Comedy Central’s South Park show is no stranger to dabbling in video game culture, with episodes that ranged from the show’s kids invading World of Warcraft to an argument over Xbox One and PlayStation 4 to the infamous Chinpokomon episode that made fun of the best-selling Pokémon franchise. But this past week, the team of Trey Parker and Matt Stone touched on gaming yet again, this time exploring the fascination of YouTube stars and gaming commentary.
In the episode titled #Rehash, the outspoken Eric Cartman launches a new vlog, one that comments on certain video games – or rather, commenting on those who comment on video games. It features various references to popular YouTube stars who thrive on video game programming, including PewDiePie, who’s featured playing Electronic Arts’ Dragon Age: Inquisition, as a number of kids (including Kyle’s younger brother Ike) watch him doing so – instead of playing the game themselves, which was the original intention.
The episode was all in fun, but Polygon couldn’t help but note how it may be a reflection on certain “gamers” in today’s world. “Gaming isn’t as straight forward as it used to be. Back in the day, people used to hold these things called controllers, or sit in front of these things called keyboards. They’d use these things to play video games on a television or on a computer,” said Polygon’s Brian Crecente. “But kids these days would rather spend their weekends and summer days watching people play and talk about video games. Or, if you live in South Park, watching and talking about people talking about video games.”
The episode is embedded below, but is rated MA for strong language, so it might not be safe for work. However, it’s definitely an interesting episode in this season of South Park, and one that may wake up a few gamers to, well, play games again. Once they’re done talking about them, of course.
