Monday, February 28, 2005
Game Journalists or Game Characters?
X-Play's Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb star in their own flash-powered video game. Cult of personality, much?
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Quote of the Moment
"Xbox 360", "Xbox Next" and "NeXtBox" have all been suggested as names that the company is considering in the past few months - and if those sound too convoluted to be real, it's worth bearing in mind that according to UK tech news site The Inquirer, the current frontrunner for the name of the next Windows operating system is Windows e-XPedition...
-Rob Fahey, in an article on GamesIndustry.biz (here's a link to the cited Enquirer piece)
-Rob Fahey, in an article on GamesIndustry.biz (here's a link to the cited Enquirer piece)
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
GameDaily is Looking For a Few Good Writers
The people (person?) behind the always-excellent Media Coverage column on GameDaily are (is?) looking for examples of the best writers in the biz. They're looking for people "who produce brilliant editorial that consistently flies beyond expectations ... who take stories that would be mundane or by-the-numbers in less capable hands and turn them into stellar reads." If you're reading this blog, chances are you know someone who qualifies, or you are that somebody yourself (if you're writing this blog, you know you don't have a chance). Send in your nominations and make a great game writer's day.
CBC's outdated "future of video games"
Thanks to Ombudsman reader Tony Walsh for pointing me to a CBC news article laughably titled the future of games. I say laughably because the article focuses on trends like "online gaming" and "wireless mobile gaming" (a term he uses to describe the PSP and Nintendo DS, and not your cell phone) that have been slowly developing for at least a decade. True, these areas of gaming are only really starting to really gain steam now, but this article is written like they were just discovered yesterday (for the author, this may be true).
To be fair, the article is written for a more general audience than usually reads (or writes) this blog, and the article does have some good sections -- it even touches on (and mangles, somewhat) the debate between ludology and narratology. But, for the most part, this articles reads as if the author hasn't paid attention to the video game industry since the days of Super Mario Bros.
Tony is a little harsher about the whole thing on his blog.
Update: (2/24/05 7:45 a.m.) Link to Tony's blog fixed.
To be fair, the article is written for a more general audience than usually reads (or writes) this blog, and the article does have some good sections -- it even touches on (and mangles, somewhat) the debate between ludology and narratology. But, for the most part, this articles reads as if the author hasn't paid attention to the video game industry since the days of Super Mario Bros.
Tony is a little harsher about the whole thing on his blog.
Update: (2/24/05 7:45 a.m.) Link to Tony's blog fixed.
A Different Perspective...
Tired of watching the mainstream media in this country trying to understand the popularity of videogames? You probably don't live in Saudi Arabia then.
Arab News, which is "the Middle East's leading English language daily," according to it's web site, has posted a surprisingly balanced article on the hot new electronic gadgets that seem to be intoxicating the nation's youth. The author manages to get some good quotes from people on both side of the debate, and ends with some amazingly pragmatic advice.
Fun or foolish? Delightful or dangerous? If you’'re curious, maybe you should log some time on a game console at home or at a shopping mall, you'’ll either become appalled --— or addicted.
Good advice for clueless people in any country.
Arab News, which is "the Middle East's leading English language daily," according to it's web site, has posted a surprisingly balanced article on the hot new electronic gadgets that seem to be intoxicating the nation's youth. The author manages to get some good quotes from people on both side of the debate, and ends with some amazingly pragmatic advice.
Fun or foolish? Delightful or dangerous? If you’'re curious, maybe you should log some time on a game console at home or at a shopping mall, you'’ll either become appalled --— or addicted.
Good advice for clueless people in any country.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
By the way...
Ombudsman reader Josh Fishburn was more than a little miffed with a recent PSM review that he says didn't reveal its true nature at the outset:
"I'm curious to hear your opinion on the Gran Turismo 4 review in the March 2005 issue of PSM. It is an import review, but that fact is not called out until mid-way through the review.
What exactly does he mean by that? Well, this picture might clear that up (text blurred out to protect against potential cease and desist orders. The fair-use purpose here is to simply show the "import review" disclaimer in context. Click the picture to see a larger version):
The import review disclaimer is that black box on the bottom-right of the left-hand page. Here's a close-up of it:
The text of that disclaimer: "At press time, Sony is still putting the finishing touches on the U.S. version of GT4, so we thought we'd tell you what we think of the recently released Japanese version of the game. Aside from some minor changes to the soundtrack and car roster, our version should be identical. We'll have follow-up coverage of the North American version, as well as reviews of several steering wheel controllers, including Logitech's GT4 wheel, in the next issue or two."
Josh wrote an analysis of the issue on his blog, which offers a nice summary of his position:
This is an embarassing editorial oversight, calling in to question PSM’s own mission statement to “only review games when they’re ready", without a clear indication of what “ready” really means. As part of their announcement, they also state that they’ll have follow up coverage of the North American version of the game. The solution I suggested earlier - putting the announcement at the beginning of the article and featuring the Japanese box art - would have been a simple change. It also would have made it clear to the reader what they were reading.
I do have an opinion on this, but first I'd like to hear how the rest of my readers feel about it. Should this disclaimer be at the beginning of the article, or is it sufficient as is? Should it be bigger? Smaller? Nonexistant?
On a somewhat related note, do you think running import reviews before the U.S. release is OK? If so, should the promised "follow-up coverage" be a requirement. Is PSM's "Buy or Die?" rating totally ludicrous (both in this case and in general as a phrase)
Leave your thoughts on these and other issues with the comments link below. I'll post the correct answers sometime tomorrow.
Update (2/23/05 8:51 p.m.): Here's what I had to say
"I'm curious to hear your opinion on the Gran Turismo 4 review in the March 2005 issue of PSM. It is an import review, but that fact is not called out until mid-way through the review.
