Gaming Pal Ollie

FINALLY! My Chromatic Game Boy video review is up!
Is this the best Game Boy ever? I think so, but do check the video out and let me know what you think in the video's comments so we can keep it alive

1 week ago | [YT] | 2

Gaming Pal Ollie

Guys, this is very important!
Do you have a problem with my AUDIO QUALITY? I'm not talking about voice, accent or anything, just AUDIO Quality?
My Audio sounds clean and very easy to understand to me on my phone, on my PC with headphones, but the other day I opened youtube on my PS5 and on one of my TVs my Audio sounded muffled, like we're talking speaking through a corona mask levels of muffled.
I messed with the TV's settings a bit, it cleared up somehow but it was still muffeled as all hell. Now I've heard this on that particular TV before as well, so want to hear from you. How muffled does my aduio sound to you? Because if it's as muffeled as it is on this TV for EVEYONE I dunno what to do about all my important videos like C64, Arcades, Atari 2600 and stuff.
At one point I was going to get a lavalier mic, then I changed my mind. I don't want to spend a dime on this channel so I wasn't planning on buying a mic anymore, but if it's this bad and muffled i might have to.....

2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 3

Gaming Pal Ollie

There's so much I have to share, discuss and show, but what's the point if youtube is going to get stumped every time a new topic is discussed.

Youtube is broken trash, broken beyond repair

it killed my latest video, an entire documentary about how Digital Only distribution hurts game developers and video game exposure at 140 views. NOT because the video is bad, not because those 140 viewers didn't like it, they left all likes and watched a huge portion of it many even finishing it. But because I DARED to step away from the Retro Gaming "niche"/topic which my algorithm has been trained on and knows how to promote.

The video started out great, with huge ADV so the people who did see it watched a huge chunk of it, many even watched until the end however then youtube decided in all of its wisdom to send it out to Suggested instead of keep promoting it to Browse Features where my videos normally do very well.
It gave it 7k impressions abruptly at 8AM Macedonian time, god knows where at 9AM Macedonian time, when my US Centric audience is asleep/not active, never brought it back to Browse Features.
Why did this happen? Because I abruptly changed "niches" everything is about a damn niche on youtube nowdays, my channel, which was meant as a general gaming channel was FORCED into the Retro Gaming niche and almost every time I make videos on other topics, review modern games or discuss things the videos do poorly (Clair Obscur is an exception and boy am I glad because that game means so much to me, so glad it did well).
The you from youtube is gone, it shoul be called CorpoTube.

I'd understand if the Digital Gaming video got no watch time, if people left dislikes, but no, it's a well loved video with 99% like to dislike ratio, it has great viewer duration EVEN after the awful Suggested Videos promotion by youtube, so it's clear people who saw it, watched.

So how do I go from here?
I don't do this to make videos that youtube decides I should make!
I want to talk about modern games, retro games, a mix of both.
I have hundreds upon hundreds of topics to discuss but at almost 43 I'll be damned if I talked into the void while the youtube algorithm gets confused with each change in "niche".

Don't bother giving me generic reguritated responses like "It's just one video focus on the next one" "you can't let one video put you down". That's brainwashed bs, look at the reality of the current state of this piss poor platform. I could spend another 10 days filming and carefully curating a high-end video like this one, where I mind the colors, lighting, angles of everything I record. I can make sure the script is good enough to hold people's attention and it actually DID for a video this long according to my stats....and youtube's poison of an algorithm could still screw me over. I have such a vast number of topics I want to cover and no I'm not starting a new channel for each new topic, that's insane.

It's not the one video that went belly up, it's the fact that you're never certain with each upload, it's a gamble and I'm no gambler. I know I produce quality content, if I didn't it wouldn't have gotten me 2.5k subs and nothing but likes and good retention on the videos, even on the 140 view one the stats are great.

