Topic: Developers, Journalists Discuss Handheld Industry

[mantidor]

why people are so fond of steven kent? he thinks the clear market leader will be the psp because the movies are selling... I mean...WTF? Hes one of the journalisnt whos "views" on the market annoyed me the most.

[Karl Castaneda #2]

People (especially start-up game journalists) admire Steven Kent because he's written some really great pieces.  Last year's "A Shift in the Game" paints a great picture of how the market has changed to favor the overly hip with giant companies like Capcom and Namco losing people to the Grand Theft Autos and Halos of the world. Even if you don't agree with it, the writing is still top-notch.

I'll admit, I didn't agree with a few (actually, most) things he said in this article, but I can't doubt that he's one of the more seasoned veterans in the field.

[mantidor]

oh I see, I respect experience and a good writter, but if the opinion is so badly founded (I'll say it again, UMD movies mark the psp success!? O_o) it really doesnt make it a great journalist in my eyes.

oh and I have to join to the crowd of David Thomas' lovers...

"Game hardware reporting is not journalism. It’s teenage gossip."

Exactly my thoughts, but I never could find the words to express that! hes just awesome ^_^

[KDR_11k]

Poga: I'm not talking about ports but games that are just the same as the games we've been playing for ten years now. Wipeout and Ridge Racer count as that. Hell, Castlevania DS does! I wanted to show Ian that it's idiotic to demand only "traditional games" i.e. rehashes. Personally I dont care whether Mario Kart uses the same courses as the previous ones or completely new ones, it's still a rehash. I don't care what tracks Ridge Ricer has, it's still a rehash of the original Ridge Racer. I'll give the PSP MGA but its overall design encourages rehashes because it's a minor platform but requires the commitment of a major platform dev team. It's just easier and more profitable to port home console games to it, maybe with new levels and a new name. The DS has lower requirements, a higher tolerance towards lower budget (2d) games, power that isn't comparable to any current home console system (noone makes N64 games anymore and I doubt many did back then so the list of possible ports is very short) and as its main selling point that it's different, i.e. its users expect something different from the standard home console fare.

[Deguello]

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oh I see, I respect experience and a good writter, but if the opinion is so badly founded (I'll say it again, UMD movies mark the psp success!? O_o) it really doesnt make it a great journalist in my eyes.

Yeah really.  Not to jump onto the Steve Kent feeding frenzy, but that is really ridiculous.  The UMD movies are just like David Thomas said.  The stupidest idea in videogame history.

Oh, and I'm sure some third parties will be thrilled to have a game they worked on for months/years sell less than Ghostbusters.

[BigJim]

David Thomas left the fast food biz to write about games?

Yeah, bad joke.

Anyway, the journalist portion was by far the most interesting. I enjoyed Thomas and Metts a lot. The series also officially solidified my belief that a particular Marketing VP is completely useless.

That being said, BigJim is always investigating informative insight from industry personnel. While he cannot comment on specific Marketing faculty members, BigJim considers all practical possibilities regarding the feasibility of mentioning the particular faculty member in the future. No plans have been announced at this time. BigJim remains committed to being the industry leader in leading industry and is always looking for new and exciting opportunities to lead the way in industry leading. So stay tuned! I hope my prepared marketing statements make you as excited as I clearly am.  

[Smash_Brother]

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That would contribute to the bias.  The PSP made a pretty good first impression.  It had Lumines and console quality games on a portable.  Keep in mind that the high price that was the biggest turnoff didn't apply to jounalists.  They get their PSP for FREE.  The DS on the other hand had a port as the flagship title (and one that any gaming journalist with even the slightest amount of credibility has played a million times already) and a bunch of gimmick games and EA junk.  The DS left a pretty bad first impression, especially compared to the PSP.  So that initial impression affects the opinion of the journalist.

Can't argue there.

I'm just saying that the DS had what it had not because of some attempt to appeal to the mass market, but because developers still had no idea what to do with the touch screen.

-SB

[vudu]

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David Thomas left the fast food biz to write about games?

Actually, he left the fast food biz to die.  Then he left his grave to write about games.