What exactly does he mean by that? Well, this picture might clear that up (text blurred out to protect against potential cease and desist orders. The fair-use purpose here is to simply show the "import review" disclaimer in context. Click the picture to see a larger version):
The import review disclaimer is that black box on the bottom-right of the left-hand page. Here's a close-up of it:
The text of that disclaimer: "At press time, Sony is still putting the finishing touches on the U.S. version of GT4, so we thought we'd tell you what we think of the recently released Japanese version of the game. Aside from some minor changes to the soundtrack and car roster, our version should be identical. We'll have follow-up coverage of the North American version, as well as reviews of several steering wheel controllers, including Logitech's GT4 wheel, in the next issue or two."
Josh wrote an analysis of the issue on his blog, which offers a nice summary of his position:
This is an embarassing editorial oversight, calling in to question PSM’s own mission statement to “only review games when they’re ready", without a clear indication of what “ready” really means. As part of their announcement, they also state that they’ll have follow up coverage of the North American version of the game. The solution I suggested earlier - putting the announcement at the beginning of the article and featuring the Japanese box art - would have been a simple change. It also would have made it clear to the reader what they were reading.
I do have an opinion on this, but first I'd like to hear how the rest of my readers feel about it. Should this disclaimer be at the beginning of the article, or is it sufficient as is? Should it be bigger? Smaller? Nonexistant?
On a somewhat related note, do you think running import reviews before the U.S. release is OK? If so, should the promised "follow-up coverage" be a requirement. Is PSM's "Buy or Die?" rating totally ludicrous (both in this case and in general as a phrase)
Leave your thoughts on these and other issues with the comments link below. I'll post the correct answers sometime tomorrow.
Update (2/23/05 8:51 p.m.): Here's what I had to say
Monday, February 21, 2005
More Links
A few notable notes that I missed in the recent link flush:
Coming Clean (Gamespot) No less than the executive editor of Gamespot writes an editorial on giving more disclosure about the time a reviewer spent on each game he reviews. I'm not sure this is such a good idea as a blanket policy -- if writing in the specific amount of time spent adds to the review, fine; otherwise the reader just has to trust that the reviewer has played the game sufficiently. Then again, I'm not entirely sure why Greg is whining about it in an editorial and not doing something about it. He's the freakin' executive editor! If he think's it's a good idea, he should just add it to Gamespot's review policy already.
Gamermom Found this one on Game Girl Advance -- a mom writing about her son's love for videogames. This is the kind of thing I meant when I talked about game writing by non-hardcore gamers. I particularly like her thoughts on the Halo 2 Energy Sword:
I carry one of these in the back of my Camry now. ... I use it at the supermarket when some idiot tries to cut ahead of me in line, or god forbid, has 13 items in her basket at the 12-items-or-less line.
GameCore Mailbag Blast-O-Rama (CBS Gamecore) Kotaku and Joystiq have the heads up on a horrendous CBS News article that accidentally got posted before being edited. The google cache seems to have erased the now-deleted mistake, which is a shame, because it's a really hillarious read in its entirety. The blogs are pretty hard on the guys, but as someone who takes extremely sloppy notes before producing a readable article, I feel for them. First drafts tend to be full of errors and bad grammar, but it's the final product that matters. In this case, they were accidentally one and the same.
Defunct Games - Stumbled across this site while surfing around one night, and I ended up just reading for hours. This site's take on the games of yesteryear has a pretty unique style, but it's the video game journalism stuff that really got my interest. I'm still working my way through their 29 magazines of Christmas feature, which includes some excellent reviews of game magazines great and small. I talked to the guy who runs it on IM, and he really seems to know his stuff. Go visit!
Coming Clean (Gamespot) No less than the executive editor of Gamespot writes an editorial on giving more disclosure about the time a reviewer spent on each game he reviews. I'm not sure this is such a good idea as a blanket policy -- if writing in the specific amount of time spent adds to the review, fine; otherwise the reader just has to trust that the reviewer has played the game sufficiently. Then again, I'm not entirely sure why Greg is whining about it in an editorial and not doing something about it. He's the freakin' executive editor! If he think's it's a good idea, he should just add it to Gamespot's review policy already.
Gamermom Found this one on Game Girl Advance -- a mom writing about her son's love for videogames. This is the kind of thing I meant when I talked about game writing by non-hardcore gamers. I particularly like her thoughts on the Halo 2 Energy Sword:
I carry one of these in the back of my Camry now. ... I use it at the supermarket when some idiot tries to cut ahead of me in line, or god forbid, has 13 items in her basket at the 12-items-or-less line.
GameCore Mailbag Blast-O-Rama (CBS Gamecore) Kotaku and Joystiq have the heads up on a horrendous CBS News article that accidentally got posted before being edited. The google cache seems to have erased the now-deleted mistake, which is a shame, because it's a really hillarious read in its entirety. The blogs are pretty hard on the guys, but as someone who takes extremely sloppy notes before producing a readable article, I feel for them. First drafts tend to be full of errors and bad grammar, but it's the final product that matters. In this case, they were accidentally one and the same.
Defunct Games - Stumbled across this site while surfing around one night, and I ended up just reading for hours. This site's take on the games of yesteryear has a pretty unique style, but it's the video game journalism stuff that really got my interest. I'm still working my way through their 29 magazines of Christmas feature, which includes some excellent reviews of game magazines great and small. I talked to the guy who runs it on IM, and he really seems to know his stuff. Go visit!
Link Flush
It's been a busy month for writing about videogame journalism. I've wanted to write something more substantial about most of these, but the queue is getting much too large. Here's a brain dump of my link list, with a few words about each
Do Game Reviews Have To Be Puerile? (Kotaku) No, they don't. There's definitely a place for more abstract, experiential pieces about games like this this one. But they're definitely not for everybody, or for every publication. I did a review of Space Channel 5: Special Edition for Gamecritics.com that was heavy on pop-journalism criticism and low on gameplay details. Not everyone was happy. If you're audience is interested in these types of pieces, more power to you. If they are looking for a straight review, these kind of horizon-expanding writing should be used sparingly.
Mao and the New Games Journalism (game girl advance) When I first read that Maoist newspaper MIM was getting into game reviews, I thought it was a joke. No such luck. GGA asks whether game reviews with a political point of view are such a bad thing. We've already got Christ Centered Game Reviews that examine the moral issues involved in some of today's hottest games. Imagine a review of WarioWare from a right wing think tank. A review of Blinx: The Time Sweeper from an animal rights group. Would these reviews provide a more palatable venue for propaganda or a more interesting perspective on games? My guess is the former more than the latter, but I'd love to find out.
