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 »

Let me say straight out that I gave this game 45 minutes of my time.

Eternal Sonata, supposedly, is about the last living hours real-life composer Frederic Chopin, and the dream world he creates while dying of tuberculosis. While the premise is interesting — and I’ll probably have to atone for this one later — if this is what Chopin was dreaming, I can see why he ultimately let go.

The dialogue in this game is horrid. I can deal with squeaky anime voices — of which the game delivers heaping mouthfuls — and we’ve all waded through our fair share of banal, redundant or overly ornamental dialogue. (”It would be even better if that means he’s headed towards recovery. A full recovery,” one character says, articulating her thoughts.) The last straw, however, was the way each line of dialogue is followed by an unnatural pause of roughly one second. Maybe it’s a commentary on rhythm, or maybe it’s because of some loading glitch, or perhaps the developers just don’t think we can follow an actual conversation. Whatever the case, it’s a distraction, made worse when you’re still trying to figure out what’s going on.

Normally, I’d see a game through beyond these issues. The turn-based combat system and the colorful graphics seem to hint at decent game hiding back there, but the story of Eternal Sonata was what really caught my eye. Unfortunately, there’s no way it can be rewarding if all I want to do is make it stop.

If fans of the game are reading this, you’ve got 15 hours to change my mind (before the mailman comes). Otherwise, back to Gamefly it goes!

Rants, Late to the Party | 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 »

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 »

Moll and I were just watching a Fox 5 local newscast (don’t ask) that included a story on the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Ultraviolent, not suitable for kids, yada yada yada — I’ll spare you the rant on television news’ treatment of video games. The industry might as well just accept bad press as the standard and work from there, like Big Tobacco.

But the cross-section of gamers that Fox found on the street today didn’t help. We in our little Internet gamer circle love talking about high-minded theoretical stuff, and it makes me feel better about the medium sometimes, but dude, the Man On The Street is killing us. Check the video, not from the newscast we saw, but they used the same interview reel. Here’s what Noah Eisenberg has to say:

“You can do everything you ever wanted to do in New York City. If you’re driving and you get pissed off, you can take care of them, so to speak, and it’s just what everyone has wanted to do in real life.”

Goddammit. I guess it was too much to expect a pithy quote on the merits of player choice and how it applies to your ability to kill hookers and take their money. Instead I have to look at this kid’s goony face while he paints us all as psychopaths with road rage. For the record, I’ve never felt the impulse to: a) steal a car, b) kill people, c) punch hookers. Why do I play GTA? I dunno, just to see what the fuss is about. Plus, I do like building empires in virtual worlds, albeit criminal ones. What do I really want to do in New York City? Live in a bigger apartment and pay less for rent. Let’s see a video game do that.

—

That’s a perfectly good place to end my little outburst, but I do want to give a shout out to “big kid” Owen Long, as Fox calls him, who caps the story with what the reporter bills as a “philosophical approach to the game,” obviously taken out of context considering how little airtime he got.

“Just like real life, you either choose to do it or not. You don’t have to do it,” Long says.

Presumably, he was talking about player choice and hookers. Hookers. Just wanted to make sure I wrote “hookers” five times in this post, ’cause they’re controversial. Good night.

Media, Rants, Player Choice, Violence | 1 Comment »

Part of a series that is doomed to increase as I get to talking about games way later than everyone else

When Super Mario Galaxy first arrived in my mailbox, I played it for a few hours and put it away, only stabbing at a star here or there before retreating to Mass Effect, Virtual Console or anything that wasn’t Super Mario Galaxy.

It pains me to play this game. I tried rationalizing this with all sorts of silly theories — I’m into more mature content, I like games with more of a plot, it’s too much like the last Mario games — but really, it’s all just a pack of lies.

What was actually going on was my refusal to admit the truth, that the childlike whimsy I once felt while playing Mario games is gone from my soul and will henceforth return only as nostalgia. I spent all my boyish wonder on Mario 64, went into boyish wonderdebt at Super Mario Sunshine, and now that Galaxy has dropped, I’m so far in the hole Mario’s going to have to jump out of the TV set to dazzle my spirits.

