...Why hello there~ I didn't notice you came in. Please, make yourself comfortable~. Care to share some wine with me?~
What do you mean your not legal drinking age?!
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE ONLY HERE FOR THE INTERVIEW?! Ugh, you inklings are the worst.
Welcome back to the Splatoon Community Spotlight, where we chat with the freshest and most amazing inklings around, this time featuring Hank from Nintendome! If you wandered over on Youtube for Splatoon content or have browsed /r/splatoon for any amount of time, you have most likely come across his content at one point or another.
W: So Hank... What is up, WispBae from Tentacle Difficulties here, and I'm back with an all new interview, this time with HANK, from Nintendome. Now Hank, I'm sure we're all familiar with your range and fire rate, but what kind of gear should we be equipping with you?
Hank: Hmmm. I really like the Squidstar Waistcoast. Cold-Blooded + Krak-On is really strong and the shirt itself is aesthetically pleasing as well. The Cream Basics are really great too. They remind me of... white vans.
W: Excellent, excellent choice. I too yearn to dress like a pre-teen skater. Kappa. So let's go back to little Hank real quick, before you knew how to squidbag and properly cover turf. What games did you grow up with?
Hank: My favorite video game as a kid was Pokemon Ruby! I would spend so much time trying to complete my Pokedex. One of my friends from church had Pokemon Sapphire so we would constantly trade Pokemon back and forth with each other.
W: Oh man, Ruby was sooo good. Especially trying to figure out the mystery of the underwater ruins. So that Pokemon Splatfest must have been extra personal to you then! Speaking of the Splatfest, and Splatoon in general, what makes the game feel special to you?
Hank: I have always been a fan of shooters in general. Splatoon is especially compelling to me because its core gameplay is so nuanced. I love the idea of literally controlling the map with your ink! It just adds another layer of complexity to a game genre that is already so dynamic.
W: Indeed, it is quite original a concept. You're obviously mostly known for you videos and Squid Science, so I wanted to talk a bit about that. Besides your other... questionable videos on your other channel... How do you feel about the success of Nintendome, and what do you have in mind for the future?
Hank: The Nintendome channel is great. Most people don't know this story but Nintendome was actually created on a whim. I made a connection with someone that invited me to a YouTube certification program at Google. I took the 8 hour course and killed the certification exam. After that, however, I did not really know what to do with my YouTube Certification. I did some light consulting work but eventually I decided to apply my knowledge practically and create a channel of my own!
Like most things, YouTube is really just a numbers game. There is so much data in YouTube analytics that gives creators like myself the information necessary to develop an audience from nothing. I would not consider Nintendome a success but I definitely think it can be one. Moving forward, I want to branch out from Splatoon so I can appeal to a wider audience.
Many of the people I have worked with have gone on to receive YouTube Play Buttons (the trophy YouTube sends to creators that surpass 100,000 subscribers). As vain as it sounds, that trophy motivates me a lot. I was at VidCon when they first announced the prize and I have wanted one ever since.
In true Mr. Turner fashion, I already know where I want to put the Nintendome YouTube Play Button in my Trophy Room.
W: ...I'm scared to ask where... For fear of my own sanity. Forgetting about the atrocities, you must have floated around Youtube for quite some time, before and after Nintendo. Do you have any inspirations or personalities you are especially fond of in the YT community?
Hank: I really respect Marques Brownlee. He runs a YouTube channel where he talks about trends and innovations in consumer technology. I was around when his channel first hit twenty thousand subscribers. Watching him develop that into an audience of three million has been a surreal experience. I also really respect Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. They are not "real" YouTubers but they are some of the few people in traditional media that have embraced YouTube as a platform. Currently they are the hosts for the Bloomberg Politics show 'With All Due Respect'. They take the time to chop up the individual segments of that show and upload them directly to the Bloomberg YouTube channel. This is especially great for people that don't have the time to watch through their hour-long show each day but still want to hear about the news that matters to them.
W: Ah, very cool. Now if we could only condense podcasts... Going back to Splatoon, if there is anyone that is an encyclopedia of information on the game itself, it's likely you. How do you feel about the balance of the game at this point in time?
Hank: I think the weapon balance of Splatoon is fine. Beyond weapons, one could make the argument against Splat Zones as it is the only game mode where progressing deeper into your objective does not become increasingly difficult. For example, the lower the Tower Control count gets, the more difficult it is for you to bring that count down as you are forced to move deeper and deeper into your opponent's base, where they naturally have an advantage. With Splat Zones, however, it seems to get progressively easier to play the objective once you have it. Capturing the Splat Zone already gives you a reasonable amount of map control and your opponents are still forced to approach you in a neutral part of the map. While this is the reason Splat Zones is my least favorite game mode, I do not think this issue warrants an update from Nintendo. It is far from perfect but it is not necessarily unhealthy either.