But Seriously, Folks and No, Seriously (IGDA) Matt Sakey is not very happy about the state of the specialist press. Matt's basic point isn't too new -- games journalism is too juvenile and focuses on pretty graphics rather than artistic expression -- but he goes from there to argue bad games journalism is actually leading to bad games. Game developers aren't going to change what they're doing as long as the video game press tells them what they're doing is perfectly fine. A wider variety of perspectives in the game writing world could easily lead to a wider variety of perspectives in the game development world.
Jack Thompson is a douche bag (Keep Your Killing Clean) Amen to that. This guy is the worst kind of press whore, seeking out only self-serving, softball press appearances and refusing to talk to any video game journalist who might want to cover both sides, or even just the side that isn't his. I think he's doing more harm than good to his image, here.
GameDrool - I've fallen in love with this "Game Journalist's Diary" from a GamePro writer who seems to really love his job. The site gained a lot of links for a look at an angry Trip Hawkins letter but there have also been interesting posts about development systems and aggressive PR people. My only wish: more updates!
Chris "CJ" Johnston's blog - Speaking of game journalist blogs that aren't updated enough, Chris Johnston was an editor at EGM until relatively recently. His posts about the insider baseball in the EGM office are a great window in for a wannabe like me, and his general thoughts on video games are interesting too.
PSM sucks (render) I'm surprised at how bad PSM is, considering it has some of the same people that were on Game Players magazine in it's heyday. And I loved Game Players! Then again, I was 13 when Game Players was in its heyday. Did Game Players actually suck? This requires more investigation.
Hardcore (gewgaw) Sometimes I think video game journalists are too close to their industry. I'd love to see some game reviews from people who are experienced with games, but haven't spent their entire lives doing nothing but playing. Mix in some real world life experience with those game reviews and let's see what comes up.
Do Game Reviews Have To Be Puerile? (Kotaku) No, they don't. There's definitely a place for more abstract, experiential pieces about games like this this one. But they're definitely not for everybody, or for every publication. I did a review of Space Channel 5: Special Edition for Gamecritics.com that was heavy on pop-journalism criticism and low on gameplay details. Not everyone was happy. If you're audience is interested in these types of pieces, more power to you. If they are looking for a straight review, these kind of horizon-expanding writing should be used sparingly.
Mao and the New Games Journalism (game girl advance) When I first read that Maoist newspaper MIM was getting into game reviews, I thought it was a joke. No such luck. GGA asks whether game reviews with a political point of view are such a bad thing. We've already got Christ Centered Game Reviews that examine the moral issues involved in some of today's hottest games. Imagine a review of WarioWare from a right wing think tank. A review of Blinx: The Time Sweeper from an animal rights group. Would these reviews provide a more palatable venue for propaganda or a more interesting perspective on games? My guess is the former more than the latter, but I'd love to find out.
But Seriously, Folks and No, Seriously (IGDA) Matt Sakey is not very happy about the state of the specialist press. Matt's basic point isn't too new -- games journalism is too juvenile and focuses on pretty graphics rather than artistic expression -- but he goes from there to argue bad games journalism is actually leading to bad games. Game developers aren't going to change what they're doing as long as the video game press tells them what they're doing is perfectly fine. A wider variety of perspectives in the game writing world could easily lead to a wider variety of perspectives in the game development world.
Jack Thompson is a douche bag (Keep Your Killing Clean) Amen to that. This guy is the worst kind of press whore, seeking out only self-serving, softball press appearances and refusing to talk to any video game journalist who might want to cover both sides, or even just the side that isn't his. I think he's doing more harm than good to his image, here.
GameDrool - I've fallen in love with this "Game Journalist's Diary" from a GamePro writer who seems to really love his job. The site gained a lot of links for a look at an angry Trip Hawkins letter but there have also been interesting posts about development systems and aggressive PR people. My only wish: more updates!
Chris "CJ" Johnston's blog - Speaking of game journalist blogs that aren't updated enough, Chris Johnston was an editor at EGM until relatively recently. His posts about the insider baseball in the EGM office are a great window in for a wannabe like me, and his general thoughts on video games are interesting too.
PSM sucks (render) I'm surprised at how bad PSM is, considering it has some of the same people that were on Game Players magazine in it's heyday. And I loved Game Players! Then again, I was 13 when Game Players was in its heyday. Did Game Players actually suck? This requires more investigation.
Hardcore (gewgaw) Sometimes I think video game journalists are too close to their industry. I'd love to see some game reviews from people who are experienced with games, but haven't spent their entire lives doing nothing but playing. Mix in some real world life experience with those game reviews and let's see what comes up.
G4 Makes Me Cry
As I write my next post for this very blog, G4 is on in the background. A (vaguely interesting) special about a Madden football tournament has just transitioned into a piece about the "lingerie bowl," a bunch of girls in bras and panties playing full contact football. Real life football... not video game football. This piece has been going on for about five minutes now. Every few seconds, I have to check the corner of the screen for a Spike TV logo. No such luck.
This is G4... Video Game (and Scantily Clad Women's Sports) Television.
This is G4... Video Game (and Scantily Clad Women's Sports) Television.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Objectivity Means Saying My Side Is Right!
Benny Torres is not the only one who had a problem with EGM's recent coverage of the brewing portable wars in their February 2005 issue. Nintendo Now recently weighed in on the issue and, not too surprisingly, also found the coverage to be less than favorable for the DS.
Many of these same points were already addressed on this blog EGM's Editor-in-chief Dan "Shoe" Hsu. The article does bring up some fresh points:
Games like Pokemon Dash, Super Princess Peach, Frogger, and Atari Classics made it on the list while better looking, true sure-fire hits that highlight the DS’s capabilities such as Rayman DS, Metroid Prime: Hunters, Dynasty Warriors, Another Code, and Super Mario Bros. DS were strangely absent.
