PressSpotting: Ramblin' with Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw

ZP is awesome. love his reviews.

Yahtzee is the Jeremy Clarkson of video games, albeit more juvenile.

Also: "Skinn_E_G He either 1) takes a terrible game and points out obvious flaws or 2) takes AAA games and trashes them for shock value." This is a PERFECT example of the EXACT kind of people who don't like Yahtzee. The idiots who are so up their own rear ends that they only think he's being serious when he's bad-mouthing a game they don't like. I loved Assassin's Creed and Bioshock, and thuroughly enjoyed Devil May Cry 4. Was a SINGLE thing he said about them untrue? No.

"My own position is that we're living in the early days of a new art form, and that the cruellest possible thing you can do to an artist is tell them their work is perfect when it isn't." If only more game reviewers (very much so including you, Gamespot) would realize this. As for Yahtzee himself, frankly I don't care what he thinks of a game because he gives his honest viewpoint. We'd probably argue like all crap if we were to meet. My standards aren't quite as high as his (which is a REALLY scary thought) and I'm a little bit less cultured in the way of PC games (which may explain my adoration when it comes to, say, Bioshock). But, he speaks his opinions, and his opinions are logical. I didn't find No More Heroes fun because the battle system was too simplistic. He found it fun because he isn't too big on the complex fighting thing. Fair enough. I didn't mind DMC4 because the main weapon was extremely suited to my play style and I make use of how complex the fighting system can be. He doesn't care about that and probably wasn't fussed about (maybe didn't even know about ) the more technical side of the sword. Fair enough. Frankly, I wouldn't care if Yahtzee was a huge fan of my most-hated games franchise, Final Fantasy. If he could back it up (a hypothetical, since nobody can logically back up a love of Final Fantasy) then I'd respect that. So, screw all of Yahtzee's detractors. He's funny and he's right, if occasionally egocentric. But, everyone's guilty of that, so shut your hypocritical mouths.

I love this guy's work. After watching one of his reviews I grabbed a coke and a snack and proceeded to watch every other one i could find a link to on The Escapist. Great stuff and right on the money. I almost fell out of my chair laughing at times they were so funny. At the same time I don't recall any points being made that were not true in all their negative glory. Personally, I find this telling it like it is refreshing.

ah good old yahtzee. my first review was his assasins creed review that someone on my forums posted a link to. i enjoyed it and every other of his reviews. my brother personally doesnt like him for some pretty dumb reasons 1. he says he talks to fast and its hard to understand him 2. he shows no gameplay 3. no score 4. he only points out the bad things yea, my brother is pretty biased

I watch Yahtzee's reviews every Wednesday! He's hilarious! Even if he flames a good game he still makes me laugh, and it doesn't even matter which game it is either. "Our SSBB fights could have easily been re-simulated by hurling the controllers down a flight of stairs." ~Yahtzee~

"Look! There's someone jeering at our sacred cow! How dare he?" "Surely he's mad!" "He's not mad! He's a *genius*!" "Aye, he's the only one who dares to tell it like it is! He's the Mr. Dangerous of gaming!" etc. Why am I oddly reminded of the movie "Network"?

YAHTZEE OPENED MY EYES AND IM NO LONGER A BIASED REVIEWER AND I THINK YOU ALL NEED TO SUCK IT UP BECUASE HES BEING HARSH BUT HONEST ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE GAME IM RATHER HARSH MYSELF BUT NOT AS MUCH AS HE IS NOT THAT THATS A BAD THING

Zero punctuation is really funny and i'm glad that there's at least one video-game reviewer that doesn't award games with prizes for doing absolutely nothing at all. His "no-nonsense" attitude is nice to see nowadays and if you don't already watch "Zero punctuation" then now's a good tim to start...

I'm a big fan of this guy. He may be pretty harsh on games, but frankly, I look to Zero Punctuation for entertainment rather than reviews.

Yahtzee's reviews are awful.... because.... well... shoot... oh, got it, the credits at the end, typeface is too small. Hey, he said ya can't say an artists work is perfect. It's a disservice. I do love his Trilby games though.

wow, he's right. negative reviews ARE funnier. no joke about it.

I have to say that Yahtzee is probably the funniest reviewer out there. Even I laughed at the H3 video. However, I laugh less and less at each review. Also, I have to say that after I stop laughing I find it very easy to say, "F-ck 'em." He's insanely critical and he always nit-picks the tiniest things to death. He's also too opinionated. "I don't give a flying sh!t about MP." Well a lot of people do and many games are designed specificly with MP being the main focus. In saying that he's just given a possibly good game a bad score. He can also be half-assed. He'll slam a games plot but make no attempt to understand it.

