Angry video game nerd

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James Rolfe in the role of Angry Video Game Nerd (2008)

The Angry Video Game Nerd (abbreviated AVGN , formerly The Angry Nintendo Nerd ) is the title character and name of a satirical web video series about video games by James Duncan Rolfe (born July 10, 1980). The content of the show is older, above all poor quality and fun-free video games (in the early episodes for Nintendo platforms such as the Nintendo Entertainment System , or NES for short), played by James Rolfe as a nerd and reviewed with crude comments . The series began on YouTube , was later introduced at ScrewAttack Entertainment and then signed exclusively for GameTrailers until 2013. Since 2018, new episodes have been published in advance on Amazon Prime before appearing on YouTube a little later.

The titular Nerd is an increasingly bad-tempered video player with New Jersey - dialect . His reviews are characterized above all by highly subjective and exaggerated statements as well as a language that is not suitable for young people ( swear words and fecal language ). In order to "alleviate the pain" supposedly caused by playing bad games, the character celebrates excessive beer consumption (mostly of the brands " Rolling Rock " and " Yuengling "). In 2014 , the movie Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie was released in the United States and is now available worldwide on DVD , BD , or as a download .

history

The series began in March 2004 with brief reviews of two NES games on its own website. In 2006 James Rolfe posted the videos on YouTube under the name "Angry Nintendo Nerd". He later changed the name to "Angry Video Game Nerd" in order to be able to review games from other manufacturers on the one hand and to avoid copyright problems on the other . As a result, Rolfe no longer only reviewed NES games, but also games for Atari 2600 , Famicom, SNES / Super Famicom , Sega Master System , Sega Genesis / Mega Drive , Sega Saturn , PlayStation , Nintendo 64, etc. In addition, video game-related topics also found their way into the series, such as the Power Glove , the Atari 5200 , Philips CD-i , Sega Mega-CD , Sega 32X , Virtual Boy , as well as a film review for Turtles III and a tribute to Nintendo Power magazine.

Rolfe reports on his website that the first videos were created out of pure lust and were only intended for his friends. At that time he did not think of showing them to a wide audience. At the suggestion of a friend, Rolfe put the videos on the Internet , where they have since become more and more popular and have given him a steadily growing fan base . His videos grew longer and grew into a full-blown series, complete with cover covers for each video, a theme song and merchandise .

After his fourth review on YouTube, he joined ScrewAttack and was employed by MTV Networks. Since then, the rights for the videos have been exclusively with GameTrailers until 2013. New episodes were uploaded to YouTube about a year and a half after they were first published. However, there were corresponding trailers for each new video on Rolfe's YouTube account. Each trailer had a hyperlink to the full episode on GameTrailers. Since Mike Matei provided the channel with new posts in the summer of 2012 in James' absence, new videos have been published almost simultaneously on Cinemassacre and YouTube.

In the episode Toxic Crusaders (2013), filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman , co-founder of the production company Troma and director of Toxic Avenger , is a guest. In the episode Sega Activator and Aura Interactor (2016) the actor and comedian Nathan Barnatt appears. Macaulay Culkin , a former child star and star of Kevin - Home Alone is, in the episode Home Alone with Macaulay Culkin Games testing (2018) as a guest, in the Rolfe video games, which are based on the movies.

Style of the videos

James Rolfe uses a style that is completely untypical for video game reviews in his videos: he films himself, mostly sitting in front of the television , and plays. This simple principle is supplemented by numerous curses, animations, anger about the bad game and sometimes by guest appearances by his friends. Thus, it is not the game or the platform that is in the foreground, but the player himself. According to the behavior of the protagonist , the series is tailored to an adult audience.

Every now and then Mike Matei - a friend of Rolfes - slips into the costumes of famous characters such as Bugs Bunny , Freddy Krueger , Jason Voorhees , Leatherface or Michael Myers . The respective celebrity is related to the game presented by Rolfe. Matei also draws the title cards for the episodes.

As a running gag, games that were produced by the developer LJN appear repeatedly, as Rolfe finds almost all games from this company bad.

In episode 117, however, he tests a game ( Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage ) that he describes as neat and when it turns out that this is from LJN, this is almost celebrated.

popularity

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

In March 2013, Rolfe's “Cinemassacre” YouTube channel reached two million subscribers; currently (as of August 2020) the channel has more than 3.3 million subscribers.

On August 8, 2007, Rolfe's portrayals gained a lot of attention when his videos were a topic of conversation on the Opie and Anthony Radio Show (a very popular radio show in the United States). Since then, clips of the videos have occasionally been brought to the show. On January 9, 2008, James Rolfe was even interviewed by Opie and Anthony .

The Angry Video Game Nerd was part of a review of ScrewAttack.com in Spike TV’s Game Head in the week of November 25, 2007. The spot contained clips of his previous reviews. On December 12, 2007, CNN aired a short feature on James Rolfe's You Know What's Bullshit series in News To Me .

On November 28, 2008, an article about his work was published on Spiegel Online .

show

music

The music for the nerd's theme song was written by independent musician Kyle Justin, with the help of James Rolfe. Occasionally, Kyle Justin guest stars on the series, including a. also as Spider-Man .

The original version of the song, which the title character calls "Angry Nintendo Nerd", was only played with an acoustic guitar . The second recording is similar to the original, but was implemented more elaborately and provided with an additional text segment ("The Angry Video Game Nerd"). This version is only used occasionally, however. A. used in the Rocky Review and later in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Review . The third version, which debuted in the Atari 5200 video , was recorded with an electric guitar and drums . For the most part, it goes back to the original version. However, a version similar to the second is usually used. The full length of the latter is only included in the Sega CD review .