[Ian Sane]

It should be noted that after Dave died Wendy's changed their formally awesome chicken burger to an overpriced piece of crap with really gross sauce and recently changed their value menus to come with medium fries instead of large (at the same price of course).  Wendy's jumped the shark with Dave's death.

[Smash_Brother]

The quality of Wendy's food dropped across the board after his death. There's a very discernible difference between decent meat and cheap meat, one which will not be masked by even the most copious amounts of sauce.

The same thing happened to Boston Market after McDonalds bought them out. They used to have excellent food before they were McDonaldized.

-SB

[KDR_11k]

Heh, I love how the IGN guys go "No! There is no bias! It's all lies spread by fanboys! Hate the fanboys!" when every semi-reasonable semi-hairless primate can tell you that IGN is probably the most biased "publication" outside of astroturfers and propaganda outlets.

[Djunknown]

Gotta give it up to the Nsider's for covering gaming's second bananas: the handhelds.

The devs were for the most part pretty objective, except for those who develop exclusivly to the PSP for obvious reasons. Not a bad read.

I skipped Perrin Kaplan's interview to save my sanity. Anything interesting come of out of that, or is it the same old spin with Jedi mind tricks?

Its a shame they couldn't track a Sony spokesperson for a statement/interview to balance it out. Maybe SCE doesn't need to explain itself to the hardcore demographic?

The journalist section ran the gamut of average, awful, insightful and off-the wall. Anybody know if Dave Thomas has an online column (No comments from the peanut gallery please.)? Without sounding like a total suck-up, big props for JonnyBoy reppin' PGC. Good insight as always, with sounding fanboyish.

I'm wondering if I'm the only one not hip with the DS and PSP yet: the GBA is working out fine, and both Nintendo and Sony haven't given me a good reason to pick their machine up. DS online almost makes me want to fork over the C-note and a half, but I'm waiting for 3rd parties will jump on board. Can somelese beside Nintendo or a second party step up to the plate? That's what holding me back.

PSP is a sleek device to hold, but where's their big, big hit? GTA's not going to cut it if I can spend half the cash on consoles/PC.

All in all, great feature, and as the 'handheld wars'  progress, next year's feature should have some more solid facts to throw around and debate.

[Deguello]

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Its a shame they couldn't track a Sony spokesperson for a statement/interview to balance it out. Maybe SCE doesn't need to explain itself to the hardcore demographic?

Or perhaps SCE would like to explain why they are more interested in UMD Movies than portable games?  I'm still waiting for the pointed interview to a Sony exec about how the PSP only has one game this month and possibly next month too.  

[Smash_Brother]

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Originally posted by: KDR_11k
Heh, I love how the IGN guys go "No! There is no bias! It's all lies spread by fanboys! Hate the fanboys!" when every semi-reasonable semi-hairless primate can tell you that IGN is probably the most biased "publication" outside of astroturfers and propaganda outlets.

IGN coined the phrase "Shotgun Journalism": report everything. SOMETHING is bound to be right.

And yeah, it seems like, every other day, IGN is publishing another unneeded pile of hogwash they call an "editorial" about how Nintendo is doomed and they should sell out to microsoft.

Seriously, if they're not getting paid to bash Nintendo, they should be.

-SB

[Deguello]

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And yeah, it seems like, every other day, IGN is publishing another unneeded pile of hogwash they call an "editorial" about how Nintendo is doomed and they should sell out to microsoft.

Even worse is when they editorialize reviews.  For example, Mario Kart Double Dash's review was less a game review and more a treatise on superficial fan wishes.  FF:CC's became a referendum on connectivity and Nintendo, even though Nintendo had nothing to do with that game other than publishing it.  Although technically a review is editorial content, it is a professional responsibility to keep the content of the review germane to the subject and not rant on.  If they wanna do that, they should write an editorial.

[KDR_11k]

Or run a blog. I'd guess your average LiveJournal has about as much merit as IGN.

[Smash_Brother]

Heh, I was actually willing to bet money that, had Killer7 been GC exclusive, IGN would have crapped all over it, saying that Nintendo needs to drop its need for innovation and try to produce Halo clones instead, despite the fact that the game was not even published by Nintendo.

Its presence on the PS2 assures that they cannot do that.

-SB