Starting the Year Off Right!

Hey guys and gals! A new year has dawned, welcome one and all to 2015! I plan on starting this year off right, both personally as well as via my online persona! That means there's a couple changes coming down the line.
More often than not, since I left for college, I've just been uploading and more recently streaming random crap that I've been playing, there really hasn't been much thought to it. That changes, now that I'm all caught up to exactly where I want to be, and I've finally got my hands on some new tech to roll out! I finally went the extra mile and picked up an HD Capture card, an Elgato HD60, to be precise. I've got the HDMI Splitter (and *cough* HDCP stripper *cough*) right next to me, so you can expect some true HD console streams in the near future! It's been a long time coming, hasn't it? 
Besides that, I'm well on my way to getting Unfair-Y Tales up and running. The first episode, not counting the pilot, will most definitely be out by the end of January. I'm working on the intro right now, so I can plop it down in front of every episode. I'm looking at a 20 episode season at the moment (Shhh, I know that's not a regular number of episodes for a season of something!), but I'm trying to figure out what the release schedule will be like. As of right now, I'm looking at an every other week release, on the same schedule as Twitch highlights, since the original plan for my upload schedule was to have a video uploaded on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday of each week... This will help me make that a reality, so my uploads aren't all up together. Gotta thank Kenbei for that suggestion, gotta spread the content out!
I'm also looking to finish off a couple older series, and to stream more regularly! It should be easier to stream now that I'll have a setup upstairs as well as downstairs for console pretty much ready to go at all times. As I'm writing this the plans are to stream Trap Team and Wrath Unleashed on and off for a while. Wrath Unleashed has been one of my most requested games on YouTube of all time, but the matches are so long that I don't really see it befitting of YouTube videos, and consequently, that's probably why there isn't a lot of content there. I think the game is far more suited to streaming, so I hope to get some of my audience from YouTube to move on over to Twitch as well! 
I've got one more episode of the DMTV movelist to put out, and then I'll be moving on to something else rather similar, but also that I feel there is a huge lack of content for on YouTube, and that's path guides for skylanders. The only person I know that does them is actually really obnoxious, and he basically says in all his videos "You are stupid if you don't pick the path that I chose," and that's just not the kind of attitude I can get behind. I mean, there's also the fact that I am, for all intents and purposes, a gaming hipster, so I never go out of my way to do what other people are doing. I've decided the path guide videos will stick strictly to the actual paths, as anyone and everyone can get all the regular moves leading up to the paths and the soul gem abilities. I'll also make a mention and an explanation of the Wow Pows where applicable, since choosing which series Skylander to buy is also a decision that you generally can't go back on. 
In regards to me, as a person, I intend to try and go as far as I can with my eBay store, while I look for other means of employment. I've got tons of geeky goodness, especially in regards to variant skylanders up in my store, so check it out! I've got tons of comic con promo posters there too, so if your walls happen to be bare, I think we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement. 

2014 was a pretty good year for me, but I intend to make 2015 even more awesome, how about you guys?! 

Artificiality in Gaming

I had a conversation with Liz last night and she said something that really stuck out to me: 

I think I'm starting to outgrow some of them stories. I am starting to crave more mature content and I don't mean racy or full of expletives. I mean more complex stories with deeper character development. 

What she said had me thinking about video games. Vaati, a mainstay in the Souls community, makes a lot of comments about artificial difficulty, but there's a different kind of artificiality that seems to be pervading the entire gaming universe. What I'm talking about is the artificiality of the "mature" rating for video games. There are so many games I've played in recent years, that really the only way they were "mature" is that the main character(s) just cursed every time they opened their mouth. Let me tell you something, from the perspective of a gamer, that I think devs need to understand, just because your character curses a lot, that does not make them gritty or edgy. It makes them sound overdone. 
It seems to be most common in games that are set in wartime, and I understand there's that whole saying that someone "curses like a drunken sailor." However, even in that saying, there is a distinction being placed on the sailor, namely that he or she is drunken. The idea that every single soldier is so inexplicably inarticulate, that they MUST express themselves by yelling "FUCK!" every single time they open their mouths, is laughable, but it's also pretty upsetting, that the devs that have created this whole world around the characters, couldn't be bothered to try and give them a personality. There is no prerequisite within the "grizzled veteran" archetype that states that they must curse every second. In most cases, I've found that it's actually the opposite really, with a grizzled veteran, they're usually pretty articulate. Why do people think that during the feudal ages in most countries, it was actually the warriors who were shown to be the most artistic? Heck, in Japan and China the instincts of poetry and war are still said to come from the same source. 
I guess what I'm trying to say is that game developers have more power than they've ever had before at their fingertips, but they seem to be cutting more and more corners. I can't tell you the number of games I have played recently where changing the difficulty just means you take more damage from enemies. You couldn't even... I don't know, change their colors? Give them one more behavior to show off? All you did was tweak their damage, and that's lazy. I understand with all this changing technology it costs more and more to develop, and publishers don't care if the game is finished or not when it ships, but seriously, the developers themselves should care about what they're releasing. 
I'm noticing more and more as I get older that I can't just jump into a game and pretend I live there anymore. I can't be part of the ecosystem in that game anymore because I know too much now, I am stuck on the flaws inherent in it, rather than just trying to be a part of it. Some of that is because I'm older, and that I expect more, but there's also a pretty large component of that problem coming from the games themselves. Don't you want to at least be proud of what you've released? 
Perhaps I'm just a hopeless romantic, but I still think that being able to take pride in what you've done should be more important than what you're going to get out of it.

