Author Topic: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'  (Read 217578 times)

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Offline Mikintosh

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #275 on: February 12, 2009, 02:45:54 AM »
Haha, I like this guy; IGN is a lot more like Entertainment Tonight than they like to admit, and it does seem like Sega's "Nintendon't" tagline still has a lot of resonance with the gaming press. And this quote is exactly what I've been thinking everytime I've opened my issue of EGM over the last five years:

"There is a sick desire in the game industry, including avid gamers and game journalists, for gaming to become ‘artistic’ like movies and music. This sick desire of imitation of the movie industry is truly the desire for culture. The commerce world is seen as flat, stale, soul-less. Reporting games as games would default towards commerce which is the last place where game journalists want to go."

I swear, the number of PS2 games that got glittering recommendations based on their "storytelling" and turned out to be actively unfun to play is uncountable on the number of fingers I have. And I also agree on his disdain for the "gaming culture" and people identifying themselves as "gamers": did America go through this crap in the '80s when everyone had an NES and played Zelda until the late hours of the night? It's just supposed to be a fun timewaster; it's fine to care about it, but people take it too far (see the transformation of the comic book industry, which used to be populated entirely with bright-eyed youngsters paying a quarter to read Action Comics). But I don't go along with his condemnation of the "Nintendo Culture", mainly since I love the company and buy crap merchandise based on their products all the time. :)

Offline NovaQ

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #276 on: February 12, 2009, 08:04:04 AM »
So basically, Malstrom's saying that (adult) life is mostly focused on commerce and law, but because most people think those are boring (or don't want to admit that they are what much of our day-to-day life is about), they make up and maintain culture. Each culture of a particular thing (art, movies, video games) is ultimately a way for those not interested in commerce and law to pat themselves on the back for wasting their time on non-commerce and non-law activities.

Further, he says that Nintendo's strategy has always (especially with the DS and Wii) been focused on commerce. It's based on expanding the number of customers they have, not adding noteworthy items (games) to gaming culture. Nintendo's strategy lately has been working very well, and the upswell of new customers - ones who aren't steeped in (or likely very familiar with) gaming culture - inadvertently threaten those people who see themselves as members of gaming culture.

So, that's why gaming journalism sucks? A group with decades-old ideas on gaming and its own gaming media feel threatened by encroaching new (or at least different) ideas about gaming? I suppose that makes sense.



(Just a quick question about something earlier in Malstrom's theory: why do so many of us think commerce and law are boring, and why do so many of us seek to avoid them? Are we really wasting our time and turning our backs on what life is about, as Malstrom seems to believe? Is it possible that emphases on commerce and law are, while more practical in our world, deep down just as contrived or forced as emphases on movie products, book products, video game products, etc.? Or is my head just too far up my ass?)
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Offline KDR_11k

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #277 on: February 12, 2009, 10:50:34 AM »
I guess you'd need a psychologist to figure out the exact answer for your quick question though Nietzsche's master-slave morality seems to be a related subject. Not that I'd really trust a philosopher to analyze the human psyche...

(oh the irony of the source of the desire for art in gaming being described and villified in Beyond Good and Evil...)
« Last Edit: February 12, 2009, 10:54:44 AM by KDR_11k »

Offline NWR_pap64

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #278 on: February 12, 2009, 02:57:34 PM »
I found yet another good article about how pathetic the gaming media, especially reviews, is. It tells you the signs that a review isn't completely honest with its readers.

Here's the link:
http://thatgamingsite.com/articlenav-115-page-1.html

I would have added this, though:
- The review shows a clear bias from the reviewer:
Videogame journalists are first and foremost game fans. Like you and me, they love certain games, franchises, genres and companies. So there's the chance that a reviewer will either favor a game greatly or completely dismiss it because of the reviewer's feelings towards the product. This is somewhat easy to tell, though. If you read a review and its a glowing one, failing to mention the game's obvious flaws then there's the chance that the review is biased towards it and wants it to be noticed. On the other hand, if the review rags on the game for too long, especially over trivial and small issues then clearly the reviewer has an issue. Matt Cassamina's review of Wii Music is an example of this because prior to it he confessed that he wanted to get the game so he could bash it.

