The End....?

The end?....The END?

Yes, as the title implies, this blog entry is a farewell to the formal entries I have been posting since the beginning. Over the course of running this blog, I have attempted to give validation to the art of Let's Plays because I view them as something truly special and important to the World of the internet. I have argued my stance of how Let's Play channels are a new form of improv comedy, have recommended and advertised content creators and have given insights to the production of Let's Play channels. I can only hope that I was able to give those uninformed a new style of comedy to enjoy.

This entire blog was actually a giant assignment from one of my classes in college. Professor Herndl tasked us to blog about something we are interested in. To start a conversation on the world wide web that has yet to be started. It was with this, that I decided to talk about one of my passions that I love being a part of, and I hope you enjoyed me sharing that passion with you. This blog while an assignment, was truly a lot of fun to work on and put together and I hope you all enjoyed it to the very end. Thank you all so much for reading.

The End....

....Or is it?

Yeah, I'm sorry. That's cliche I know, But this technically is the end - for the formal posts at least. From this point I'm going to allow you all to decide whether Let's Plays are truly a form of comedy or not on your own. My point has been argued and that part is over

This post is a transitional period. I'm switching gears! If you recall, I've made mentions here and there of my own project. Originally, my project was supposed to be launched in the fall and accompany my formal posts by giving insight from my own experiences. But as with many independent productions, there are delays. This ranged from sorting out technical issues, to getting assets from third parties to just being a college kid having to focus on college things.

But now, as we're getting closer to launch, I feel this is the best time to officially unveil my project that I have been working closely with a friend on for over two years.

Ladies and gentlemen, here is our new show!

Snazzy logo isn't it? Welcome to Alternate Buttons! If you haven't noticed, this has been the title of the blog all along! So I guess I leaked it early then eh? 

This show is a collaboration between my friend Anand Rehsi and myself. This is a duo team Let's Play channel that takes inspiration from the silly antics of Game Grumps and combines it with the the completion, formal style of Chuggaaconroy. The goal is to essentially combine the aforementioned Old and New styles! 

We still don't have firm launch date but we're confident we'll be able to launch by the end of the year. Early 2015 at the absolute worst. 

The blog will be on temporary hiatus until the launch of the project though you can bet once we're ready, we'll start posting again with news of our show, commentary as well as our own episodes.

We've both been working on this project for a long time, so we're excited to finally launch it soon! 

Oh and if you have time, please check out Jasleen Rehsi! She's the supremely talented artist responsible for our logo. Her work is absolutely incredible, so give her site a look! You won't be disappointed. 

Thank you all again and please stay tuned!

A List of Recommended Let's Players!

Throughout he time I have spent writing this blog, I have argued my points by citing many popular Let's Players on YouTube. These people have inspired many and have helped shape the Let's Play community as a whole. So as we come to the end of my overall argument, I figured it's time to go in depth with these people by formally establishing who they are, what they do and what sets them apart from the rest. The last point is something I really hope to emphasize with this post because up until now, I have told you about them, but I feel as if I haven't properly distinguished them and so now, I hope to firmly establish their individuality.

1.Chuggaaconroy

Emiliano Rodolfo Rosales-Birou or better know as Chuggaaconroy, is arguably the most popular "classic" Let's Player. As I have stated before, his style revolves around the games he plays, Seldom does he dive into his personal life when commentating and only does so when necessary. His focus and goal is to show you his favorite games and what's special about them. He is known for being very organized with his series', usually creating a list of things to do in a specific order before recording and publishing videos. A lot of planning and editing is involved in his projects. His current series Xenoblade Chronicles, is a series that he has been planning and working on for over a year. The game at hand is a Japanese RPG that is immense in its structure, clocking in over one hundred hours of gameplay. It is with this that I should mention that Chuggaaconroy also does his best to compelte his games one hundred percent, meaning that not only does he complete the main story, but he also completes all side missions, obtains all weapons, getting all collectibles etc. To do this with Xenoblade, he had to play through this one hundred plus hour game multiple times. And as I said, his videos are also heavily edited, usually cutting our mundane parts, sometimes doing multiple takes for a segment to get it right. Another thing that's really special to him is that he immerses himself in the game, usually treating the characters like real people and attempts to justify their actions as the game progresses. It's aspects like this that really make Chuggaaconroys channel truly special and is the reason why he is regarded as one of the best Let's Players out there. 