The problem with Let's Plays

I'm sure there are actually tons of problems with LPs, but the major one for the person filming it is the fact that they have to film it. I was thinking that it was only me that seemed to be encountering this problem, but I recently discovered it was not unique to me. I guess it all depends on the choice of game, but this is a major problem when it comes to recording entire games for me.
I suppose it's a little different when it's a game that's brand new to you, as opposed to a game you've played through multiple times, but I have real issues getting certain Let's Plays done. This doesn't count for games you can finish in one sitting, such as Rushing Beat Shura or Sengoku 2, but when it's a game you're playing for the first time, you often just want to sit and play and enjoy yourself. I learned the exceptionally hard way choosing to play Co-Op first. On top of my personal issues with filming, such as the fact that I had to set up my EasyCap and my PS3 and my laptop just right to get the actual footage, I also had to make sure that my schedule matched up with GrimJak's just right for us to get meaningful footage for our playthrough of Saints Row the Third. I chose the game because I knew I wanted to play it, but there was just so much that kept me from actually getting to play that I began to dread it. In all honesty, the only full playthrough I've done that was not my first play of a game was my run with Adrian with Shadow Matter through X-Men Destiny on X-Treme difficulty. 
That want you have to play a new game can really get in the way. You could try just stockpiling footage, but I've never really been one to do that. I suppose that's just the way you'll have to do it if it's a game you really want to play, but I mean, most of us out there on the YouTubs have tons of games to play, and having to set up a game to make sure your recording settings are optimal versus just jumping in and playing one is usually an easy decision to make. That sentiment just builds up over time.
It would certainly be easier if I could just keep my setup ready to go all the time, but I actually like being able to walk around without tripping over any wires, hah. I figured I'd get this out there quick and ask what you guys think about this? What are some ways you've thought of/employed that minimize the stress that accompanies a LP?  

YouTube Fan Funder and other news

If you frequent my channel a lot, you're going to have noticed there's a new little bar on the side! YouTube's finally gotten their Fan Funder feature into beta and you can display it on your channel. My original impression was a channel-centric Patreon type dealie, but it seems more along the lines of a personalized "THROW MONEY AT ME IF YOU LIKE ME" button. I am totally okay with that, if someone wants to help out! 
Speaking of people wanting to help out, I just wanted to give my buddy TheBurningPunch a shoutout. He's guest starred on my channel before, but we've never actually played a game together, and I feel like that's something that definitely needs to change, and the sooner the better!
Back on topic though, it seems like there are a few stipulations with the YouTube fan funder. You cannot receive less than a dollar from someone, or more than 500 dollars from the same person in a single day. There's also fees that YouTube takes out based on the donation amount too, so not all of your donation actually goes to the person you want to support. From what I could tell, it seems like the preferred payment method is Google Wallet (Which I personally didn't know existed until a few weeks ago...), but you should be able to use other forms of payment. Just thought I'd give you guys a heads up on what's goin on with that. If you want to see if your channel is able to opt-in to the beta, you can head to your YouTube Settings>View Additional Features.
Now, back to actual channel news, for both my YouTube and my Twitch this time, no less! I've been hatching new ideas for series in addition to what's going up on my channel in the near future. I'm working on the intro for Unfair-Y Tales so I can use it as the opener to all of the videos, which means you can expect the first episode to debut in January. To tide you over, why not sit back and enjoy A Dramatic Reading of a Yearbook Signing? This video serves as the pilot, and it's doing pretty well so far, so I'm excited both to work on and the response to the full series! I've got twenty episodes planned for the first season, but I have plenty more stories than that to tell! 
Tethrinblaze and I were joking about how I could make a compilation of all the times GrimJak has messed me/us up in games, and I decided that I probably will start a compilation series of just... Let's call them GrimJak-isms. I will make sure to at least get some work done before I start the daunting task of combing through my videos for all the occasions in which Grim has set me on fire, blown me up, and/or killed me/the rest of the team. 
In the near future, I'll have a new set of Victory/Defeat animations for SMITE, this time for the 13 Assassins in the game (NOT COUNTING AO KUANG, BECAUSE HE'S A GODDAMN MAGE, IT SAYS SO RIGHT NEXT TO HIS NAME). I also will do my best to finish off the DMTV Movelist series before I move on to any more tutorials. No more Rumble Fighter BM Tutorials, so I want to devote my... "helping" talents to something else productive! I also plan on getting back to finishing a lot of my older series. On top of that, if you've been paying attention to my channel, I've made a couple new playlists, and that was actually a hint that I plan on adding more videos like those (If you're wondering, those would be the Boss Battles and Beats of Rage Mods playlists)
If you've been to my Twitch Channel lately, you'll notice I updated/added to the list of games I will be streaming in the near future. Some of the games I chose are ones that I think will broaden my audience, while others are for practice. This may give you some clues as to what videos will be coming up on my channel in the near future, so stay tuned! 