So yeah, fuck you google
fix your shit

3 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 6

Gaming Pal Ollie

Youtube doesn't send notifications to all my subscribers and this is a VERY Important video. If you guys have the time, watch or listen to this one.
I go over everything I feel is wrong with a digital only future, but I also discuss and show how these rotten companies CAN also block access to your Single Player physical games too at the end of the video. I show an actual example that is rarely being discussed.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 2

Gaming Pal Ollie

Well guys, God forbid, I make a quick video that takes a day or three to record tops.
I was about done with my Chromatic review when the whole Sony not making physical games come 2028 got announced. So I decided , hey imma make a quick rant on that, I've been meaning to discuss this for some time now...but no, I can't just do that, I have to RECORD a ton of stuff to accompany the audio.
So I've been hauling hundreds of games between my apartment and my "studio" for days just to take shots for a few quick BRolls.
We're going to talk about my take on a digital only future, but....no I won't be able to catch the trending moment, not if I want to structure the video the way it should be.
So of course the algorithm will probably screw me over by then, but hey, I have to make the video right :) Hopefully I'll be done in 5-6 days

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4 weeks ago | [YT] | 9

Gaming Pal Ollie

Literal creep comments on my video, then DMs me on facebook, then insists my accent is too thick and Americans wouldn't take me seriously because of it.

I just want to share this because it's so creepy/weird and annoying. Just part of my youtube experience I guess.

Months ago some guy from my country commented on my Arcades history in the Balkans video. His comment was well appreciated tho even then he displayed the typical "know-it-all Balkan dad" energy in his subsequent comments. He started EDUCATING me about the English language in the comments section already.

Now, apparently this guy also DM'd me on facebook, even sent me a photo of himself so I know he is a real profile months ago, but his message went to spam and I only accidently saw it last night. I responded not knowing who he is, figured it'd be unfair of me to ignore a person who wants to have a conversation. I regret it now.

We had a fairly pleasant conversation, but throughout, he kept boasting about how his English is great, how he has no Slavic accent and instead has natural sounding American accent. I said that's fine but that even though I have a thick Slavic accent in my videos, it's not a problem. I actually did an experiment thinking it might be an issue with a very natural AI sounding voice on my alt channel and both videos got the same retention and did more or less the same in terms of views, with my original one getting about 1k views more. So I probably won't be doing that again.
Of course Macedonian Boomer Dad was convinced that Americans just wouldn't take me seriously with my accent or some such.

Anyway, he was so full of himself, despite clearly not knowing as much as he thought he did about gaming or anything for that matter, typical Balkan dad behavior.

Even so I was polite, it was a rather annoying but fun conversation that dragged on for far too long.

But at the end he offered to dub my videos in a natural sounding American English. This honestly offended me because I thought we discussed the accent thing, I explained it's not a problem for English speakers generally, I've been communicating with Americans since 1998 on gaming forums such as GameFAQs, LUElinks and so on and they never had issues with my voice or accent, sure some people dislike it but that's fine, the majority do not.

Bro ignores all that, offers to dub my videos for me regardless even tho I essentially told him earlier in the chat to drop the subject....and that right there was enough for me to openly tell him that he is blocked, that he is too full of himself and that despite him not understanding 90% of what I was saying even in Macedonian in the chat I was still being polite, but he crossed the line with insisting he dubs my videos for me.

Like the typical Macedonian boomer dad he is, he insisted that my accent would be a problem and Americans wouldn't take me seriously earlier in the conversation. I explained that's not the case thinking he'd drop it but no.

This is a personal channel, I want my voice, my passion for gaming to be heard.

I blocked the guy, told him this isn't vanity but me just being annoyed by his boomer behavior and him not dropping the subject when asked to.

He doesn't understand that the people who care about my content, watch my videos just fine, retention from my subscribers is phenomenal, those who quit because of my accent, I don't need that audience anyway. The channel is doing decently enough now, despite the algorithm being absolutely terrible, it still pushes through somehow and does alright.