2. Game Grumps

Originally started by internet comedian Jon Jafari aka JonTron and animator Arin Hanson aka Egoraptor in early 2012, this is a show that has gone through a lot of change within its short life thus far. The original duo of JonTron and Egoraptor is what sky rocketed the show to fame. For this team, it's the dynamic of their conflicting 

personalities that made them so great. Jon was the goofy, bombastic Not-So Grump while Egoraptor was the serious, Grump. They were very different people that shared a love for video games and each other's individual work. They would often argue over aspects of game design, how to play the game and just casual topics in general. Their most popular series, Sonic '06 is hailed as one of their best work for its spontaneous jokes and consistent hilarity. Almost a year later, JonTron left Game Grumps to continue working on his own show as he felt Game Grumps had taken over his own work. Following this, Dan Avidan aka Danny Sexbang of the comedy band, Ninja Sex Party, took over Jon's role of Not-So Grump. With this host change, the dynamic of the duo changed as well. Danny, being a calm, mellow person, put him in the role of the straight man while Egoraptor became the bombastic goofy man. A new side series called Steam Train also launched the same day, and is headed by Danny and animator Ross O'Donovan aka Rubber Ross. This side series focuses on PC games rather than the console games seen on Game Grumps. The style of this duo channel is pretty much the antithesis of Chuggaaconroy. Throughout the time that its been active, the channel has focused on the people running the show rather that the games they play. In fact, Game Grumps rarely finish games and usually quit them once they get bored. The show also isn't heavily edited and it's much more casual. For many, this is the preferred style of Let's Play and it has proven to be a very successful formula for the show. 

3. Markiplier

Mark Edward Fischbach aka Markiplier is a solo Let's Player that seems to fall between the styles presented by Chuggaaconroy and the Game Grumps. Starting in 2012, Markiplier is one of the fastest growing Let's Play channels on YouTube, amassing a whopping four million subscribers in just two years. Iconic for his smooth, deep voice and humble, energetic personality, Markiplier is a Let's Player that likes to enjoy the game he's playing but also act goofy and joke around while he's at it. He doesn't complete games usually, but he finishes them and tries to work his way through the problems at hand while also trying to entertain the audience. He also utilizes Facecam in almost all of his videos. This sets him of the middle of the spectrum, and is successful because he appeals to both classic and modern Lets Play fans. Markiplier plays PC games almost exclusively but will play console games on occasion. Like Pewdipie, he'll sometimes play little internet flash games for fun but will also play story and gameplay heavy games such as Alien Isolation and The Evil Within. He also has a great love for Indie developers as well and plays several obscure games to give them exposure. All of these aspects allows for a great blend of old and new styles and is driven by his incredibly kind and energetic personality. He is a Let's Player that truly offers something special for everyone. 

