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Private Notes
A very special Fact Hunt this week, We had so many people say they enjoyed the Driv3rGate segment from the 3 Gaming Scandals that were buried episode of Fact Hunt, we decided to go back and re-add a lot of the original deleted content, as well as all the new research we discovered from people involved in the scandal since making the video. Enjoy!
As a special bonus for the upcoming Fact Hunt episode, I've made an extended version of one of the segments. While doing research upon one of the features, the code needed to get it to work proved to be fake (other sites agreed with me), I almost abandoned the part, but upon some extensive research and some expert hacking help with my friend Ian at http://www.CodeTapper.com, who I originally approached to help get the code to work after I discovered its existence, we managed to prove that it's not only real, but also worked out how to get it to work!
Larry answers the biggest question in gaming that no one ever asked... Why are joysticks always on the left? The answer may surprise you!
Fact hunt returns! This episode I take a look at the rather controversial story of when Activision cancelled a video game because of their diskinking to female video game protagonists. Amazingly, like Driv3rgate, this story was pretty much buried for years.
This episode I take a look at a Super Mario Bros. Game show lost the the ravages of time, that and it was on European TV so, so unless it happened in the US, the internet forgets... :P
This episode I take a look at a rather infamous password, and how incredibly damaging it has been to Nintendo consoles over the years.
With all the anger towards EA trying to scam you with loot boxes in recent years, the internet seems to have all but forgotten the time EA proclaimed that buying used games was "worse than piracy" and decided to fine anyone who bought a second hand copy ten dollars, just for the privelidge of playing the complete game. So let's have a look at the rise and disasterous fall of EA's "Project Ten Dollars"
Over the years of doing Fact Hunt, EA horror stories have cropped up time and time again, so I thought for this episode, we'd take a look back at five of the worst stories I've covered and check up if there's been any developments since...
This episode I take a look at the time Sega had to recall one of it's own Sonic titles less than 24 hours after it's inital launch.
The first ever episode of Fact Hunt, this episode I look at games
This episode, I look at four video games that were cancelled for the most stupid reasons possible! Bet you didn't know these :)
Fact Hunt returns with the Top Five Offensive Cheat Codes!!! The cheats themselves are the usual affair (infinite lives/health/ammo, level select Etc.), but it's the actual command you type in that is the offensive part, and these are truly shocking that they could ever be put into a video game!!!
As much as we like to believe that video gaming is a free haven of ideas, unfortunately, it’s anything but. Over the past three decades’ publishers have been hoarding concepts on an alarmingly increasing basis just to get the edge on their competitors. Oh, sorry I shouldn’t say “edge” as you’ll soon find out! So, this episode we take a look at all the oppressive patents, crippling copyrights and general horrible hoarding that goes on in the world of interactive entertainment.
Yup, changed the name to avoid confusion with some people. This episode of Fact Hunt is dedicated to three incidents of corruption in the gaming industry from both publishers and journalists, that amazingly have been all but forgotten.... until now!!! So come join Larry on this sometimes hilarious, sometimes rage inducing scandals that some would prefer left forgotten!
Let’s face it, games are getting easier. It could be argued that it’s down to games being more narrative driven and online focused, than the original arcade mentality of constantly trying to nickel and dime you. But every now and then, a game developer will make a game so hard, it’s literally impossible to beat, not because they want to give you a challenge, oh no siree, but because of more underhanded reasons! So this episode is dedicated to dev’s deceiving of making you think the game’s impossibly tough, when in truth, they just couldn’t be bothered to finish it. But, hello you, I’m Guru Larry and I welcome you to Fact Hunt: Five Purposely Broken, unbeatable Games by Dickish Developers The games I look at are: Smash TV, Robocop, Gladiator, Great Gurianos, Dennis the Menace and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5.
This episode of Fact Hunt looks at five video games, that bizarrely ported to the same system/console, not once, but Twice!!! And all for incredibly insane reasons!
This episode of Fact Hunt is dedicated to five cases of business decisions in gaming that went hilariously wrong, many of which have been forgotten, until now!!!
Games journalists, may be the town criers of our industry, but occasionally they get things wrong... really, REALLY wrong. So this episode is dedicated to the top five most stupid things ever uttered by them!
