The Nerd Touches Hong Kong 97... I Plant Face To Palm

My reaction after watching the latest Nerd snorefest.

This was bad. This was very bad. Not THAT bad... but still very bad.

I honestly didn't think that this series could get worse. I didn't want to believe it. I felt that while the series had fallen from its pedestal of humor ages ago, it still had its moments... sometimes. The 12 Days Of Shitmas marathon, while not high-larious and boasting a couple worthless episodes (Crazybus, for fuck's sake), there were a couple decent entries. Ren & Stimpy: Firehouse wasn't too bad and I thought his Hyperscan episode, while not ha-ha funny because it's retread territory, it did look at the various games in "detail" compared to other videos who were more content in mocking the system's inability to read its trademark cards. See, I can find something to like in this Nerd series.

And yes, I'm just calling it the Nerd series. These days, he doesn't do a whole lot of anger... or even video games for that matter.

So I didn't think this series could find its way of breaking through the bottom of that barrel and digging itself to the other side of the planet, but somehow, James Rolfe has found a way to make a once humorously quaint little series spill into the depths of utter decadence and debauchery by building a drawn-out and completely pointless episode around one of the most shallow and worthless games ever conceived... a game, mind you, that has been covered, reviewed, mocked, and eviscerated by who knows how many people online. It is not exactly a hidden turd that has been left undiscovered or untouched - people know about this thing, especially within the internet gaming community.

And the sad thing is that Rolfe has a nice little gaming series in James & Mike Mondays that, while derivative of other "Let's Play" pairings such as those Game Grump people or whoever, is perhaps the most watchable gaming show that they've got. Reactions are genuine, the banter is, more often than not, complimentary to the experience rather than a distraction, and if nothing else, there is a sincerity and humbleness to this that is completely lacking in the Nerd series. I can watch this and get a couple laughs and giggles out of this, even with some of the more crass humor that I've grown out of enjoying from their camp. If there was anything from James Rolfe today that I'd recommend watching from a gaming standpoint, I'd say check out James & Mike Mondays. That's a good show.

The Nerd series, on the other hand? Purely self-indulgent at this point. Taking a worthless game that shouldn't take you more than three to four minutes tops to say "it's fucking shit" and turn it into this padded-out horse manure that tries to be intellectual and high end, but really, it's no better than sitting through an episode of the Irate Gamer show... which is equally as terrible, by the way.

Any way we can convince Kenny The NC17 Guy to come out of retirement?

On the bright side, though, the OneUp Gamer - the once-high-pitched boy who did a bunch of silly but otherwise enjoyable videos including two on Back to the Futer (sic) - made a return to the living a few months ago with a quality review of American McGee's Alice before falling off the face of the Earth yet again. Yes, kids; unlike some other online folks who stuck around long past the expiry date, he actually got better. Do check it out by clicking here.