Personal History
technology
gaming & entertainment

LGR's Clint Basinger Reacts To His Top 1000 YouTube Comments

We searched LGR's most popular videos and picked the top 1000 comments based on number of likes, first comments, and frequently asked questions. From looking back on his earliest efforts to revisiting some of his biggest reviews and unboxing videos, we've woven together Clint's personal history with LGR - and captured his reactions to the whole thing. Thank you to YouTube user, naswinger for "The 7th Guest" gameplay footage.

Released on 9/22/2020

Transcript

00:00
Hi, I'm Clint Basinger from LGR.
00:02
And today I'm gonna be responding
00:04
to my top 1000 YouTube comments.
00:07
[soft music]
00:18
The following comments came from
00:20
the most viewed video on your channel.
00:22
What video is it?
00:24
I believe it is the Doom on a calculator video.
00:28
And there we go, Doom on a calculator indeed.
00:31
5.6 million views.
00:33
What brought up the Doom on your calculator video,
00:36
was literally a time crunch.
00:37
It was one of those situations where I had another video.
00:41
Like 99% complete but that last 1%,
00:45
it just wasn't coming out in time.
00:47
And so I literally looked around my room
00:49
and I'm like, Hey, there's a calculator over there,
00:51
that I'd picked up from Goodwill recently.
00:53
And I'm like, I remember putting games on that thing
00:55
back in high school, I wonder if I can still do that.
00:58
Here is one of the first comments
01:00
on that most viewed video.
01:02
It runs better on a TI-84.
01:05
It's actually kinda playable.
01:06
The only world I could see myself recommending,
01:09
a calculator Doom over any other kind of Doom,
01:13
is if you're stuck in math class
01:15
and you have absolutely nothing else to do,
01:16
or like me, you are in study hall and just,
01:20
you got a calculator
01:21
and there weren't cell phones
01:22
that did anything worth anything.
01:23
I could, yeah, I played it then,[chuckles]
01:26
but otherwise, no.
01:28
Stick the Doom on things that Doom is made for,
01:31
with keyboards and stuff.
01:32
The following comments came from
01:33
the second most viewed video on your channel.
01:36
What video is it?
01:38
Second most viewed. I genuinely don't know.
01:43
I don't think it's the Sims video anymore.
01:45
I think it's, I believe it's turbo buttons maybe.
01:48
What is a turbo button?
01:50
What does it do?
01:51
Ah, the other one.
01:52
So my second most viewed video is actually,
01:54
why did old PCs have key locks and LGR retrospectives?
01:59
[Illustrator] The presence of a key lock,
02:00
is one of those things
02:01
that instantly dates a personal computer
02:03
to that time period.
02:04
The reason that this video in particular came about,
02:07
every single time that I showed a computer in a video,
02:10
that had a key lock or a turbo button
02:12
or something like that,
02:13
there were a bunch of comments from folks saying,
02:14
What did that do?
02:15
Or I've never had that.
02:17
Or I did have that. And I never used it back then.
02:20
So it just sort of came about by reading the comments
02:23
and seeing what people were asking
02:26
that I honestly never thought to ask myself
02:28
because I assumed people knew,
02:30
but I guess not.
02:30
[Illustrator] To answer the first question.
02:32
Key locks usually did exactly what you'd expect.
02:35
They locked the computer with a key.
02:37
Here's one of the most liked comments on that video.
02:40
For some extra fun,
02:42
put the turbo buttons wires on the key lock instead.
02:45
That way you can have it on low speed.
02:47
Then when you want to wrap it up,
02:48
you get to turn a key and make engine noises
02:51
with your mouth. [bubbling]
02:52
Yes, that's actually that wouldn't work, but you could.
02:57
That would be awesome.
02:58
I believe one of the strangest,
02:59
tech modifications I've encountered was actually,
03:01
an official thing that was sold in stores.
03:04
It's a thermal take cigarette lighter.[laughs]
03:07
Sort of a DC car adapter
03:09
that you plug into a five and a quarter inch bay,
03:11
and also pops out as a cup holder.
03:14
And so those are both on one thing
03:16
and it was actually sold for computers,
03:18
in the early mid two thousands.
03:21
This is the first video posted
03:24
to your YouTube channel all the year.
03:26
Clint hates himself.
03:28
You know I don't like you.
03:33
I guess that's the first video
03:34
that's still on my YouTube channel.
03:35
But the first video that was actually on my channel,
03:38
[laughs] is embarrassing.
03:40
It was some sort of ridiculous UFO
03:43
like clip that was faked by somebody I knew.
03:47
And so I'm like, Let's just put this on YouTube
03:49
and see if it fools anybody.
03:50
And I don't even remember what the title was,
03:53
but it was up there for like two or three years.
