoing basis. It doesn’t really matter though – they provide free video hosting and access to a large audience which is fine by me.

Peoww: Has there been any interest in your work from TV types?

Ashen: Yes, but only very recently. I’ve had significant interest from a proper TV production company that you’ve heard of and everything.

Peoww: So why use your sofa for the reviews?

Ashen: I filmed the original POP Station review on it just because it was handy, and I kept using it because it was instantly recognisable. It’s hugely popular for some reason – I get a lot of e-mail about it.

Peoww: Time for an AV nerd question, what gear do you use for your reviews?

Ashen: Video: Old Sony DCR-TRV15E MiniDV camera and an ancient broken tripod. Capture: Cheapo Dazzle USB thing. Microphone: Behringer Podcast Studio set. Clothing: twelve-year-old Marks and Spencer basic suit. Teeth: All mine.

Peoww: While we’re talking hardware… Spectrum vs. Commodore – Will it ever end?

Ashen: Never. Even when computers are forgotten, idiots will become emotionally attached to their purchases and defend them to the death. It will be Something Unimportant vs. Something Slightly Similar until the world ends.

Peoww: The PS3 – Evil or just misunderstood?

Ashen: Neither. It’s not an evil device – there’s nothing inherently wrong or broken about it. And most people have discovered it’s ace at movies but a bit of an embarrassment games-wise, so it’s not misunderstood.

Peoww: Ok, time for the standard ‘top five best games ever’ question.

Ashen: I hate “best games ever” lists more than I hate TV chefs. So instead I shall list five of my personal favourites in no particular order: Dungeon Master / Chaos Strikes Back (Atari ST), Renegade (Spectrum), Shining Force 3 (Saturn), UFO: Enemy Unknown (Amiga), Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (Arcade).

Peoww: Do you think things like the Wii’s Virtual Console or the Xbox’s Arcade is a good way to get kids into classic retro games or an attempt by greedy publishers to keep wringing money out of old intellectual properties?

Ashen: The latter. The prices are far too high to start a retro renaissance – the kids I know would rather put £7.50 towards a second-hand Wii game than spend it on an emulated version of Wave Race 64.

Peoww: Do you think the general perception of videogames has changed in the last few years or is it still the domain of the nerds and shut-ins?

Ashen: Games are becoming more socially accepted as time progresses but it’s a slow process. Perhaps the current Nintendo boom will help non-gamers understand the hobby a bit more – even Mum wants a DS these days. I think it’s going to be a long time before she’s playing proper games with laser power-ups and end of level bosses, though.

Peoww: What are your inspiration for the comedy sketches like ‘Liquid Filth’?

Ashen: I don’t know really. I just think of things. I came up with Liquid Filth after watching Columbo, obviously – I loved the way Donald Pleasance delivered the line. He sounds so angry and outraged.

Peoww: When you decided to resurrect Noseybonk where you aware just how many people carried repressed memories of him and his downright creepy antics?

Ashen: Oh yes – I was fully aware of Noseybonk’s eerie power of nostalgic terror. It was one of the reasons I brought him back from The Dark Place. He’s creepy and yet somehow funny at the same time, which is a rare quality that I love.

Peoww: Is Noseybonk truly evil unlike the PS3 or just misunderstood?

Ashen: Neither. Noseybonk just is.

Peoww: I love trawling through TrailerClub70.com watching all the old trailers like ‘The Dark’ and ‘The Bullet Machine’, can we expect a bigger role in the future of Ashens or is it just a little fun?

Ashens: It’s just a bit of fun. I love it when people send me e-mail saying that they’ve just watched the full version of Attack of the Crab Monsters or something.

Peoww: Question 13B. There is no question 13B.

Ashen: And yet, here is an answer!

Peoww: Dr. Who has featured in a number of your comedy sketches, do you go for classic Who or the new RTD style Who?

Ashen: I used to like ‘classic’ Who in the eighties, but I just don’t have the time for the old stuff these days. Some of the seventies serials could go on for ages with nothing much happening. I’ve been watching New Who but it’s very hit and miss – If I see one more bloody ‘reset button’ ending I’m going to track down Russell T Davies and kick him in the shins.

Peoww: So if Dr. Who doesn’t cut it anymore what does Dr. A set his VCR for? And may I take a moment to recommend ‘The Middleman’ as a possible replacement with its complete lack of chav family values and corny sentimentality.

Ashen: To be honest, nothing. The only thing I’ve watched for months are DVDs of the original Twilight Zone from the sixties. I don’t mean that in some poncey “Ooh look how intellectual I am, I don’t watch TV” way. Generally my girlfriend controls the TV while I sit at the PC in the living room creating stupid things and reading crap on the internet. (I’m a little wary of The Middleman as it was based on a comic, and in my experience the original comic is always infinitely superior to any tie-in media.)

Peoww: So what was the last website you bookmarked?

Ashen: littlelinuxlaptop.com. I got one of the ultra-low-spec netbooks they cover stupidly cheap, for looking at the web on the move and showing videos in meetings. It’s almost completely useless for me though – it takes a minute or so to render most web pages regardless of net connection speed, and can’t show video at decent quality. And it can’t play YouTube videos at all. It’s going on Ebay as I speak.

Peoww: Dr. Stuart Ashen thank you for your time, any last words for our readers?

Ashen: None. I’m sure you’re all sick of me by now.
So there we go. The DVD is scheduled for release in early November ’08 and can be ordered from ashens.com where Dr. A can also be found between videos.