Today’s newsletter from gamesindustry.biz is a scathing attack on game journalism, particularly as it exists on the Web. The so-called “specialist media” (what happened to “enthusiast press?”) stands accused of fueling rumors and speculation over the big reveals that may or may not happen at game conferences, in this case Game Developers Conference. Here’s the meat:

The reason for this constant cycle of rumour, expectation and disappointment - whose ultimate result is to create a large population of embittered, annoyed consumers, something which isn’t good for anyone in the business - lies in the continuing debasement of the games media itself. Blogs, podcasts and news sites can huff and puff as much as they want about GDC (or any other show) being “disappointing” - the reality is that it’s the writers themselves, through their credulity and unprofessionalism, who have created the false expectations which lead to such disappointment.

Even though the argument lacks the hard evidence that would really make for the best indictment, I’m on board with the sentiment. But what’s really troubling is how the essay charges full steam ahead at the games press for rumor mongering without assigning any of the blame elsewhere.

The article proceeds to argue that the problem goes far beyond GDC, blaming the media for creating a cycle of rumors without doing the proper legwork. “Instead, a culture where being first is vastly more important than being accurate has flourished, with writers desperate for “exclusives” converting wild rumours and speculations from forums like NeoGAF or GameFAQs into news stories in a matter of minutes,” it reads.

I’ve been at the low end of the totem pole, clawing at those kinds of stories, and it stinks, but it’s perpetuated by the feedback that comes with it, not by the press alone. Tasty rumors translate to more pageviews, which turn into more ad revenue, which result in higher bonuses for the writers, which starts the cycle anew. Certainly, journalists are to blame. So are the readers, who gobble up these stories, and the advertisers, who are often game publishers. Damaging as these thin journalistic fibers may be, the advertisers have no qualms shelling out the extra cash when the hits come rolling in. It’s a cycle that can’t be broken because it relies on all three sides to do their part. And let’s face it, that’s not happening.

So when I get to the article’s conclusion, where it laments the lack of “any real investigative, well-researched work,” it seems a bit like bitter finger-pointing instead of a constructive essay on how to end the rumor cycle for good.

Media, Rants | 1 Comment »

I used to watch G4 back in college, when a roommate and I first discovered reruns of Starcade while flipping the channels. Though we enjoyed other shows, namely Icons and Cinematech, I was never quite sure what to think of X-Play. Here we had the extraordinarily geeky Adam Sessler, reviewing video games with the undeniably pretty Morgan Webb. The chemistry never quite worked out for me, but it remains the only show to survive G4’s merger with TechTV and, according to a somewhat dated source, one of the highest-rated shows on the channel.

But let off the leash on his own, you’ve got to admire Sessler’s aggressive ranting, as displayed in his weekly “Sessler’s Soapbox” Web video. This time, he goes after a recent New Yorker profile of Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski. Particularly, this passage:

It is unusual for any game company to allow an outsider access to its meetings, for fear of the game’s features being prematurely disclosed. While discussing Gears 2’s new “crowd” system, which will allow an unprecedented number of individually functioning enemies to flock across the battle space, Bleszinski mentioned how excited he was to open fire upon them with a certain weapon. Within minutes, I was pulled aside by a Microsoft representative and informed that this weapon’s existence would not be confirmed until later in the summer and could I please refrain from mentioning it. The gaming media is largely made up of obsessive enthusiasts, and the carefully planned release of information tantalizes them with the promise of insider knowledge. “How do you reach the core?” Jeff Bell, who used to oversee global marketing for Microsoft’s interactive-entertainment division, asked me. “How?” I asked. “Secrets,” he said, his eyes sparkling in the manner of a supervillain announcing his plan to poison the Eastern Seaboard’s water supply.

It’s best to listen to Sessler’s response in whole, but the highlight comes during his direct counterjab at the New Yorker.