03:55
And it ended up getting,
03:55
a couple hundred thousand views I think.
03:57
It was actually my most successful video
03:59
for a long time, but yeah things changed.
04:01
I've deleted all that kind of stuff. [chuckles]
04:03
I don't actually hate myself.
04:05
I've gotten a lot of comments about that over the years.
04:07
I will kill you. You realize that.
04:12
Like what in the world were you doing?
04:13
But no, it actually sort of stemmed from,
04:15
I just had a couple of Prop Airsoft Gun lying around
04:18
and I felt like making a video that day.
04:20
So I wanted to experiment with making clones of myself
04:24
in video form.
04:26
'Cause I had done it in photos a lot,
04:27
but I wanted to know if I could do in video.
04:29
So that was just a test to do that.
04:31
And I'm like, eh, why not use these prop guns? [laughs]
04:34
And it was sort of using Worms logic
04:37
from like the old computer game Worms
04:39
where the shotgun is more powerful
04:40
than the pistol just naturally.
04:43
So yeah, that's all there was to that.
04:46
This is the very first comment ever posted on that video.
04:51
Now that was funny and really well done too.
04:54
[laughs] I guess maybe the level for what is funny
04:58
and really well done has changed a little bit
05:00
since 2006 or seven or whenever that was.
05:04
YouTube is a different place.
05:06
This is the very first tech video,
05:09
posted to your YouTube channel.
05:11
LGR has a Sega CD Genesis Console Addon review.
05:16
[Illustrator] I got my model 2 system
05:17
of eBay for about $25.
05:19
That seems to be the average price.
05:21
Of course you will also need a model 1
05:24
or model 2 Genesis to go along with it.
05:26
So look at about 40, $45
05:28
for a complete system with no games.
05:30
My feelings on the Sega CD remain mixed.
05:33
I enjoy the nostalgic look back at it.
05:36
I just found when I first revisited it,
05:38
that a lot of the things that I most wanted to play
05:40
on the Sega Genesis weren't on the Sega CD.
05:44
So what really was the point?
05:46
Now I kinda appreciate it a lot more,
05:48
especially since it's gotten more support over the years.
05:52
There's a little addon cartridge
05:53
that you can put in Sega Genesis now
05:55
that plays Sega CDs of an SD card.
05:58
So I've taken the opportunity to revisit the library
06:01
and examine all the things
06:02
that maybe I didn't get around to.
06:04
And now I'm like, Okay, I understand the point of it now.
06:07
It is pretty fascinating to see,
06:09
so many like RPGs and fighting games,
06:12
scrollers and shooters with CD audio
06:15
and 16 bit mixed together, it's pretty cool.
06:17
So here is one of the most liked comments on that video.
06:21
There's something calming about older YouTube reviews.
06:24
They tend to lack the energy of stuff today.
06:26
In a way I find kinda nice.
06:28
These days you have to have a lot of energy
06:31
and character to stand out
06:33
while back then,
06:33
you could just had to have interesting material.
06:36
I get this comment more and more as time goes on.
06:39
I didn't mean to make them calming
06:41
or soothing or anything.
06:42
In fact, I get a lot of comments about
06:44
the VHS Camcorder that I was recording on back then,
06:47
being a comforting.
06:49
And that was not the intent.
06:50
It was just something I got from a thrift store.
06:52
It was the only camera I had. [chuckles]
06:54
I'm glad it's retroactively calming or soothing.
06:57
[chuckles] Happy accidents.
07:00
Here's the first comment you made on that video.
07:03
Oh dear! I would agree
07:05
the system itself is not half bad,
07:07
but why oh why all those FMV games?
07:10
They, most of them are what make it suck.
07:12
Oh, that's harsh.
07:14
I would not agree with that anymore.
07:15
FMV games are like my favorite thing now.[laughs]
07:18
I guess I just grew out of that.
07:21
I mean there were a lot of garbage ones
07:23
but somehow the older I've gotten,
07:25
the more I appreciate like B movies
07:27
and things where people are creating things.
07:30
Then they're really trying,
07:32
but they just don't quite stick the landing.
07:34
I think that's golden.
07:35
So I think those FMV games are great,
07:37
but it's quaint now.
07:38
But at the time the tech behind it's fascinating.
07:41
Especially the compression tech.
07:43
You look into something like 7th Guest,
07:45
what they were doing there
07:47
to get all of these moving transitions
07:49
between hallways and rooms of a house
07:52
and making it look as good as it did,
07:55
on a 46 is just mind boggling.
07:58
They invented a whole new techniques for that stuff.
08:00
The following comments came from your first Sims video.
08:04
LGR, the Sims 3 quick review,
08:06
top five reasons to buy.
08:08
[Illustrator] Number four,
08:09
customization and building stuff.