Apart from that, there are always parodies of existing songs. In the Bible Games video, the Christmas song Santa Claus is coming to Town is rewritten, in the Spider-Man review the matching theme song, in Fester's Quest that of the Addams Family and in the Batman review the real theme song became from the first TV series used. The tribute to Nintendo Power magazine is enhanced with a cover of the music from the television commercial . The song of the same name by the band Foreigner is covered in the double episode Double Vision . All songs are played and sung by Kyle Justin. From time to time remixes / covers (techno version, SID version, orchestral version) by fans of the AVGN theme can be heard in the intro or outro.

DVD

On November 18, 2007, the first AVGN DVD set was released. It includes all of the episodes down to the Bible Games videos. A few videos, like Back to the Future and Rocky , have been removed to avoid copyright infringement and replaced with new material. The DVD contains extended versions of the Wally Bear and the NO Gang! - and Rocky videos, as well as documentaries and unused recordings. The playing time of the set is approximately three hours. According to Rolfe, the DVD sold out in less than a week.

On November 15, 2008, the second DVD set containing three discs was released. It contains the GameTrailers.com episodes from the Atari 5200 review to An An Angry Nerd Christmas Carol , outtakes , the review trailers posted on YouTube and comments.

On December 12, 2009, the three-disc third DVD set was released. It contains the gametrailers.com episodes from Chronologically Confused to the Zelda series and Bible Games 2 . The double review of The Wizard and Super Mario Bros. 3 was shortened to the Mario Brothers scenes, again to avoid copyright problems. Three episodes have been expanded. The set includes outtakes and a tour of the nerd's room.

Volume 4 was released on 3 DVDs on December 15, 2010 . In addition to the episodes from 2009, you will also find exclusive bonus material on the discs.

In 2015 a Blu-ray Disc named AVGN X was released for the tenth anniversary with episodes 1 to 100.

Video game

On April 8, 2013, it was announced that an official AVGN video game was in development. It was released on September 20, 2013 under the name Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures on the Internet distribution platform Steam . The game graphics are based on the style of jump-'n'-run games from the 8-bit era . In addition to the PC version, offshoots for the Nintendo game platforms 3DS (June 2015) and Wii U (April 2015) were also released. The game received mostly good ratings and was praised for its humor, challenging level of difficulty and soundtrack.

In October 2015, developer Freakzone Games announced the sequel Angry Video Game Nerd II: ASSimilation , which was released in winter 2015.

Film adaptation

Via the crowdfunding portal Indiegogo , Rolfe managed to raise $ 325,000 for the realization of the film Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie . On November 10, 2012, after several months of filming, a first trailer was published on Rolfes' homepage.

The film premiered on July 21, 2014 at Grauman's Egyptian Theater in Hollywood . The tickets for the event were sold out shortly after the announcement. The first reviews were mostly positive, even if the critics often referred to the amateurish look of the film:

“Proudly crowdfunded by fans worldwide, the film gleefully showcases B-movie excess and ineptitude, from the intentionally amateurish acting to the impressively DIY special effects. Rolfe, a bona fide Internet celebrity with over 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube, comes across as more of an on-camera provocateur than a polished performer, although his exaggerated style suits the material, with the rest of the cast pretty much following suit. "

“Proudly funded by fans all over the world, the film lively shows a silly B-movie excess, from the deliberately amateurish acting performance to the impressive DIY special effects. Rolfe, a down-to-earth internet celebrity with more than 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube, provokes more in front of the camera than trying to achieve a perfect performance. But that fits the rest of the film - the other actors follow his example. "

- Justin Lowe : Hollywood Reporter

Private

James Rolfe is married. His wife occasionally speaks up on his side as "Miss Nerd". At the presentation of the trailer for his film in late 2012, he announced that his wife was pregnant. The daughter was born in April 2013. In 2017, James Rolfe announced that his wife was pregnant with another child.

Web links

Commons : Angry Video Game Nerd  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ James D. Rolfe on imdb.com
  2. ↑ See new AVGN early on Amazon on cinemassacre.com
  3. ↑ Paragraph “What was the reason for the name change from“ Nintendo ”nerd to“ Video Game ”Nerd?“ On James Rolfe's homepage . Visited on May 11, 2011.
  4. ↑ AVGN: Toxic Crusaders on Cinemassacre.com, accessed October 15, 2013
  5. ↑ Cinemassacre: Wish List "Part 2" - Angry Video Game Nerd - Episode 117 December 19, 2013, accessed on March 29, 2018 .
  6. ↑ YouTube statistics for the Cinemassacre channel. socialblade.com, accessed June 9, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Angry Video Game Nerd rips up games
  8. ↑ Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures. In: Steam. Retrieved September 24, 2013 .
  9. ↑ AVGN Adventures - Official Debut Teaser. ( Online video) In: Cinemassacre Productions. April 8, 2013, accessed April 9, 2013 .
  10. ↑ Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures bound for 3DS, Wii U on Destructoid, accessed October 15, 2013
  11. ↑ He's gonna take you back to the past ... on Destructoid, accessed October 15, 2013
  12. ↑ Test: Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures on 4Players , accessed on October 15, 2013
  13. ↑ The Angry Video Game Nerd returns with AVGN II: ASSimilation this winter on Shacknews.com, accessed December 5, 2015
  14. ↑ Fans finance the AVGN movie
  15. ↑ Trailer for Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
  16. ↑ Screenings of the film