But, to be fair, Nintendo itself didn't mention any of those "sure-fire hits" titles in a recent press release:
Publishers have more than 120 games planned for Nintendo DS. Key titles due in 2005 include Need for Speed Underground™ 2 from Electronic Arts, WarioWare™: Touched!, Pokémon® Dash and Yoshi Touch & Go™ from Nintendo and Retro Atari Classics™ from Atari.
Part of the problem here is that the EGM feature isn't an unbiased news article -- it's more of an extended preview section for portable games. While there are a lot of facts presented, a lot of opinions also seep in, and those opinions do favor the PSP. Part of this is likely because of previously discussed preview bias, part of this is becasue the EGM staff probably thinks the PSP is better.
There's no problem with this, except that some readers obviously don't understand that this is an opinion feature. The way the article is cast in the magazine, this is understandable. It's not labeled as a review or preview and it's not in the "press start" news section (which also has its share of opinion... a topic for another time), instead it is placed in the cover feature slot where straight news and opinion-based pieces are known to show up. Readers expecting a totally unbiased, purely factual look at the competing systems will not get what they expect.
Is this fair to EGM. Maybe -- they make minimal effort to make it explicit to readers that the feature is editorial preview. Maybe not -- anyone who reads EGM should know that the magazine is pretty much one big editorial anyway. The seperation of editorial and hard news content has been discussed on this blog before, and I'm not going to rehash my points, but I will say that a clearer demarcation here could have saved EGM a lot of headaches.
I'll end this post the same way NNow ended theirs, and I'll note that I usually don't look for unbiased commentary from sites with company or system names in their title. (not to make a blanket statement about such sites, but their titles do start them off with one objectivity strike against them):
For now, gamers looking for the truth about Nintendo products can count on dependable and objective online media outlets such as Nintendo Now, Planet GameCube, and N-Sider. Obviously you won’t find one in the magazine world... yet.
Many of these same points were already addressed on this blog EGM's Editor-in-chief Dan "Shoe" Hsu. The article does bring up some fresh points:
Games like Pokemon Dash, Super Princess Peach, Frogger, and Atari Classics made it on the list while better looking, true sure-fire hits that highlight the DS’s capabilities such as Rayman DS, Metroid Prime: Hunters, Dynasty Warriors, Another Code, and Super Mario Bros. DS were strangely absent.
But, to be fair, Nintendo itself didn't mention any of those "sure-fire hits" titles in a recent press release:
Publishers have more than 120 games planned for Nintendo DS. Key titles due in 2005 include Need for Speed Underground™ 2 from Electronic Arts, WarioWare™: Touched!, Pokémon® Dash and Yoshi Touch & Go™ from Nintendo and Retro Atari Classics™ from Atari.
Part of the problem here is that the EGM feature isn't an unbiased news article -- it's more of an extended preview section for portable games. While there are a lot of facts presented, a lot of opinions also seep in, and those opinions do favor the PSP. Part of this is likely because of previously discussed preview bias, part of this is becasue the EGM staff probably thinks the PSP is better.
There's no problem with this, except that some readers obviously don't understand that this is an opinion feature. The way the article is cast in the magazine, this is understandable. It's not labeled as a review or preview and it's not in the "press start" news section (which also has its share of opinion... a topic for another time), instead it is placed in the cover feature slot where straight news and opinion-based pieces are known to show up. Readers expecting a totally unbiased, purely factual look at the competing systems will not get what they expect.
Is this fair to EGM. Maybe -- they make minimal effort to make it explicit to readers that the feature is editorial preview. Maybe not -- anyone who reads EGM should know that the magazine is pretty much one big editorial anyway. The seperation of editorial and hard news content has been discussed on this blog before, and I'm not going to rehash my points, but I will say that a clearer demarcation here could have saved EGM a lot of headaches.
I'll end this post the same way NNow ended theirs, and I'll note that I usually don't look for unbiased commentary from sites with company or system names in their title. (not to make a blanket statement about such sites, but their titles do start them off with one objectivity strike against them):
For now, gamers looking for the truth about Nintendo products can count on dependable and objective online media outlets such as Nintendo Now, Planet GameCube, and N-Sider. Obviously you won’t find one in the magazine world... yet.
Is All Copy Editing In Vein?
See if you can pick out the error in the first sentence of this press release from the IEMA (emphasis helpfully added):
The newly proposed violent video game legislation in California smacks of me-too politics in a vein effort for local politicians to garner some perceived moral high ground when clearly there is none to be had.
Apparently, the politicians are trying to draw blood from a stone. But the heart of the matter here is that a simple typo can do a whole load of damage to your credibility. Such a mistake makes it hard to pump up your supporters, which hampers the free flow of ideas you're looking for with a press release. And that's the tooth.
Whoops... guess that last one doens't quite fit. Oh well.
The newly proposed violent video game legislation in California smacks of me-too politics in a vein effort for local politicians to garner some perceived moral high ground when clearly there is none to be had.
Apparently, the politicians are trying to draw blood from a stone. But the heart of the matter here is that a simple typo can do a whole load of damage to your credibility. Such a mistake makes it hard to pump up your supporters, which hampers the free flow of ideas you're looking for with a press release. And that's the tooth.
Whoops... guess that last one doens't quite fit. Oh well.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
VGO Editor Says Ballmer Headlines are "AMAZING!"
Some more headlines following on the recently highlighted one.
