EternalGamer
Banned
It would be a great subject for a game writer to... OH SNAP! DID YOU NOTICE THERE'S A TOMAHAWK IN THE NEW ASSASSINS CREED!?!?!
PR bullshots or it didn't happen!
It would be a great subject for a game writer to... OH SNAP! DID YOU NOTICE THERE'S A TOMAHAWK IN THE NEW ASSASSINS CREED!?!?!
- As someone acutely pointed out, the whole "sameness" between reviews is suspicious because well, it is not normal.
Different people have different tastes, and the game that to some person is genious, to another one is unplayable. Thing is, there is a huge hivemind - like mentality among reviewers that it is fueled by... the audience. No, not videogame companies: readers. Try giving a bad review to a flagship title, a stablished franchise or a media darling and see the tsunami-sized shitstorm coming your way. Accusations of being a "hater", "xboxer/sonier/nintendite", "sellout" or "elitist" will hit you forth and back and most importantly, rather than mark you as an independent writter or give presige to your site, most times it creates the very opposing effect: visits are cheap, but devoted readers are valuable and (easy) to loose out to a hissy fit (Gamespot VS Zelda anyone?).
I'm sure they do. I'm just trying to point it out to those who are so steadfastly in denial of outside influence.I think those people also realize that. It's part of the package.
Zero Punctuation is successful because it gives gamers what they crave.
What is Geoff Keighly..
That's either a really mean or a really nice thing you are saying about Jeff Green. Oh well, at least he has job security now.
In case Totilo comes in on this page - why hasn't there been an in-depth article about the PS3 Skyrim debacle and how Bethesda (or Sony) allowed that nonsense to go to retail? What about the current PS3 dlc situation? Why aren't those kinds of stories being investigated instead of Silicon Knights?
egotistical wish fulfillment for children and small-minded buffoonselectrolytes?
Ha, even those that we trust have been part of the machine.
Even Shawn Eliot wore a TF2 t-shirt.
Some of the funniest parts of GFW Radio involved PR guff (Bobito's adventures in Europe, Shawn getting pulled-over in a van full of writers with guns, being trapped at a Godfather 2 event on a boat, reading extracts from books they were sent etc).
All of which gave products attention whether or not they were being mocked.
electrolytes?
Hah, surprisingly enough, even RPGCodex has done an article on the games journalism scandal. It's pretty vitriolic.
Even John Walker and Rob Florence themselves issued milquetoast oil-on-troubled-waters follow-ups to their initial condemnatory statements, urging the gaming public not to think too badly of gaming journalism as a whole, since from personal experience they can testify that most of the people they know are hardworking, decent, and trustworthy.
Also...
Does anyone really believe publishers hire game writers to be pr reps and community managers based on education, training, and experience within the field?
No...
Publishers hire them on order to access and manipulate their already established personal networks within the gaming press.
True but some of that was probably required to get access or "play ball" as Jeff said. And they ridiculed all of it mercilessly. I can't help but think if a lot more outlets were that transparent and did cutting criticism like they did on GFW then there would be way less of that nonsense.
Even John Walker and Rob Florence themselves issued milquetoast oil-on-troubled-waters follow-ups to their initial condemnatory statements, urging the gaming public not to think too badly of gaming journalism as a whole, since from personal experience they can testify that most of the people they know are hardworking, decent, and trustworthy.
pics
Hah, surprisingly enough, even RPGCodex has done an article on the games journalism scandal. It's pretty vitriolic.
there's nothing wrong with metacritic...
metacritic's constructed to function as a shepherd. it's there to guide the flock. it decides for them which games are most worthy of their money. by doing this, it also not-so-subtly contributes to defining for the flock which types of games/gameplay are 'best' (& which types are not), & which levels of production values are important/vital (& which are second-rate). its mission, basically, is to quantify the concept of 'fun', utilizing the group expertise of 'professional fun authorities' (seriously )...
as a mechanism created to both sell particular products to an audience, &, at the same time, to also mold that audience, metacritic works extremely well...
Hah, surprisingly enough, even RPGCodex has done an article on the games journalism scandal. It's pretty vitriolic.
At one point, I kind of felt sorry for her. She deserves a lot more than mere Internet vitriol, though.Wainwright, as it later turned out, had in fact worked as a creative consultant for Square Enix - Tomb Raider’s publisher - to the point of listing them as a current employer on Journalisted, and had provided several Square Enix products with previews and reviews for various publications, in which words and phrases such as ‘badass’, ‘awesome’, ‘innovative’, ‘deep’, ‘additive’ (sic), ‘fantastic’, ‘Lara Croft is a feminist symbol’ (sic), ‘breath-taking’, and ‘extraordinary’ predominate (after these revelations were made public, by Stu Campbell and others, this information began to magically disappear from the internet, although more material continued to surface including posts on Wainwright’s blog that reference her close friendship with Square Enix Marketing Manager Korina Abbott, repeatedly regurgitate Square Enix press statements, describe her trip to the Square Enix offices in Japan, encourage fans to vote for her in the very same GMAs organised by her employers at Intent Media who she later felt the need to defend against Florence, announce her intention to go into Games PR herself, show off the free ‘swag’ she’s been given by publicists, and explain that ‘when I was a little girl I wanted to work for Square Enix.’ Obviously, though, there's no way you can take any or all of this information to cast any doubt on the impartiality of the journalist.)