And last I checked, the New Yorker’s been trying to make a name for itself with exclusive articles written by Seymour Hersch trying to talk about the Pentagon’s secret plan to invade Iran. Guess what, you guys engage in secrets too and you engage in those same kinds of exclusive content. I’ll be frank, that’s a little bit more pertinent to the existence of every American in this country then if there’s a new weapon that we haven’t talked about in Gears of War. And you know what? As a result, That’s why sometimes there’s a little bit of bargain-making when you go out and you do these interviews.

Anyway, Sessler’s rant, though an eloquent and exciting listen, gives the impression that Tom Bissel’s New Yorker article generally treats the gaming industry with a bit of condescension. I didn’t find that to be the case. If you can wipe aside that one paragraph that Sessler so despises — and which, I’ll admit, left a bitter taste in my mouth as well, probably because it’s true — the rest of the New Yorker Piece is pretty good, showing a side of Bleszinski and Epic that’s hidden from 1UP, Gamespot and Kotaku.

In fact, when the oft-feared Mainstream Media (said in deep, echoing voice) delves into video games for long-form magazine pieces, they usually handle the reporting and writing with a panache that, face it, you just don’t get with the enthusiasts. We “game journalists” fawn over CliffyB, but has anyone but Bissel bothered to talk to Bleszinski’s mother?

Gears of War, Media, Rants | 1 Comment »

As evidenced here. ABC’s Good Morning America gets their hands on Wii Music.

No really, you have to look. It’s like a car wreck.

Humour, Media | No Comments »

Apologies for the gap in posting.

In good news, FutureNerd has retained my services as a gaming blogger. The site evidently hit a lull during the summer and is now looking to revitalize itself with new writers, so head on over and show your support. I start posting tomorrow.

[UPDATE: First post!]

Of course, for every successful attempt at a freelance gig there are a couple dozen failed ones. I wrote a sample article for a gadget blog that I recon won’t be responding, and it’s amusing enough to post here:

Want to pay homage to a video game icon without dressing your living room in tacky yellow? Italian designer QAYOT offers a solution in “Poufman.” From a bird’s eye view, the seat and footrest combo look just like a certain four-bit pellet eater. (Admittedly, this post would fare better with a picture, but I’m a text-only guy in this forum, so you’ll have to follow the link.)

The furnishings come in black or red, built from a wooden base, stuffed with Polyurethane foam and covered in polyester fiber. No word on whether ghost-shaped window curtains will follow.

Newman, Media | 2 Comments »

Dipping into the game journalism swamp again is me, and I know it’s probably a little grating by now, coming from an outsider looking in. But I did want to pass along this diary-like post at Lungfishopolis, which is at once maddening, sobering and interesting. In a three-part series entitled “Confessions of a Games Journalist,” Brandon Cackowski-Schnell explores his soul after venturing out to his first-ever press junket. Assigned to preview Saints Row 2, Cackowski-Schnell flew to Las Vegas, stayed in the Four Seasons hotel and enjoyed expensive steak and wine on THQ’s dime. He then camped out in his hotel room the following day to give the game a thorough play-through.

They dropped the 360 HD off in the room around 10:30 and I started to play the game. At this point, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to have happen. On the one hand, if the game was bad, I could prove to myself that these people could buy me all the steak in the world and it wouldn’t prevent me from writing my honest opinion. On the other hand, the guy I had just spent the last evening talking to was very nice and this game represented his and his team’s life for the past two years. Why would I want it to fail? This was exactly the problem I was worried about. My responsibility to the reader has to win out every time, but if the game sucked, what would I do at that evening’s co-op event? Smile politely, say something nice about it and then trash it in the preview? Be honest but make everything awkward? The mind reeled.

Cackowski-Schnell casts his fears aside when he finds the game to be good, but let’s not lose sight of the conflict. A lot of smaller publications, in this case GameShark, don’t object to these kinds of junkets because they are the only chance to preview a game. Cackowski-Schnell hints that his pay is paltry, so it’s unlikely that the publication will then cover his airfare, food and lodging just to save a little editorial integrity. Journalists in this case are forced to convince themselves that the $1,000 meals and fancy lodgings won’t get to them. But alas, publications have ethics codes for a reason. There’s always a chance of subconscious leaning, and perhaps some writers do feel a sense of obligation to the generous publishers.