Template: Headline (My comment) -Source
Ballmer: Xbox 2 'Amazing' (In other news, "Bush: Evil 'Bad'") -Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Ballmer: "Xbox 2 is going to OWN Sony" (Or Microsoft is going to buy them) -Xbox365
Ballmer *hearts* the new Xbox (I *heart* Huckabees) -Prodigious Gaming
“Xbox 2 is an Amazing Innovation” – Steve Ballmer (I could have sworn Nintendo Preisdent Satoru Iwata said that first) TeamXbox
Ballmer: Xbox 'can take Sony' (...Out to dinner!) -CNet
Steve Ballmer Talks Xbox 2 (Wins the "straightforward" award) -Xbox Advanced
Xbox 2 expected to challenge Sony and Nintendo (Wins the "No duh!" award, despite tough competition) -GameShout
Ballmer 'bigs-up' Xbox 2 ('Bigs-up'?) -Ferrago
Microsoft CEO Pledges Xbox 2 Innovation, Makes Next-Gen Warcry (Spong shows some remarkable restraint) -Spong
Last, and definitely least: Xbox2 Blows Sony!!! (No comment) -Total Video Games
Template: Headline (My comment) -Source
Ballmer: Xbox 2 'Amazing' (In other news, "Bush: Evil 'Bad'") -Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Ballmer: "Xbox 2 is going to OWN Sony" (Or Microsoft is going to buy them) -Xbox365
Ballmer *hearts* the new Xbox (I *heart* Huckabees) -Prodigious Gaming
“Xbox 2 is an Amazing Innovation” – Steve Ballmer (I could have sworn Nintendo Preisdent Satoru Iwata said that first) TeamXbox
Ballmer: Xbox 'can take Sony' (...Out to dinner!) -CNet
Steve Ballmer Talks Xbox 2 (Wins the "straightforward" award) -Xbox Advanced
Xbox 2 expected to challenge Sony and Nintendo (Wins the "No duh!" award, despite tough competition) -GameShout
Ballmer 'bigs-up' Xbox 2 ('Bigs-up'?) -Ferrago
Microsoft CEO Pledges Xbox 2 Innovation, Makes Next-Gen Warcry (Spong shows some remarkable restraint) -Spong
Last, and definitely least: Xbox2 Blows Sony!!! (No comment) -Total Video Games
Monday, February 14, 2005
EGM Liveblogging
Didn't get enough of liveblogging when I tore apart the Spike TV Video Game Awards? Luckily for you, Amit at These Damned Machines Are Killing Me (which I just discovered and am absolutely enjoying) have applied the form to video game magazines. He makes some good points about how EGM sometimes dances right to the edge of the interesting issues, then ignores them.
The best part of the article is when they get quotes from people in Japan who bought the PSP, and one gamer said "It's a sexy new gadget, like my iPod. And PSP doesn't feel like just a game machine." That's a pretty interesting statement. I'd like to read more about that.
...
Anyways, blah-blah-Godfather-blowjob-EA-rumored most expensive game ever. Really? How much? What are the most expensive games? Man, that would be an interesting article. I've always wondered how many titles a game has to sell in relation to it's budget to be profitable.
Also check out Part 1 of the series.
By the by, if you think you are writing interesting stuff about video games, including a link to the Ombudsman on your site is a great way to get my notice. E-mail works too. I'm just saying, is all.
The best part of the article is when they get quotes from people in Japan who bought the PSP, and one gamer said "It's a sexy new gadget, like my iPod. And PSP doesn't feel like just a game machine." That's a pretty interesting statement. I'd like to read more about that.
...
Anyways, blah-blah-Godfather-blowjob-EA-rumored most expensive game ever. Really? How much? What are the most expensive games? Man, that would be an interesting article. I've always wondered how many titles a game has to sell in relation to it's budget to be profitable.
Also check out Part 1 of the series.
By the by, if you think you are writing interesting stuff about video games, including a link to the Ombudsman on your site is a great way to get my notice. E-mail works too. I'm just saying, is all.
(G)On(e) Gold
When I saw the Gamespot headline NBA Street V3 garners gold, I initially thought the game had won some sort of award. I found this a bit odd, at first, because the game had not yet come out when the article was written. I read on, though, and found that the game "is off to the factory and will be on store shelves February 8." It had "gone gold" as the saying goes.
Notwithstanding the difference between going gold and garnering gold, I always found the phrase "gone gold" to be more than a little distracting. Granted, I can see using the term occasionally if stuck for space in a headline -- "gone gold" does fit better than "ready to ship" or even the comparable "complete" -- but the term has crept into common usage in the text of game enthusiast sites and press releases. Many of these uses offer no explanation to the term's meaning except for context. Others explain it to the extent that the term itself is rendered useless, as in these two examples:
id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead announced today that its eagerly anticipated action/horror title DOOM 3 has finally "gone gold," meaning that it's been signed off as complete and sent off for duplication, with an "official" in-store date of August 5
-DOOM 3 has GONE GOLD!
Bungie today announced that Halo 2, easily the most anticipated game in the Xbox's history, has passed all the critical phases in development and has reached the final stage in its production process: It's gone "gold."
Gone gold isn't actually what happens anymore to most final discs. "Gold discs" are in fact digital tapes that get transferred to a master disc that is then copied onto millions of discs. But putting technical explanations aside: Halo 2 has been shipped to retail manufacturing and it's being duplicated for millions worldwide as you read this.
-Halo 2 is Golden
In either case, the term is exactly the type of shorthand jargon that makes video game journalism utterly inaccessible to casual readers, and this reason alone should be enough to do away with it for good.
Notwithstanding the difference between going gold and garnering gold, I always found the phrase "gone gold" to be more than a little distracting. Granted, I can see using the term occasionally if stuck for space in a headline -- "gone gold" does fit better than "ready to ship" or even the comparable "complete" -- but the term has crept into common usage in the text of game enthusiast sites and press releases. Many of these uses offer no explanation to the term's meaning except for context. Others explain it to the extent that the term itself is rendered useless, as in these two examples:
id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead announced today that its eagerly anticipated action/horror title DOOM 3 has finally "gone gold," meaning that it's been signed off as complete and sent off for duplication, with an "official" in-store date of August 5
-DOOM 3 has GONE GOLD!
Bungie today announced that Halo 2, easily the most anticipated game in the Xbox's history, has passed all the critical phases in development and has reached the final stage in its production process: It's gone "gold."
Gone gold isn't actually what happens anymore to most final discs. "Gold discs" are in fact digital tapes that get transferred to a master disc that is then copied onto millions of discs. But putting technical explanations aside: Halo 2 has been shipped to retail manufacturing and it's being duplicated for millions worldwide as you read this.