Channel News 11/16/14

Sorry, I just couldn't come up with a clever title... What? I've been watching terrible kung fu movies from the 70s with titles like "Blazing Ninja Warrior vs. Warrior" and "Bionic Ninja" all day, you can't expect too much of my creative faculties right now...
HOWEVER, I was having a chat the other day about planning for the future of my content the other day, and I came up with the name of my Rogue Legacy series! It'll be called Rogue Legacy Heroes with Issues! Yay! I did something creative! 
In other channel news, my good buddy JackBauer has been watching a lot of Two Best Friends Play and suggested that we do some horror gaming. As you know though, I'm pretty much a gaming hipster. Since everyone started doing horror games to try and follow in PewD's footsteps, naturally I am against that kind of thing. I mean, there's also the fact that I just don't really play survival horror anymore. I had a... phase for a year or two, but I really haven't done much in the genre since. 
I'm talking about all of this because JackBauer suggested we play horror games together. He specifically suggested Silent Hill. I don't have any of the games in the series but... I do have the demo for the first game on PS1! Since JackBauer doesn't really do anything YouTube related anymore, he suggested we upload to mine.
So, you can expect the JackBauer Horror Special (Until he wins) up on my channel sometime in the near future! Maybe he'll get a regular spot guest starring on my channel in the future if this turns out to be something really interesting and fun. 

2 games down, MANY MORE to go!

As of Tuesday (11/12/14), I have a second full-game playthrough up on my channel! Liz and I actually completed a game as part of Couples' Co-Op! Ibb & Obb, to be specific. This is pretty much uncharted territory for me, since as most of you know, I get bored incredibly easily. We stuck through it, even through intense frustration, and I think we're both the better for it! Though Liz could still use a little jumping practice. In any case, I think this is going to set a precedent for me. I've actually had something go right for once, and I'm excited about it!
If you were wondering, the first game I played all the way through was Rushing Beat Shura/ルッシングビート修羅. Technically the first complete Let's Play on my channel should have been Saints Row the Third, but I actually finished that on my Twitch channel. At some point I will export the final three streams to YouTube and it will be complete, but for now I've just got the two Let's Plays. I hope these two will serve as the first of many, since that's what I'm planning on!
The next game I'll be playing all the way through is something I started a couple months ago; Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects. When I started it, Ibb & Obb was still going and I realized it was eating up too much of my upload schedule to run two LPs at once. I decided I'd instead go for one at a time. I'll be starting up MN again in December, and once I'm done with that, we'll see what comes up next. 
The plans are still on for Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons as part of Couples' Co-Op, but I think I may be waiting for a bit before we start up another cooperative game. I'd like to get a little bit of Couples' Versus and Couples' Competition going before we start anything new. 
There's also a LP of Magicka in multiplayer, but that might be a ways away, and the T'ai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger let's play that I've had planned forever as well. I'm going to try and make sure that my LPs do not occur on the same console in succession, so we'll see how far that gets me, hah. While maybe not Let's Plays per se, I'd also like to do runs in Super Amazing Wagon Adventure and some runs of Rogue Legacy using heroes with disabilities, I think that'd be really fun to play and at least somewhat interesting to watch! 
So yeah, that's what I've got planned for the near future!

Change isn't necessarily good

As most of you know, when college started for me, like... way back in '07, I pretty much dropped off YouTube. I uploaded sparsely if at all, and I stopped replying to comments and messages and all that jazz. I turned my back on the community I had spent pretty much a whole year building, and I know that was a mistake.
I've been doing quite a bit of YouTube related research lately, and I have noticed something about the channels that I enjoy watching-- at least in regards to ones that are largely popular. The gaming channels I frequent, stuff like STER_, Jerma and of course, my all time favorite YouTuber, Robbaz, all have something in common. It's the fact that regardless of what they do or put up, there's a game or two that they always return to. Inbetween random uploads they always go back to something. 
I haven't been a fan of STER_ or Jerma for that long, but from what I can tell, they've always been releasing Team Fortress 2 content. That's their fallback. When I started to watch Robbaz, he was big into Battlefield so he'd go back to that after an upload or two. After a while though, he branched out, and now he works on multiple game series. 
That's something that I don't have anymore, my fallback game was M.U.G.E.N and I've been pretty neglectful of that... I haven't really stuck to anything since me and Liz started Couples' Co-Op and I realize that's one of the many places I went wrong. 
I've been deliberating whether or not M.U.G.E.N can still be my fallback. I'm not sure about that, but... I would definitely like to put up more beat-em-up and fighting game footage for you guys! My uploads have been hella erratic lately, but what can I say? I get bored REALLY easily.