Back around 2006 or so, some of the folks over at the Something Awful forums apparently decided to start playing through some video games and providing commentary via screenshots and captions. Which is a great way to vicariously experience a game while you’re browsing the Internet at work.
Then, sometime in 2007, the Video Let’s Plays started to appear. This was essentially the same thing, but instead of pictures and captions, we get full video and running commentary. Kind of like one of those old hint videos in the 80s/90s, but going through the entire game. (Without the commentary, it’s what’s called a Longplay)
There are lots of kinds of Let’s Play videos, but I think I can break them down into four categories:
- People who play through games just to get angry and yell/cry.
- People who play through games without a specific goal, just to play until game over (they may or may not complete the game)
- People who have a vlog, but with a video game playing instead of showing their face
- People who play through the game to completion, showing off gotchas, tips, and tricks, while providing interesting commentary
The barriers to making a Let’s Play video these days are absurdly low. All you really need is a game to play, a video capture device, a microphone, maybe some video editing software, and an Internet connection. Since I had all of those things handy (and there are about 7 million Let’s Play videos on Youtube already), I figured I’d dip my toe into the world of Let’s Play as an excuse to play through some of the games just kind of sitting around here, but I didn’t want to do any of the first three, since they’re pretty boring to watch. So, I figured I’d give #4 a try, which you can see below.
So, if you ever wanted to know what I actually sound like, or if I actually have any video game chops, now’s your chance to find out!