Metacritic is busted for games...
In case Totilo comes in on this page - why hasn't there been an in-depth article about the PS3 Skyrim debacle and how Bethesda (or Sony) allowed that nonsense to go to retail? What about the current PS3 dlc situation? Why aren't those kinds of stories being investigated instead of Silicon Knights?
Hah, surprisingly enough, even RPGCodex has done an article on the games journalism scandal. It's pretty vitriolic.
It really makes you wonder what 'gaming journalist's' priorities are... Are they really out to help a gamer decide on something? Or are they just in it for the luxuries 'they' seem to be getting out of it? I think it's plainly obvious and as of late (the last 2 years, maybe even more) has just been filled with moneyhats for reviews and other types of coverage of games. Enough to cloud them from covering anything bad about a game.
Look at the ME3 ending nonsense. All these 'journalists' came out of the woodwork with the "artistic integrity" bullshit, defending Bioware to death despite how horrifically bad the ending was and the promises Bioware made leading up to the game's release. Nevermind the promises from the prequels where, "your decisions will affect the ending of the 3rd game" or whatever. There's even a video where one of the devs was like, "a final boss is too 'video gamey'" how do you defend someone who says something like that? It's easy: they get freebies and other privileges. They don't want to sabotage any of that, because for some reason being even slightly critical of a developer means the end of your relationship with them.
What about Black Ops PS3 version being a nightmare to play online for a whole month and a half straight? Where was the coverage of that? Nowhere. The only way you found out what was going on with that was searching through Google and going to Treyarch's forums. And even then, the consumer who bought the game is still left in the dark because the developer doesn't say much about progress on fixing it. Maybe my memory's a little murky on this fiasco, but it wasn't made to be real well known by the media when it should have been. And of course, the PS3 version was rated the exact same as the 360 version.
Part of a journalist's job is to make the people they're covering feel pressured. It shouldn't be the other way around, which is what it seems like it is. A journalist should be trying to get a scoop of something that sets the industry on fire. Not everything is a perfect field with rainbows and sunshine. A journalist should be uncovering the truth, but the fact these 'gaming journalists' hold no interest for this topic (enough to somewhat investigate it or even just report it) shows they have no real idea of what a being a journalist means. Yes it's about giving news to the gaming audience, but it's also about delivering truthful information with the facts. And that's the bottom line.
I really doubt any of these 'journalists' are being true to their audience. And Florence's piece highlights exactly why that is or how they aren't being true. It's sad, but that's how things are probably going to continue unless the people behind these sites and reviews reflect over their decisions in the last few years and notice something is wrong.
Zero Punctuation is successful because it gives gamers what they crave.
egotistical wish fulfillment for children and small-minded buffoons
Hahaha, wow. I think you are looking a little too far into things. Just because something is related to videogames in the slightest doesn't mean it needs to be held up to some kind of journalistic/artistic morality compass.
It really makes you wonder what 'gaming journalist's' priorities are... Are they really out to help a gamer decide on something? Or are they just in it for the luxuries 'they' seem to be getting out of it? I think it's plainly obvious and as of late (the last 2 years, maybe even more) has just been filled with moneyhats for reviews and other types of coverage of games. Enough to cloud them from covering anything bad about a game.
Look at the ME3 ending nonsense. All these 'journalists' came out of the woodwork with the "artistic integrity" bullshit, defending Bioware to death despite how horrifically bad the ending was and the promises Bioware made leading up to the game's release. Nevermind the promises from the prequels where, "your decisions will affect the ending of the 3rd game" or whatever. There's even a video where one of the devs was like, "a final boss is too 'video gamey'" how do you defend someone who says something like that? It's easy: they get freebies and other privileges. They don't want to sabotage any of that, because for some reason being even slightly critical of a developer means the end of your relationship with them.
What about Black Ops PS3 version being a nightmare to play online for a whole month and a half straight? Where was the coverage of that? Nowhere. The only way you found out what was going on with that was searching through Google and going to Treyarch's forums. And even then, the consumer who bought the game is still left in the dark because the developer doesn't say much about progress on fixing it.
Part of a journalist's job is to make the people they're covering feel pressured. It shouldn't be the other way around, which is what it seems like it is. A journalist should be trying to get a scoop of something that sets the industry on fire. Not everything is a perfect field with rainbows and sunshine. A journalist should be uncovering the truth, but the fact these 'gaming journalists' hold no interest for this topic (enough to somewhat investigate it or even just report it) shows they have no real idea of what a being a journalist means. Yes it's about giving news to the gaming audience, but it's also about delivering truthful information with the facts. And that's the bottom line.