But just as important, the game gets press — supposedly unbiased editorial content — out of the deal. Saints Row is a decent series that made its name through striking similarities to Grand Theft Auto. It has to be good, or else it’s a shameless knockoff. It’s not a question of whether the previewers will find fault with the game, it’s a matter of them coming back to their laptops to write mostly positive copy. That’s far more valuable than advertising, and the smaller game journalism sites get caught up in the grind.

Editors can (and should) reject these offerings, but then you’re losing coverage. It’s a slightly tamer version of the dilemma behind “exclusive” reviews — detailed, of course, at the Sore Thumbs blog — where magazines get to review the game first, but only if the score is positive. It’s hard to suggest a solution as a newcomer, but I’d like to see the focus of game journalism shift away from previews and hype, with more focus on the culture of play and the people who create our games.

Media | 7 Comments »

I got a curious e-mail this morning from a representative of CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. Starting tonight, the program will air a three-part series entitled “The Games Our Children Play.” Apparently she saw my previous post and thought I’d make a good conduit for this information. (Little does she know about my flaccid readership numbers, bwa ha ha!)

Anyway, it seems that reporter Daniel Sieberg tried to tackle the subject without the usual “video games will eat your children and kill us all” bent, so my interest was piqued. Here’s how the rep described tonight’s story:

IMPACT ON KIDS: Like it or not, 97% of teenagers play videogames. A Pew Study that will be released on Tuesday shows there’s real value in them. It’s not just entertaining shoot-’em-up. The report finds “Indeed, youth have many experiences playing games that mirror aspects of civic and political life, such as thinking about moral and ethical issues and making decisions about city and/or community affairs.” Daniel Sieberg will introduce you to a mom who sees this firsthand and encourages her son to invite his friends to come play videogames at her house - despite what other moms in the neighborhood think.

Tomorrow, Joe Perry (the oft-idolized Aerosmith guitarist) will talk about Rock Band 2 and how it helped forge a bond with his son, and on Thursday there’s a story on Spore. I know, a lot of this stuff falls into the “behind the curve” category that I mentioned last night, but you’ve got to at least give them a tip of the hat for trying. It almost sounds like there’s an olive branch being extended here, either with the gaming press or with the games industry. The rep promised to send clips of the show after it airs, so you may get a chance to look at the report even if the evening news time slot doesn’t fit your schedule.

Righteous pontificator that I am, I didn’t miss the opportunity to send the rep some thoughts of my own. First, I suggested she check out What They Play and Gaming With Children, both valuable resources for parents who want to make informed decisions about their kids’ gaming. Then, this:

“Presumably, it’s good to see a series that isn’t simply a scare piece on video game violence,” I wrote. “Though I’m often uncomfortable with the ‘what are our children playing’ angle (most gamers are well beyond adolescence, myself included), I understand this is partly a product of having an older target audience. Beware, though — as the core gaming audience gets older, your viewers could certainly become gamers before long.”

Newman, Media | No Comments »

Whether or not it’s deserved, mainstream media outlets often get a bad rap for their coverage of video games. They’re behind the curve, they’re unfair, sensationalist, they’ve got nothing nice to say, they are not teh hardc0rez — you’ve heard it all. But even in the worst cases, “real” journalists are never under the microscope for bad writing. Until now.

Below, courtesy of the North Florida News Daily’s Web site and its tragically regular “Gamer” section, is a lesson on how not to write a story about video games, or anything else for that matter. No joke, this the lede:

Parties! What a way to get all your friends together and hang out. However, what can you do? Well, I guess you could play pin the tail on the donkey. But, I don’t think that will impress anyone.