08:11
[upbeat music]
08:12
The architectural aspect of the game,
08:14
has always been one of my favorite things
08:16
about the SIM games before.
08:18
But now it's just extreme.
08:20
From what I recall
08:20
the entire reason I started covering Sim's content,
08:23
was just another one of those out of the blue moments,
08:25
where a new Sims game had come out
08:28
and I'd played all of them.
08:29
I was a really big fan of them,
08:30
but didn't really see anybody else doing them at all.
08:33
In terms of covering the Sims on YouTube
08:35
and making videos about Sims content.
08:37
There was a sort of debate, I guess,
08:39
among the community of,
08:40
Oh, is it really worth upgrading
08:42
from the Sims 2,
08:42
or is it even an upgrade at all?
08:44
Because a lot of folks weren't quite sold
08:46
on some of the Sims 3's aspects.
08:48
The open world was interesting,
08:50
but was it worth the gameplay sacrifices.
08:53
The tons of expansions to the Sims 2?
08:55
Was it worth upgrading at all?
08:58
That's why I titled it top five reasons to grab it.
09:00
'Cause I thought it was worth it.
09:01
Here are some of the most liked comments on this Sims video.
09:05
Sims 3 gameplay plus Sims 4 graphics
09:07
equals absolute gold.
09:09
I hear that a lot. [laughs]
09:11
And I don't necessarily disagree.
09:13
I think that there is a lot to love
09:16
about both of these entries in the game series.
09:18
And while some aren't quite sold on the Sims 4 graphics,
09:20
you can pretty much objectively say
09:23
that the lighting system is better.
09:24
And so are the Sims themselves
09:26
in terms of their looks.
09:27
And combine the best of those worlds
09:29
and a lot from the Sims 2,
09:30
I would say it is absolute gold.
09:32
I did not realize the effect
09:34
that covering Sims things would have on my channel at all.
09:35
In fact, I don't think
09:37
that it even did very well at the beginning.
09:40
It was when I started covering the expansions
09:42
that really started to take off
09:44
and shift the channel in another direction
09:46
or at least add something to the channel
09:48
that wasn't there before.
09:49
And it's become a staple ever since.
09:51
Are you still as big of a fan of the Sims,
09:54
as you used to be?
09:55
Absolutely. Am I a big a fan as,
09:58
I used to be about [chuckles]
10:00
the current Sims experience? Probably not.
10:02
I still like the Sims a lot,
10:04
but it's one of those things where
10:05
the more I like it,
10:07
the more flaws you start to see,
10:09
and the more you point out.
10:11
The directions going this way,
10:12
and I kinda felt like it should have gone this way by now.
10:14
So I only feel it's fair as a fan to point out the flaws,
10:18
as I see them.
10:18
I have never talked to anyone at Maxis or EA,
10:21
in any real sense other than,
10:24
at one point they kind of reached out to say,
10:26
Hey, do you wanna join our game changers program?
10:28
And I said, Nope. [laughs]
10:29
Because it involved,
10:30
things that I wasn't quite comfortable with.
10:33
The big thing was in the contract that sort of,
10:36
messed with my brain was like,
10:38
they have to have a sort of editorial control
10:40
over what you say.
10:41
And it's not that they're gonna make you,
10:42
say one thing or the other.
10:43
It's just the fact that they're overseeing everything
10:45
and providing early access to things
10:47
and inviting you to events
10:48
and pushing one boundary or another that for me,
10:50
it was a boundary
10:51
and others sure, they have no problem with that.
10:53
That's cool.
10:54
But for me, I wanted to remain as objective as possible,
10:56
in reviewing a big company,
10:58
providing oversight into every Sims video that I do.
11:02
That just wasn't for me.
11:03
The following comments,
11:05
came from the biggest unboxing video on your channel.
11:08
What is it?
11:09
That's gotta be the IBM PC AT.
11:13
Brand new IBM PC AT + Model M unboxing and set up by LGR.
11:22
[Illustrator] That was simple enough.
11:24
Oh, how cool is this?
11:28
This is the first time that it has seen the light of day,
11:31
in almost 30 years.
11:34
Next to the Doom calculator video,
11:36
is still one of the most surprising ones I've seen
11:38
in my channel in terms of responses.
11:40
Because it was something that I,
11:42
discovered on ebay one late night.
11:45
There was a warehouse in New York State
11:48
that had hundreds of IBM machines still brand new in box
11:52
and they were selling them for a darn good price
11:54
and they were going fast.
11:55
So I just bought one on a whim that late night.
11:58
Then didn't really remember.
11:59
And then all of a sudden it showed up on the porch.
12:01
I'm like, Ah, well, I guess I'm making a video now.
12:05
That was that, didn't really think much of it at all.
