Since I graduated in May I've been looking into what it takes to get into games journalism and writing. Been part of the Video Game Journos Network, asked questions and spoke my naive mind to experienced writers, and have read articles here and in other places. I even got to meet Bill Kunkel at VGXPO and spoke with some Escapist staff at GameX! Covering those places also let me know that I have a lot of what it takes to be a good writer in this industry.
I've found that the problem is the industry itself, and I felt a bit tickled at your last few paragraphs. I'm sick of games hype, I'm sick of your typical news, and I'm sick of everyone complaining about how they don't bother reading game reviews (it's reached the point that I don't even know who DOES read them). The market is flooded with journalists, sure. Be it clever writers like those on Destructoid or The Escapist or the typical pumping out of Joystiq, 1Up, GameSpot or IGN, news is everywhere.
It's critics that the games industry is missing. I feel people like Yahtzee and Shamus Young here on The Escapist are great starts, in fact I love all the columnists on this site. However, it's not a strong enough push. I want to start a movement to cast aside what we know of games writing and have actual intelligent, thoughtful criticism on the games industry. No more of this "10/10" crap, or the vomitorium that is the Spike VGA's. People that have an understanding of game design and can point out all things good and bad about a game.
The problem is, I don't know how to make that push. I've gotten some stuff published, but nowhere noticeable. I could try and put out my own site, but I'd need help from people that have a similar mentality on games analysis even if we don't always see eye to eye, and, oh yeah, does the Internet really need another gaming website?!
Nonetheless, this was very inspirational to read, as at the very end it felt like it was speaking to all the thoughts I've been having. Now I just need to get to it somehow.
So thanks for writing to us all, thanks for this week's edition and good luck in your future endeavors. You will be missed.
I think my quarter is in line there. Not sure if it's next...