videolamer

EGM Previews for Bad Games

January 16, 2026November 13, 2025 by jay

In a recent post, I mentioned that EGM spent a good deal of time talking up obviously shitty games. Here is a short, mostly visual, follow up to that thesis. At least this first game made a great movie… to ridicule. But please don’t do that, I’ve copyrighted both ironic enjoyment and hipster condescension.

What a sweet follow up ad to the Hudson Hawk preview. The next preview is for a game I actually owned and played a lot of. It was bad but I was young so it was good. Street Smart had some mild RPG mechanics – if I recall, you gained a stat point or two after winning fights. Numbers (or, in this case, boxes) going up was and is human-nip for me.

Here is another Genesis game I played as a childish child. It is also bad but has a weirdness about it that is offputting and cool. I can’t think of many other games that let you turn into a centaur or merman, though I have always wanted to play the PS1’s Meremanoid. → In the beginning games created the heavens and the earth.

Politics, previews, and poppycock

January 16, 2026November 11, 2025 by jay

Video game previews have always seemed primarily a marketing tool. I remember complaining about IGN previews in the aughts when the site, clearly a detached arm of publishers, would post sometimes a dozen preview articles on a big upcoming game. (Correction, I complained about a bunch of sites.)

Old issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly had previews of games that range in tone from neutral to PR. The previews that read like marketing are interesting when contrasted with the constant bloviating the magazine did about being the only true, tell it like it is, in your face, no holds barred, Carlos-Mencia-style magazine on the market. If you’re over the age of 15 AND are not a fucking moron, you know that when people tell your their traits directly, they’re lying. The more EGM claimed to be objective, the more apparent their rave reviews of Bubsy were paid for. I know this because I am both smart and funny.

Come with me on a political tangent with no jokes and also opinions you don’t agree with that applies grandiose theories to video game magazines. → Tokyo Xtreme Reader: Drift 2

Tuesdays (Wednesdays) with Morrie (Andrew)

January 16, 2026November 6, 2025 by jay

My elderly (42) friend Morrie (Andrew) is dying (he is not) of cancer (massive hemorrhoids). Understandably, he (probably) came to me and said, “I cannot imagine the regret of leaving this world without becoming familiar with Sega’s legendary Saturn console.” I pointed out that the shame his family would endure would force them to leave the state because I don’t think he was fully considering the precariousness of his position.

Luckily for Morrie (Andew), I am a very generous person living with some woman, three children, and an inordinate amount of free time. “Honey, the only time this man plays Saturn, let alone Sega CD Make My Video games, is when I invite him over promising to watch a movie he really wants to see and then forcing him to instead play old console games,” I considered saying. “What a travesty, and I still can’t get over the cancer,” I imagine she would respond, if I spoke to the woman in my house. → Article Hominid

Rest in Peace, Kirk

January 16, 2026November 4, 2025 by the gang

videolamer has belatedly learned of the tragic shooting of an important warrior for Christianity who dedicated his life to helping Americans show us their smile again. It is with heavy heart that we must waste many minutes crying for Kirk Cameron, who was tragically gunned down in Utah in September. Though his mission seems to be over, I can guarantee that we are nowhere near the end. There are millions dedicated to his teachings and I promise you that the best is ready to begin.

When I look round at the other proud patriots I realize that as long as we’ve got each other, we will one day be victorious. The Globalists may seem to be in charge but I remind you, as Kirk Cameron often did, that Jesus has the world spinning right in his hands. Side by side with Him, you and me have got to be as powerful as any army the world has ever seen. Never quit pursuing our dream of a better world. → Shadow of the Article

2005 – 2025: Taste Differences and Opinion Shifts, Part 2

January 16, 2026October 30, 2025 by pat and jay

Last post we brought you Cunzy and Chris’s’s comparisons of their 2005 versus 2025 tastes. Now, we bring you the Shaolin duo of Pat and Jay. Expect about 4,000% more discussion of Souls games and then be disappointed that somehow those games didn’t come up. Don’t you feel foolish? I do mention Shenmue, though.