W: I know you've mentioned in a few videos your opinions on gear and abilities, but I wanted to ask about your opinion on gear and the ability system as a whole. How do you feel about it, and do you think there needs to be any major or minor changes (besides Spyke being a horrible person)?
Hank: Abilities are an awesome addition to the game. However, I really dislike the manner in which players are forced to roll for abilities. It feels like Nintendo is trying to arbitrarily increase the play time of Splatoon by making certain rolls nearly impossible to acquire. I hope they come up with a better system in Splatoon 2. Although I seriously doubt Nintendo will ever get over its obsession with RNG. Abilities are an awesome addition to the game. However, I really dislike the manner in which players are forced to roll for abilities. It feels like Nintendo is trying to arbitrarily increase the play time of Splatoon by making certain rolls nearly impossible to acquire.
W: cough Pokemon Natures cough
Speaking of Spla2n, what else do you want to see from the sequel? Features and weapon-wise, of course.
Hank: I would like a universal skip button and a more robust lobby system. Mario Kart 8 lobbies use a public voting system for courses that includes some RNG (surprise) to prevent the same popular maps from being played over and over again. I really like this as being locked into the same 2 maps for 4 hours can get pretty tiresome. I would also like some sort of spectator mode but I strongly doubt they will ever implement something like that into the game.
W: Ditto, it is quite annoying that we see huge shooters like Halo, CoD, and Counter-Strike have such robust spectator modes and we get left in the dust (ink?). But Nintendo seems to be toting this as their big "jump" into the competetive scene, if all the advertising is to be believed, so fingers crossed there!
This wasn't on my list of questions, but I did get one fan question during this interview: How do you feel about "wall hacks"?
Hank: Who doesn't love free wall hacks?
W: Lastly, is there anything you want to say to the community out there? Or perhaps to other aspiring Youtubers?
Hank: I would like to formally endorse Thomas James Ciotola for mayor of Inkopolis. To learn more about his campaign, please click here!
Thank you to Hank for being such a pleasant guest. Be sure to follow Hank LITERALLY EVERYWHERE (or just on his Twitter and YT page!) Twitter: @Nintendome Youtube: Nintendome. Make sure when you do tweet at him to use the #ThanksHank!
What do you mean your not legal drinking age?!
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE ONLY HERE FOR THE INTERVIEW?! Ugh, you inklings are the worst.
Welcome back to the Splatoon Community Spotlight, where we chat with the freshest and most amazing inklings around, this time featuring Hank from Nintendome! If you wandered over on Youtube for Splatoon content or have browsed /r/splatoon for any amount of time, you have most likely come across his content at one point or another.
W: So Hank... What is up, WispBae from Tentacle Difficulties here, and I'm back with an all new interview, this time with HANK, from Nintendome. Now Hank, I'm sure we're all familiar with your range and fire rate, but what kind of gear should we be equipping with you?
Hank: Hmmm. I really like the Squidstar Waistcoast. Cold-Blooded + Krak-On is really strong and the shirt itself is aesthetically pleasing as well. The Cream Basics are really great too. They remind me of... white vans.
W: Excellent, excellent choice. I too yearn to dress like a pre-teen skater. Kappa. So let's go back to little Hank real quick, before you knew how to squidbag and properly cover turf. What games did you grow up with?
Hank: My favorite video game as a kid was Pokemon Ruby! I would spend so much time trying to complete my Pokedex. One of my friends from church had Pokemon Sapphire so we would constantly trade Pokemon back and forth with each other.
W: Oh man, Ruby was sooo good. Especially trying to figure out the mystery of the underwater ruins. So that Pokemon Splatfest must have been extra personal to you then! Speaking of the Splatfest, and Splatoon in general, what makes the game feel special to you?
Hank: I have always been a fan of shooters in general. Splatoon is especially compelling to me because its core gameplay is so nuanced. I love the idea of literally controlling the map with your ink! It just adds another layer of complexity to a game genre that is already so dynamic.
W: Indeed, it is quite original a concept. You're obviously mostly known for you videos and Squid Science, so I wanted to talk a bit about that. Besides your other... questionable videos on your other channel... How do you feel about the success of Nintendome, and what do you have in mind for the future?
Hank: The Nintendome channel is great. Most people don't know this story but Nintendome was actually created on a whim. I made a connection with someone that invited me to a YouTube certification program at Google. I took the 8 hour course and killed the certification exam. After that, however, I did not really know what to do with my YouTube Certification. I did some light consulting work but eventually I decided to apply my knowledge practically and create a channel of my own!
