Famitsu Boss Talks Future Of Game Magazines 22
Thanks to Video-Fenky for translating a Japanese editorial from Famitsu Magazine discussing the future of videogame magazines, as Enterbrain president Hirokazu Hamamura muses: "With the Internet as widespread as it is, many people don't think we need game magazines at all -- after all, you can get the latest information right on the Net." But he argues for the "...real charm of your basic [paper-based] magazine news feature: it takes plain old news and turns it into something you don't mind sitting down and reading for a long time." He also suggests that game reviewers have to contend with much more targeted genres, suggesting: "The marketing tactics behind narrowing down target audiences [for specific games] will become the first step in game creation, not the last... Once that happens, game reviews based on the likes and dislikes of the reviewer will become meaningless."
What a beautifully written article (Score:5, Interesting)
The article's deconstruction of online game magazines is quite amusing. In essence, it says that online reviews are junk, online magazines are poorly written, and online writers don't know the first thing about the industry. It, of course, says so with the most delicate of Japanese touches. Score one for Famitsu.
He briefly mentions how Gaming (in Japan) is branching away from a purely console model, and as such the "total game sales" figures are inaccurate. Oddly enough, he doesn't mention that lowered console prices would also give the impression of lower console sales on a per-yen basis. Either way, this seems like an odd technicality wedged between two very broadly relevant opinion pieces.
Finally, he cites how with the subdivision of gaming will require reviewers to step back from what they would like, and review a game based upon what the target audience would like. This is a big challenge for the reviewing industry right now, as you might have two or three FPS gurus on your staff, but do you have a RTFPS guru? One who specifically likes slower FPS game in fantasy settings? How do you review a subgenre accurately if you don't have anyone on your staff who likes that subgenre? Will it receive anything other than an 80? He seems to thing that training will be enough to overcome reviewer bias (or lack thereof), but I would tend to doubt that. Certainly, assembling a wide enough team of connoisseurs will be essential to the success or failure of a review department. But that just dodges the question... How do you objectively review a subjective experience from someone else's viewpoint?
To this, sadly, he has no answer.
Re:What a beautifully written article (Score:4, Insightful)
You're right, though, it is a beautifully written article.
As for reviewing games... what really matters is being able to express what the game is like, not just giving it a number. Personally, I despise load times, I place a lot of emphasis on sound, I enjoy exploring and collecting things, I like a challenge, and I love surreal themes - these are preferences which I probably won't have in common with any given reviewer, but which will greatly affect my experience with a game. I think the best kind of reviewer is one who is good at seeing what a game is trying to do, and how well it accomplishes it.
Offtopic (Score:1, Funny)
And you, of course, responded to that which would become the first +5 informative, because that gives you a much better browsing position and, hence, a much better chance of becoming +5 yourself.
Slashdot: Still the best game in town.
Reading Sequence (Score:3, Interesting)
IMHO, the greatest charm of the printed magazine is the ability to read it from front to back, back to front, or anywhere in between using the table of contents.
The problems with reading a magazine on the web (or even content sites) is latency and organization. It's still faster to flip a page than to load a page.
Re:Reading Sequence (Score:3, Insightful)
As far as organization is concerned, if
Stopped (Score:3, Interesting)
The cost of the magazines rose when the PSX hit the market. The demo disks glued to the front were great to begin with but they slowly turned into large adverts rather than showing off technology, graphics and game play.
I also got fed up reading articles I had already read online. I cannot prove plagiarism but the sense of deja vu grew month on month.
Plagiarism alive and well! (Score:1, Interesting)
Two excerpts from reviews of the (mediocre) game Mistmare. The game isn't important, but what the reviewers say makes my point.
Gamezone Aug 2003 (http://www.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r19940.htm):
" The fighting's not much more fun. Imagine how easy it is to click on a stationary object like a treasure chest while the camera's flailing around. Now imagine how easy it is to hit a moving target while the camera's flailing around. This results in many frustrating situations."
(Review by
Re:Plagiarism alive and well! (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Stopped (Score:2)
I wish I had more recent examples, but I've abandoned all of the publ
Time Lapse (Score:3, Insightful)
I prefer magazines, but... (Score:2)
Magzines are great!! (Score:1)
Until I get a computer installed next to my toliet. I will still read videogame magazines.
so... (Score:1)
Seems to be three main points, but I'm not sure any are particularly groundbreaking..
1) Online magazines get information first , but often seem amateur and lack background depth.
Not sure this is anything inherent in the medium. Would Famitsu writers writing reduce in quality merely because it was published online. It's more a commentary on the state of the industry, with online magazine subscriptions still being out of favour with the public.
2) Online gaming is not recognised in current statistics.
But
Realization (Score:2)
I've never bothered subcsribing to a mag, but theres been many months when I've picked up 3-5. OXM, EGM, OPSM, XBN, Gamer - considering the rising price of these mags I've
Re:Realization (Score:2)
Why don't they give that kind of thing to, hmm, say, their subscribers?
You may have thought the disc sucked, but I'd at least like to have recieved one.
Anyhoo, I would agree that having a disc (a good disc) with video reviews and the like to supplement the magazine would really be cool.
But until then, there's X-play.
its for the toilet. (Score:2)
You know Im right.
Games magazines need to rethink their format (Score:1)
Games magazines have been plowing the same field for as much as 25 years: news, reviews, previews, features, strategy guides and columns. When they innovate, it's typically in layout and "look." They need to rethink the format to provide content that readers can't find on the web.
On the reporting side