Let's be honest, let's play videos have been ever more popular over the past few years as it has been increasingly easy to record playing. Minecraft especially has been a reason for the spread. Why is it fun to watch someone else play? Well as much as I hate to admit it, even I do watch let's players. There's some type of allure to that I can't comprehend, maybe the interaction between the player and the viewer. Regardless, it's here to stay, and will probably be even more popular in the future. In an effort to keep up with the times I've made a channel dedicated let's plays (kind of a parody thing as I will mostly be playing freecell for 300+ parts). I'll be posting daily videos. Who wants to join me in the quest for this never-lution! make sure you subscribe because I'm sure you would love to see hours of freecell awesome. (honestly though I may do some ios games to keep it relevant to touch arcade) Also, this is also kinda self-promotion so feel free to take it down mods EDIT: I might actually delete these videos and make minecraft videos instead
Let's Plays are great. I've watched them both to be introduced to new games and as video guides. I found XCOM through a LP, used them to build complex Minecraft creations, helped me get into NetHack, improve my SSX times and scores... it's a brilliant evolution to gaming. And it makes me even more excited for the Playstation 4 with its recording and streaming abilities.
They are useful. Tutorial videos help a player advance through a game. Playthroughs are a good gauge to see if I would actually purchase the game, and other things are entertaining (Game Grumps). It's just funny though when you step back and look at it. My parent's find it weird that I'll often rather watch people play a game than actually play it myself and I actually agree.
I personally, like them. It's fun to watch others play what you've played before, just with a different strategy. They can sometimes even serve as unintentional tutorials or walkthroughs, so that's always a nice bonus.