Death to the Fanboy Press 71
Kotaku has yet more commentary on the gaming press, where Brian Crecente complains about the childish nature of gaming magazine coverage. This commentary is based on an IGDA commentary piece by Matthew Sakey about the sad state of adult-oriented gaming press. From the article: "What about the magazine did I like the least? Maybe it was the jet lag, but I answered truthfully: 'Sometimes I think your magazine acts too childish. I could do without the stuffed animals and Godzilla jokes and Nerf gun battle pictorials. I'd rather see more in-depth coverage of gaming trends and the ideas that games produce, and less obsession with technology. If we want games treated as a hobby that's as much for adults as children, then we should act more adult. Fun, but grown-up.' This answer pleased them not, and in retrospect it occurs to me that had I shown a bit more tact - for which I am admittedly not famous - I might have gotten the job."
Too unreadable (Score:2, Insightful)
Edge Magazine (Score:3, Interesting)
It's a bit sad that this comes across as being unusual these days.
Re:Edge Magazine (Score:1)
Re:Edge Magazine (Score:1)
Re:Edge Magazine (Score:1)
Anyway, Edge [edge-online.co.uk], which actually isn't at Borders, is still the godfather of serious, hardcore and well designed, game mags. If you've never seen it, it's well worth the $80 US subscription rate!
Re:Edge Magazine (Score:1)
More often than not, these games end up being run-of-the-mill shooters, RPGs or racers.
And, if it's not embryoware that's the subject of desire, the magazine is busy rushing in the next generation of hardware before batch X of the current gen has had time to cool from the fab plant.
Let's slo
Re:Edge Magazine (Score:2)
Hmm (Score:1)
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
They've been doing a lot more in terms of features, too, but those pages and words cut on the limits they can then use for reviews and/or previews.
That's why Internet sites are a good place to look for reviews. Most of us don't have word limits on our reviews, so we ca
Yeah right. (Score:2)
I don't think more tact could have helped you there. They're paid to obscess over hardware and technology. If they don't, they won't get access to the latest stuff to review and they won't get readers. Gameing journalism isn't about being accurate, or talking about what's good and what isn't. It's about making money.
Re:Yeah right. (Score:2)
You could take the word "gaming" out of that sentence, and it would still be true.
Re:Yeah right. (Score:2)
How sad that we can't trust anybody to be objective, and that we have to debate even the facts.
Re:Yeah right. (Score:1)
Bring Back Next Generation (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, it's a bummer, but here's a suggestion. (Score:2)
In spite of the fact that market is bigger (and older) than it was 10 years ago, I *still* doubt the market could support such a magazine. I think the growth in the market has been due largely to the increase of "casual" gamers, vs.
Re:Yeah, it's a bummer, but here's a suggestion. (Score:1)
Games are games... (Score:3, Interesting)
All the reviews of Half-Life 2 that I've read go on and on about the gravity gun, the cool physics, the amazing water effects produced by the Source engine, and how good the level design is. Scarcely a word is mentioned about the potency of the urban dystopia so elegantly realized with City-17; about the brooding, ubiquitous Overwatch and the paranoia it foments; about humanity's growing despondency in the face of the Combine's relentless oppression
Give my jokes about godzilla and nerf gun pictorials over this!
No, I agree that some games you just wanna take to bed and read with you, like GTA:SA, I woudl like to read a lot about that game, the technology, from a developer point of view.
So I would read gamasutra. If I ama game head, which i am not, I would read the tripe magazines, like the one your were interviewed for.
I can't believe you lost the chance to work somewhere with nerf gun fights. Now google is your only chance (until the adsense fraud gets them all hungry again!!
Re:Games are games... (Score:3, Insightful)
I have yet to work somewhere where there weren't nerf gun fights. Hell, even at IBM we had nerf gun fights. They get old. If you don't love what you're doing for a living, shooting people with foam rubber isn't going to make your job not suck.