I dunno, I always thought the lede was your chance to tell a little story, to give the reader a taste of what’s to come in the form of an anecdote. But who knows? Maybe there’s room in the formula for just randomly yelling the first word that comes to mind. I won’t give the guy a hard time for the pin the tail on the donkey reference, because it gets much, much worse.

For starters, don’t suggest party games that aren’t out yet. You’re obviously writing to a crowd that hasn’t heard of any of this stuff — or it seems like it, at least — so I doubt they’re going to be marking their calendars, writhing in anticipation of Scene It! Box Office Smash and You’re In The Movies just because you said so. Also, lose that strange habit of repeating unimaginative sentences. Telling the reader that Super Smash Bros. “will keep you and your friends entertained,” and then saying the same thing, word for word, about Halo is like insisting over and over that “sandwiches are good.” Of course, this caliber of writing invites the usual gang of typos. Unique phrases such as “strait up brawls” and “With it’s different difficulty settings” come to mind.

None of those petty nitpicks, however, compare to the kicker. Oh dear God, the kicker:

“So you see Gamer’s [sic] have the tools to throw some kick rump parties,” David Worthington writes. “Now all we have to do is work on our social skills. Asking someone if they” — wait for it — “could get the loob [sic] for the rape that they just got online might not work in the social scene.”

Now, there is something undeniably hardc0rez about referencing the asshole online gamer contingent, but jeez, man. Inappropriate. Previously, I’ve written about how the Man on the Street is bringing all the gamers down. Is the Gamer in the Newsroom killing us, too?

Humour, Media, Rants, Teh Hardcorez | 1 Comment »

If you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to stock this blog with regular updates now that I’m freelancing and trying to get myself out there a little more. But after a fun, if not rambunctious, weekend, I’m resigned to merely tossing you in a couple directions instead of gathering too many thoughts of my own. Tonights topic — one that’s obviously close to home — game journalism.

Last week I caught up with the Sore Thumbs blog, operated by former Electronic Gaming Monthly Editor-In-Chief Dan “Shoe” Hsu and Senior Editor Crispin Boyer. They’ve basically got a game journalism tell-all going on there, steadily revealing the kinds of corrupt practices that induce vomiting in most ethical media types. Part three of Shoe’s behind-the-scenes series, for example, details the many ways that PR representatives try to finagle higher review scores and how one method in particular led to Shoe’s departure from EGM.

But the blog post that’s getting the most traction from the blogosphere this week is actually a response from an anonymous PR representative. Basically, the rep admits to several tactics to ensure high scores for his client, but also casts stones at reviewers in general, accusing them of writing lazy or unfair criticisms. The fighting words:

The fact is game journalists – of which there are hundreds at the moment – are living off the blood sweat and tears of creative people who love games and regularly work 100 hours weeks. The fact they casually rip on a game gives others involved in the development and marketing process good reason to pissed.

As evidenced in discussions here and here, this sort of comment shifts the discourse away from issues of swag and corruption brought on by the PR machine and instead strikes at the general nature of game journalism — a cunning PR move, indeed. As I mentioned in Sore Thumbs’ comment section, I’d like to know if the laziness or unprofessional nature of some game journalists justifies the work of the PR man, which in this case is to secure high scores for his client’s game, regardless of whether it’s deserved.

Anyway, if you want to read some “game journalism” that’s actually, you know, journalism (reviews are subjective, which is a big distinction in my mind), check out Dean Takahashi’s investigation of the Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death. Using anonymous and named sources, Takahashi reports, among other things, that Microsoft ignored warning signs that their new console was prone to failure and plowed ahead for that Christmas launch. For example:

Early reports on the problems were myriad. In an Aug. 30, 2005 memo, the team reported overheating graphics chip, cracking heat sinks, cosmetic issues with the hard disk drive and the front of the box, under-performing graphics memory chips from Infineon (now Qimonda), a problem with the DVD drive, and other things. At that point, the contract manufacturers were behind schedule and had only built hundreds of units. They were supposed to have been in high gear, making thousands every week.