A little while ago on Fact Hunt, I did an episode on games that were cancelled for stupid reasons. However, what happens when a publisher wants to cancel a game AFTER it’s been released? Sounds incredibly stupid… but it does happen. So this episode we dedicate to those pulled ports, those displaced discs in five games recalled for shocking reasons!!!
It's quite eerie to know that buried in some game's code is the rants and rages of programmers who vented their frustration assuming no one would ever find them... Except they did! This episode is dedicated to the rants hidden in British video games, Rants on US and Japanese games will be coming soon!
It's odd that you rarely see movie license video games nowadays, but once upon a time, they were so prolific that many forgot some movies even had video game adaptations. So this episode Guru Larry goes looking into those forgotten films and those mislaid movies!
Fact Hunt is now back with all new episodes, For the first episode Larry takes a look at the stories behind how some YouTubers became so famous, then completely destroyed their careers due to insanely stupid decisions. Enjoy!
I was working on a follow up to my Offensive Cheat Codes videos, but noticed a lot of the comments were suggesting Offensive Passcodes, and more amazingly, they were codes people had entered in over the years for a laugh and by some pure luck, all amazingly work! So I check out the Top 5 most Offensive of codes people have entered over the years!
So this episode of Fact Hunt is dedicated to Shigsy's less than honourable escapades over time. For people asking for a source on the infamous DKC line, aside from the March 1995 interview of Electronic Games magazine it comes from, a second source is Steven L. Kent's "Ultimate History of Video Games" in one of his lengthy footnotes on page 518: "An interesting story lies behind Yoshi's Island. When Shigeru Miyamoto first demonstrated the game to Nintendo's marketing department, it was rejected because it had Mario-related graphics rather than the waxy, prerendered graphics of Donkey Kong Country. Rather than change to an artistic look he did not like, Miyamoto made the game even more cartoon-like, giving it a hand-drawn look. The second version was accepted Miyamoto, who is rightfully proud of his work, was offended that the first version was rejected. That same month, I interviewed Miyamoto and Tim Stamper, creator of Donkey Kong Country, together and noticed that Miyamoto was a bit hard on Stamper, making such statements as "Donkey Kong Country proves that players will put up with mediocre gameplay as long as the art is good." In a later interview, Miyamoto admitted that Yoshi's Island had been a touchy subject at the time: I think that it happened after Donkey Kong Country was introduced. In comparison with the graphics of the Super Donkey Kong, there was not enough punch to Yoshi's Island. That was what I was told by the marketing people." Also note the IGN interview was a made during a promotion for the release of Donkey Kong Country Returns on Wii, so he would have to recant anything like that wouldn't he?
Games consoles were sadly never built forever, but a lot of retro gamers are completely unaware how quickly these systems are disintegrating. So join Larry as he talks about 5 consoles that may not exist within the next 10 years.
Review scores are a subjective opinion, but every now and then scores appear that are way higher or lower than they objectively should be. So this episode of Fact Hunt, Larry looks at 5 suspicious review scores that were either due to corruption or incompetence, but all received huge backlashes!
At long last, the USA edition of Hidden Pi**ed off Programmer Rants is finally here!!! (The Japanese edition will be up next week too)
It's time to conclude our tirade trilogy with the Japanese edition of Pissed off Programmer Rants!
(BTW: This is 100% Not an April Fools Video) In a media world, Mascots come and go often... 99% of the time it's from lack of sales, but every now and then, they're scrapped because of all manner of bizzare, insane and even tragic reasons. So this episode, Larry checks out the strange reasons behind some of their cancellations...
Thanks to mass advertising from certain publishers, we're led to believe that only a few gaming franchises are majorly successful, when anything could be further from the truth. So this episode Guru Larry takes a look at five much lesser known, but still incredibly successful franchises that you might be surprised at how big they actually are.
Guru Larry takes a look at five well known video games that originally started out development as a licensed property!
Guru Larry takes a look at publishers attempt to promote their games using controversy, but backfired miserably.
Nope, Duke Nukem Forever ISN'T Number One!!! I look into the fascinating world of games that took forever to be released and the fascinating stories as to why.
