Yahtzee the Professional Troll.
By yukoasho 12 Comments
For the longest time, I've been a defender of Mr. Ben Croshaw. I'm not a fan of most gaming media, which is little more than marketing for the major game companies. However, Yahtzee's so-called "critiquing" style has gotten old.
The problem with Yahtzee here is that he's approaching E3 with such a negative agenda as to reduce himself to the caricature he's often been accused of being, someone who bashes only to bash, who ignores the wealth of positives in the subject matter to rip into even the slightest negative. He purposefully ignores Mirror's Edge, Little Big Planet, Dead Space, Beyond Good and Evil 2, Lips' iPod/Zune compatibility, and anything else that might interfere with is carefully constructed managerie of E3 as a vast wasteland of tired content.
Of course, Yahtzee's got a history of bashing on things that are perfectly fine for the sole reason of being contrary.
Also, he goes out of his way to insult JRPGs, anime and Japanese culture in general.
At first, it got me giggling, but this, like much of Yahtzee's retreaded themes, have gotten nearly as old and tired as Nintendo Wii. The E3 video just got to me as a man struggling to stay relevant. While I appreciate anyone who is willing to stand up and actually criticize something (which is why I'm moving here in the first place), there's a vast difference between being critical and being cynical. Being critical is the act of looking at something and analyzing it fairly (Jeff Gerstmann). Being cynical is the mindset that everything is garbage, to the point where this prejudice causes you to ignore anything that might be good, which is Yahtzee here.
The problem with cynicism is the same problem with being a polyana: If you're always negative, the reader/viewer becomes desensitized and less trusting. It's good to be critical, and it's GREAT to have a contrary opinion, but when you only seek to come off as a negative prick, you are no longer a critic or a valued opinion: You're a talking head. A pariah. No different than Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh. While reviewing is a subjective art in the end, it's important to have an open mind. Review a game on its own merits. No one wants to be a Yahtzee.
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