Reviewing Escapist magazine

[erbkaiser]

Let me start with the negatives:

I really don't like the condescending Jim Sterling show. There are more videos I don't care much for (yet?) such as the drinking game, but at least those don't go out of their way to insult me. If I were to use the same language on the forums, I'd get warned, suspended, and then banned.

I also don't like how sometimes new Escapist content is hard to find: new articles sometimes get placed under older news stories in the 'Latest News' section on the main page, which is the main way I navigate this site. The buttons above this section are too unreliable for me to actually find out what is new content. Basically navigation on this site is horrid.

What I like:
Most of the videos. There is a great mix between serious reviews (e.g. The Escapist's staff reviews), humourous reviews (Zero Punctuation, Escape to the Movies), occasionally insightful opinion (Extra Credits, MovieBob and Yahtzee's other stuff), and news about videogaming that is brought in a non-PR way.
The weekly issues, although I understand those are now at an end. As long as their content remains (and it looks like it will), I'm happy with it... but I hope I will be able to find them (see above).
I also like a good part of the forum community, and how it is not too intrusive. You can avoid them completely and never be bothered by it, and some of the threads are great. Many times the comments on some content are as insightful as the content itself.
Love the comics, all of them. I miss the ones that quit though (Shamus, come back!).

 

[Gunner 51]

I do rather like the articles, some of them are quite thought provoking. I also like MovieBob, Extra Credits, Zero Punctuation. But for me, the forums is where a lot of the action is.

However, I do miss Lisa Foiles for her quirky sense of humour and Rebecca Mayes for letting me remember what the West Country looks like. (I lived around her neck of the woods for half my life.)

One thing that I am not too fussed on the Jimquisition, though I have to admit - it is improving steadily.

 

[MaxwellEdison]

I like Extra Credits and forums.

Not so much Jim, like, at all.

Or the moderation.

 

[Palademon]

don't believe in evolution your labeled a idiotic fuck up

I wouldn't say 'idiotic fuck'. More, 'willfully ignorant'. I can't see how anyone in this day and age wouldn't believe in evolution unless they intentionally ignored all the evidence for it. Same with global warming.

But I'm going off on a tangent now.

well see for me that post was a rant because really its stupid how carried away people (like me) get when it comes to evolution. I do believe in it but I respect others views where other people on this forum get carried away and think your a idiot when mainly you probably don't wish to deal with the topic at all. I don't call that ignorance as much as "I don't want to seem like a dick about religion or evolution, so I choose to keep my believes to me and talk about sports or games with my mates other than talk and have a argument about evolution that will get us no where except to the land of smug" Just because they don't see what you see has no reason to go bad shit crazy on their ass. Yet maybe that's just me.

Don't worry, I'm with you.
On that thread about Evolution where the first two paragrpahs were saying "People saying they don't believe in evolution as if that's a reasonable opinion", I thought that was warning worthy, but everyone else just went "I'm glad you could talk about this so calmly" even though some of the arguments like "Evolution is a hoax: Well then I think gravity is hoax" were stupid because gravity is something each person can individually observe.

Also, there are people who logically don't believe in global wanring now since Earth goes through cycles anyway.

 

[SammiYin]

I love Moviebob, like Yahtzee and Extra Credits

I'm really, really, really sickened by the communities excess snobbery on 'games are art'.
Oh and the bandwagoning, "Oh I want to have a pony avatar because everyone else does", "I want to hate cod because everyone else does", "The original Half life was perfect because everyone else says so"

Urgh

Edit, also don't get me started on what happens to people who say Portal was "ok"

 

[Caligulust]

I enjoy Zero Punctuation, Extra Credits, and sometimes the Big Picture.
However, the Loading Ready Run cast is growing on me.

The Big Picture is a hit and miss with me. I generally stop enjoying it when he begins to preach. Otherwise, most of what he has to say is interesting.

 

[BanicRhys]

I love Moviebob's shows, they're always good.
ZP is decent, but I never take Yahtzee's reviews seriously.
The Jimquisition is funny, I like the character Jim puts on.
Extra Credits is interesting but not much else. Although the illustrations done by the artist they had last episode were pretty funny.
I generally only watch Unskippable when I'm bored but it's decent.