So what’s the big deal if they’re still selling consoles? Takahashi notes that while Microsoft was investigating the problem in 2007, they froze production, chopped a million units off of their target sales and stopped heavily promoting the Xbox until they could figure out a solution. The Wii craze was in full swing, and Takahashi argues that Microsoft lost a huge potential customer base during this time. Not to mention that the company announced in mid-2007 that it would repair all defective consoles for free, requiring a $1.15 billion write-off. Takahashi calls that charge “one of the biggest liability glitches in consumer electronics history.”

Microsoft refused to confirm or deny any of the facts that Takahashi dug up, but an executive told him during an earlier interview that he still thinks launching earlier than Playstation 3 and Wii was the right call.

Xbox 360, Media, Business | No Comments »

It appears that not everyone was shocked, angered and totally screwed by Nintendo’s announcement that Wii Motion Plus, a more accurate add-on to the Wiimote is on the way. Alain Corre, Ubisoft’s executive director, is thrilled, especially with regard to the upcoming hack-and-shoot Red Steel 2:

It was a great announcement, what [Nintendo] showed [in its press conference], because it’s true that on Red Steel it’s the typical product that will appreciate the new device.

Red Steel 2 has been in development for many months now, and this new device will help us be even more precise in what we do with the product.

I understand that Corre is a suit, not a game developer, but if anything that’s just another facet that was missed in the earlier Game Informer article. Are developers now being ordered from on high to start their control schemes from scratch, in this case was it a decision by developers to incorporate the add-on?

And now I’m curious — did Corre and the Red Steel team know about this before?

UPDATE: I Googled around a bit and it seems that Stephen Totilo, a games journo whom I respect, also doesn’t have quite the same story as Game Informer. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime told Totilo that developers got notice “slightly” ahead of the gaming public. A commenter also notes that Wii Sports Resort, the box-in title with Wii Motion Plus, won’t be out for until the spring, so there’s no reason a developer who talked to Game Informer should ominously warn that we won’t see third-party titles using the technology for 6 to 9 months. That’s just a matter of Nintendo showcasing it’s own product first — nothing new.

Wii, Media, Rants | No Comments »

I got a little excited during my compulsory Kotaku read this evening, thinking there was some quality enterprise journalism coming from some of the press at this year’s E3.

The story, from Game Informer, is about how developers were uninformed that Nintendo was creating an attachment to the Wiimote that increases precision and reduces lag time. Bet someone working on a game with, say, swordplay, would’ve liked to know that beforehand.

Great story idea, but disappointing in execution. No named sources, nothing on the record, not even a specific number of developers that make the factual basis for the story. (How many is “several?” Three? Three Hundred?) I also take issue with this paragraph, which wades out of factual territory and into unfounded speculation:

It looks as though Nintendo’s making what could already be a tough sell even tougher. One of the Wii’s strengths is that it streamlines the process of getting into games. Imagine the confusion that gaming neophytes will face when they’re told they’ll have to buy an additional gizmo to make the controller function the way it says it does on the Wii’s box. Couple that with a limited selection of games—with little third-party support at first—and the waters get even murkier.

I don’t entirely blame the reporter for this. Games journalism has a tendency — which I’ve mentioned before — to adhere to lower journalistic standards than reporters covering other topics. You can almost see the journalist in this case having a few casual conversations and spinning it into an article. Without individual voices, and with statements like “the general feeling was one of annoyance and betrayal,” readers are led to believe that any and all developers are pissed about Nintendo’s secrecy. I mentioned Star Wars: The Force Unleashed in my opening paragraph, but I can’t say with certainty that the developers of that game would’ve liked to include the new peripheral.

Could this be something developers don’t want to go on the record about? Maybe, but if so, that needs to be articulated in the article. Fear of retribution for bashing the Big N? Now that’s a piece of news.

Wii, Media | No Comments »