If this creep tries to comment or "EDUCATE ME" some more on my videos again he will be blocked, youtube has a feature where you can hide a person's comments and it essentially makes them post in a video where no one else can read them. I just don't have patience for this nonsense.

cat pic unrlated, just a random pic of two of my four cats

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 10

Gaming Pal Ollie

The review for Kero Kero Cowboy, an awesome GameBoy Color platformer is now up! Be sure to check it out everyone!
Since the algorithm doesn't send notifications to a good chunk of my subscribers, I have to also post when my videos are up like this now too. Hopefully this reaches more people, it helped tremendously with the illegal mario video before this :)

1 month ago | [YT] | 6

Gaming Pal Ollie

Finally, after some drama at customs, they released my Chromatic and I can finally review Kero Kero Cowboy.
After that, I'm going to put the Chromatic through its paces with tons and tons of games, mostly GameBoy games and do a full review of the sytem, to recording that review is going to take a few weeks for sure.

So next video is going to be Kero Kero Cowboy, it's all recorded I just need to do the audio so in 5-7 days all while I start recording a whole bunch of games for the Chromatic. Sure there's tons of review for the thing out already, so mine might not get much attention but I want to do it anyway.

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 10

Gaming Pal Ollie

Japan4You just blocked Macedonia from their eBay store.
this is only the start. Our postal service and customs have been purposely refusing to work over the past 6 months or so, making packages indefinitely stuck at customs. Some packages get through, some they eventually process, but many are stuck there for months on end. People locally don't understand that if a package is stuck at our customs you're not supposed to ask for refunds.
So because of this....my favorite eBay store blocked Macedonia for good. This is only the start of what's to come, online stores, not just eBay stores will start blocking us soo as well.

Here are the messages:

"Dear Oliver,



Thank you very much for reaching out to us, and thank you for your incredible support and loyalty to our store over the past decade. We truly appreciate you as a customer and your love for Japanese retro games.

First and foremost, please be completely assured that this is absolutely nothing personal against you. You have been a wonderful and trustworthy customer, and we know you have never caused any issues or claimed unwarranted refunds. You have done absolutely nothing wrong.

Unfortunately, we recently had to make the difficult business decision to suspend all shipments to Macedonia, which is why your access to the store has been blocked.



To explain the situation: while we do not receive a high volume of orders from Macedonia, a very large percentage of the packages we do send there end up not being delivered, forcing us to issue many refunds. The issue is not necessarily with scammers, but rather with the local postal and customs infrastructure. We have found that the time it takes for a package to clear Macedonian customs and be delivered locally simply does not meet the strict delivery timeframe standards required by cross-border e-commerce platforms (like eBay).



Because we can no longer guarantee safe and timely deliveries to your country due to these systemic logistical issues, we had to completely stop offering shipping to Macedonia.

We are truly sorry for the disappointment and inconvenience this causes you. It always pains us to lose a great, long-time customer over shipping issues that are out of both our hands and yours.

Thank you again for your deep understanding, your kind words about Japan, and your many years of patronage. We wish you the absolute best in all your gaming endeavors.



Sincerely,"

"Dear Oliver,

Thank you very much for your understanding and for explaining the situation.

We understand that you personally are willing to wait, even if customs clearance takes a long time.



However, the main issue is not whether the buyer and seller agree to wait. The important point is whether we can complete the transaction properly under eBay’s rules and required delivery standards.



At this time, we do not believe that the current customs and delivery situation in Macedonia provides a reliable enough system for us to complete eBay transactions safely.



For this reason, we are very sorry, but we are unable to make an exception or ship to Macedonia at this time.

This is not a personal decision against you. We truly appreciate your long-time support and understanding.



Best regards,"

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2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 10

Gaming Pal Ollie

This was a pretty big project so be sure to check it out.
It's about Famicom exclusives that were sold in Macedonia and the Slavic world as Super Mario games. So many of us grew up thinking these games were official Mario titles.
I was looking forward to making this video for a long time, so I hope it does well.
Hopefully youtube won't mess up the promotion this time, I'm posting about it here because youtube doesn't always notify my subscribers :)

2 months ago | [YT] | 5