Re:Games are games... NERF is forever (Score:2)
We had to wrap the foam darts in tape so the pressure wouldn't blow them apart the moment they left the confines of the barrel, and getting hit meant a welt.
Re:Games are games... (Score:3, Interesting)
but people like the author, and myself even, want to know about the story and characters of a game. Gaming has matured to the point where story matters over flashy graphics. Half life 2 created a very distinct mood and feel, the writers were trying to SAY something with that setting. Granted, they weren't saying anything that countless other dystopian authors
Re:Games are games... (Score:2, Funny)
I personally like games which give you a highly controllable environment, I think this defines a game.
Even manic miner, walking a dude around the place, the controll of the guy, that is what made me play that game.
So agree except for:
Heck, I liked boobs at 14, and over a decade later, I like them even more!! I wouldn't say they are an aqui
If movie reviews were written like game reviews (Score:2, Interesting)
Ninety percent of the review would be a discussion of the special effects and technical details, with ten percent left for things like plot and characterisation.
Perhaps when every game has photo-realistic graphics and perfect 3D sound then reviewers will finally have to start looking at the things that actually make the game fun...
Re:If movie reviews were written like game reviews (Score:4, Insightful)
And all of this is not to defend all reviewers. I'm sure there are many that focus excessively or primarily on the technological feats achieved in the games. Impressive, and often necessary, as they may be, you're right that there are other aspects of the games that help determine whether it's actually worth playing.
Re:If movie reviews were written like game reviews (Score:1)
That was 90 minutes of my lige I will never get back
Re:If movie reviews were written like game reviews (Score:2)
Ninety percent of the review would be a discussion of the special effects and technical details, with ten percent left for things like plot and characterisation.
To be fair, story is a much larger part of what makes a movie good than a game. Games have been able to get away so long without having good stories because, for many games, they are irrelevant to (and sometimes even get in the way of) gameplay.
That said, most games have intell
Re:If movie reviews were written like game reviews (Score:4, Insightful)
But why do people compare movies and games in the first place? They are vastly different experiences that are attempting to do different things. Games should not be like movies and movies should not be like games; a point which is handily proven by the abysmal quality of most attempts at crossing over...
He's got it (Score:1, Interesting)
And it's not like there's a shortage of 'feature' gaming stories out there. I'd love to know what Bungie learned between incarnations of Bungie.net, for example, from the Myth days and what's been improved and why. Or more about the indie rock soundtrack to the upcoming Stubbs the Zombie. Are smaller bands now more likely to g
A negative article on fanboy press on slashdot.. (Score:1)
Give it a break, guys. (Score:3, Insightful)
Print magazines are a business. They try to make money. How do they do it?
Well, one way is to sell to people who actually buy magazines. Who buys these things? Come on, when was the last time anybody actually bought a video game mag? Okay, here's a theory for you: video game press is like porn. Most people, given a choice, would rather participate in the acts depicted than read about them. So what are the barriers to playing video games and what demographics do they entail?
A) Arbitrary limits on time. This affects kids above all. Parents limit video game exposure. Sure, some of you will say, so do spouses/significant others/jealous dogs, but reading about video games pisses them off just as much.
B) Situations where playing video games is not appropriate. Teenagers have school, where the magazine format excels, discretely lining the inside of that boring-ass history book. Adults have workplaces; in the working class case, the magazine might still make sense -- though then one would be better served by bringing something everyone can enjoy, such as pornography. For many office types, vid web sites are not yet off limits.
C) Where cash is short, web access controlled, and the magazine can be a handy guide to what to expect -- again, the younger crowd excels here.
The other revenue source is of course advertising. Remember, automotive magazines don't shy away from tarnishing their journalistic integrity; many music mags don't either. So why should it surprise anyone that the bulk of video game magazines are basically shills for big companies? That's their business model! So it ain't called EA Weekly; that doesn't mean they don't make a living by pandering to Electronic Arts.
