Last week I was introduced to a series of videos that I thought was absolutely hilarious by someone calling himself the Irate Gamer. The videos include swearing and original Nintendo games - all the ingredients for fun! Growing up in the 80's and early 90's, anything so retro and old school is sure to be a winner in my book. The Irate Gamer has produced about 24 or so videos reviewing games for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. His videos are available on youtube and he even has his own site. There is even a DVD available now with some of his videos.
His videos wanted me to break out an old NES and make my own videos. After all they must have been a blast to make. I'm even seriously considering buying one of his dvd's just to support him so he'll keep making funny videos. I wish I had thought of this idea. But was he really the one who created this genre?
Today as I was perusing the internet on my day off I came across someone who calls himself the Angry Nintendo Nerd. I noticed he also has a number of videos available and many of them are even reviewing the same game. He has his own video and webpage too. Interesting.
I watched two of the Angry Nintendo Nerds videos, one on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and one of Back to the Future. After watching the first it was clear plagiarism came in to play. After watching the second it became clear that the plagiarism was BLATANT. I mean, the same jokes, the same order, everything.
Take a look at the videos to see for yourself.
Irate Gamer
Back to the Future
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Angry Nintendo Nerd
Back to the Future
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Its no doubt that both of these guys are funny but who should get the credit? Who should you support? Who came first?
I found that there were some people that thought irate gamer came first and others that thought Angry Nintendo Nerd who has changed his name to Angry Video Game Nerd was first. After five minutes though I was convinced that AVGN was probably first. Just in comparing the videos I would guess that the Irate Gamer was the one who took the idea and tried to refine it.
The first video I found claims to be from a confession letter Irate Gamer sent to AVGNSee the video.
I did think it was interesting that the two videos I happened to watch were the exact two that were used in the plagiarism accusation video.
What I can't find is any convincing evidence that Angry Video Game Nerd is actually the plagiarist.
The more I see the more it looks like case closed. In fact I'm ready to call it.
Below are some links to some other videos about the plagiarism.
An AOL video from Dailymotion (there is still AOL?)
JesseMeza's VLOG
It looks like Chris Bores, the Irate Gamer has become quite a hated internet d-list celeb.
What pisses me off about this is that he has been able to profit from this plagiarism by selling DVD's and t-shirts. It's one thing to mimic someones idea but he is stealing in some instances word by word descriptions. Maybe pisses me off is the wrong description. Maybe I'm jealous because he appears to be getting away with it.
I am surprised to see plagiarism so blatant. Even though I'm mad about it, I find myself watching both of them. Despite having videos that are so close, both of them are funny. I'd love to rip Bores a new one and have a nice irate blog about him, but thats not gonna do anything. He's been exposed, thats good enough for me.
What do you think of this plagiarism?
Monday, January 21, 2008
Irate Gamer vs. Angry Video Game Nerd
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12 comments:
yeah, I saw the angry video nerd videos first, and then the "Irate ones"... it's crearly plagiarism, sad but true, because the Irate guy really worked to get away with it and the videos are actually funny and entertaining... but as you said, he's just exploiting someone elses idea. Any way, we have more "nostalgia" for our free time.
I also saw AVGN before the Irate Gamer, but he's not the only imitator. There's also the Game Jew and Sega Kid (who I believe has removed all of his videos). While the plagiarizers are morally wrong, we (the viewers) do benefit from the competition they create. I think it motivates everyone outdo each other and we get better material to watch. In any case, I still support the Nerd and purchased his DVD in hopes of helping him to continue his work.
Not only was AVGN first, his videos are way better!
A great example is that the irate gamer doesn't know his audience. People who find this stuff funny are people that grew up playing these games.
Does he cater to to these people? No, he tells them simple stuff they almost always already know.
For instance, he tells us that "Contra" has a thirty-men code. I saw a band in bar, that had nothing else to do or say about Nintendo, play a song about "Contra's" thirty-men code. The code was even part of a joke on SNL. It has to be the most well-known code ever. And to make it worse, he introduces the code by saying the game is hard. It's not hard at all. It's not entertaining at all to watch someone essentially say: "hey, I'm playing Contra. It's hard, but has a thirty men code." No, shit, buddy.