I love Yahtzee. He's brilliant ;-;

I for one am a fan of ZP and Yahtzee. He amuses me. Reading many of these comments criticizing him, I can see your points. Yes, he nitpicks about everything, and I think that's what makes his reviews fun. He finds little nuances and exploits them. And he isn't ALL negative. He is mostly negative, granted, but he will give games credit where they are exemplary. For example, Crysis was a load of... well, you know... but the graphics were well done on the correct system. Yahtzee makes mention of both. He reviews to his tastes. Not everyone is a fanboy of FF, or drools when the next patch for WoW is announced. He makes this well known. And I would put partial thought into his reviews before buying a game, but like with everything, one source isn't going to cut it.

dannyodywer: He can write quality serious reviews as well. ;)

Gee, wow, Ctrl+Alt+Del really does suck. PA is about as funny as your average news paper funny on a weekday, but WOW, CAD was just crap.

MEH...I don't like them?

brilliant man!

brilliant man!

A brilliant man!

His reviews are hilarious but the more I see form the actual person the more I get the feeling that he's a rather unpleasant person. Maybe him hating CAD, the only gamingcomedie that I laughed more at then his Zero Punctuation has a lot to do with it aswell.

I think the key is to not take them as serious reviews. I've disagreed fully with some of his comments, but that doesn't stop me from laughing heartily at them. He highlights things that aren't as good as they could be and expands them into something funny, which to be honest, is a really good way of providing constructive criticism. For as long as we're all laughing, the industry stands in good stead to greater perfect their products. When we all become angry and (perhaps even more) jaded, then we'll actually be at a point where we stop playing - and indeed paying for - games. I watch Zero Punctuation as a comedy show that I can laugh at, and will always play a game myself to get a true idea of its merrits; afterall, that's all a review is, the response of one person. Everyone will have their own experience of a product, hence all reviews should be taken with a healthy grain of salt.

Text based reviews will never die. because the review is written then orated. Great interview. didnt have to be a video interview to be entertaining and interesting zero punC is amazing

I think he is a funny guy, and his reviews are fun to listen to, and quick witted. I wouldn't ever change my mind about a game just from listening to him though, Part of his gig is ripping apart games in a comical way, so In a way I don't even see it as a game review at all. But still, glad to see an interview with him on here.

He either 1) takes a terrible game and points out obvious flaws or 2) takes AAA games and trashes them for shock value. He critizes the gaming industry for not being progressive, yet when changes are made (like health regen instead of health bars) he craps all over it calling any gamer who prefers those changes retarded. And yet what has he offered to the industry? nothing. Lets see, he hated Mass Effect for having too much story, Halo for being a multiplayer-centric game, Uncharted for being too much of an action adventure game, and Zelda for....staring Link? and yet people love him.

This guy is awesome,but,even though I don't even think they're really supposed to be,but his reviews aren't really credible,they're for hilarity and there might be some truth from what I've seen.In the Halo 3 review he talks fast lol,good stuff.But if he was to be credible in the review,maybe he needed to play the first 2 games or at least try to understand the game.But he didn't and that's part of why he's a funny guy in being so negative like that.

Don't find him terribly amusing at all. Also...in the immortal words of the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons....dumbest...name...ever.

This guy is funny, but he does usually point out aspects of games most other reviewers gloss over.

I love it on wednesdays when you remember there will be a new review!! they are sooo funny!

Zero Punction put my thoughts on Halo 3 best "It is not a "bad" game, it's just average, run of the mill, boiler plate." I'm glad he finally got noticed on a gaming news site, but why have Gamespot never mentioned the Angry Video Game Nerd? He's been around for over twice as long. I like both equally, I'm just sayin.

dannyodwyer: "Id just appreciate a more balance oppinion sometimes." That would defy the whole point, you go to watch his reviews knowing he's obviously going to look for the weak spots in games and pay the crap out of them to everyones amusement. If you want relatively balanced reviews that's why you come to sites like this. It's his angle, being an **** is great as long as your' e a funny **** Maddox anyone?

i dont think hes that great, kinda over rated if you ask me. we can all bash games, its not like hes doing anything new. and i would never listen to him when i was thinking of buying a game.

I cant say I agree with what he says about online video making and online journalism killing print journalism. If you just have a quick search, you can find some figures for Future publishings profit increase over the last year, and its by no means small. The thing is, people do still go out and buy magazines; I do, it gives me something to do. Plus I cant look at Gamespot on the bog (I dont have a laptop). Even when they have access to online journalism....people still buy magazines because...they just do, simply.

