Videogame Print is Dead - Finally
- Thread starter tendo82
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New ones are still pretty good, but the focus has shifted from guides to previews/interviews.Radeonx said:
First of all, stop stealing my name.The Random One said:
Second of all, what would "adult gaming journalism" look like to you? You have to play games in order to be able to talk about them, not to mention the fact that any good game will make you empathize with the protagonist, be it Tetris blocks or companion cube. You can't simply look at a game and call it god or bad without playing it, but playing it will make you biased.
As far as Nintendo Power goes, it's nice to see people not look at Nintendo and concentrate on Wii Fit/Sports. Games like Drilldozer, Deadly Creatures, and De Blob, which didn't really get much coverage elsewhere, are discussed thoroughly. You're not going to see them criticizing Nintendo for bad decisions, but the magazine focuses almost solely on the games, for better of for worse. As far as the reviews go, they have been consistent with most reviews. They're probably a little fairer when it comes to reviewing the big titles, as well. You won't see many 10/10 scores, (in fact, I think there's been only one or two since the gamecube came out) but crappy games get crappy score, and problems aren't glossed over. I actually would prefer it if other review sotes/publications would use their methodbecause you'd have seen Halo 2 and three get something like a 8/10 instead of the glowing reviews everyone but Yahtzee gave it.
It could be debateable that what you speak of has been occuring in most forms of print news/journalism, regardless of topic. Plenty of evidence that newspapers and magazines from many differant locales and genre are struggling to compete with the interwebs, if not going out of business. Oh, except probably gossip magazines and the like. But they hardly fit into the mould of "news/journalism". 
My own personal opinion on whether its is "better" or not? I'd say quality surely takes a nose dive when you can edit things on the fly, post first and edit later (if at all). Generally this is why I was drawn to the escapist, magazine style writing in a convienient, daily updated package. Plus you can't backchat the writers as easily when its written on paper.
My own personal opinion on whether its is "better" or not? I'd say quality surely takes a nose dive when you can edit things on the fly, post first and edit later (if at all). Generally this is why I was drawn to the escapist, magazine style writing in a convienient, daily updated package. Plus you can't backchat the writers as easily when its written on paper.
Do these guys not realize that quite a few of their articles are taken from, quoting, or about things that were already in a gaming magazine before they posted the article? Like the thing about the Suda51 guy hoping for Travis to be in Smash someday. That was in the recent Nintendo Power, as they stated in the article.
I guess that the specter of "Gerstmann-gate" has still not left us, as it rears its evil head in this article. I am all for tough gaming criticism, and I am of the opinion that we do not see enough of it. EDGE is one of the few remaining magazines in print or online for whom 5/10 truly is an average score (at least now that EGM is gone), and I certainly buy it off the news stand. That being said, I maintain that Gerstmann's review seemed highly unprofessional, even in the critical wasteland of Gamespot. It seems to be a moralistic issue that gaming journalists bring up, yet when it comes time to write a review, few people seem to take the risks that he did with his controversial statements.
As a person who uses public transport to travel home from work, I regularly buy 3 gaming magazines: PC Powerplay, Edge and Hyper. Sure I could just web browse on my Iphone, but I like having a physical magazine to read and carry around.
What the hell was he blabbering on about? I sense that he's happy that we get up-to-date information and a 'hub' were our little geeky hobby has established a presence we can all meet, share info and blabber easily (as I am now). But, where was he showing the impotence of magazines?
I live in China and I subscribe to Edge (a UK mag, if you don't know), all in all I pay roughly 6GBP per issue to have it sent here. Though it's expensive, I like the coherent presentation of a magazine, not to mention; what else should I do when I'm taking dump?!
I live in China and I subscribe to Edge (a UK mag, if you don't know), all in all I pay roughly 6GBP per issue to have it sent here. Though it's expensive, I like the coherent presentation of a magazine, not to mention; what else should I do when I'm taking dump?!
