The Adorable Video Game Nerd

If you told me to stop, you didn't yell loud enough. Seriously, tear the roof off this sucker.

James Rolfe is an interesting case study. He's one of the Great Old Ones of Internet Criticism, having pioneered the use of rage as a reviewing technique since 2004. Whereas Angry Joe takes on current games and Noah Antwiler and JonTron freely tackle stuff that belongs to recent decades, the Angry Video Game Nerd is mired firmly in ancient history.

We find him basically trapped in a dungeon filled with endless rows of paraphernalia from the oldschool days, surrounded by the worst examples of his favorite pastime. He's kind of tragic, impotent rather than mighty, endlessly frustrated by a past he can't escape or change. No one buys the things he reviews anymore, and the makers have long since moved on. And yet, he critiques them with endless energy (and fecal humor), because they are what defines him. The Angry Joe Army fights to better the world, but the Nerd's war came and went a long time ago. Now he simply fights to be heard. But, hey... isn't that worth fighting for, too?

And then people like me do things like this. Poor bastard.