Gaming Videos of the Week: February 2nd-8th

After a week off, GameWisp is back with a few more of our favorite videos of the past week. There were plenty of new videos to choose from this last week, including several new Let’s Play series.  While we would love to bring you all the great gaming-related videos that were posted to YouTube between February 2nd and 8th, there simply isn’t enough time to watch the hundreds of hours of gaming-related video posted last week.  But of the many excellent videos that we did have time to watch, here are three of our favorites:  

1. Zueljin: How to Build a Hibachi Grill – Minecraft Indoors

The header video this week is brought to us courtesy of Zueljin.  Zueljin is primarily a purveyor of various types of Minecraft videos, though he does throw in a bit of Rust for good measure. With so many dedicated Minecraft channels putting out so many videos, it’s often difficult for particular videos to rise above all the noise.  However, a Minecraft video whose title referenced both interior design and Japanese food was something I’d never seen before.   Any channel that comes up with an angle on Minecraft video that we haven’t necessarily seen before is definitely worth checking out. 

This particular Japanese food inspired video comes from Zueljin’s new series of Minecraft tutorials called Minecraft Indoors. In this series, Zueljin shows off some of his unique ideas for sprucing up the interior of your Minecraft home.  The video is short and to the point, with straightforward instructions walking the viewer through the steps of making their very own hibachi grill.  The style of the video is vaguely reminiscent of HGTV home improvement shows, which gives it the feel of a parody of sorts while still maintaining its sincerity as a useful tutorial.  He also has a video showing how to build various types of refrigerators, one of which actually dispenses ice.  Zueljin hasn’t put out any more episodes of this series since the first two, but assuming that he plans to continue the series, I’m certainly intrigued to see what other interior decor he comes up with.   

2. RockLeeSmile: Let’s Play – Jazzpunk [Dear Ether] Ep.1

Nick, an avid fan of the indie genre, is the man behind RockLeeSmile, a channel dedicated to all things indie games.  In his “About” tab, he describes himself as “…a gamer born in the 80’s. I love art, and I have a passion for finding obscure, overlooked, and wonderous indie titles and showing them to the world.”  His signature series, Indie Impressions, is a first impressions series in which he gives his first impressions on lesser known indie titles.  Though I am new to RockLeeSmile, I am very excited to delve into his library’s vast wealth of indie video to see what gems I can find. 

This video is not a first impression video, but rather the opening episode of a full Let’s Play of the quirky and intriguing title, Jazzpunk. In fact, Nick reveals in the opening moments of the video that he had tried to make this game the subject of an Indie Impressions video, but realized that it was so good that it deserved a longer series.

Steam describes Jazzpunk as “…a comedy adventure set in an alternate reality Cold War World, plagued with corporate espionage, CyberCrime, and sentient martinis.” That humor is reflected throughout the opening sequence of the game, along with a distinctive art style, witty and often ridiculous dialogue, and an intro reminiscent of the colorful 50’s graphic style used in the intro to the Tom Hanks film Catch Me If You Can.  Nick clearly enjoys the opening sequences of the game, and his commentary is both articulate and insightful.  Nick’s intelligent commentary combines with a wonderfully odd game to create a really engaging experience.  This is definitely a series worth watching. 

3. Blitzwinger: LEGO Movie Videogame – Part 1 – EVERYTHING IS AWESOME (HD Gameplay Walkthrough)

In honor of a truly great film, we bring you a video about a game based on that film.  This is the first episode of Blitzwinger’s walkthrough of The LEGO Movie Videogame.  Blitzwinger runs a fairly eclectic gameplay video channel, playing all sorts of titles from LEGO Marvel Superheroes to PayDay 2 to Minecraft.  His commentary style is upbeat and focuses on reactions to gameplay, keeping the viewers in the moment.  

The initial sequences of this game very much reflect the opening moments of the movie, including using much of the same dialogue.  So If you plan on seeing the film (and you absolutely should), you might want to skip this video until you have a chance to get to the theater.  Blitzwinger’s commentary blends seamlessly into the overall sense of fun inherent in the game, and I was thoroughly amused at how many of his observations reflect intentional elements of the film (such as the characters using instructions to build things and everything including the lava and water having a LEGO aesthetic).  Overall, this is a great first episode of a great game based on an excellent film. 

So there are three of our favorite gaming videos of last week.  

Every week, thousands of channels post exceptional gaming content.  This is just a taste of the hours and hours of entertainment that make up the gaming-related video universe.   We will bring you more great videos next week, but for now make sure you spend some time with the excellent content put out by these three excellent channels.  Also, what were your favorite gaming-related videos of last week?