The Angry Video Game Nerd talks fame, filmmaking, fans

[4 Comment(s)]

By Brian Fontenot

The Angry Video Game Nerd, a.k.a. James Rolfe, has an endearing foul-mouth and drinks Rolling Rock and Yeungling to take away the pain of playing the crappy video games he reviews.

Since making his first Nerd video in 2004 for fun, Rolfe has become a Web-celeb.

“I’m just a regular guy, but yes, I do get recognized on the streets sometimes. I’m not sure how much my family is really aware of how famous I am,” he said. “It’s a strange reality and it was embarrassing to me when my girlfriend, now wife, would show the videos to her family. All the cursing and everything.”

Profanity and the upper echelon the Nerd takes it to can be awe-inspiring and certainly adds to his reviews.

“I always go with what feels natural. If I feel like letting loose with a bunch of ridiculous swears, I'll do it, but only if I feel inspired,” he said. “Mostly, it’s just about the game anyway, but if I have some extra time, I add in some bonus theatrics to spice it up. Bugs Bunny, I thought, was one of the best examples of this,” Rolfe remarked.

In his review of the game, “Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout,” he brutalizes Bugs Bunny. He tries to keep it all fun and games, though, by not going too far.

“I don’t want to be too gross. So I draw the line somewhere,” he said.

He added it all brings him satisfaction to know his work is appreciated by a growing audience.

Rolfe started making movies as a young child, spending “an insane amount of time” watching kung fu, horror, sci-fi, slapstick and comedy movies.

“I just love that stuff, so I wanted to make my own. I used whatever technology I had available to me,” he said.

He started filming on Super 8, moved to VHS and now he rolls with digital video and non-linear computer editing. In the VHS days, he used to do his editing with a pair of VCRs.

He would cue one up to play his footage and record the segments he wanted with the second one.

“It was a crude craft, but took a lot of practice, and believe it or not, I mastered it, often cutting together complicated fight sequences and nobody knew the difference,” he said. “If you wanted to reverse a shot, you had to hit rewind. If you wanted slow motion, you hit pause and un-pause really fast. It was crazy.”

He progressed from making films with puppets and action figures, which mostly consisted of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman and Ghostbusters toys, to his most elaborate film to date, “The Deader the Better.”

For this horror film, he turned small garage into a cemetery with tombstones, real trees, dead leaves and fog, creating a classic 1930s style moonlit graveyard setting.

To date, he has made 190 videos and expects to hit 200 early next year.

But his Nerd videos have been most popular among his fans, who fervently waited a year for the release of a DVD of his Nerd videos. To release the videos on sale, he had to go back and remove some copyrighted material from them. And then he added some bonus features.

“So basically, it took a lot longer than expected to release it, but during that time, everyone wanted it so bad, that when it finally got released, it was like a dam exploding,” Rolfe said. “Some people have been skeptic to whether people would want to buy something they could watch on the internet for free, but this proves that they do want it. Just to have the bonus features, see the videos full quality and watch them on your DVD player, it’s something I owe to the fans.”

The first release of his Nerd DVD sold out within a week.

His fans have also been rabidly supportive. On a request basis, he gives out a mailing address to fans who want to send him bad games or systems to review.

“I once made a comment that I don’t own a Sega Saturn, and then I actually received four of them in the mail,” Rolfe said.

He also maintains a PayPal donation button on his site AngryVGNerd.com and said fans have been very generous with their donations, allowing him to buy tons of games to review.

“It’s clear they want to see me continue making videos, and that's great that they support the show,” Rolfe said.

Of course, fan donations and requests can be a double-edged sword in some cases, especially when it came to the Atari Porn review. The naughty cartridges were donated to Rolfe. And Rolfe later found one on sale, after he made the review.

“Hey, if I can get enough of them, maybe there will be ‘Atari Porn - Part 2,’” he said.

Rolfe said he’s going to continue making the reviews for as long as fans want them.

“As long as it’s still ripe and the fans want it. And right now, it’s kicking ass,” he said. “I even plan to review Street Fighter 2010 on NES in the year 2010.”

Check out Rolfe’s work at www.cinemassacre.com and his Nerd videos at http://cinemassacre.com/AVGN/Nes_Nerd.html.

Originally Published: Issue 590 - December 11, 2007

Share on Facebook

Back to the top