hde2009

'Allo you lot!

Just a quick update on my Youtube channel, which has recently had a bit of an explosion of new subscribers thanks to a little unexpected publicity from another YouTuber - the awesome Octav1us (more on her later!)

I've recently come off a brief mid-season hiatus and started uploading again. One of the latest videos features a review of the Nintendo Gameboy version of Battleship, which addresses the practicalities of playing board games on game consoles, and gets into the deeper details of the game in ways that even I found surprising. My brain does pick up on stuff I hadn't realised, it seems! Here it is - the video, I mean. Not my brain. That would be gross.



But the latest review on the channel is a bit more experimental. In that one, I review a... get ready for this... I hope you're sitting down... a BOOK!

Yes. An actual novel. With words in it.

But how is that connected to gaming? Well, it's a review of the XCOM spin off novel XCOM 2: RESURRECTION, by Greg Keyes. And you can see what I thought of it here:



If there's sufficient interest in reviews like this one, I might do more However, my YouTube stats are currently in the toilet, and this means I have to unfortunately do the whole 'call to action' thing.

Sad to say, the reality of these kinds of enterprises for somebody like me is, if they don't gain traction, they don't continue. At present, I'm obligated to finish and post another five reviews, because that's as much as I've actually been funded for. But if I don't see a CONSIDERABLE improvement in views per video, I'll have to take some drastic action.

Thanks to the mention I got in Octav1us' video, where she recommends a dozen smaller channels like mine, my subscriber count has recently jumped to a whopping 400. FOUR HUNDRED! That's an amazing achievement, and I'm bowled over that so many folks have decided to jump on board. I'm also, truthfully, a little bit overawed that Octav1us felt I was worth including in her list (check out her own Youtube channel - you can find it here:
www.youtube.com/channel/UCz5Kx…
It's a hoot! She talks about old timey computers, really rubbish technology, terrible video games and mental health issus. Did I mention shes awesome? She's also a Northerner. 'Nuff said.)

But, sadly, this subscriber boost isn't proving to be the incredibly positive development that you might think. Because as much as hitting 400 subs is a big deal, and as grateful as I am to all of those folks for hitting that big red button on Youtube... well, it doesn't translate to healthy views, unfortunately.

On average, most new videos that get posted on my channel dependably attract just 30 to 40 views. You do the maths. Something is going wrong there. And I have an idea what it might be.

Basically, Youtube's notification system is borked. It relies on folks clicking on a notification bell icon next to the subscription status box. And I get the impression that most YouTube users - especially casual ones - just aren't aware that they need to do this to receive regular notifications. Additionally, YouTube's increasingly algorithm-based internal mechanics make it difficult for channels like mine to get their videos seen by new viewers.

I'll be blunt: If not for the potentially huge audience it exposes videos to, YouTube would not be worth uploading to at all right now. The site is run by a shower of idiots who are hell bent on making it unviable for smaller channels. And they're certainly not interested in fixing anything they've already broken. As a result, future plans don't revolve around YouTube. That said, I want to make sure there's some content on there for folks who want it. But with these kinds of numbers, I can't go on forever. We're already at the 'use it or lose it' stage.

So, if youre subbed, and assuming you WANT to keep abreast of my new videos, please find that notification bell and give it a click. And if you want to be EXTRA, EXTRA helpful, please feel free to share any of the videos around online wherever you like on social media.

I'll keep folks appraised of how all this stuff is panning out in future updates.

Anyways - hope you enjoy the videos! And if there's something you'd especially like to see in one of them, by all means drop me a comment under one of them (don't do it here - I only check in very occasionally on DA now) and let me know.

That's a pun. Geddit?

Updating my otherwise negelcted DA journal with the last couple of episodes of my new Youtube venture, HdE'S TOTALLY UNORIGINAL GAMING SHOW.

The latest picks skew towards something a bit meatier and - GASP!- more recent than most of the oldies I've been talking about, as well as a nifty version of an old timey classic.

The big hitter in this crop is Bungie's last ever, tour de force Halo game, HALO: REACH -which probably features the strongest storytelling of the bunch (I still shudder at the hideous narrative mess that kicked in when 343 Industries took over.)



But if planetwide tragedy isn't your thing, you could always watch my review of the Atari 7800 versin of ASTEROIDS, wherein you visit a fiery apocalypse upon a bunch of innocent space rocks. And the occasional flying saucer. And a second player.



An Atari 7800 DIED to bring you that review. So the least you could do is pay your respects by watching it, right?

I'm taking a couple of weeks out from these uploads now, just because I have some big-ish comic book projects that need to be lettered, and the channel is so badly buried under Youtubes terrible algorithms that I need to work out a new strategy to get these things seen. Serioulsy, I have 250 subscribers, and the best these videos are doing righ tnow is 20-30 views. Without an audience, alas, there's not much point in doing them. But not to fret... I have a plan. A very *special* plan...

I'm off to stroke my beard and look thoughtful now, in a way that suggests I know what I'm talking about. In the meantime, cheers for reading and - I hope - watching!

Sort of.

Well, alright, only in the most *figurative* sense. This week's episode of my new Youtube gaming show sees me tackle X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE - UNCAGED EDITION - a super-violent PS3 rehash of the game that first appeared on the PS2 to coincide with the film.

If you watch it, you'll also get my very succinct verdict on the movie.

Here it is:



Alternatively, if the thought of all that Canuckleheaded carnage worries you, and you'd rather have something more sedate and cutesified, you could check out my review of BUBBLE BOBBLE for the Sega Game Gear:



That's all I got for now. I gotta get back to lettering comics!

HENLO, MEIN FREUNDS!

It's been a long, long, long, long, long, LONG time since I made any kind of meaningful update over here on DeviantArt. Which is down to the fact that I don't use the site very much at all these days. Mostly because it's rubbish. But I have some excitifying news that I figured was worth shouting about over here. And it's been a long time coming.

Over on Youtube, I recently launched the first couple of episodes of a new thing I'm trying, called HdE'S TOTALLY UNORIGINAL GAMING SHOW.

This is to be a series of short reviews of video games from all eras, on an impressively huge (if I do say so myself) range of different systems, including various consoles and home computers. It's a 'lucky dip' kind of deal where I'll look at whatever lands in my lap any given week.

If this kind of thing sounds like it's your bag, you can watch teh first two episodes, which are already online. The first is a retro review of GALAXIAN for the Atari 2600 (yes, I'm going THAT far back!)



Episode 2 brings things a bit more up to date, with a look at Mike Bithell's indie short SUBSURFACE CIRCULAR on the Nintendo Switch.



If you enjoy this content, and want to keep up with future videos, I'd urge you to head over to the Twitter account I've set up for the channel. I'm over there as hde_playsgames - so go find me over there if you want the odd sneak peek at what's ahead!

And of course, new subscriptions and judicious smacking of Youtube's 'like' button are very much appreciated as well. Things are so ridiculous over there now that those clicks REALLY help out with a new channel like this. If you DO subscribe, just be sure to click on the bell icon to ensure you receive notifications, because, shockingly, Youtube no longer guarantees that you'll see content from channels you've subbed to unless you do that.

More content's scheduled for weekly release for the next little while. Hope you enjoy it!