Like most things, YouTube is really just a numbers game. There is so much data in YouTube analytics that gives creators like myself the information necessary to develop an audience from nothing. I would not consider Nintendome a success but I definitely think it can be one. Moving forward, I want to branch out from Splatoon so I can appeal to a wider audience.
Many of the people I have worked with have gone on to receive YouTube Play Buttons (the trophy YouTube sends to creators that surpass 100,000 subscribers). As vain as it sounds, that trophy motivates me a lot. I was at VidCon when they first announced the prize and I have wanted one ever since.
In true Mr. Turner fashion, I already know where I want to put the Nintendome YouTube Play Button in my Trophy Room.
W: ...I'm scared to ask where... For fear of my own sanity. Forgetting about the atrocities, you must have floated around Youtube for quite some time, before and after Nintendo. Do you have any inspirations or personalities you are especially fond of in the YT community?
Hank: I really respect Marques Brownlee. He runs a YouTube channel where he talks about trends and innovations in consumer technology. I was around when his channel first hit twenty thousand subscribers. Watching him develop that into an audience of three million has been a surreal experience. I also really respect Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. They are not "real" YouTubers but they are some of the few people in traditional media that have embraced YouTube as a platform. Currently they are the hosts for the Bloomberg Politics show 'With All Due Respect'. They take the time to chop up the individual segments of that show and upload them directly to the Bloomberg YouTube channel. This is especially great for people that don't have the time to watch through their hour-long show each day but still want to hear about the news that matters to them.
W: Ah, very cool. Now if we could only condense podcasts... Going back to Splatoon, if there is anyone that is an encyclopedia of information on the game itself, it's likely you. How do you feel about the balance of the game at this point in time?
Hank: I think the weapon balance of Splatoon is fine. Beyond weapons, one could make the argument against Splat Zones as it is the only game mode where progressing deeper into your objective does not become increasingly difficult. For example, the lower the Tower Control count gets, the more difficult it is for you to bring that count down as you are forced to move deeper and deeper into your opponent's base, where they naturally have an advantage. With Splat Zones, however, it seems to get progressively easier to play the objective once you have it. Capturing the Splat Zone already gives you a reasonable amount of map control and your opponents are still forced to approach you in a neutral part of the map. While this is the reason Splat Zones is my least favorite game mode, I do not think this issue warrants an update from Nintendo. It is far from perfect but it is not necessarily unhealthy either.
W: I know you've mentioned in a few videos your opinions on gear and abilities, but I wanted to ask about your opinion on gear and the ability system as a whole. How do you feel about it, and do you think there needs to be any major or minor changes (besides Spyke being a horrible person)?
Hank: Abilities are an awesome addition to the game. However, I really dislike the manner in which players are forced to roll for abilities. It feels like Nintendo is trying to arbitrarily increase the play time of Splatoon by making certain rolls nearly impossible to acquire. I hope they come up with a better system in Splatoon 2. Although I seriously doubt Nintendo will ever get over its obsession with RNG. Abilities are an awesome addition to the game. However, I really dislike the manner in which players are forced to roll for abilities. It feels like Nintendo is trying to arbitrarily increase the play time of Splatoon by making certain rolls nearly impossible to acquire.
W: cough Pokemon Natures cough
Speaking of Spla2n, what else do you want to see from the sequel? Features and weapon-wise, of course.
Hank: I would like a universal skip button and a more robust lobby system. Mario Kart 8 lobbies use a public voting system for courses that includes some RNG (surprise) to prevent the same popular maps from being played over and over again. I really like this as being locked into the same 2 maps for 4 hours can get pretty tiresome. I would also like some sort of spectator mode but I strongly doubt they will ever implement something like that into the game.
W: Ditto, it is quite annoying that we see huge shooters like Halo, CoD, and Counter-Strike have such robust spectator modes and we get left in the dust (ink?). But Nintendo seems to be toting this as their big "jump" into the competetive scene, if all the advertising is to be believed, so fingers crossed there!
This wasn't on my list of questions, but I did get one fan question during this interview: How do you feel about "wall hacks"?
Hank: Who doesn't love free wall hacks?
W: Lastly, is there anything you want to say to the community out there? Or perhaps to other aspiring Youtubers?
Hank: I would like to formally endorse Thomas James Ciotola for mayor of Inkopolis. To learn more about his campaign, please click here!
Thank you to Hank for being such a pleasant guest. Be sure to follow Hank LITERALLY EVERYWHERE (or just on his Twitter and YT page!) Twitter: @Nintendome Youtube: Nintendome. Make sure when you do tweet at him to use the #ThanksHank!
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