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User:Canucklehead/Incubator/Zero Punctuation

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Zero Punctuation
GenreVideo game reviews, black comedy, insult comedy, satire
Created byBen "Yahtzee" Croshaw
Theme music composerIan Dorsch
Opening themeRuss Pitts
Country of originAustralia United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes526 (list of episodes)
Original release
NetworkZero Punctuation on The Escapist
ReleaseJuly 24, 2007 (2007-07-24) –
present

Zero Punctuation is a series of video game reviews created by English comedy writer and video game journalist Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. Since the series began in 2007, over 500 episodes have been created, which have been published weekly by internet magazine The Escapist. Episodes typically range from 5 to 6 minutes in length, and provide caustic humour, rapid-fire delivery, visual gags, and critical insight into recently released video games and associated topics.

History

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Prior to Zero Punctuation, Croshaw primarily authored content for his blog, Fully Ramblomatic, and would occasionally review video games, often with an emphasis on humor and criticism.[1] In July 2007, Croshaw uploaded two game reviews in video format to YouTube in the same style that would eventually be used for Zero Punctuation: one of the demo of The Darkness for the PlayStation 3, and the other of Fable: The Lost Chapters for the PC. Both were well-received and The Escapist was one of several publishers to offer Croshaw a contract.[2]

The name "Zero Punctuation" refers to the speed of Croshaw's narration. Since its creation, the series has become popular in the gaming community.[2] Video game developers and publishers have occasionally acknowledged Croshaw's reviews of their games, and at least one internet meme has resulted from Zero Punctuation.[3][4] At the end of every year, Croshaw creates special episodes of Zero Punctuation discussing what he believes were the best and worst games of the year; a practice that started at the end of 2008. He has occasionally dedicated episodes to new technologies or milestones in video gaming rather than games, such as E3 and the coming of the eighth generation of consoles.[5][6]

From 2009 to 2017, Croshaw authored a column on The Escapist known as Extra Punctuation. These articles were originally published every Tuesday and often supplemented the previous week's review by discussing a certain topic or trend exhibited by that game.[7]

Format

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Typical Zero Punctuation imagery, describing Croshaw's confusion with obtaining spaceship fuel in Starbound

In Zero Punctuation, Croshaw usually reviews a game or games in a highly critical manner using rapid-fire speech delivery accompanied by minimalistic cartoon imagery and animation on a distinctive yellow background, which illustrates what is being said or provides an ironic counterpoint to it. Subtle references or jokes may be inserted to the visuals for comic effect or to add additional context to the narration. His reviews are intended to be humorous with constant usage of puns, analogies, metaphors, and dark humour accompanied by liberal use of profanity.[8][9][10] Croshaw usually substitutes the main character or himself with his own avatar, a cartoon man distinguished by a trilby. Another character used often is an imp-like creature (originally meant to resemble a "darkling" from The Darkness) which represents antagonists, animals, or less important characters from a video game. Video games, developers, countries, and other entities are often anthropomorphized as box arts, logos, or flags with arms and legs when they are being addressed directly, or when an action by that entity is being explained. Croshaw often allegorizes jokes, game details, or industry activities with references to, or commentaries on popular culture, politics, and history.

Zero Punctuation opens and closes with a theme song, a rock track composed and performed by Ian Dorsch.[11] The ending credits usually feature humorous notes or other information relating to the review, as well as imagery of characters from the review engaging in slapstick, however in 2014, the videos posted on YouTube omit the credit sequences. Prior to mid-2008, Zero Punctuation featured commercial songs at the beginning and end of each episode, which were usually related to the context of, or ironically at odds with, the game in question, such as The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated" and Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" at the beginning and end, respectively, of his review of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

The series' format has proved inspirational for several other web series, such as the critical and educational series Extra Credits[12] and CGP Grey.[13][14]

Critical style

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Croshaw, more often than not, provides highly critical reviews of games, usually pointing out the faults that he implies other professional reviewers ignore in high-profile releases.[4][15] He tends to disdain certain overused tropes and conventions in video games, such as quick time events, excessive reliance on motion controls, cover-based shooting, and unbalanced emphases on graphics over story or gameplay.[5][16][17] He also disapproves of the over-usage of game franchises, such as Final Fantasy, Assassin's Creed, and Call of Duty.[18]

Croshaw generally does not review certain genres of games, and has openly admitted to not liking most JRPGs, real-time strategy games, fighting games, or simulation games. More recently, he has begun disliking military-themed first-person shooters such as Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, and Battlefield for being what he believes to be extremely similar in gameplay, poor in ethics, and contrived in story, while using the moniker "spunkgargleweewee" to differentiate them from other styles of first-person shooter game.[19][20][21] He often criticizes practices of the video games industry which he deems exploitative or otherwise unacceptable to the quality of the medium, often pointing to Electronic Arts as a primary culprit.[22]

Certainly I focus on the bad, because I reckon plenty of sources focus on the good already. Happily, the bad is also easier to make funny.

