So maybe you’ve heard the news. Nintendo doesn’t seem to want people to make Let’s Play videos of their games anymore. If you do, Nintendo would like the ad revenue from its copyrighted content.
You may think this is fair. The core content, after all, is Nintendo’s. I, personally, do not think this is fair. I love me some Let’s Plays. And for numerous reasons: they’re a great way to do long-form critique of a game; they’re a great teaching tool; they’re often entertaining in their own right; and, gosh darnit, a lot of times they inspire me to buy the game.
I almost left a much longer comment on this fantastic Gamasutra piece talking about the history and pedigree of the Let’s Play. But then I realized that there was no better way to say screw-the-man than making this a full post, and sharing some of my favorite LPs with you right here. So join me below the jump for the happy links. Or check out, just for starters, the LP Archive and browse to see if your favorite game is there too.
Some of my picks:
- Research Indicates – Jurassic Park Trespasser
- A long-form documentary, produced and narrated at a professional level, about the ill-advised but fascinating PC Jurassic Park game: Trespasser. The prologue is particularly interesting, but also watch the last video for the hidden ending.
- Quovak – Chrono Trigger
- Lots of people have played Chrono Trigger, but I’m a big fan of Quovak’s informative playthrough where he plays the entire game without leveling Crono up. Along the way he provides some of the most solid look into a game’s story, theme, and mechanics that I’ve ever seen, anywhere. And it’s also funny.
- pokecapn (et al) – Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
- I watched all of this. And yes, I bought the game. And yes, the game is as bad as the videos make it look. Game Grumps did this game too, and the results are equally entertaining! It is so good to know that even a very bad game can bring great joy to some. In this case, the joy is watching how much people hate the game.
- Chewbot – Animal Crossing
- This one is pretty well-known, but I did enjoy it. This is Animal Crossing… done as a psychological horror game. It does not take this concept the route that you might expect.
- various authors – Dwarf Fortress – Boatmurdered
- The one, the only, the infamous Boatmurdered. Good for if you really can’t wrap your head around Dwarf Fortress, but would like to know what the fuss is all about. Does take a little while to pick up.
- Haifisch – Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
- This. Game. Three chapters into this LP I closed all my tabs and bought the game. Now if anyone asks if they should buy this game I point them to this LP. I have sold at least five copies of this game. Which just goes to show again that a well-done LP is free advertising, but, that’s just one small word of mouth case.
- Spoony Experiment – Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh
- This isn’t in the LP Archive, but it’s probably my favorite LP on the Spoony Experiment. I never played this game when it was out, and so… here is this… thing. … seriously, what the heck did I just watch?
Anyway, as you can see I’m much in favor of the Let’s Play tradition. And if you really want to LP a game I worked on, that’s okay by me. (Wait, somebody did? …Whoa, flattered.)
Have you got a favorite Let’s Play? Leave that link in the comments!
Email the author of this post at aj@tap-repeatedly.com.
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magicka Obscura http://lparchive.org/Arcanum/
Planescape: Torment http://lparchive.org/Planescape-Torment/
I like these because these games are classics but not the easiest things in the world to play. And sometimes a little bit dry, too. The authors get into character and spruce up the narration a bit as well as doing a great job explaining the mechanics of the game and the decisions they make
oh also the legacy of kain let’s play
http://lparchive.org/Legacy-of-Kain-Blood-Omen/
when it came out, legacy of kain was hard to find. I’d never heard of the game before but just stumbled across it and devoured the entire LP series.
Mask of the Betrayer http://lparchive.org/Neverwinter-Nights-2-Mask-of-the-Betrayer/
The forgotten masterpiece of the Black Isle/Obsidian group (Avelone was one of the writers). In my opinion it is their single best work. On the surface it’s very much a Planescape:Torment style game but unlike Torment its story has direct real-world implications, using a particular aspect of the Forgotten Realms’ lore as a metaphor for the moral bankruptcy of our own culture’s belief in the idea of justification by faith alone (or the idea of there being any inherent moral value in faith itself). Lt. Danger actually gave a really well done literary commentary of the game, making all the connections I wished I had caught.
Here’s another one I forgot to add because I didn’t realize it had hit the Archive already:
http://lparchive.org/Breaking-Final-Fantasy-VI/
Elephantgun’s “Breaking Final Fantasy VI” isn’t a traditional playthrough. Instead, it’s a very deep exploration of all the gamebreaking bugs in one of my all-time favorite games. Really fun.
Sing it, AJ! I haven’t watched many Let’s Plays, but some of the ones I have watched (Like Chris Avellone’s Arcanum one) are delightful. There’s a naturalness and a humor and a sort of… flow to them that nothing edited can match.