The AVGN nerd deals in nostalgia, but he knows his audience. When he reviews a well-known game - TMNT or Castlevania 2 - he goes over the crappy, frustrating parts of the game everyone remembers, and he successfully jokes about it. He keeps it fresh by reviewing games that aren't well known, such as McKids, Wally Bear and the No Gang, and Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hide.
I could go on and on. The Irate Gamer is sub-par and lame.
Dude if you check out the video dates, the Angry Video Game Nerd's Back to the Future video was added onto YouTube on July 29, 2006. The Irate Gamer released his Back to the Future video on April 28, 2007...does that ring a bell? Dude, read the signs, the Irate Gamer is clearly a rip off who tries to attempt to be funny. The Angry Video Game Nerd is the best and he is way better than the Irate Lamer.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/866057/chris_bores_irate_gamer_confession_to_plagiarism/
I think it would bo OK if the Irate Gamer reviewd a different set os games, like N64's or PS1's, or even the today games, but he reviews THE SAME games the AVGN does.... That' just bull**it F**k... Not only didi he take the idea, but he actually copies the content.
An that, legally, means plagiarism.
P.S. AVGN KICKS IRATE'S A*S!
I was also a fan of AVGN first (after seeing his "Bible Games" video on Youtube via a Retrojunk.com referral) and discovered the Irate Gamer afterwards. What a blatant rip-off, and not even a good one! I was hoping that other people had noticed this, and I really hope that the Irate Gamer no longer makes money off his stuff.
All good comments.
It's clear AVGN was first. It's interesting that Chris Bores is often the first person people come across. He's clearly got the google search engines working for him.
He is a ballsy guy. Blatant plagiarism takes balls. BUT, I agree with Jack's comment that the viewer benefits from the competition.
Good stuff.
I don't if this supports links, but check out this video on viddler. Epic justice. irate gamer got a taste of retsupurae.
http://www.viddler.com/explore/retsu/videos/136/
AVGN maybe first but he just talks about toilets and poop unlike the Irategamer. It's not plagerism because AVGN didn't review sonic colors or any wii games and Irategames didn't review Mckids,spiderman.battle toads,Dr. Jekyl and Mr.hyde etc.
Look here ,
I am not criticizing the Irate gamer , but he can`t achieve the taste and quality of the avgn `s videos. For instance , avgn has created his own personality based universe that no other person can match. Even if he swears a lot, His humor is out of this world and timed perfectly and blended together with his remarkable acting ability. On the other hand irate acts in an artificial way and in some instances makes the audience obvious about the rip offs. The irate definitely has something in him but why can`t he use it in a different way.
(Look at the Nostalgia critic & the NES punk ! different identities and featured in avgn , respected by him equally.)
Fortunately i saw avgn first and I
am an avid fan so.......
I really adore avgn(james) and his friends(esp. mike) in creating such fantastic stuff.
Chris Bores (The Irate Gamer) lives of of plagiarism, and ripping off the AVGN isn't even the first thing he's done.
The first thing I know of him stealing was a "DooM" mod my friends and I made in high school called "DooM and DooMer", though he stopped taking credit for that when we publicly called him out.
Years later, when the "Lord of the Rings" movie came out, he started writing a series of books called "The Dark Chapters" that was basically a more cliched version with self-insertion. He then created a show that was a carbon-copy of "Ghost Hunters" called "Haunted Investigators".
After all this was "Irate Gamer".
Since then he's seen James Rolfe talk about old action figures and Nostalgia Critic talk about 80's pop-culture and started a show called "iRate the 80's"
He's not only stolen ideas from other people, but also footage. Many of his "Irate Gamer NEO" shows consist of gameplay footage taken from other youtube users, and his lack of insight suggest he never even played the games that he reviews.
Finally, he is still planning on plagiarizing in the future. I was discussing an idea I had years ago for a story that I would work into a video game or short film. In my story, a ghost hunting reality show starring many people who only pretend to believe in the paranormal accidentally stumble upon an actual haunted location. It quickly turns from a comedy to a survival horror. I was discussing this idea with some friends during a game of L4D2 not realizing that Bores was in the game with us. A few days later, he announced that there would be a second season of "Haunted Investigators" that would be completely revamped. How much to you want to be he'll be using my idea?
When the second season lf "Haunted Investigators" comes out, please note it's release date and that of this blog post (or earlier posts).
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