There's been many Worst Consoles and Worst Selling Console lists on the internet over the years, but bizarrely not one of them has ever put them in actual sales numbers (in fact, many consoles on this list have NEVER been mentioned before). So this episode I finally put to rest what truly are the worst selling consoles of all time!
Every now and then, publishers have no choice to rename games because of cultural offense, recent events, or in regards to today’s episode, because of incredibly stupid reasons!!!
Slapping a license onto a game can be an easy way to sell a terrible game, but sometimes even that is too much for publishers to manage, so become extra skinflint and but only part of a license. So, this episode Larry takes a look at some of the tightest of these licenses! Enjoy!!!
While modern games can easily be patched to remove conflicting content, earlier games didn’t have such a luxury, whenever a controversial topic, or worse a legal threat was brought forward, they not only had to recall all copies on sale, but also literally destroy them. This episode Larry looks at five such cases!
Have you ever sat back and thought… Why do game developers spend years on a game, fully aware that it’s not very good? Well, sometimes developers do it entirely on purpose, even worse for really horrid reasons too! Guru Larry looks at five such examples.
Gaming has become so huge that people are bound to tread on one another's toes every now and again, but sometimes these spats can be for the most hilarious reasons possible, come join Larry as he looks at five such examples.
Hey everyone, I've been away for a while, so unfortunately not been able to create a video this week, but as a lot of people were pointing out issues in my recent Terrible Games episode, I've uploaded a revised version containing all the changes you suggested! Don't worry, this is a one off, two brand new episodes of Fact Hunt will be coming up next week and the week after! Have you ever sat back and thought… Why do game developers spend years on a game, fully aware that it’s not very good? Well, sometimes developers do it entirely on purpose, even worse for really horrid reasons too! Guru Larry looks at five such examples.
As much loved as Nintendo are, a lot of their history has been altered by incorrect information over the years, mostly people confusing stuff Nintendo made popular, rather than actually invent. So this episode Larry sets the record straight on who did create a lot of
They say it’s a Dog eat Dog world out there, and from the drama we’ve seen in the video game industry over the past few years is to be believed, that’s certainly true. But rather than all the brouhaha journalists cause in the industry, what about the poor ol game developers? If it’s not poor reviews or terrible sales causing these poor guys to go out of business, it’s the commissioning publisher themselves totally destroying their operation with such insane reasons. So this episode, we take a look at these conniving commissioners, these double-crossing deans, and these asinine administrators, some of which you’d have so little faith in, You’d think the project was run by a certain infamous developer.
This episode of Fact Hunt returns to five video games, that bizarrely ported to the same system/console, not once, but Twice!!! And all for incredibly insane reasons!
Nobody likes scalpers, they make everyone's lives a misery for their own personal profit. So this episode Larry takes a look at five events where their greed totally backfired.
Cancelling games is sad, especially for the poor souls who put months, if not years of work into them. So this episode, Larry takes a look at five such instances of games that were given the axe, but not only were given a second chance as a new IP, but also turned into classic titles!
With the recent closure of Visceral, I decided to take a look at several other well loved developers snapped up by Electronic Arts, and then shut down. Developers mentiones: Maxis, Westwood Studios, DICE, Bioware, Electronic Arts, EA, Origin systems, Bullfrog, Lionhead studios, Peter Molyneux,
Launching a console isn't easy, It's incredibly easy to mess things up, to the point some manage to do it so badly it ends up severely damaging or in some cases totally destroying the entire company, Larry takes a look at five such examples!
Guru Larry digs into 5 forgotten Easter eggs that publishers probably would have preferred left forgotten.
Well it's finally here after two years of you peoples asking, A Fact Hunt episode entirely dedicated to Peter Molyneux is finally here!!! You can finally understand all those jokes I've made about the man. So sit back and enjoy the horrid tales of "that bald guy Larry keeps talking about in his videos"!
We all know the story of Nintendo's beginnings as a playing card company, but what about other video game publishers, did they ever have any strange beginnings Larry? Well yes they did! So come with me as I check out five quite frankly insane backgrounds of publishers! You will be surprised!
Not all coders liked the games that they worked on, some even totally despised them, such as the five in today's episode!
Guru Larry takes a look at 5 video games, that were intended to be epic three-part escapades, but for multiple reasons never made it past it's first or second entry!