I’d record Let’s Plays of my own, but I have a habit of shrieking in fear when something scary happens, and I think people would really mock me for it. Xtal did when we played Gears 3, though in fairness he mocks me for practically everything. Also: my language gets terrifyingly blue when I’m playing certain games. Honestly, it’s like Inappropriate’s word for “inappropriate.”
I understand copyright, and IP, and all that. I also understand we need to think this stuff through again, on account of Modern Times. Certain efforts, even profitable ones, just aren’t violations of the spirit of a copyright… or shouldn’t be.
Oh man, I really enjoy watching LPs. They’re great to just put on in the background while I work on something, since my mind doesn’t function at all without some amount of ready distraction.
My favorite series I’ve ever seen is AccountingNightmare’s Devil May Cry LPs – she did all 4 games, though the 4th is incomplete. http://www.youtube.com/user/AccountingNightmare/videos?flow=grid&view=1
It’s a big part of why DMC is my favorite series of games ever now. It’s a game full of a lot of quirks and tricks to discover, it is probably impossible to learn the depth of it without a video series like that one to watch.
Thanks for this Amanda. I’ve not watched or read many Let’s Plays because I have this deluded optimism that I may play certain games in the future at some point. The truth is, watching a Let’s Play would probably be a lot more enjoyable than actually trying to play certain games myself, especially given how glacially slow I am at times.
I’ve read a good chunk of the infamous Boatmurdered and will never forget StarkRavingMad’s reign and project Fuck The World. I think ‘WELCOME TO FUCKING BOATMURDERED! Hope you like miasma!’ Sums up the thing pretty well though.
I think it’s awful that Nintendo are trying to suck up the ad revenue for these creations. Yeah, they involve your product but with some of the best Let’s Plays it’s more about what’s added to the product than the product itself. I mean, I can’t imagine playing Surgeon Simulator 2013 on my own, or with anyone else for that matter, and laughing quite as much as I have over Rage Quit’s videos. The same goes for Boatmurdered. Besides, as you’ve said, Let’s Plays can often incline people to go out and pick up a game– hell, they’re probably as close as you’re going to get to a demo if nothing else these days.
And what about speed runs?
I wasn’t aware of the Trespasser Let’s Play and because I’m very unlikely to play it — but absolutely fascinated by it — I’ll be checking that out!
And for the record, I hate PewDiePie.
Well, I couldn’t find it on the LP archive, so I’ll link directly to it. I haven’t watched a lot of LPs historically– I’ve mostly stuck to amusing speed runs and the like– but I have started to watch more of them since I watched my first full one, and by full one I mean a hell of a lot of watching: GhostRobo’s Dark Souls LP.
It’s 90 videos long and spans over 7 months. He’s not playing the whole time, granted; he took long breaks out of frustration, but that was what I liked about it. I yelled at my screen so many times when he did stupid things or missed information because he simply wasn’t paying attention, but at the end of the day I still give him credit because he played the game completely blind, no Wiki assistance, and he hardly ever used summons (maybe 3-4 bosses, tops). It just felt like a genuine experience that someone might have going into Dark Souls without really knowing what to expect (even though he claims to have played Demon’s, he probably didn’t stick with it for long).
And also, credit because he actually finished the game after a hell of a lot of failure and dying (hey, kind of like Steerpike!) and berating from comments saying he couldn’t do it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56WO7N0Qu8c&list=SP8357E84128EEEE8C
(Warning – I suck at linking, so this is directly to the playlist and fires up video #1.)
Hah! I absolutely LOVE let’s plays for many reasons. I had not heard about this Nintendo stink, but that really sucks! I’ve always wondered though how copyright holders were dealing with the massive growth of these videos. I could see the copyright holder maybe sharing the revenue but taking it all? These videos take a lot of time and effort to record/edit/upload. The best LP’ers I think almost make a full time job to put out a professional product that is great to watch and funny to listen to at times. For Nintendo to just sorry, all your work and effort are belong to us is sad. Unless I read this article wrong. Sounds like Nintendo is taking all of the youtube payments these LP’ers receive yes? Or is just demanding that Nintendo commercials be placed in the LPs? If it just adverts, that would be okay by me.
Gregg B, PewDiePie is like the LP version of Bieber. He would get the most votes for most liked and most hated LP personality I think, ha ha. Have you ever checked out an LP from markiplier? He also uploads playthroughs form all the new horror releases bot freeware and commercial. He has the voice of a radio or TV personality and some of the videos I’ve seen are quite funny. I watched the video for Slender: The Arrival and just about peed myself a few times, especially when he encountered a bug in the game during the mine elevator scene.
http://www.youtube.com/user/markiplierGAME/videos?flow=grid&sort=da&view=0
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