The frustrating part is, I can’t figure out if Galaxy simply isn’t wonderous enough or if part of me has changed. On one hand, I remember every star in Mario 64 being a tangible accomplishment, as if a small mountain was climbed each time Mario popped out of a painting victorious. But those were the days of all-nighters and weekend binges. The weekends had that special quality. When the school week ended, gaming began because it was cold outside and Nintendo 64 was a box of magic.

Certainly I’ve heard about little kids enjoying this game more than a Disneyland Character Breakfast, but do adults who grew up on Mario feel the same way? I’m not sure — the critics are all praising the game for it’s fine, distilled platformery. Those that do talk about the game’s whimsy and fancy and reckless abandon, well, I wonder if they really mean it, or if they haven’t admitted the truth themselves.

Wii, Rants | No Comments »

I’ve long dreamed of a video game cover band that does justice to the songs they tribute. Most game music is based on short, looping themes, much of it Japanese and somewhat jazz-oriented, perfect for improvisation and interpretation. And as for composition, if you can see through the blippy lo-fi sound (aesthetic to some), a lot old video game music is quite interesting.

So it’s always surprised me that the most celebrated video game cover bands (Minibosses, The Advantage, NESkimos) turn the sounds of our youth into death metal. The worst examples cover up both the song’s intricacies and their own musical inadequacy with distortion. I’m not totally against this, but when every Dr. Wily Theme Song from Mega Man 2 lacks groove, and every note rings a little too long, and every drum fill causes a missed downbeat, you start to wonder if there’s another way.

Fortunately, there’s The OneUps. For goodness sakes, the group does a latin jazz cover of the theme from Zelda, with horn solos in the middle. They have a number that interlaces Super Mario World melodies with Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride.” And according to their Web site, they’re working on a funk set. Even listening to their online offerings, you can tell that the band not only knows the music, but they know music. It’s impressive that a group this talented is willing to dedicate themselves to such a niche. You can download their albums online, or pick individual tracks, which works if you’re only a fan of some of the games they cover.

Rants, Music | No Comments »

First, a wag of the finger to Kotaku for forgetting their roots in a post on the upcoming Contra 4 for Nintendo DS. Any Contra nerd worth their salt would know that Mad Dog and Scorpion are not “new merc characters,” nor are they simply “names of really bad alcoholic beverages.” In fact, they are nicknames for the original game’s heroes, Bill and Lance, who are entirely seperate characters in the coming sequel. Shame on you Kotaku, for not drawing attention to this discrepancy. Also, I can’t post about Contra without mentioning that I have beaten both the NES and Arcade Contras with no extra lives code and no continues. I believe a w00t is in order.

This next bit is more pressing. I did not realize that Nintendo and Sony do not license games that have an Adults Only rating. I learned this when reading about the ESRB’s decision to rate Manhunt 2 AO.

I’m all for keeping games like Manhunt 2 out of the hands of minors, but that doesn’t mean those games shouldn’t be available at all. If it means putting games up on some high covered shelf out of kids’ eyesight or distributing online only, so be it — at least it’s in the publishers’ hands whether they want to clean up a game for a Mature rating. For all the arguments the games industry puts forth about the need to defend their creative expression, I’m shocked that it’s the game companies themselves doing the censoring.

Finally, I’ve hit a rut with GameFly — a sort of spin on the classic lament of people with day jobs who have too many games to play and not enough time. I’m maybe a third of the way through Super Paper Mario, and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 just arrived. In addition, there’s the two games I kept after renting them, Oblivion and Trauma Center. I want to play the games I’m renting so I can ship them back out and feel I’m getting my money’s worth, but the last thing I want is to make gaming a chore. I suppose I’ll go back to my old strategy of digging up classic games, finding interesting PC experiments and flicking at my rentals with an occasional prolonged console binge.

Perhaps I’ll start with a Contra speed run.

Wii, Gamefly, Politics, Media, Rants | No Comments »