Now, on to the rest of it. I don't care about anybody else's "experience" with the game; give me your evaluation. I don't want some masturbatory prose and long narrative about how the dystopic vision of GTA:SA validated a life spent in the parents' basement, cold, with the body never feeling the heat of a woman. I'd like to hear the "Take" on the game; that can include commentary on the structure, the vision, or whatever. But I don't wanna see an egotistic ass hijack the prose.
Sure, there's a lot to talk about with video games, from the market, to how ideas are realized, to loading them full of Frankfurt School Marxism and making the players fritter away their only real chance to overthrow the oppressive system exposed by the game. So why beat up on perfectly legitimate bits of drivel?
By the way, the word "impactor" offends me on so many levels, it's making me question my sexual orientation.
Re:Give it a break, guys. (Score:2)
Regularly, I try to write the kind of review I'd like to read, and it is easily possible, even in the 800-word limits mentioned by the source article.
The article presents a bad counter-example, giving potential alternate topics for a Half Life 2 r
Immature magazines for immature adults. (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, that is largely because the majority of the male gaming population acts like 13-year-old boys--
You've know who they are: lusting after Lara Croft's boobs, gawking at the booth-babes, treating women like shit, spending most of their time inside playing video games munching on chips instead of getting exercise and meeting people. Look back at any
And these people probably spend the most money on video games.
But there is a substantial mature, adult gaming population out there. But chances are they are pretty busy with their lives, careers, kids, and don't spend nearly as much money on games, and don't always have time to read gaming magazines.
Re:Immature magazines for immature adults. (Score:1)
I have a limit on both the amount of time I can spend gaming and the amount of money I will "invest" in games. I find that a good gaming magazine, such as the UK edition of PC Gamer helps me choose which game I should buy. Sure sometimes they can be the gaming equiavle
Re:Immature magazines for immature adults. (Score:2)
Re:Immature magazines for immature adults. (Score:2, Interesting)
Male maturity can be measured in many different ways. Off color humor and/or fantasy thoughts about women is probably not the best place to start. All men make comments and all men fantasize. Period. Maturity (and this can be applied to most everything else) is the ability to differentiate between the fantastic and reality.
That said, I would agree that the guys who rushed out to buy "The Guy Game" or "Panty Raiders" are probably not the most mature guys in the world - but I bet there are a few gem
Re:Immature magazines for immature adults. (Score:2)
Where is this anger coming from? I had a quick browse over the last few stories and don't see anything significant. But then I tend to be blind to these sorts of things.
Could you link to a few posts where posts talk about how women should shut up please.
Re:Immature magazines for immature adults. (Score:3, Insightful)
You're right, I am pretty busy with my life, and my game collection isn't all that large ( I buy or am given maybe 5 PS2 games a year, I'm up to maybe 20 titles total now ). But I did have a subscription to a gaming magazine, mainly to keep up on new releases and get rat
Thanks for the sexism. Let's debunk that. (Score:3, Interesting)
Long story short, the lead designer for The Playboy Mansion and the lead product developer for Bloodrayne are female, and the lead designer for Beyond Good and Evil is male. Many of the people listed in the article cross the line between the traditionally expected viewpoints. Many female designers and artists are comfortable with a larger degree of sexuality in their characters, and many male designers take a more respectful "kid's gloves" app
measurement of male maturity?? (Score:1)
Whatever man - you and I both know that you "keep talking about the treatment of women" because you are a whimpy sand-in-the-face dude and being "sensitive ponytail guy" is your best hope of getting laid. The true mesurement of male maturity is simply not talking about women in this context at all. When little dudes go on about "bizitches and b00bs," you ignore them and do not participate in the discuss
Agreemsg (Score:2)
OXM (Score:2, Insightful)
However, since we're talking about readability - try Official Xbox Magazine - just pick one up and look at it. It's my only subcription mag since Next Generation went away. I believe at least one OXM editor was from NG (Francesca?). And the quality of the writing is way above average in the gaming press. Almost all of the content is in grammatical English and they're not afraid to say a game is awful in no uncertain terms.
