Plugged

I love each and every one of my blog readers and YouTube subscribers like the brother I never had*, but all the same it’s exciting to get recognized by someone awesome. By which I mean, when your fun little YouTube Let’s Play series gets linked up by WayForward’s official Shantae blog, you get this warm fuzzy feeling inside.

I’ve known for some time that the WayForward guys had actually watched my LP series, which is very cool an and of itself. The weird thing about Let’s Plays is that, really, what you’re doing is putting up someone’s entire video game on the internet for free.It’s not exactly piracy, but it’s in the same ballpark. I’m a big fan of “pro” LPer OverTheGun, and had no problem watching his entire World of Goo series back when that game was brand new. Only, once I’d watched it, I knew I’d never have to buy the game. And to this day I still haven’t.

So silly as it may seem, there’s always that apprehension about what a game developer might think about their games showing up on YouTube. There is no universal answer, either. It’s one thing when it’s Shantae, a game that’s impossible to find legitimately, whose creators are comparatively small fish. It’s another when it’s, say, Super Metroid, which is actively supported, easy to locate and (as of late 2007) commercially available.

In case you were wondering, these personal hang-ups are why I’ve never done Mega Man 9 or Mega Man 10. And probably won’t any time soon.

So to answer the millions of comments, questions and PMs I’ve gotten on my Shante playthrough: yes I know there is a sequel coming. And yes I intend to play it, on account of I lurves me some Shantae. But no, I probably won’t Let’s Play it, at least not right away. The purpose of doing LP videos, as I see it, is to let people experience old games in a new way, or with a unique spin. Playing a brand new game for the first time… well, that’s something you could do yourself.

Also I don’t have a DSi, which complicates matters somewhat. Risky’s Revenge will sell me one, though.

* I have a brother, but he doesn’t read my blog, so I can get away with saying things like this.