-Halo 2 is Golden
In either case, the term is exactly the type of shorthand jargon that makes video game journalism utterly inaccessible to casual readers, and this reason alone should be enough to do away with it for good.
Headline of the Moment
XBOX 2 IS 'UNBELIEVABLE', SAYS MICROSOFT CEO
Subhead: Well, he would say that, wouldn't he? Steve Ballmer gets all excited (again) inside...
Subhead: Well, he would say that, wouldn't he? Steve Ballmer gets all excited (again) inside...
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
Good Gamers, Bad Game Reviewers?
Adrenaline Vault's Bob Mandel posted an interesting think piece last weekend regarding whether or not good gamers make good game reviewers. The article's main argument is that the skills needed to succeed at games are different than those needed to succeed at reviewing.
There are certain personality traits that often go with being a top gamer capable of winning various kinds of competitions. Without getting into negative stereotypes, such players often seem to outsiders to be neurotic, obsessive, narrowly focused, impatient, inflexible, impossibly definitive, and condescending to those outside of their circle. None of these characteristics associates with the potential to be an outstanding reviewer. Moreover, many of the best players lack the perspective and maturity to take a more detached and overarching view of the titles they play.
Mandel goes on to judge gamers lacking in communication skills based on blog and forum posts and postulates that gamers "used to an unending stream of positive feedback" would not be able to handle the harsh rejection of the game journalism world. "Without getting into negative stereotypes," indeed!
Video game are unique among reviewed entertainment media in that some people will literally not be able to experience the whole work before writing the review. If you asked someone who had never watched a movie to go see "Citizen Kane" and write a review, he might overlook some key points -- ideas of pacing, directing, cinematography, mise en scene and so forth acting would be totally lost on him. But at least he will have seen the entire movie, beginning to end, in a little less than two hours, and probably will have a basic understanding of the movie's basic story elements.
Imagine the same scenario with Metal Gear Solid and a person who has never played a video game before. Even with the instruction booklet, the reviewer will likely awkwardly fumble with the controller, randomly run around and jam on buttons, die prematurely and generally be unduly frustrated. If the reviewer finishes at all, it will only be after dozens of hours of painful learning and development as a game player.
Obviously, game reviewers need to have some skill at games to be able to fully experience them. For this reason, I don't think there's such a thing as being too good at games. Even if I, as a reviewer, find a game too easy, I think I'd be able to use my memories of my gaming skill development to determine if other gamers might find it difficult. The alternative -- not being able to complete and fully review a game that's you find too hard -- does a greater disservice to gamers who would be able to beat the game easily.
That being said, Mandel does make some good points. His thoughts on comparative game reviewing are especially apt:
To me, perhaps the most critical component of review quality is the ability of the reviewer to place an offering in a deep and rich context, with extensive references to relevant releases in the same genre. Having experience with similar titles and being able to bring comparative insights to bear within a review is thus absolutely vital. The ability to play games well does not appear on the surface to increase or decrease the likelihood that this vital contextualization will occur in reviews.
Mandel has it backwards in that last sentence, though. While game playing skill does not necessarily imply a broad, contextualized view of gaming, any gamer who has played enough games to have gain a broad view would probably develop some above-average gaming skills along the way.
In short, while being good at games doesn't necessarily make you good at reviewing games, I'd say it probably doesn't hurt either.
There are certain personality traits that often go with being a top gamer capable of winning various kinds of competitions. Without getting into negative stereotypes, such players often seem to outsiders to be neurotic, obsessive, narrowly focused, impatient, inflexible, impossibly definitive, and condescending to those outside of their circle. None of these characteristics associates with the potential to be an outstanding reviewer. Moreover, many of the best players lack the perspective and maturity to take a more detached and overarching view of the titles they play.
Mandel goes on to judge gamers lacking in communication skills based on blog and forum posts and postulates that gamers "used to an unending stream of positive feedback" would not be able to handle the harsh rejection of the game journalism world. "Without getting into negative stereotypes," indeed!
Video game are unique among reviewed entertainment media in that some people will literally not be able to experience the whole work before writing the review. If you asked someone who had never watched a movie to go see "Citizen Kane" and write a review, he might overlook some key points -- ideas of pacing, directing, cinematography, mise en scene and so forth acting would be totally lost on him. But at least he will have seen the entire movie, beginning to end, in a little less than two hours, and probably will have a basic understanding of the movie's basic story elements.
Imagine the same scenario with Metal Gear Solid and a person who has never played a video game before. Even with the instruction booklet, the reviewer will likely awkwardly fumble with the controller, randomly run around and jam on buttons, die prematurely and generally be unduly frustrated. If the reviewer finishes at all, it will only be after dozens of hours of painful learning and development as a game player.
Obviously, game reviewers need to have some skill at games to be able to fully experience them. For this reason, I don't think there's such a thing as being too good at games. Even if I, as a reviewer, find a game too easy, I think I'd be able to use my memories of my gaming skill development to determine if other gamers might find it difficult. The alternative -- not being able to complete and fully review a game that's you find too hard -- does a greater disservice to gamers who would be able to beat the game easily.
That being said, Mandel does make some good points. His thoughts on comparative game reviewing are especially apt:
To me, perhaps the most critical component of review quality is the ability of the reviewer to place an offering in a deep and rich context, with extensive references to relevant releases in the same genre. Having experience with similar titles and being able to bring comparative insights to bear within a review is thus absolutely vital. The ability to play games well does not appear on the surface to increase or decrease the likelihood that this vital contextualization will occur in reviews.
Mandel has it backwards in that last sentence, though. While game playing skill does not necessarily imply a broad, contextualized view of gaming, any gamer who has played enough games to have gain a broad view would probably develop some above-average gaming skills along the way.
In short, while being good at games doesn't necessarily make you good at reviewing games, I'd say it probably doesn't hurt either.
Interviewees: Doing the Scum's Job
Came across this gem from IGN's Ivan Sulic while looking through my referral links. Ivan's words in bold:
Do Work For Me
To whom it may concern,
My name is Kyle Orland. I'm doing some research for a feature article on my weblog, The Video Game Ombudsman (http://vgombud.blogspot.com). The feature will focus on video game reviewers' answer to a seemingly simple, but actually quite complex, question:
How long do you have to play a game before you're ready to review it?