If you sense a bit of bias take what the review says with a big grain of salt.
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Offline Peachylala

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #279 on: March 05, 2009, 03:34:25 PM »
EDIT: Vudu's post contains the correct link. I had the wrong formatting. Oops.  8)
« Last Edit: March 05, 2009, 04:22:39 PM by True Blue »
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Offline vudu

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #280 on: March 05, 2009, 03:35:42 PM »
There's a problem with your link.  Here is the correct URL.
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Offline D_Average

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #281 on: March 07, 2009, 01:01:49 AM »
There's a problem with your link.  Here is the correct URL.

Whats wrong with this review?
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Offline NWR_pap64

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #282 on: March 07, 2009, 02:39:57 PM »
There's a problem with your link.  Here is the correct URL.

Whats wrong with this review?

If you read the "Black Knight" thread on the Nintendo Console forum you will see that the game is far more polished and enjoyable than "Secret Rings", and that title was already good to begin with.

The problem with Matt's review is that he keeps whining and bitching about the game forcing you to to stop and battle enemies when impressions have said that you can either be light and speedy and run through the stages ignoring the enemies and villagers to be battle heavy and destroy everything in your path.

Finally, the score he gave the game was too low. To give you an idea, Sonic Unleashed, which received maligned reviews from fans due to the Werehog, got better reviews and had far more issues and really did stop Sonic in his tracks.
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Offline Luigi Dude

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #283 on: March 07, 2009, 04:13:10 PM »


If you read the "Black Knight" thread on the Nintendo Console forum you will see that the game is far more polished and enjoyable than "Secret Rings", and that title was already good to begin with.


While I wouldn't exactly call Secret Rings good, I wouldn't call it bad either.  The fact that like you said, Black Knight has better controls and is considered more polished makes someone like me who was in the middle about Secret Rings suddenly become more interested.  Since if Secret Rings had better controls and more polish I would have considered that game good then.

So yeah, in the end Matt's review is nothing more then a stupid rant about how he didn't like certain parts of the game so the entire game sucks.  Which is a terrible way to review games since it does nothing to inform the average reader.  And not to mention he didn't bother to even compare Black Knight to Secret Rings which is the only thing someone like me wanted to know since Black Knight is the SEQUEL to Secret Rings.
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Offline NWR_pap64

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #284 on: March 07, 2009, 04:42:05 PM »
I know that "Secret Rings" wasn't perfect. But considering that Sonic 06 was absolutely terrible "Secret Rings" has a promising premise. All it needed was more polish and it seems "Black Knight" delivers on that while perfecting its own ideas.

Not to mention that I am suspicious regarding Matt's reviews. After he confessed that the main reason he wanted to review Wii Music was to bash it in order to vent anger towards Nintendo I am concerned that he wants his reviews to be the best in the industry.

Classic Sonic fans don't want to accept "Black Knight" as part of the series. They just want Sonic to play like Sonic. So I wouldn't be surprised if Matt wanted to cater to that sector and tell them what they want to hear; that Black Knight sucks. If he had said otherwise it would have meant that fans whining over Sonic could be wrong over this new entry.
Pedro Hernandez
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Offline Flames_of_chaos

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #285 on: March 07, 2009, 05:38:37 PM »
I always had a love, hate thing with IGN reviews nowadays I don't care much for them anymore. I always think that the best reviewer is yourself since it's you who ultimately will want what will interest you not someone who will make a decision for you. In my opinion reviews should just be used as a guideline and to potentially address  any concerns you have about the game however the sad thing is there are a lot of  reviews that just rambles on and on how bad a game "sucks" just because they hate it.
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Offline GoldenPhoenix

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #286 on: March 07, 2009, 05:58:20 PM »
Besides Matt and Mark I don't really trust the other reviewers on IGN, too many seem to inflate their scores for the next big thing that comes out (GTAIV comes to mind and it didn't even win GOTY!).
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Offline NWR_pap64

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #287 on: March 07, 2009, 06:12:26 PM »
Here's how you should judge reviews...
1. If a reviewer praises a game to the point where it sounds "perfect", then take it with a grain of salt and search for other opinions.