Pat

In 2009 I began keeping a spreadsheet that tracks all the games I finish each year. Astute readers will note that 2009 happened after 2005, and conclude that I do not have a complete and accurate record of the games I played that year. My memory – I know where I lived at that time and can remember playing certain games there – and the internet provide some clues to what I was playing in or around 2005, and comparing what I think I was playing then to what I play today reveals more similarities than differences.

Through that period the majority of my gaming took place on a PS2. → The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Read

2005 – 2025: Taste Differences and Opinion Shifts, Part 1

January 16, 2026October 28, 2025 by the gang

Based on my math, 2005 was 20 years ago. I have used this pleasing round number as an excuse to write about the games I was playing then and compare them to what I play today. The other videolamer contributors were also asked for contributions and some even answered – see their exciting responses above mine, which will actually be posted in a Part 2, because I am nothing if not the most humble person on earth.

Cunzy

I often think about how, as a gamer* the best time to be born was late 70s-early 80s. We went from not having computers at home to early home systems, LCD handhelds, home consoles and handheld systems to all singing, all dancing entertainment and gaming monoliths under the TV. We filled in the pixel worlds with our imaginations to translate yellow squares into dragons, coins, cars and spaceships, blips and bloops into epic soundtracks all the way through to games-as-a-lifestyle, cinematic, limitless, endlessly playable, online, living multiverse games. → Hot Shots Post 3

A New Ratings System: A Framework for Inertia, Flow, and Satisfaction

January 16, 2026October 23, 2025 by chris

I did not enjoy Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Playing it felt like a chore much of the time. I was satisfied, though, when I finished it. This juxtaposition made me think more about how I feel about games and gaming.

There are games that I enjoy playing and that make me feel satisfied when I finish them (most RPGs). There are also games that I enjoy playing that leave me feeling unsatisfied when I finish them (Roguelites). Many games are somewhere in the middle – for example, grand strategy games such as Europa Universalis IV or Civilization get me into a flowstate, and there is satisfaction in seeing a nation develop over the course of a 10-hour multi-session save. All the same, completing that save (particularly in Civilization) feels empty. Some story-heavy games, like Disco Elysium or 1000x Resist, make it harder to start a gaming session as there is a lot of context or the game is hard to navigate. → Lords of the Read 2

Wasting time reading old magazines

January 16, 2026October 16, 2025 by jay

The Video Game History Foundation’s online archive of old magazines is now my favorite thing. Instead of spending all day at work refreshing a message board to see if any newly announced games remind me of old games, I just look at coverage of old games. Sure, the site fails to load the magazine you tried to view about 75% of the time If you get to it by searching for a specific game, but I’m not busy. And if you just progress by issues through a specific magazine, the site is mildly usable.

There are other magazine preservation websites and even archive.org keeps some in their archivedotorg. But that goes to show the power of PR. Not good PR because Frank Cifaldi comes across as someone who dislikes old games and people who like old games, but PR nonetheless. The guilt of having ignored these other sources and only jumping into old magazine scans because the Video Game History Foundation led me to check out issues of Sega Visions in the previously mentioned archive. → Article Kombat

20 Lame Years

January 16, 2026October 9, 2025 by jay

Like A Less Successful, Worse Insert Credit

videolamer is 20 years old. It has only been active for 8 of those years, but if productivity were the criteria for age I would be 11 and not 43. Celebrate with us by playing a round of Chu Chu Rocket and reading the garbage I wrote below.

Since our inception, we have received rave reviews from within and without the video game and industrial cleaning supply industries. Here are just some of the things people have been saying about videolamer:

“One of my top 100 favorite sites right now. [May, 2008]” – Max from gamelemon

“Where are the videos?” – my son

“I can’t read.” – my daughter

“Me pooped.” – a different my son

“The only meaningful thing I’ve ever done.” – me

“Not consistently funny enough to be a comedy website, not consistently serious enough to be a gaming website, not continually active enough to be a website.” – Tiger Beat

“Don’t give up.

→ Devil Summoner: Readou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Article