The forum community is decent (if not for a few overzealous anti-theists) but the moderation is a little silly regarding some subjects. Plus, having to go 6 months without an infraction to lower your forum health is ridiculous.

 

[Oracle144]

I love Extra Credits, Moviebob, Zero Punctuation, and LRR. I wasn't too keen on Lisa Foilies, and I dislike Jimquisition.

And the forums are ok. =P

Oh and the bandwagoning, "Oh I want to have a pony avatar because everyone else does", "I want to hate cod because everyone else does", "The original Half life was perfect because everyone else says so"

Hah, I'm guilty of bandwagoning, at least when it comes to my avatar. I mean, I do legitimately like MLP, but I only decided to get an avatar because so many other people had one.

But I don't like to jump on hatewagons. Personally, army themed shooters really aren't my thing, and I have my fingers crossed that they'll stop being so prominent one day, but I have nothing against people who play them.

 

[Secret world leader (shhh)]

I like Extra Credits and Moviebob's stuff. Zero Punctuation is pretty cool too.
The articles are usually a good read as well and the forums are just badass.

However I'm still not sure about jimquisistion and I really wish they would bring back Unforgotten Realms and Doomsday Arcade.

On a semi-related note does anyone know where you can watch the new unforgotten realms episodes (after it moved away from the escapist)?

 

[SonicKoala]

I believe the content on this website is top-notch; Yahtzee's content, MovieBob's content, Extra Credits, Jimquisition (unlike most people on this site, I've always found his persona rather endearing. That, and the music for his show kicks serious ass), the content from the LoadingReadyRun crew, MiracleofSound's bi-weekly song, the Podcasts, the reviews - yeah, it's because of that stuff that I keep returning to this website.

The only complaint I have is this - when the hell is Doraleous and Associates coming back? They said it was going to be 3 months...that was 6 months ago D:

 

[SwagLordYoloson]

InB4Lock

Last guy to make a thread with his opinions about the community got his thread locked and he got a warning. The mods don't like it around here if you say something bad about the forum.

 

[Toriver]

I love Moviebob's shows, they're always good.
ZP is decent, but I never take Yahtzee's reviews seriously.
The Jimquisition is funny, I like the character Jim puts on.
Extra Credits is interesting but not much else. Although the illustrations done by the artist they had last episode were pretty funny.
I generally only watch Unskippable when I'm bored but it's decent.

The forum community is decent (if not for a few overzealous anti-theists) but the moderation is a little silly regarding some subjects. Plus, having to go 6 months without an infraction to lower your forum health is ridiculous.

This is pretty close to my feelings, though I dislike Jim and I like Extra Credits more than the quoted post seems to put it. The forums can seem pretty condescending and at the same time immature about issues, (or better yet, condescending about immaturity), but I just can't find another forum community I would enjoy more. This place is pretty unique.

 

[TornadoFive]

I enjoy ZP, EC, LRR, Unskippable, Feed Dump but most of all Miracle of Sound. Seriously, the guys awesome.

The webcomics are OK. I really liked Stolen pixels, it's a shame it's not been updated for weeks. The others are kinda hit and miss. They're not bad, it's just, they've all been done before.

The forums can occasionally be interesting, even if most of the topics have NO discussion value at all. Come on people! Make a little bit of effort!

But the main reason I visit this site everyday is the news. This is the best place I've found to get all the news on gaming, as well as other topics that are sometimes related, sometimes not, but always interesting.

As for everything I've not mentioned, I ignore it. It's either or no interest to me, such as MovieBob's stuff. Or I loathe it with a passion, like the "Jimquistion". Seriously, the guy's just irritating. His videos aren't really that professional either! Come on Escapist, you can do better than that!

 

[The Wooster]

I like the videos.
Extra Credits is very entertaining.
I miss Unforgotten Realms though |:

The forums- The community has gone to hell in my opinion.
And people still wonder why we have "Forum Health Bars."

EDIT: How could I forget, I adore Critical Miss and Stolen Pixels.

And we adore you, Walrus-with-a-monacle-guy.