It probably has to do with the fact
Re:OXM (Score:2)
Ah, I assume that explains DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball does it?
(Time to do some flame ducking myself, woo-hoo!)
Re:OXM (Score:1)
Re:OXM (Score:2)
Re:OXM (Score:2)
Hell, they stated that there have been no patches for Xbox Live games fer God's sake! Almost every single Live game out there that supports downloadable content has been patched. And that issue was WELL after the first 2 patches were released for Capcom Vs. SNK 2 EO and Unreal Championship, almost a year after.
One issue I picked up a while back even mentioned "Sony" and "PlayStation 2" as much, if not more than they said the word "Xbox," either trying to put it d
Re:OXM (Score:1)
I also enjoy EGM
Next Gen Mag (Score:1)
Blaming the media is a waste of time (Score:1)
Let's face it, they're a business. They do X and they do Y. If X generates more business, more companies will jump on the bandwagon and do X, and les and less will do Y (if any remain at all, it becomes a niche market). Eventually, all you can find is X.
I see a fundamental problem with claiming that gaming media is immature but gamers aren't. If that were true, they wouldn't pay for pretty colours and x-treme 'tude, they would buy more cerebral publications, and eventually smarter gaming mags would become
Maybe I'm weird... (Score:4, Insightful)
I use websites to check for the big points, sure. IGN can tell me if a game will make my computer crash or if it's got so much slowdown that it's going to make my GBA burst into flames.
The major websites tend to reflect this occasionally childish view, though, and the print magazines can't help me to find a game that I'm interested in if it's a new release or if it's months old and I don't have that issue anymore.
Talking to my friends does work. I know what their tastes are and whether or not I'll like the game if they do. Hell, I don't even need to talk to my real life friends. Asking people that I've met through message boards can work wonders too. I'd trust the userbase of Cheap Ass Gamer [cheapassgamer.com] more often than I would XPlay or GamePro.
I wonder why more people don't think of doing it my way instead? Reviews aren't everything, despite what fanboys say. :)
What sells, is what sells. (Score:2)
This idea wouldn't work with everything... (Score:1)
Re:This idea wouldn't work with everything... (Score:2)
Is the game trying to make a political statement? How well does it make that statement? Did the game designers give players an immersive plot? Were the characters complex and sympathetic, or one-dimensional and whiny?
If a game is g
Nintendo's Mag (Score:2)
1) They're cheap and they give you stuff for subscribing. Usually a hint book or demo disk.
2) They give you more stuff for subscribing. At least once a year, Nintendo throws music (like E3 Nintendo Orche
Re:Nintendo's Mag (Score:2)
Insert Credit (Score:2, Informative)
A games journo speaks (Score:2, Interesting)
I hope you don't mind me posting anonymously but I'm sure you'll understand why. Working on a multi-format mag is an eye-opening experience. I too wanted to raise the tone of journalism but have faced an unexpected obstacle: the game publishers themselves.
Lots of publishers have told me how dissatisfied they are with the current state of game journalism. I've had senior PR people tell me they can usually influence journos if they need to. And I know other journos who have been offered induceme
A radical suggestion (Score:2, Interesting)
No pictures.
Then it'd have to survive on the quality of the writing, and the thoughts expressed. The lack of screenshots would encourage a focus on deeper issues than graphics of scary monsters and explosions.
The lack of pictures would let it function on a lower budget, removing the need to whore for the vendors and the kiddies lo
only good for the DVDs (Score:1)
And that's all I ever buy magazines for. There might on occasion be something interesting or informative to read in between the grimacing macho caricatures, the assertions that 1.8GHz is "low end
Shills (Score:2)
I don't use game magazines for anything more than a "new release guide" with pretty pictures and sometimes a demo cd. If I want to REALLY find out what the game is like, I look online in forums and try to make up my own min