It’s easy to assume that a comedian wouldn’t be the best good source to go to for some random bit of game history, but in some cases, they’re actually pretty pretty good.
So come along as a few funny folks tell us what’s the deal with advergames, video game violence, and why some people think games are just for boys…
From short films to podcasts to full-length features, Documenting the Past tunes in to the history of video games through a documentarian’s lens.
John Oliver settled in behind his desk for the ninth season of Last Week Tonight this past weekend, but he didn’t spend his entire vacation celebrating the holidays or moping about the MLB lockout (though I’m sure he did both). Instead, he and his staff put together a rather thorough primer on advergames, including old favorites like Pepsiman and Chex Quest.
In his signature style, Oliver breaks down what advergames are (short games, often offered for free, that are created to promote another product) and why they need to come back (because the alternative, Brand Twitter, sucks).
Unlike John Oliver, Adam Conover isn’t preparing for a new season of Adam Ruins Everything, and that’s because the informative sketch show was unceremoniously canceled by TruTV in 2019. Thankfully, he tackled two of gaming’s most persistent myths (that games are just for boys and that violent games can turn teenagers into killers) during the show’s first season:
Hopefully Last Week Tonight has more game-related shows in its future, and hopefully this is just the push we need to bring back the advergame. Pepsiman deserved better.