'Let's Play' videos may soon make you a felon thanks to Senate Bill S.978

Octo: That's exactly like what I described minus the sarcastic comment about heavy breathing. Why anyone would watch something like is completely baffling to me. If I watch a video of something I would watch it without the commentary if at all possible because it takes away from the experience 99% of the time. That said, I don't watch video game videos at all unless I'm either a) checking out a game I want to buy or b) showing someone a certain scene/boss from a game. Let's Play videos rarely provide decent quality to fulfill either of these requirements.

The best videos are the ones that are purely video and in-game audio.

Have you played Monster Hunter? For most people who have if you were to think back to the fist time you played you'd understand how welcome something like this is. And he is proficient with many weapons and often enough explains why and how to be more proficient.

I would argue that for many games they are unnessecary because the skill cap is low or its just so simple or doesnt need explination, but for some games Let's Plays (demon's souls, monster hunter etc etc) have a real place. RTS or RTS have something more common but similiar to LPs generally covered in some casting or commentaries but the concept is the same. Now with the release DotA 2 i expect to see an increase in Playcasting, which i think will be interesting. I may even do a little myself if i were to get back into the genre in any competitive way. I for one think Shepards casts and LP are both excellent and really healthy for the community. He undertook a pretty massive task and succeeded epicly and just kept improving. Now if he could just bowgun like me and do some sick showboatin, trololol.

That said, I don't watch video game videos at all unless I'm either a) checking out a game I want to buy or b) showing someone a certain scene/boss from a game. Let's Play videos rarely provide decent quality to fulfill either of these requirements.

The best videos are the ones that are purely video and in-game audio.

I want to address this bit specifically because i think you're pulling away from your own point.

In the bolded, i agree you're right. The problem there isn't that Lets Play's exist but that most of them are shitty and done by basement dwellers who have to whisper into the mic to not wake up their cats, etc etc. The problem is the standard is low. Not that they exist at all.