2. If a reviewer spends most of his review talking about flaws and mentions personal issues towards the company, franchise, character or whatever then look for another review.

Both examples show potential bias towards the product and chances are you are not getting the truth behind the product.
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Offline Peachylala

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #288 on: March 07, 2009, 06:51:37 PM »
What about:
3. If said reviewer posts messages on his/her blog and he sounds like a selfish SOB, don't take their reviews seriously.

This is what Matt is on his way to becoming. He's well on his way to becoming the next CEO of Epic Games.
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Offline Flames_of_chaos

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #289 on: March 09, 2009, 11:51:05 AM »
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Offline Peachylala

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #290 on: March 09, 2009, 01:07:59 PM »
Quote from: Some Random Idiot
“Maybe next time you set out to do an opinion piece you wont state your bias opinion as factâ€

Mlol-wtf do you think an editorial is?
So NoBSGamers attracts people full of BS?

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Offline Flames_of_chaos

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« Last Edit: March 17, 2009, 03:53:11 PM by Flames_of_chaos »
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Offline KDR_11k

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #292 on: March 17, 2009, 03:58:08 PM »
Vote to legalize euthanasia for blatant idiots. All in favour?

Offline NWR_pap64

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #293 on: March 17, 2009, 06:40:18 PM »
Vote to legalize euthanasia for blatant idiots. All in favour?

AYE.

I nominate half the gaming media as candidates!
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Offline BeautifulShy

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #294 on: March 17, 2009, 08:46:09 PM »
Vote to legalize euthanasia for blatant idiots. All in favour?

AYE.

I nominate half the gaming media as candidates!
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Offline Stogi

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #295 on: March 18, 2009, 07:33:24 AM »
That's ridiculous.
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Offline NovaQ

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #296 on: March 18, 2009, 08:56:31 PM »
Nintendo is being accused of allowing something that Friend Codes were specifically put in place to prevent. My, what ironing!
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Offline NWR_pap64

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #297 on: March 18, 2009, 09:14:05 PM »
Nintendo is being accused of allowing something that Friend Codes were specifically put in place to prevent. My, what ironing!

That's what makes this situation so frustrating and funny at the same time. Nintendo has put a lot of effort into online safety. You are not forced to use Wii Speak and you can turn yours off if you don't want people to hear your voice.

You know what's ironic? For years we have criticized Nintendo for its friend code system. Now, its the thing that truly prevents nut jobs like this guy for claiming "OMG this is for Pedos!" and getting away with it.
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Offline KDR_11k

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #298 on: March 19, 2009, 02:45:19 AM »
And yet they do it anyway. As I said, maybe euthanasia is the only way to deal with this.

Offline Mop it up

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Re: The PATHETIC state of the gaming 'media'
« Reply #299 on: March 19, 2009, 02:48:19 AM »
Quote
"I cannot come up with any legitimate reason that an adult would be playing [Animal Crossing: City Folk]" says Andy Anderson, Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force.
Okay, why do I feel like this is an insult? Could it be because I own this game, or is there more to it then that? What type of game should an adult play, one with blood and gore and killing and sex? Or are all videogames nothing but children's toys that should be put away once a person grows up?

Way to go Andy Anderson, the guy so idiotic they named you twice. You've not only made clear your vast ignorance of videogames, but have effectively insulted any adult who plays them, which if I recall correctly is at least 50% of players. Congratulations.