Feel free to answer the question however you want,and make your response as long or as short as you want (of course, longer would be better for me). In your answer, try to consider the following related questions:
* Does the amount of time needed change for different genres? * How do you handle games that don't have an official end? (Tetris, The Sims) * How do you handle massively multiplayer online games? * Do you need to see everything in a game before reviewing it? * How do you know if you've seen everything in a game? * Is there a minimum amount of time needed to fully understand a game? A maximum? * Does the amount of time spent with a game affect it's rating? * Does a game's rating affect the amount of time you spend playing it for review (i.e. you play better games longer before writing the review)?
Thanks in advance for your answer.
-- Kyle
Wait a second, you want me to write your blog for you and I won't get paid for it? Sure! I'll get right on that after a meteor hits me in the face and expels all common sense from my body. Thing is, I've never even done my own blog, Kyle. Why would I willingly contribute to yours?
I will give you some advice though, if you think you're going to get a load of honest answers from this industry, you're sorely mistaken. I've worked with a lot of scrubs at different companies, and while they all speak high and mighty, it turns out they scam their own businesses out of freelance money just so that they can bust out fewer 250 word fluff pieces they call articles. Our industry is filled with scum and scrubs and dorks and the occasionally decent person. Don't bother polling a bunch of ogres unless you want to hear a bunch of inane grunts that drown out the one or two bits of genuine truth you're likely to receive.
-- Ivan
A little bit of background. This exchange appeared in IGN's Oct. 8, 2004, PS2 mailbag. The original mail I sent was obviously part of a canvassing of game reviewers for a feature I was planning on standards for game reviews. I contacted quite a few people, some who I had talked to before and some who I hadn't. I got very few responses, so I put the project on the backburner. Ivan didn't see fit to respond to my inquiry directly through e-mail, but obviously did decide to post this response on his web site (something none of the other targets did. I think).
The first part of Ivan's response, in my view, is a little silly. I didn't ask him to write my blog for me... I asked him to respond to an interview question. It's a courtesy that journalists ask of people all the time. Many are happy to oblige. Others imply the experience or replying would be similar to being hit by a meteor. Different strokes, I guess.
The second part of the reply is a little bit more interesting. This is a guy who's an writer at IGN PS2 -- definitely someone who's deep on the inside of this video game journalism behemoth -- pretty much saying that the entire industry sucks. I don't exactly follow his argument about freelance skimming (are they paying the freelancers with drug money or something?) but the accusation that the industry is full of "scum and scrubs and dorks and the occasionally decent person" is pretty damning from someone so invested in that very industry. Maybe Ivan and I have more in common than I previously thought.
Do Work For Me
To whom it may concern,
My name is Kyle Orland. I'm doing some research for a feature article on my weblog, The Video Game Ombudsman (http://vgombud.blogspot.com). The feature will focus on video game reviewers' answer to a seemingly simple, but actually quite complex, question:
How long do you have to play a game before you're ready to review it?
Feel free to answer the question however you want,and make your response as long or as short as you want (of course, longer would be better for me). In your answer, try to consider the following related questions:
* Does the amount of time needed change for different genres? * How do you handle games that don't have an official end? (Tetris, The Sims) * How do you handle massively multiplayer online games? * Do you need to see everything in a game before reviewing it? * How do you know if you've seen everything in a game? * Is there a minimum amount of time needed to fully understand a game? A maximum? * Does the amount of time spent with a game affect it's rating? * Does a game's rating affect the amount of time you spend playing it for review (i.e. you play better games longer before writing the review)?
Thanks in advance for your answer.
-- Kyle
Wait a second, you want me to write your blog for you and I won't get paid for it? Sure! I'll get right on that after a meteor hits me in the face and expels all common sense from my body. Thing is, I've never even done my own blog, Kyle. Why would I willingly contribute to yours?
I will give you some advice though, if you think you're going to get a load of honest answers from this industry, you're sorely mistaken. I've worked with a lot of scrubs at different companies, and while they all speak high and mighty, it turns out they scam their own businesses out of freelance money just so that they can bust out fewer 250 word fluff pieces they call articles. Our industry is filled with scum and scrubs and dorks and the occasionally decent person. Don't bother polling a bunch of ogres unless you want to hear a bunch of inane grunts that drown out the one or two bits of genuine truth you're likely to receive.
-- Ivan
A little bit of background. This exchange appeared in IGN's Oct. 8, 2004, PS2 mailbag. The original mail I sent was obviously part of a canvassing of game reviewers for a feature I was planning on standards for game reviews. I contacted quite a few people, some who I had talked to before and some who I hadn't. I got very few responses, so I put the project on the backburner. Ivan didn't see fit to respond to my inquiry directly through e-mail, but obviously did decide to post this response on his web site (something none of the other targets did. I think).
The first part of Ivan's response, in my view, is a little silly. I didn't ask him to write my blog for me... I asked him to respond to an interview question. It's a courtesy that journalists ask of people all the time. Many are happy to oblige. Others imply the experience or replying would be similar to being hit by a meteor. Different strokes, I guess.
The second part of the reply is a little bit more interesting. This is a guy who's an writer at IGN PS2 -- definitely someone who's deep on the inside of this video game journalism behemoth -- pretty much saying that the entire industry sucks. I don't exactly follow his argument about freelance skimming (are they paying the freelancers with drug money or something?) but the accusation that the industry is full of "scum and scrubs and dorks and the occasionally decent person" is pretty damning from someone so invested in that very industry. Maybe Ivan and I have more in common than I previously thought.
Monday, February 7, 2005
NY Times: Final Fantasy is Violent, Plotless
The New York Times had an excellent piece on media convergence in the movie and video game industries this morning. It took a good, balanced look at the potential business impact of game studios being acquired by movie studios. The article contained one parenthetical that gave me pause, though:
But when studios have tried to exploit video games as movies in the past, they have had limited success. (Remember "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within?" No one else does. Video games that are too violent or lack a good plot are hard to translate to the screen.)