I return to the subject of my second ever Fact Hunt episode (No, I've not run out of ideas, shut up) and discover five more video games that were axed for the most idiotic of reasons.
Guru Larry takes a look at five rather surprising (and shocking) influences of video game mascots. Oh, anyone wondering what game uses the "Darkside Pill" potion, it's from Sorcery Saga
this episode with me (they make amazing content too, highly recomended!)
This episode I take a look at six famous and less known scandals where gamers were ripped off pre-ordering games.
This episode, I take a look at five games that are literally impossible to beat, all thanks to the game developer's incompetence!
This fact hunt takes a look at five once huge modern video game franchises, that have sadly been all but forgotten noe.
Games are changed all the time during development and when released from region to region, however this episode takes a look at four such incidents where they were changed entirely because the publisher had zero respect for their American audience's intelligence.
How did an infamous internet meme inspire a game console? Here's the bizarre story behind it!
Piracy has been instilled on us that it is a bad thing in video games, but on the odd occasion, it's actually proven to help the industry. This episode I take a look at five such occasions...
This episode I take a look at publisher stupid new policy of censoring their own classic products that were perfectly fine back int he day, but are now suddenly worried they'll trigger one of today's players.
This episode takes a look at times where publishers tried to hoodwink you into buying the exact same game at least twice, out of pure laziness and/or greed!
Celebrities have been slapped on games pretty much since the dawn of the industry itself, just to make a few extra bucks, however some of these personalites take it upon themselves to dictate unrealistic demands on the poor developers, often to the detriment of the game itself. Here is six such examples...
This episode I take a look at five cancelled games, believed hidden, but were secretly included in later released games!
As terrible as it are that there are glitches in games so bad they'll crash your system, losing you hours of progression, there's several so damagaging, they'll permanantly destroy your property! This episode, I take a look at fice such occurances...
It does seem bizarre that a developer who spent millions making a game, then demands you don't buy it, but there's been examples in gaming past when such a thing happened! And here are five such examples...
This episode takes a look at three times the papperazzi has tried to descriminate video games with utter nonsense, for the sole reason of clickbaiting and scaremongering.
One of the most famous cheat codes in the whole of video gaming has appeared in all manner of strange and bizzare ways, come join me as I look into five (well tons more actually) such examples.
Some games unfortunately turn out terrible, but some of the excuses developers/publishers make to justify why can be ben worse! Here's four such examples!!!
As much as movies and TV loves to look down their nose at video games, they have no qualms with stealing ideas off them. So this episode, I take a look at at least five examples of this bout of video game vandalism.
Video game demos are often an easy way for publishers to give you a taste of a game the intend to sell to you, however, some of them tend to be a little more generous on this front and accidentally gave you the entire game instead.
Games can be expensive to make, so why not save some pennies and just re-release the same game over and over in different countries with a new lick of paint? That's what these devs did!
Developers get bored making games, so to pass the time they often have fun putting all sorts of naughty things in the code, assuming no one would ever discover it. Well Guru Larry did!!!
Just because something is popular, it doesn't mean that it's original. The majority of famous inventions and creations were built off the back of some one else's hard work and/or failure. So here's five such examples that happened in gaming!
Gaming's had multiple "urban legends" over the years, some have been with us for so long, that people mistake them for fact. (yeah I see the irony) so here's five such examples of well known ones that were totally false!
Just because a game is released and locked on your system, it doesn't mean the publisher still can't censor it! And this episode I look at five such examples!
While there's some legendary video game contests over the years, such as the Nintendo World Championships, there's also been some downright terrible ones. Infact, they were so poorly thought out that no onr could physically even win them.
With the likes of Xbox Live, PSN and Steam, we've come a long way to reach online gaming. But for every success, there's been countless failures. Here's five such examples over the years...
As much as developers love their games, some can get a little too defensive about them, sometimes even going as far as to publiclly explode on social media. Guru Larry takes a look at five of the most infamous times!
While there's justice and karma for legitimate bans with cheaters, team kilers & griefers. Occasionally totally innocent people can be struck with the banhammer for the most idiotic reasons. Here's five such examples!
With games recieving a rushed development nowadays, its not uncommon for publishers to get in a tiswas and accidentally release an earlier build of the game. Here's five such examples...
