pouët.net

I find that I've always enjoyed watching video games far far more then playing them. I think this comes from the fact that my neighbor, while growing up, had all the cool games but never wanted to share. He didn't mind people watching though and that's pretty much what I did. Fascinated by the graphics things such as game play and story never really meant anything to me.

Now-a-days I'll be over at someone's place and we'll be playing video games. They might offer to let me play but I usually refuse and tell them that I rather watch them instead. Most people find this strange.

I know I'm not alone here, fellas. How many people, like me, would rather watch a video game then play one?

Depends on the game and the skill of the person playing.

sounds a little perverted to me :)

no, i undestand. I could quite happily sit back and watch someone else go through Shadow of Colossus...beauiful game.

i kind of like it to, but only with decent/funny comments of the player. for example i like the game stuff they do on http://www.thatguywiththeglasses.com/
also avgn, but their kind of connected

i like watching stuff like silent hill. it's a fun game. but, i do enjoy watching games like that.

Same here. I used to watch my big brother play various amiga games when we were small. I was so amazed by the WWI game Wings lol, Knights of the sky and Another world.
I might be suffering from ADHD or something but i get bored of games really fast (except Eve online), but love watching all the new game vids on gameractor etc.

considering how some of the games nowadays are little more than 90 minutes of cutscenes with subpar action inbetween (cough, final fantasy, metal gear solid), i can understand.

There's an army of "let's players" (afaik, originally a somethingawful.com thing, but everyone and their kitten is doing it now) on youtube and pretty much every video platform on the web. No matter how obscure the game, _someone_ played it for you, while commenting the whole ordeal.

F.e. check out deceasedCrab's stuff, right here. Especially the La-Mulana stuff is fun to watch.

Deceasedcrab has lots more interresting Let's plays, cave story, knytt and knytt stories and even zen bondage :D Link

Also UltraJman has some interresting stuff.

Let's plays can be very interesting when done on games that sort of interest you but not enough to pick them up straight away. It can be fun watching obscure games played on obscure systems (see HalfBlindGamer's ongoing series on Burn:Cycle on the CD-i*) which were hyped at the time but you couldn't play (or had the sense of staying away). Or when the player can enrich the game's seemingly bland setup or spark an interest through insightful and/or entertaining commentary (see Spoony's series on SWAT 4). Who knows, having been introduced to a game and shown what it's about and like, you could very well pick it up yourself. No obligation to finish the playthrough.

*) The only footage of Burn:Cycle I had seen before was on a television show in the '90s where callers would play CD-i games over the phone. Burn:Cycle was featured for several weeks on the show and it looked cool at the time but the players NEVER got beyond the first or second screen in the game (dialtone controls FTW!). Simpler games like Hugo (separate show) worked much better.

dude

burn:cycle

sucks bcoz it was made by ppl i know :)))

also, thnx for the ride in the corvette :))))

AHAAHAHA :))

Spoony fucking _OWNS_, but the best episode of his Let's Play of SWAT 4 series so far is without a doubt the one from Mission 6: http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/2009/04/08/lets-play-swat-4-mission-6-red-dead-library/. Featuring a hostage situation in a communist software development company building or something ;D.

Also, his Let's Play of Phantasmagoria 2 - A Puzzle Of Flesh is hilarious: http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/2008/12/22/let%E2%80%99s-play-phantasmagoria-2-a-puzzle-of-flesh-hour-4/

Although, these are hardly ordinary Let's Plays since they focus more on riffing on bad games ;). Extremely funny nevertheless.

Watching my friend play through The Dig was like watching (and listening) to a movie.

One time at a small lan party we were several people watching this guy with better skills finishing PaRappa the Rapper.

Intro and stage 1.

I have fond memories of watching my brother play Final Fantasy VII all the way through.

Yeah, I know we've plugged Spoony way too much in this thread already but he's actually doing a Let's Play on [url=http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/category/final-fantasy-viii/]FF8[/quote]... And he's hating it. With passion ;D. Which makes it quite enjoyable at least for me since I share some of his views on the Final Fantasy games (or turned-based RPGs at least). Or it could be that since everyone needs to love Final Fantasy for some reason I need to not love it ;).

Let's Play on FF8

... It's way too late for this.

Btw, the Let's play master list is a fine resource for SA let's plays. Everything by Psychedelic Eyeball f.e. is a riot.

That video is terrible. The guy is so full of himself and REALLY annoying when he's on camera. And he's on camera a lot.

raina:
wtf? is that a game-technique patent? what country has this patent? does any one have more information?

6:05: "A mysterious patent filed by Mr. Miyamoto in 2008 but revealed to the public in early January of '09..."

Freeman's Mind
Ross Scott does a pretty nice voiceover (as Freeman's thoughts) playing Half-Life :)

wWales try this: http://www.esemdesign.com/hexen/SoundFX 2000 203 [Full Version].zip

ran out of lines on the one liner.