Yes, Final Fantasy was a bomb and a sign of game-based movies' limited success. But Final Fantasy... too violent? I suppose the little cartoony characters attacking monsters with oversized swords is violent when compared to... I don't know, Tetris. But Final Fantasy is no Grand Theft Auto -- not by a longshot. And even though the Final Fantasy movie is a little more violent than the games it was based on, it still pales in comparison to the Tomb Raider franchise, which is cited later in the same paragraph as an example of game-based movie success.
Lacking in plot is another charge that should never be leveled against Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy games are filled with plot -- hours and hours of it, told through cut scenes, text boxes and voice acting. I suppose it's debatable whether Final Fantasy "lacks a good plot," (emphasis added) as the author writes here, but this editorializing is cutting it a little thin. Then again the Final Fantasy movie's action-packed sci-fi plot bears little resemblance to the swords-and-scorcery wanderings of the Final Fantasy games, so the game's plot seems to be of little consequence in this example.
If the author was looking for a violent, plotless game that was turned into a movie, there was always House of the Dead.
But when studios have tried to exploit video games as movies in the past, they have had limited success. (Remember "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within?" No one else does. Video games that are too violent or lack a good plot are hard to translate to the screen.)
Yes, Final Fantasy was a bomb and a sign of game-based movies' limited success. But Final Fantasy... too violent? I suppose the little cartoony characters attacking monsters with oversized swords is violent when compared to... I don't know, Tetris. But Final Fantasy is no Grand Theft Auto -- not by a longshot. And even though the Final Fantasy movie is a little more violent than the games it was based on, it still pales in comparison to the Tomb Raider franchise, which is cited later in the same paragraph as an example of game-based movie success.
Lacking in plot is another charge that should never be leveled against Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy games are filled with plot -- hours and hours of it, told through cut scenes, text boxes and voice acting. I suppose it's debatable whether Final Fantasy "lacks a good plot," (emphasis added) as the author writes here, but this editorializing is cutting it a little thin. Then again the Final Fantasy movie's action-packed sci-fi plot bears little resemblance to the swords-and-scorcery wanderings of the Final Fantasy games, so the game's plot seems to be of little consequence in this example.
If the author was looking for a violent, plotless game that was turned into a movie, there was always House of the Dead.
Thursday, February 3, 2005
Typo Headline of the Moment
Update: (11:21 a.m., Feb. 4, 2005) Kotaku's Brian Crecent blames blogging software Movable Type for the error staying up as long as it did. "The system does this to me all of the friggin time. I caught the error this morning, shortly after it went out and corrected it. Actually some reader pointed it out to me. But somehow it's back up there again." And now you know... the rest of the story.
The headline: PS2 Officially as Powerful as PS2
Duh!
(This Kotaku article refers to a gamesblog story with the more interesting and more correct headline: "PSP – officially as powerful as PS2.")
P.S. Yes, I know I'm a jerk and I also make typos and no one's perfect, etc. You want to make fun of me? Start your own blog.
The headline: PS2 Officially as Powerful as PS2
Duh!
(This Kotaku article refers to a gamesblog story with the more interesting and more correct headline: "PSP – officially as powerful as PS2.")
P.S. Yes, I know I'm a jerk and I also make typos and no one's perfect, etc. You want to make fun of me? Start your own blog.
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
Game Reviews in the Onion... No Joke!
It's been 33 years since Nolan Bushnell debuted Pong, the first commercially successful video game, and in spite of the predictions, society has not collapsed. In fact, video games have become a fact of everyday life. The video-game industry has continued to grow, becoming as viable and pervasive an entertainment habit as music or movies.
With these words, The Onion A.V. Club announced its coverage of video games today. I've always thought game reviews would go well with the A.V. Club's disaffected, ultra-hip style, and their first two game reviews seem to show I was right. A.V. Club reviews almost assume a deep understanding of the medium, diving into minute details, obscure comparisons and broad generalizations from the first sentence. The result is a quick, pithy overview that gives you a good impression of the work, without all the padding that goes into most other newspaper reviews. This stuff is definitely not meant for the mainstream.
The A.V. Club also has an interview with Will Wright and Howard Scott Warshaw. This is a pretty safe pair to start off with -- no matter how bad your questions are (and the Onion's are mixed, in my opinion), guys like these are going to give long, interesting answers that make the reader think. The A.V. Club also jumps on the retro-chic games bandwagon with a classic games appreciation column called The Games of Our Lives, written by none other than TV's Wil Wheaton. Wil's first piece, on the Atari 2600 game Gunslinger, manages to sneak as many sarcastic jabs as it can into what amounts to a cute, quick retrospective.
All in all, I have high hopes for the A.V. Club's video game coverage. Their unique style is a welcome change from the bland uninformed coverage in the mainstream press and the jargony, technical coverage in the specialist press.
With these words, The Onion A.V. Club announced its coverage of video games today. I've always thought game reviews would go well with the A.V. Club's disaffected, ultra-hip style, and their first two game reviews seem to show I was right. A.V. Club reviews almost assume a deep understanding of the medium, diving into minute details, obscure comparisons and broad generalizations from the first sentence. The result is a quick, pithy overview that gives you a good impression of the work, without all the padding that goes into most other newspaper reviews. This stuff is definitely not meant for the mainstream.
The A.V. Club also has an interview with Will Wright and Howard Scott Warshaw. This is a pretty safe pair to start off with -- no matter how bad your questions are (and the Onion's are mixed, in my opinion), guys like these are going to give long, interesting answers that make the reader think. The A.V. Club also jumps on the retro-chic games bandwagon with a classic games appreciation column called The Games of Our Lives, written by none other than TV's Wil Wheaton. Wil's first piece, on the Atari 2600 game Gunslinger, manages to sneak as many sarcastic jabs as it can into what amounts to a cute, quick retrospective.
All in all, I have high hopes for the A.V. Club's video game coverage. Their unique style is a welcome change from the bland uninformed coverage in the mainstream press and the jargony, technical coverage in the specialist press.
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