Croshaw on a Reddit "Ask me Anything" thread in 2011[23]

Although Zero Punctuation episodes are intended to highlight Croshaw's criticisms of video games, his opinions of games are not universally negative, and any positive feelings towards a game are often explicitly described.[22] He maintains that he is primarily a critic, and opened his review of BioShock by explaining that "nobody likes it when I'm being nice to a game."[24] Despite this, his review of Portal included an admission that he was unable to find any faults in it.[25]

Croshaw cites the work of British television critic and PC Zone journalist Charlie Brooker as the "main inspiration" for his own reviewing style, as well as the writings of Douglas Adams, Sean "Seanbaby" Riley, Victor Lewis-Smith, and Old Man Murray's Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw.[22][26][27] He expressed respect towards the late Roger Ebert, noting that he "might one day aspire to being his videogaming equivalent".[28]

Games of the Year

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Since 2008, Croshaw has created annual, year-end episodes of Zero Punctuation which enumerate his favorite and least favorite games from that year. As of 2017, the episodes systematically alternate between his selections for the five best, five blandest, and five worst games of the year in ascending order.

For 2008 and 2009, mock "awards" were given for games based arbitrarily defined categories. Starting with 2010, the "awards" format was replaced with ordered lists of his five favorite and least favorite games of the year. For 2015, he added a new category for his choices of the blandest and least innovative games of the year.[29]

In 2013, Croshaw introduced a special "Lifetime Achievement Award for Total Abhorrence" award, which was suggested to have a permanent designee until he reviewed a game of lesser quality than the previous. The inaugural and current holder is Ride to Hell: Retribution, which Croshaw refused to include on the main list, expressing that it was so poor in quality that he considered it "congealed failure" rather than a game.[18]

Awards

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Zero Punctuation's Games of the Year
Year Best Game Blandest Game Worst Game
2008 Saints Row 2 None given; later suggesting Too Human[30]
2009 Batman: Arkham Asylum Not explicitly stated, instead giving similar awards to Wet, Wolfenstein, and Resident Evil 5
2010 Just Cause 2 Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
2011 Portal 2 Tie between Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3
2012 Spec Ops: The Line Amy
2013 BioShock Infinite Call of Duty: Ghosts
2014 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Thief
2015 Undertale Halo 5: Guardians The Order: 1886
2016 Doom No Man's Sky Homefront: The Revolution
2017 Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Star Wars Battlefront II Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3

Reception and Impact

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Zero Punctuation has received generally positive reviews, with much of the praise directed towards Yahtzee's wit and style of comedic writing. As of April 2018, the series has an IMDB rating of 7.7 from 379 users.[31] Boing Boing called the series "hilariously cutting ... first legitimate breakout hit from the gaming community in recent memory".[32]

Croshaw claims that he was contacted by game designer Peter Molyneux after his original review of Fable: The Lost Chapters, stating that Molyneux enjoyed the review in spite of the fact that the review repeatedly attributed the game's shortcomings to Molyneux's marketing tactics.

In his 2008 review of The Witcher, Croshaw sarcastically referred to the PC gaming community as "the glorious PC gaming master race", intending to criticize the perceived elitist attitudes in that community. The phrase has since become an internet meme, and has been appropriated and championed by that community.[33] In a 2018 review, Croshaw explained that he regretted calling the community "PC master race" instead of "dick-slurp all-stars," citing a continuation of the behavior that originally prompted the term.[34]

Croshaw's negative review of Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008 was poorly received by fans of the game.[35] He claimed to have received a disproportionate amount of hate mail following the review, and dedicated an episode to highlight and respond to various e-mails that he had received in response to it.

In 2009, Croshaw reviewed Prototype by comparing it to InFamous, attempting to demonstrate which of these similar games he liked better. Unable to determine a victor, he jokingly suggested that the developers of each game send him artwork of the opposing game's main character wearing lingerie in order to claim the award. Radical Entertainment and Sucker Punch - the respective developers - unexpectedly complied with the challenge, prompting Croshaw to declare InFamous the winner after judging the quality of the images.[3]

In 2013, Croshaw came under fire after an episode contained a metaphor that was viewed as transphobic. Croshaw agreed with the criticism and apologized, expressing regret towards making the statement.[36] The offending remark was retroactively omitted from the video.