Tips for Beginners! Episode 2

They say "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" but really, nothing can be further from the truth. When it comes to creating anything, paintings, models, shows or music, imitation only leads to the deterioration of ones image in the face of others. To be clear, I'm not referring to plagiarism, which is a much worse offense. I'm talking about taking an artists idea, and basically doing the same thing but with a different coat of paint. For instance, say I wanted to become a film maker and really loved the work of James Cameron. I loved his new film Avatar for its stunning visuals, amazing script and overall message. Inspired by this, I decided to create a film similar to his, only my film used all of the same camera shots, has similar sweeping moments and had a different overall message. It's not against the law to do this because my film is entirely different from his but it's also nothing new. So why should people care? If you were to see the same kind of film with the same motifs and camera techniques, wouldn't you get bored of it? By adding nothing new to the style, you are essentially just cashing in on a formula that's already been proven to be successful and creating nothing of substance. This is why the tip for beginners this time is to strive to be more than your inspirations. Give the public a reason to watch you over someone else. Try to be innovative with your content by introducing new segments or elements that isn't common in the sea of similar creators like yourself. This is imperative to do with Let's Plays being that it's the most popular genre of videos on YouTube so trying to get noticed is not an easy task. You can do what everyone else is doing and be fine but it's best to throw in a few things to spice it up! Maybe include comedy sketches in your video from time to time. Game Grumps does this from time to time and while not too common, it's certainly a breath of fresh air compared to a standard Let's Play video. It makes itself different and sets it apart from most things out there because of it. Though it's also important to keep in mind that you should also never stray too far from the standard formula. You can try to be different all you want and include new things that haven't been seen before, but if you change too much, you might end up diluting the art form and confusing viewers, taking away what was good about it in the first place. That's why it's very important that you never forget what works and what doesn't. As a content creator, you must be able to gauge the staples of what art form your taking on and leave them be for its very risky and dangerous to tamper with those. Instead, seek out what's considered boring or mundane in the art form such as facecam per say. For example, try giving Facecam a reason to be there, such as only including it in your horror game let's plays to show your scared reactions or showing yourself acting goofy while playing Dance, Dance Revolution. It's things like that you can try to change and in turn, be unique with. In the sea of never ending Let's Plays, it's important that you try to be unique in your approach.

YouTube now supports 60 FPS!

In a surprise update, YouTube announced that its platform now allows for 60 FPS playback! Now you might be thinking to yourself  "Well what the heck does that mean and why does it matter?". Trust me on this, it's a huge deal because internet videos look absolutely incredible thanks to this update. For those who aren't familiar with technical terms, FPS stands for frames per second which is essentially how many frames of movement there are in a video or movie. The higher the frames per second, the better quality is for the animation. Before this update, YouTube was unfortunately locked into 30 FPS. This is because YouTube is the biggest video streaming website in the world with many users online a a time so, in order to prevent massive slow down and extended loading time for users with slower internet, they locked all of the videos into a safe and conservative 30 FPS. It's pretty good for web video standards but doesn't show the capabilities of full high definition. In professional animation, you can have a resolution as high as 4K (A resolution that goes beyond the current highest standard, 1080p) but if the FPS is say a mere 15 FPS, it's not going to look that great in movement. It's one thing to look at a still image at 1080p but fluid movement is needed to have a solid animation. This means that FPS is essentially more important than resolution when it comes to animation. If you still can't visualize this whole concept in your head, check out GameXplains recent comparison video.

Now it must be mentioned that in order to see the highest quality, you must be browsing on Google chrome and have the 1080p 60FPS option selected in the video's time bar. Once equipped you can clearly see the difference. It's so buttery smooth and is very easy on the eyes. To some, this might not seem like much, but I believe this is revolutionary for YouTube and internet video websites as a whole. Upgrading from 30 to 60 FPS allows us to watch YouTube in true HD for the first time. It's like watching an actual television! This is especially good for Let's Play channels because they are the ones who will probably use this feature the most. Before the upgrade, the quality of the games visuals were unfortunately forcibly downgraded and could never show the true potential of the visuals. Now, content creators can create deep and meaningful content while also having gorgeous looking quality. This can definitely help out some creators because now their content will look more professional and will be able to attract a bigger audience. The 60 FPS feature used to only be exclusive to game news media websites such as IGN who don't have as heavy traffic as YouTube does video wise. With this new feature, content creators can now have the quality of a corporations video and that's a nice advantage to have for an independent content creator. It's safe to say that Let's Plays never looked so good.