The Evolution of Games Journalism

Aeshi

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Is that Yahtzee Croshaw in the 2nd panel? The hat looks like it could be a Trilby, but the suit makes me think otherwise.
 

Alarien

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Immediate thought was: "Yep, that's Yahtzee."

Interestingly truthful comic, however. It seems a lot of discussion recently hasn't had to do with whether a game is good or not, it's about whether the story/characters are or are not some negative trope or whether the story and gameplay create some level of cognitive dissonance.

I think we keep forgetting that gameplay really should come first.
 
Jan 12, 2012
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Aeshi said:
Is that Yahtzee Croshaw in the 2nd panel? The hat looks like it could be a Trilby, but the suit makes me think otherwise.
I think it was just supposed to be a generic '00 critic. But now that you mention it...

I'd like to see a return to 90's game journalism, if only because of my enduring love for tie-dye.
 

Andy Shandy

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Jun 7, 2010
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I'd like to see a return to 90s, if only because it was a lot more positive. I prefer it to being told everything I know is shit, in one form or another.
 

CrazyGirl17

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Sep 11, 2009
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Either that was Yahtzee I just saw there, or the Nostalgia Critic started reviewing video games. C'mon, I can't be the only one who sees it...
 

Izanagi009_v1legacy

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Apr 25, 2013
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And so a sad truth is revealed, with games becoming more and more mainstream, the high from the initial "fun times" of gaming are fading and we now have to be more considerate of quality and unfortunate implications (though, most do extrapolate too much to the point of absurdity).

I guess now it's time to find a middle point between pure adulation and pure cynicism; the gaming landscape feels like I can't like a good chunk of games because of practices or implications

and now that the overly introspective and frankly depressing part of the post is done, the comic did get a chuckle out of me though the first panel confuses me as I don't know what that's based off (i'm 19, too young to really know about 90's journalism)
 

Izanagi009_v1legacy

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CrazyGirl17 said:
Either that was Yahtzee I just saw there, or the Nostalgia Critic started reviewing video games. C'mon, I can't be the only one who sees it...
Remember the last time the Nostalgia Critic reviewed a game, Bart's Nightmare? it ended up being a giant failure with a massive backlash that he had to apologize for though the resemblance is there
 

JoshuaMadoc

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The problem with the '10s is double-edged. Even if the game IS offensive in some manner, it'll just be another circular debate where no one wins.

No one except the profiteers, scavengers and looters.
 

Elf Defiler Korgan

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Andy Shandy said:
I'd like to see a return to 90s, if only because it was a lot more positive. I prefer it to being told everything I know is shit, in one form or another.
Same. The times of guilt-tripping and moral high-grounding is not the fun times.
 

Kyrian007

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Thunderous Cacophony said:
I'd like to see a return to 90's game journalism, if only because of my enduring love for tie-dye.
See, I'd prefer the '00's. I didn't need someone telling me why I needed to buy every single new release regardless of how mediocre it really was... I needed to know what not to waste 60 bucks on and maybe pick up used or on a sale.

Still, I guess it IS a good thing that I can be steered away from a racist game. I do want to avoid those.
 

Elf Defiler Korgan

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JoshuaMadoc said:
The problem with the '10s is double-edged. Even if the game IS offensive in some manner, it'll just be another circular debate where no one wins.

No one except the profiteers, scavengers and looters.
Yeah, but even as a troll and bandit I sayit gets old fast. Too circular, too boring, too "done to death".
 

Thaluikhain

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CrazyGirl17 said:
Either that was Yahtzee I just saw there, or the Nostalgia Critic started reviewing video games. C'mon, I can't be the only one who sees it...
Yeah, I thought that as well.

...

Saying a game is racist isn't automatically wrong, racism is hardly an uncommon thing.
 

Efrath

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Andy Shandy said:
I'd like to see a return to 90s, if only because it was a lot more positive. I prefer it to being told everything I know is shit, in one form or another.
That would certainly be nice. I have no problem with people wanting more variety but it seems no one even tries to promote that. It's just people basically saying "Oh that's racist/Sexist/etc" which doesn't exactly promote variety, quite the opposite really as you're basically implying that something shouldn't happen at all when you claim a design and story choice is sexist or racist.

Not to mention that you undermine the definition of racism and sexism when you go around deeming everything as just that, without much reason or logic given.

Why can't people instead be like "I don't like this element because we've seen it too many times" and then talk about the games that actually does things differently? I mean, there's no need to remove old elements, just encourage new elements and let the ones that wants to do and prefers old elements do it.
 

Canadamus Prime

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Andy Shandy said:
I'd like to see a return to 90s, if only because it was a lot more positive. I prefer it to being told everything I know is shit, in one form or another.
Or at the very least a return to the 00's. I'm sick of everything being "racist," or "sexist," or some other damn ist.
 

Me55enger

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Thunderous Cacophony said:
Aeshi said:
Is that Yahtzee Croshaw in the 2nd panel? The hat looks like it could be a Trilby, but the suit makes me think otherwise.
I think it was just supposed to be a generic '00 critic. But now that you mention it...
Some would argue those are synonymous.

The comic has a point, but I think that point is like knowing the result of pissing into a wind tunnel: fairly obvious.

I think it's a case of industry-wide self-esteem issues. External critics attacking the format force critics inside the format to think that they somehow have to legitimise thier existence through some sort of legitimate academic discourse. And when folk start talking all Media and the like, race and gender are the easiest topics to grasp at.

Not that this is a bad thing, just a transitional thing. The creative aspect of the industry is, in terms of other formats, still very young. And the discourse surrounding it can only advance one step behind the creative aspect.

Warning: opinion is in affect.
 

PunkRex

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I miss the 90's... mostly.

Personally, I like reveiwers to (forgive the after school special-ness of this) be themselves. I just watched Pro-Jared's top 10 of 2013 and I really liked it. It was HIS list, with Monster hunter 3 (admittedly a game i'm interested in) at the top.

Garm Jurnalism is at a real awkward point at the mo, the actual game makers STILL have far to much of an influence over the peeps reveiwing their games but the interwebs seems to be breaking that down more and more.

I just hope fans, developers and critics alike all remember to keep calm and stay classy before writing/saying what ever pops into their heads.