Croshaw was one of the founders of the Mana Bar, a video gaming lounge in Brisbane that operated from 2010 until 2015. Croshaw's popularity through Zero Punctuation contributed to the initial success of the establishment.[37]

References

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  1. ^ Croshaw, Ben (2008). "Reviews on FullyRamblomatic". Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  2. ^ a b Orland, Kyle (March 22, 2008). "PressSpotting: Ramblin' with Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw". GameSpot. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  3. ^ a b Good, Owen (July 4, 2009). "inFamous Defeats Prototype in Cross-Dressing Playoff". Kotaku. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Francis, Tom (August 5, 2010). "Community heroes: Yahtzee, for Zero Punctuation". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  5. ^ a b Croshaw, Ben (October 26, 2011). "Zero Punctuation - Kinect". The Escapist. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  6. ^ Croshaw, Ben (June 5, 2013). "Zero Punctuation - Next Gen Buyer's Guide". The Escapist. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  7. ^ "Extra Punctuation". The Escapist.
  8. ^ Lanxon, Nate (November 4, 2009). "Interview: Zero Punctuation's Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw reveals all". CNET.
  9. ^ StasseMarch 5, 2008, Terrence. "Zero Punctuation: Yahtzee cries about DMC4". Engadget.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Zero Punctuation Review Terrorizes EA Game Development". GameAxis Unwired. No. 55. SPH Magazines. April 2008. ISSN 0219-872X.
  11. ^ "The Escapist : Sound and Music". The Escapist.
  12. ^ Floyd, Daniel. "Video Games and Storytelling". YouTube. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  13. ^ Haran, Brady; Grey, CGP (2014-05-28). "Nobody Owns the Facts". Hello Internet (Podcast). No. 13. Hellointernet.fm. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  14. ^ Grey, C. G. P.; Hurley, Myke (August 14, 2015). "Cortex #10: Zero Artistic Skills". Cortex (Podcast). Relay FM. Retrieved August 16, 2015.{{cite podcast}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Croshaw, Ben (May 7, 2008). "Zero Punctuation - Mailbag Showdown". The Escapist. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  16. ^ Croshaw, Ben (February 27, 2008). "ZeroPunctuation - Uncharted: Drake's Fortune". The Escapist. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  17. ^ Croshaw, Ben (July 3, 2013). "Zero Punctuation - The Last of Us". The Escapist. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  18. ^ a b Croshaw, Ben (January 1, 2014). "Zero Punctuation - Top 5 Games of 2013". The Escapist. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  19. ^ Croshaw, Ben (January 2, 2013). "Zero Punctuation - Top 5 of 2012". The Escapist. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  20. ^ Croshaw, Ben (September 5, 2007). "Zero Punctuation - Call of Duty: Black Ops". The Escapist. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  21. ^ Croshaw, Ben (November 7, 2012). "Zero Punctuation - Medal of Honor Warfighter & Doom 3 BFG Edition". The Escapist. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  22. ^ a b c "Destructoid interview: Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw". Destructoid. February 11, 2008. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  23. ^ Croshaw, Ben (April 8, 2011). "IAM Yahtzee Croshaw off of the Escapist's Zero Punctuation, AMAA". Reddit. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  24. ^ Croshaw, Ben (November 24, 2010). "Zero Punctuation - BioShock". The Escapist. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  25. ^ "Zero Puncation - The Orange Box". The Escapist. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  26. ^ Schneider, James (February 14, 2008). "Interview: Zero Punctuation's Yahtzee". Geek.com. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  27. ^ Croshaw, Ben (November 21, 2007). "Yahtzee Visits Valve, a Travelogue". The Escapist. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  28. ^ Croshaw, Ben (April 27, 2010). "Extra Punctuation - Videogames as Art". The Escapist. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  29. ^ Croshaw, Ben (January 13, 2016). "Top 5 Games of 2015 (Zero Punctuation)". YouTube. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  30. ^ Croshaw, Ben (April 8, 2011). "IAM Yahtzee Croshaw off of the Escapist's Zero Punctuation, AMAA". Reddit. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  31. ^ "Zero Punctuation (2007-)". IMDB. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  32. ^ "Zero Punctuation". The Escapist. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  33. ^ Hartup, Phil (January 21, 2015). "It's OK for PC gamers to be a little arrogant – they know they've backed the right platform". Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  34. ^ "Zero Punctuation reviews Kingdom Come Deliverance". The Escapist. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  35. ^ "SmashRadar: 10 things to do before Brawl dies". April 25, 2008. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
  36. ^ "Bureaucracy-Em-Up - Extra Punctuation". The Escapist. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  37. ^ "A Brisbane Brew: The Mana Bar Story". Kotaku. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
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