 

[ZiggyE]

Get rid of the forums, keep everything else.

You know you don't have to post. Right? You do realize that? You also have enough self control not to post to forums you don't want to post to, right?

Crazy isn't it.

I'm well aware I'm under no obligation to post here. I come here when I want to laugh at the high dose of ignorance that is The Escapist forums. For example, when people try to defend people who don't believe in evolution.

Even Yahtzee admitted he could barely stomach one or two pages of comments on his own videos.

 

[Valagetti]

You know reviewing a reviewer or review, is a little insane. How do you go go about reviewing Yahtzee's review on inFamous 2? Its his opinion, how can you review opinions? Its someones observation and they processed their viewing and decided whether they prefer it to Prototype or what not. If you come up with some rationisation of reasoning to review a review, then I'll review your review of a review... then some singularity of reviews will begin.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

You know reviewing a reviewer or review, is a little insane. How do you go go about reviewing Yahtzee's review on inFamous 2? Its his opinion, how can you review opinions? Its someones observation and they processed their viewing and decided whether they prefer it to Prototype or what not. If you come up with some rationisation of reasoning to review a review, then I'll review your review of a review... then some singularity of reviews will begin.

I think its reviewing the quality of the site as a whole, also Yahtzee is a comedian first and foremost, so its entirely valid to review him. The only serious reviews are the ones the escapist itself does.

To be honest, Im only here for Zero Punctuation, Extra Credits, Extra Punctuation and the forums. Although the forums can get a tad pretentious at times, on the whole its generally filled with likeable people.
If i were to say a negative I would have to say what the hell was the Escapist thinking when they picked up Jim Sterling?

 

[Valagetti]

If I had to attempt to review a review, it would be Movie Bob, just to do with his target audience being unsolid. Though you can easily take that for a good or bad thing. And I don't mean Bobs reviews are on a 'gaming site'. I mean his age group.

 

[Valagetti]

You know reviewing a reviewer or review, is a little insane. How do you go go about reviewing Yahtzee's review on inFamous 2? Its his opinion, how can you review opinions? Its someones observation and they processed their viewing and decided whether they prefer it to Prototype or what not. If you come up with some rationisation of reasoning to review a review, then I'll review your review of a review... then some singularity of reviews will begin.

I think its reviewing the quality of the site as a whole, also Yahtzee is a comedian first and foremost, so its entirely valid to review him. The only serious reviews are the ones the escapist itself does.

To be honest, Im only here for Zero Punctuation, Extra Credits, Extra Punctuation and the forums. Although the forums can get a tad pretentious at times, on the whole its generally filled with likeable people.
If i were to say a negative I would have to say what the hell was the Escapist thinking when they picked up Jim Sterling?

Yeah not I'm gonna start a singularity, I only do those on Wednesdays. That is a good argument, but I mean the specifics. As in, Yahtzee likes a super hero sandbox, beacuse he was the first to come up with it. How can you review that? And yes I 'highly dislike' Jim Stirling as well!

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

You know reviewing a reviewer or review, is a little insane. How do you go go about reviewing Yahtzee's review on inFamous 2? Its his opinion, how can you review opinions? Its someones observation and they processed their viewing and decided whether they prefer it to Prototype or what not. If you come up with some rationisation of reasoning to review a review, then I'll review your review of a review... then some singularity of reviews will begin.

I think its reviewing the quality of the site as a whole, also Yahtzee is a comedian first and foremost, so its entirely valid to review him. The only serious reviews are the ones the escapist itself does.

To be honest, Im only here for Zero Punctuation, Extra Credits, Extra Punctuation and the forums. Although the forums can get a tad pretentious at times, on the whole its generally filled with likeable people.
If i were to say a negative I would have to say what the hell was the Escapist thinking when they picked up Jim Sterling?

Yeah not I'm gonna start a singularity, I only do those on Wednesdays. That is a good argument, but I mean the specifics. As in, Yahtzee likes a super hero sandbox, beacuse he was the first to come up with it. How can you review that? And yes I 'highly dislike' Jim Stirling as well!

I suppose you dont review the fact that he likes the super hero sandbox, more like how he goes about it? The style thats the word im looking for.