Poll: Totalbiscuit

[Calcium]

I'd say the "I really enjoy his style, find him honest, intelligent and informative" plus the arrogant part. He produces good quality content as far as I'm concerned, though as was said in the very first reply, he's "got that air of PC Master Race", that I'm not that fond of.

The ShoutCraft America tournament set up by Genna and himself was pretty awesome; watched as much of it as I could but missed the finals! I heard the result though before I could watch a VoD, but intend to get around to watching it eventually.

 

[JB1528]

He is definitely as arrogant, whiny, and suffering from delusions of grandeur as his critics claim he is... However I still find him informative, entertaining, and sometimes even funny (When paired with Jesse Cox), so I still watch his videos.

 

[BanicRhys]

I stopped caring when he stopped doing Blueplz.

The fact that he's part of the whole Game Station crowd doesn't help my opinion of him, though. Oh, how I loathe that Jesse Cox and Dodger for some reason I cannot comprehend.

 

[Timmaaaah]

I agree with a lot of what he says. Specifically about Modern Military Shooters.

 

[Lorpo]

Just another idiot with a youtube channel and an opinion. The most notice I take of these type of people is to have a bit of a look at their channel to find out who they are and why people care.

 

[Bonecrusher]

So how I'd like you to answer this poll. First option is if he is your go-to place for video game information, and you watch pretty much all his content as a result. Second option you would watch his "WFT is..." series for information on a game you are thinking about getting, but not much else besides. Third option you neither know nor care that much about him or his videos. Forth, you don't like the style, length, content or whatever of his videos and thus don't watch them. Fifth option you actively despise his personality.

Go!

Everybody in gaming review sites and gaming community forums, talk about how awesome Sonic, Mario, Castlevania, Megaman, Zelda or Metroid is. Everybody are over obsessed with console games, especially NES and SNES mascot titles, and PC gaming is being neglected around. There are very rare places which are informed and have knowledge about PC gaming stuff. CynicalBrit/Totalbiscuit is one of them. So he is like an Oasis to us PC gamers.

Do I trust his reviews?
Absolutely.
Why?
Because he has an interesting reviewing methodology. Every other web sites review games according to their potential popularity. For example Skyrim has many many many flaws, but the popular gaming sites don't mention them, they just overhype the game just because it is potential high selling game, and then give it automatic 9.9/10 score, just because it is an AAA game.
He doesn't do crap reviews like that. He shows gameplay footage taken close after the beginning of the game. Therefore you can see every fault and good points of reviewed game first hand. He explores the game, and then shares his thoughts mixed with his gaming experiences. He doesn't give a score according to the popularity of the game. He explains everything about the game with simple facts.
That's why I trust his reviews. And I get enjoyment from his reviews.

Who is my other favorite reviewer? Angry Joe.
His style is not exactly same with CynicalBrit. However he reviews games with great care, detail and depth. He shows different parts from the game and explains why they are good or bad. At the end of the review, when he gives the final score, you can understand why he gives that exact score for the game.

It is not surprising TotalBiscuit and Angry Joe are friends and playing games with each other. (By the way I love TTWTG channel, Nostalgia Critic, Linkara, Blockbuster Buster are my favorites, and as an ex-staff, Spoony)

Of course TotalBiscuit can be very ignorant sometimes. That makes him look like arrogant. Some of his behaviours can be annoying and irritating. I wish he was not that ignorant to his community so much.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

He's not my main source of information and I probably wouldn't buy a game or not based solely on something he said, but I do find his videos entertaining and they are a thorough and honest analysis. It seems to me that he's a very particular player in terms of what he likes in a game, although he does admit that often. As far as the Cynical Brit, that's sort of typical. While I don't think the fact that he's British should be a selling point, he is cynical and British.

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

I don't watch his WTF is... series but I do watch did others. Also I usually agree on most things.

 

[Vigormortis]

If I wanted to listen to someone childish and abrasive, I'd record myself talking about video games.

Maybe you should.

In fact, find someone with differing opinions to sit in with you during the sessions.

Call it "Point / Counterpoint".

Keep it as abrasive as possible. Fill it with lots of wacky, noisy nonsense. And bam, you'll quickly become the next "big" Youtube star. God knows that's what many youtubers like...

 

[romxxii]

Yeah, I'd say the thing that kind of puts me off to him is his sense of self-importance. Jim Sterling does it as part of a character. As far as I can tell Biscuit's not acting in his videos.

He's acting, or at least exaggerating his personality quirks. He's more than capable of behaving like a regular human being:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGaCjM2hal4

 

[hazabaza1]

I think he is smug, naive and annoying but there aren't any other ways to get news about new Indie games (which I am a fan of) so I see him as a necessary evil.

Northernlion.
Does similar videos without sounding annoying and while apparently him and TB agree with a lot of stuff he doesn't actively search out shitty comments and then complain about finding them.

 

[lacktheknack]

Well, you know. The guy has a strong opinion. He's also not swayed by ad revenue and gives you his honest, unfiltered impression of the games he plays.

Like Tom Chick, Total Biscuit is the kind of game reviewer people should want MORE of. Not because he's a nice guy, or because you agree with everything he says, but because he'll give it to you straight, even if "it" is a complete skewering of a game you think merits praise.