Game development can often be a comprimise when it comes to budget, or time. Meaning large amount sof the game originally meant to be included are removed. Guru Larry takes a look at five (well, seven) such examples...
While some mascots come from inspiration, others come out of vengance, Guru Larry takes a look at five such instances!
You may remember some time ago I did an episode on Viruses hidden in video games, so I thought I'd follow it up with it's contagius cousin, spyware in games... Quite a fascinating collection here!
You often see videos and articles about really clever anti-piracy measures, but you never see ones about terrible ones, ones so bad, that they might not have even bothered they were so easy to get through. So this episode I take a look at five such examples of terrible anti-piracy measurements and copy protection fails in games!
It's quite amazing how many times publishers and developers have gotten away with stealing assets from other companies and fans, be it from being lazy and lifting them from Google Images, to just outright theft. But here's five such examples.
Celebs can get so carried away sometimes, that they believe that fictional characters can hurt their profession. Here's five such examples...
After popular demand, here's another five cases of video game journalists saying incredibly stupid things! Enjoy!!!
We've found all manner of items hidden in game code over the years on Fact Hunt, Images, hidden levels, but actual videos? Yup, Video files you were never meant to see! Here's five such examples...
A mysterious advert from Nintendo appeared in 1990, correcting people how to correctly use their company's name. Such a bizarre demand, but has some quite major consequences behind their reason.
The names of certain video game characters can be perfectly normal in one country and/or language, but highly offensive in another. Here's a huge pile of mascots who have been caught in controversy over the years...
Okay, quite a different type of episode this one, thought it'd be cool to cover something completely different for once... The bizarre story of St. Brides, a feminist cult who lived to Victorian ideals and inexplicably decided to buy a computer and then make and sell games using it :S Alright, they're a kink cult really, and were doing it for money rather than any religious ideologies. but "Sex Cult" just clickbaits better :P
Unlike PC games with all manner of selectable options, Console games tend to be a "one size fits all" affair. However, some crafty codies sneak in cheat codes which can improve the frame rate and/or screen resolution immensily.
With all the stories about events like SwordQuest being a scam (it wasn't really) one story that's often overlooked is HareRaiser, the nonsensical puzzle set across two full pticed games, that annoyed so many people, they never bought the second half of the puzzle. Was it a scam? decide for yourself!
Publishers occasionally lose confidence in a game in development, so in a bid to get extra sales, they'll change the entire premise of the title and juxtaposition the title to be a follow up of one of their already existing IP's, even if they don't really mesh that well.
For as innovative a company as Nintendo are, a lof ot the additions and features they put into games are either never used, or worse completely useless. Guru Larry takes a look at five such examples...
Anime based video games are often re-released in the west sans the original IP, Guru Larry takes a look at five such occurances over the years!
Life isn't easy developing games, to the point some devs will hate their project so much, they'll openly try to destroy it from the inside. Here's five such cases of developers sabotaging their own games...
It's amazing how one simple comment can completely destroy sales of a gaming console, and here's five such occurrences of that happening!
With entire days worth of audio now existing in modern games, it's no wonder that the occasional voice over flub can sneak through the cracks. Here's TEN of the worst examples!
It's amazing to think that it's taken over a quarter of a century for the original Nintendo 64 007 GoldenEye to finally get a re-release, but the story as to why has been twisted in PR spin, that there's never been an actual reason why. So, I put all the stories together and finally discovered the truth. And there were quite a few people trying to block it over the decades, some you might be surprised about!
While video game piracy is often fround upon, occasionally game developers will despise the way their game is distributed so much, they'll ask you to resport to such measures.
Video game patches in sports games are commonplace, however removing actual characters in them is exceptionally rare, and only when they've performed the most heinous actions are they permenantly deleted. Larry looks at five such examples over the years!
We all know those people who go on "think of the children" tirades about the evils of video games, but most of the time we laugh at them. However, one time, one of these "Karens" got so lucky, she not only had a video game cancelled in America, but also had Hilary Clinton on her side to try and censor video games. Come sit back and watch this wacky tale!
There's been a lot of disasterous business decisions in video games over the year, some you're probably well aware of like Nintendo rejecting the Playstation. However here's five equally as boneheaded moves, that seem to have been all but forgotten about!
