Games..walkthroughs on Youtube?

RazWaz

sirmosh wrote: »

Nintendo recently said they're going to start claiming the advertising revenue for playthroughs of their games. I do think it's a bit out of order that YouTubers get to make money out of playing a game and recording it but if that's what people want to watch then so be it.

Really? Cause I've done about 15 full playthroughs for youtube and they are a hell of a lot of work. You need to improvise constantly for hours at a time, and if it's not interesting, you have to go back and do it all again. Replays are harder because you know what is coming and have even less to say, so you end up sitting down watching the videos while writing scripts for them.

Editing again takes a ton of time, every episode has to be watched over to check sound/video quality, the video footage has to be edited down to remove loading screens and player deaths while still making it look seamless. Recordings tend to come out pretty dark so you need to put on filters to get each game looking just right, then rendering takes the length of the video twice over again.

My 4-5 hour playthroughs take around 50 hours of work each. And that is before I spent £1,000 on the equipment needed just to be able to record. Add the cost of the games and you are looking at a pretty high outlay to create a video.

Remember your voice overs are all original content which you have copyright for. And most of us actually ask permission from the game developers before adding advertising in, (I have written permission from Double Fine games to record and make money from their entire catalogue of games), so why shouldn't we make a few pennies back from all our work?

Maddox888

I would love to start a Youtube channel! I was looking at the Elgato Capture card but then I'm going to need a mic and other bits and bobs.

Seems like a lot of hassle but I do enjoy watching the content on YouTube.

RazWaz

I use this myself, or you can record on a PC using FRAPS or something. But you are going to need a computer with a lot of power for the editing/rendering.

For editing I use Sony Vegas, picked it up in a sale for £17 and it does take a bit of getting used too, but does pretty much everything you could ever think of.

Try not to skimp on your mic quality as hissing every time you use an S is pretty off-putting, I had to scrap an 8 hour recording session because of a crappy mic once.

daveyj792

Why did you sit through an entire video series of someone else playing a game you were planning on buying? I thought the point of walk throughs was to help people who were playing the game but who had got stuck at a particular point, not as a cheap substitute for actually buying the game. In answer to the original question, no I don't think most people would be content just watching a video of someone else playing a game instead of playing it themselves. You might as well save yourself some more money if you watch a video of someone else going on holiday or buying a new car lol.

The_One_Who

If I'm sitting on the fence about buying a game, I always go to YouTube to see if there are any let's plays. I'll watch the first couple to see if it's something I'm enjoying and if the combat/gameplay/style/whatever is for me. It saves money.

Conversely, I have also bought games I never would have thought of getting because of watching my favourite let's players play through games.

Yes, doing so can destroy the first-time gaming experience, but that's up to the person whether or not that really bothers them.

davehughes182

I used to love wathcing gameplay on YT (mainly CoD). I dont do it much anymore as I dont play them games, but the people who post still get my attention and I will listen to their Podcasts and Random talk videos while on the bus etc. I have purchased a number of games based on one or two YT personalities opinions.

ineed

I quite like watching let's play walkthroughs, My favourite was a guy called Xelger who did a Resident Evil 4 one (one of my all time favourite games) among others. I like to see other people's gaming styles, and the commentary is also often very funny. I highly recommend his stuff.

I also like watching parodies and other things of games, seeing how creative people get with different things. My favourite youtuber who does this type of thing is CanadianPride08, he makes the funniest videos using a host of voice actors, again I highly recommend his stuff.

xxJudexx

I watch PewDiePie and Tobuscus videos on Youtube purely for the comedy element. I enjoy watching their reactions and commentaries. I have to say it has influenced some of the games I play, I have never been discouraged because of walkthroughs. I am more likely to buy a game if I can see someone else enjoying it.

Sally22_2

I love PewDiePie! His commentary cracks me up! Will check out some of the other channels mentioned too

RichL74

I used to use GameFAQs a lot when I got stuck on some games now if I have a really tricky bit or am simply going round in circles, I check YouTube out.