12:07
But I suppose something is appealing enough
12:10
about seeing a brand new computer from the late eighties
12:14
being unboxed and set up.
12:15
And there's also the Model M component that has a whole,
12:18
the keyboard enthusiast community.
12:20
You're seeing a brand new Model M
12:22
that was kind of a religious experience for me.
12:25
I knew that would catch on,
12:25
but not to this degree.
12:27
Here is one of the most liked comments
12:29
on the new IBM PC AT Model M video.
12:32
What's your nerd level.
12:34
I smell keyboards.
12:36
This right here smells like an office store.
12:38
This still smells like a new car.
12:41
I've gotta let you know what everything smells like.
12:42
It's important.
12:43
Yeah, it's true.
12:44
I had to smell it, smell everything.
12:47
If I unbox something that's new old stock,
12:49
you gotta smell it, man.
12:50
You're smelling late eighties air
12:53
and degrading components and potentially toxic things.
12:57
And the Model M was crazy
12:59
that it smelled like a new car.
13:00
It kinda still does.
13:01
It's just over there.
13:02
I still use it and smell it every so often
13:04
just to make sure. [chuckles]
13:05
Is there any retro tech you'd loved to unbox
13:08
that you haven't been able to find?
13:11
Yeah, there's a lot.
13:13
But it's even harder to narrow that down.
13:15
I guess if I had to pick one,
13:17
it would be the Packard Bell Legend 46
13:20
that I had as a kid,
13:21
my first computer.
13:22
And I haven't yet been able to find the exact model,
13:25
in probably 15 years of looking.
13:27
I've had saved searches and everything on eBay for ever.
13:31
And it's never shown up,
13:32
not the exact one.
13:33
If I could find that in the box and unbox that,
13:36
and sort of relive that first memory of seeing a computer
13:40
in my house for the first time. I'd probably cry.
13:43
Speed round.
13:44
Answer the following comments as quickly as possible
13:46
because otherwise we'll be here all day.
13:48
So what if I want some modern games on a monochrome monitor?
13:51
Is there any way I can play Fallout: New Vegas,
13:53
on an amber monitor?
13:55
Yes, there is.
13:56
In fact I've done that on my channel I believe.
13:59
I know I've done it on monochrome TVs.
14:02
That is a little different than a monochrome monitor.
14:05
So it really depends on the monitor itself.
14:07
But if you have a monitor with composite input,
14:10
that makes it extremely easy.
14:11
There are some amber monitors that have that so,
14:14
New Vegas, totally possible.
14:16
I wonder why it took so long for touchscreens
14:18
to become widely adopted.
14:20
If you've ever used touch screen
14:22
from the eighties or nineties,
14:24
you'd probably figured that out.
14:26
Multitouch, wasn't a thing, typically.
14:29
But even then a lot of those touch screens,
14:32
especially on earlier tablets required a powered,
14:35
almost like a Wacom tablet pen
14:37
to get anything on there.
14:38
And otherwise you could do some things,
14:42
but others you couldn't in terms of,
14:43
being able to move a mouse
14:44
or actually click on a device.
14:47
Also just because the interfaces weren't there.
14:49
A lot of those earlier computers and tablets and things,
14:52
were essentially desktops shrunken down with a touch screen
14:56
that you had to use a battery powered pen.
14:58
So not fun.
15:01
Does it run Crysis?
15:03
That can be a literally any video I've ever made.
15:06
And the answer is almost always no,
15:07
except for the Crysis video.
15:09
Yeah Crysis, if it's running,
15:11
it runs Crysis. [chuckles]
15:12
I don't know. It was a fun thing, I guess.
15:14
Just to sort of.
15:15
Somebody needs to develop Crysis for MS-DOS.
15:18
Just so I can say it runs Crysis.
15:20
To conclude, we found these comments
15:22
on your most recent Q&A video.
15:24
What backup plans do you have
15:25
if YouTube suddenly hits the crapper?
15:27
It depends if the entire,
15:30
video creating ecosystem also goes down the crapper
15:33
because that would be trouble.
15:34
So I'm not really sure what I would do.
15:36
I would probably start selling
15:37
a lot of this stuff that I have.
15:39
Otherwise. I'd probably go into,
15:42
doing what I've always wanted to do
15:43
in terms of creating like a tech museum of sorts.
15:47
I've got some folks that I know
15:49
that have done the museum thing themselves,
15:51
and I'd love to either join on with them or start my own.
15:54
That would be fun.
15:56
But otherwise, I'd probably just try to find some other,
15:59
video creation service.
16:01
'Cause I kind of liked doing this.
16:02
Well, I suppose that is it for
16:04
the questions and comments that we went through here.
16:07
If you got this far,
16:08
thank you very much for watching.
16:10
[upbeat music]