576Kbyte and Gamestar was my monthly fix for gaming news and reviews for ages. I stopped buying paper magazines around the time I got an internet connection, and not because I like sporadic heresay more than quality-filtered news. My reasons were entirely selfish: magazines cost money (a lot of money compared to my allowance at that time), and internet didn't (since my parents payed for that). Sometimes I still do buy Gamestar, the only quality paper gaming magazine still alive in Hungary, but only for the full-games or other software they give. I rarely read the magazine itself anymore.
I remember as a child reading various gaming magazines, but I never touched the news section. Didn't interest me as a child. Still doesn't really, I'm not that interested in quotes saying that games may come out, and don't like to base games on what is heard.
I agree with you to an extent. Whilst PR could give out a better overview of videogames, a lot of what is supposedly news can be just rumors like you said.
What I think though is that every form of news has had to adapt for the availability of the internet, not just gaming. Nowadays, BBC news pages are made almost by the hour on various subjects. As the technological stance suddenly becomes worldwide and news is available to be created, adapted and edited in a manner of minutes instead of having to wait for a week, things like the news need to adapt with it, and become more regular. The only difference between videogames and other forms of entertainment is that videogames decided to adapt all of a sudden and therefore needed news and therefore, decided to make news out of (Like you said) quotes, photoshop, unconfirmed screenshots and rumors.
Whether or not it is better or worse though, for now that is open to opinion. It will take a few years before we can see if it was worth it, if videogame news doesn't just stay theories and actually become something more.
I agree with you to an extent. Whilst PR could give out a better overview of videogames, a lot of what is supposedly news can be just rumors like you said.
What I think though is that every form of news has had to adapt for the availability of the internet, not just gaming. Nowadays, BBC news pages are made almost by the hour on various subjects. As the technological stance suddenly becomes worldwide and news is available to be created, adapted and edited in a manner of minutes instead of having to wait for a week, things like the news need to adapt with it, and become more regular. The only difference between videogames and other forms of entertainment is that videogames decided to adapt all of a sudden and therefore needed news and therefore, decided to make news out of (Like you said) quotes, photoshop, unconfirmed screenshots and rumors.
Whether or not it is better or worse though, for now that is open to opinion. It will take a few years before we can see if it was worth it, if videogame news doesn't just stay theories and actually become something more.
Bah. It seems to be that the VG news world is becoming more and more of a loudspeaker for marketing and PR press releases. Not something I would be proud of, and sadly this includes so-called indie sites and blogs. I don't think I should even know who the producer of a game is. What's wrong with previews, reviews and the occasional feature. That's what it's all about, after all. My current favorite site is GamesRadar UK: tongue-in-cheek, rich of fun and interesting features and "about the actual games". At the other opposite, I am a bit sorry about the strongly industry-bent direction Destructoid is taking. Sometimes IGN feels less mainstream than Dtoid, and that's a pity.
"but don't ask me to recall a single personality, scandal or confrontational moment."
Never read Amiga Power then? Or a lot of british magazines, actually, who acted more as commentators on the industry they loved rather than advertorials run by business-idiots.
I find the attitude of "it's one or the other" disconcerting. Print should be able to work alongside online, offering analysis to the latter's immediacy. While magazines will no longer get the exclusives or get there first, they will be able to bring up discussion and analysis on a topic from a respected voice, not just some faux-intellectual on a website who overuses shift-F7 on Word.
Print is dead, long live print.
Never read Amiga Power then? Or a lot of british magazines, actually, who acted more as commentators on the industry they loved rather than advertorials run by business-idiots.
I find the attitude of "it's one or the other" disconcerting. Print should be able to work alongside online, offering analysis to the latter's immediacy. While magazines will no longer get the exclusives or get there first, they will be able to bring up discussion and analysis on a topic from a respected voice, not just some faux-intellectual on a website who overuses shift-F7 on Word.
Print is dead, long live print.
This months issue was great, with the interview with Suda and Tim Schafer.Cubilone said:
Not to mention everything was presented much better than any website I go to.
I much prefer the online format than dead tree. You can have discussion after every article, just like this. You can get a daily fix of information. You can debate the merits and flaws of any particular game, console, or publisher with hundreds of people. It's free, as long as you have the internet. I really did not like shelling out seven to ten dollars a month for the magazines.