But Tom Chick comes across as positively trolling for views. He gave Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm a two out of five because the game consists of, and I quote, "six and a quarter units (unless you count the campaign, but why would you do that?)".

Why, indeed.

OT: He's OK, I guess. I've only watched the WTF Is... series, which is entertaining and thorough. So I guess I like him.

 

[Timmaaaah]

The true cynical brit is Yahtzee. He at least swears gratuitously in his videos.

I've watched a few of his vids and didn't find them all that great. If others enjoy the videos, then good for them. I'm also not that bothered about the whole comment clensing thing he apparently gets/got up to. Apparently that annoys folks.

Yahtzee is far superior at writing his material. Much more clever really and almost always funny.

 

[Bonecrusher]

Just another idiot with a youtube channel

We are quick to despise and insult other people just because they are different from us. Oh, the great humanatee.

Yahtzee is far superior at writing his material. Much more clever really and almost always funny.

Yes, as Escapist users we are all love Yahtzee. His videos are very funny, enjoyable, and full of humor.
However he is a bad reviewer. That's the difference between TotalBiscuit and Yahtzee. One is superior at teasing a game, the other is superior at explaining the game. Which one is your preference, is totally depends on your needs.

 

[talideon]

I really don't get the anti-TB hate. I think this might be partly cultural. I'm Irish, so I'm very much used to cultural cynicism--genuine cultural cynicism, not some snide facsimile[1]--and if I'm out with my friends, it's practically expected that we'll rib one another. In fact, it's a sign of affection! It's your closest friends who you are most comfortable ribbing and being ribbed by.

TB is honest in his (subjective) opinion (it's "WTF is", not a review, on purpose), he'll put up videos warning people of things, the'll put up retraction videos and apology videos, explaining in full why the video is going up. The one thing that people can't say about the man is that he is nothing short of fastidiously honest.

We all have a choice as to the media we consume. We can find those who have similar tastes to our own; we can find those those whose tastes are diametrically opposed to our own, but whose opinions we respect, we can find those who we find entertaining. But always, always we have a choice as to what we're subscribed to.

If you don't like TB, stop watching his videos. You want to hurt him in his wallet? Stop watching his videos. Stop bitching and moaning about him, and just stop watching the man's videos. However, if you appreciate what the man does and appreciate that he's only ever trying to offer his own honest subjective opinion about things, regardless of whether you agree with him or not, stay subscribed.

You always have a choice. Don't let your anger deny you that.

And yes, this comment has footnotes:

[1] Here and in the UK, it's practically expected that you exhibit a certain degree of exaggerated quasi-cruel laconic wit. Read what I write carefully: it's exaggerated, only quasi-cruel (thus avoiding anything that truly hurts, but still caricaturing the target, often viciously to the uninitiated), but always wittily (to dull the cut). And this is expected to cut both ways: if you're cut with the sharp blade of wit, you may cut the other way freely, and the best of friend cut deepest to keep their friends on level ground.

 

[carlh267]

He's a good youtube commentator, but by god does he subscribe to the PC gaming master race sometimes. The man rarely can find anything good to say about consoles. If you can get around that, its good content.

Other than that though, he's a pretty cool guy and doesn't skirt around the issues. Also a big proponent of showcasing indie titles, which I am a huge fan of.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

But Tom Chick comes across as positively trolling for views. He gave Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm a two out of five because the game consists of, and I quote, "six and a quarter units (unless you count the campaign, but why would you do that?)".

Why, indeed.

OT: He's OK, I guess. I've only watched the WTF Is... series, which is entertaining and thorough. So I guess I like him.

Chick's been doing this since long before "trolling for views" even existed in the public vernacular. He's probably the longest serving games critic in the world. Is he contentious? Definitely. Do I agree with him a lot? Definitely not.

He is, however, honest. And he uses the entire scale, not 7-10. For these two things alone I admire him, even if I consider his taste in games utterly whacked sometimes.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I like him and really any youtuber that is connected to him. I think he is informative and I would say I agree with what he says 90% or more of the time. Lately I just haven't had the time to stay fully up to day with everything he does, though I do watch one or two of his videos he does a week at least, and the TGS Podcast.

He's pretty relevant to me even more so when I see the group dynamic when he interacts with the others on the TGS Podcast, because it feels just like any group conversation I have with my friends that game. Really, it's sometimes scary how relevant they are to what my friends are up to. A friend of mine not too long ago got into the Star Wars X-Wing miniatures game, then in the Podcast the next week, TB mentioned how he gotten into the game and showed of his recent purchases. Then another friend of mine introduced me and our other friends to a card game called Munchkin, then in the podcast the following week, Dodger talked about having played a cool new card game called Munchkin.

Basically, TB and the others he is involved with provide just the right material I want to watch.

Why isnt there an option which mixes the top and bottom choices?
because thats what he is.

but i do like most of his videos..... except when he goes off o the deep end and says games are broken because they dont have the almighty FOV slider of destiny.

Did you ever think there is a reason for that?

He has mentioned many times when he talks about FOV that low FOV's make him physically sick. Games and how they are presented can effect people in many ways. Look at 3D games, that can make people sick and give them headaches.

I myself get get a knot in my stomach and it feels like my brain is vibrating in my head whenever I make and watch the character I'm controlling jump from a really high height.