I really doubt any of these 'journalists' are being true to their audience. And Florence's piece highlights exactly why that is or how they aren't being true. It's sad, but that's how things are probably going to continue unless the people behind these sites and reviews reflect over their decisions in the last few years and notice something is wrong.
rpg codex, you just made the listof sites I read and recommend
Metacritic is a PR wet dream, and it's no surprise that the publishers and the PR departments embraced it so willingly. And it's pretty easy to see why...All reviews carry the same weight and there are so so many reviews. Back in the day, a single review could wreck your movie; it just took somebody with the clout and readership of Roger Ebert. Those high level gatekeepers mattered and their integrity carried so much premium with the public. And unfortunately for PR, they were far more difficult to influence.
These days, those high level gatekeepers hold far less power. In determining the metacritic score, a review from Eurogamer has the same weight as a review from Kotaku and a review from Rad Dudes Review Emporium. You get one bad review from a big magazine, who cares? It just a drop in the thousands of reviews that form a metacritic score that everybody is looking at. And of course game companies are eager to help out blogs and little start ups, recommend them for inclusion in Metacritic, because it's just adding more and more noise to the machine.
rpg codex, you just made the listof sites I read and recommend
In case Totilo comes in on this page - why hasn't there been an in-depth article about the PS3 Skyrim debacle and how Bethesda (or Sony) allowed that nonsense to go to retail? What about the current PS3 dlc situation? Why aren't those kinds of stories being investigated instead of Silicon Knights?
>.>
sorry jeff! definitely a nice thing, how the person (ab)uses the trust is up to them
Zero apology necessary! I am 100% conscious of my shilldom. I took the paycheck, cuz I had to. (I'd have stayed in the press if there'd been a paying job for me.) My own internal policy is I just never shill something I don't believe in (I tried that once and, umm, it didn't quite work out for me.) I went to PopCap - one of only 2 or 3 companies on my short list - because I was always a fan, as anyone who read my columns/reviews/podcasts knows. It was NOT an easy decision for me, after my (first) stint at EA, because after a career lifetime of getting to say whatever the hell I wanted to, I wasn't sure I could - or wanted to - represent a company again. But my options were limited. And in negotiating the job, I made sure of two things: 1) My twitter feed stays MY feed, and I can continue to just do my own thing there, which I think it's obvious I do and 2) I never have to push a product I don't personally like. And they've been awesome about both since I started. And since buying us, EA has also been great about giving me the same space.
But yes I have now drank from the Game Company Money Teat, so you can take anything I say on this thread or elsewhere with that grain of salt. Hard for a guy to throw stones when he's sitting comfortably in ye olde glasse house.
Also: eat Doritos. They're awesome!
Ice cold.They were going to run an article on it, but couldn't find a sponsor.
Yes, it did. So that's why the PS3 Skyrim debacle is inexcusable.This is an excellent point that hasn't been discussed all that much. While there seems to be an agreement among the more ethically inclined journalists that you shouldn't befriend PR or have personal relationships with them, it's very hard not to do the same with your fellow journalists. So what happens when they migrate to PR? It puts everyone in an uncomfortable position.
As for reviews being low variance in review scores in games vs say movies, I think there's a perfectly logical explanation for it.
In games much more than in movies, the technical aspects of a game are very important. Even games with decent budgets can run like shit or be bug ridden, something that is almost unheard of in film. So if a game is technically sound, but you find it boring, it should get a higher mark that a boring game that also runs like shit. So even if tastes vary wildly person to person, most can agree on the technical quality of a game, so a big part of a review would essentially be the same for every reviewer, leaving them only to add their impressions on the actual content of the game.
I hope that made sense.
Good job guys - you crashed RPGCodex P
Good job guys - you crashed RPGCodex P
Also: eat Doritos. They're awesome!
Heh, if some people think NeoGaf is a forum full of negative assholes, just imagine what they'll think when they look over RPG Codex.
egotistical wish fulfillment for children and small-minded buffoons
Good job guys - you crashed RPGCodex P
Zero apology necessary! I am 100% conscious of my shilldom. I took the paycheck, cuz I had to. (I'd have stayed in the press if there'd been a paying job for me.) My own internal policy is I just never shill something I don't believe in (I tried that once and, umm, it didn't quite work out for me.) I went to PopCap - one of only 2 or 3 companies on my short list - because I was always a fan, as anyone who read my columns/reviews/podcasts knows. It was NOT an easy decision for me, after my (first) stint at EA, because after a career lifetime of getting to say whatever the hell I wanted to, I wasn't sure I could - or wanted to - represent a company again. But my options were limited. And in negotiating the job, I made sure of two things: 1) My twitter feed stays MY feed, and I can continue to just do my own thing there, which I think it's obvious I do and 2) I never have to push a product I don't personally like. And they've been awesome about both since I started. And since buying us, EA has also been great about giving me the same space.
But yes I have now drank from the Game Company Money Teat, so you can take anything I say on this thread or elsewhere with that grain of salt. Hard for a guy to throw stones when he's sitting comfortably in ye olde glasse house.
Also: eat Doritos. They're awesome!
I agree. I was referring to:Yeah or an honest impression without the worry of being locked out by PR or desperate need for clicks.