Challenge me to not enjoy Noah Antwiler's review of The Thing? Challenge met. Not funny at all. But Zero Punctuation is. Best damn reviews ever.

"Apocolypse_Cow "Ctrl-Alt-Del is the Rubbish King, sitting proudly on a throne of rotting meat." I agree with this whole heartedly. And yet, I continue to read that comic. The question fast becomes, "why?" Dude, wow, i was just thinking the same thing, i think CAD has made me smile like,once? in the last year. And i don't know why, but ive always gotten the feeling that the guy that makes it is probably an @$$hole in real life. (not to mention most of his opinions on what games are good and what games arent are usually pretty @$$ backwards)

He seems to pompous. I guess only he knows what a good game is, we're just stupid. With that said, I can't wait till he reviews Brawl. That would be hilarious.

Congratulations on your success! You deserve it with your wonderfully entertaining and honest reviews.

Noah Antwiler is so funny, I urge anyone who hasn't seen him in action to do so. I'm glad Yahtzee seems to agree with this!

I used to like his reviews; I was into them almost from when they started. However, as of late, I have gotten rather bored of them. His reviews are all the same and his points are drifting farther and farther away from the truth in the name of humor.

I'm personally a fan of Zero Punctuation but the whole "taking the piss out of every game" whether it be good or bad is starting to seriously annoy me. Sure i still get a laugh out of it, but in the end all the review blogs are becoming more and more critical and not actually even supporting the good games. I say take it for face value, have a laugh, then find a more constructive review.

I thought this column was supposed to be controversial and you were going to blow the lid off the gaming media. This was just a lame interview.

I'm not sure this was at all necessary, most of this stuff you can read it at The Escapist. Plus, doesn't it feel like weird and out of place? Like when you see Radiohead on MTV.

I never take what he says seriously...especially since he didn't recognise halo:CE as one of the greatest 'gun w*nks' ever. He also throws GoW in with a group of FPSs...he only focuses on the problems of games and very very rarely shows any ounce of intelligence in his comments...i recently just stopped bothering looking them out. If you read my post, really quickly, you have something of an equivalent to one of his clips.

Spoony got a shout out! His video reviews, of Final Fantasy 8 in particular, are awesome. And CAD got lambasted, which is even more awesome.

@dannyodwyer: ARE YOU KIDDING?! You want a MORE BALANCED opinion? YAHTZEE IS THE BALANCED OPINION!!! Yahtzee shoots it straight. When all the reviewers and kiddies out there were dropping loads of purple sherbet in their pants over Halo 3, he was the one person willing to say it sucked...AND IT DOES! Halo has been bad since day one, and the only reason the console market has grasped onto it and leeched the marrow from its bones is because the console market just doesn't get any good FPS games like the PC crowd does. Yeah yeah, sure...go ahead and say "well, CoD 4". That franchise started on PC...where it belongs. "Well, Bioshock"...and again, started on PC with System Shock series. "Oh, well, there's still Killzone"...and if that's your basis of a GOOD FPS game for consoles...then I would suggest a .357 and a hollow point. o_o Moreover, he said he LIKED Burnout Paradise. He did, however, point out the glaringly big problems (a lack of on-box multiplayer modes was something he didn't mention, which honestly hurt the game tremendously). He also said he LIKED Assassin's Creed and Bioshock, as well as Super Paper Mario and Super Mario Galaxy. However, where people are going to praise at least 3 of those to no end (people have that damned mixed opinion on AC)...he's going to get to the point and cut out the BS! Thank you, Yahtzee, for making popular what me and my crew used to do all the time at BonusStage and could never get recognized for. I'll stay tuned week after week as long as you don't start sucking.

I have a friend of mine who watches Zero Punctuation every week and gets all his gaming information(or 90% of it) from him. So every time I talk to him about a game, he says stuff about it that make it seem like we're talking about different games. Yahtzee is very funny, I laughed my a** off when I saw his Halo 3 review, but no one should take him seriously. He's like the gaming's Micheal Moore, but he doesn't have any facts.

I have a friend of mine who watches Zero Punctuation every week and gets all his gaming information(or 90% of it) from him. So every time I talk to him about a game, he says stuff about it that make it seem like we're talking about different games. Yahtzee is very funny, I laughed my a** off when I saw his Halo 3 review, but no one should take him seriously. He's like the gaming's Micheal Moore, but he doesn't have any facts.

Wierd I stumbled onto zero punctuation last night, didnt know there was a GS article.