Hmmm, some of those guys were complete idiots, while others were surprisingly down-to-earth. Overall, I'd say it was a pretty boring read

Edit: Woah, I didn't realize Jonny was in this! I never really read the names, I just read the stuff. Upon going back, it turns out that his answers were most of the ones I liked the best =o

LOL, maybe is the inclusion of Harris (sorry I dislike anything that cames from games section at IGN >_

A big WOOT WOOT for the man himself, Jonny Metts. I was a bit surprised by a couple things Steven Kent said (he probably knows better than me, though). Also, I was so impressed by David Thomas that I'm interested in seeing more of his work. Overall, I thought it was a great piece.

Edit: And they really should get Jerry Holkins to do his thing. Though not technically a game journalist, he's still one of the more knowledgable and insightful people out there.

David Thomas is a brilliant writer and I now want to read more of his stuff.

David Thomas is my new hero.

I laughed my ass off when I read this:

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David Thomas, Denver Post: I’m not a business reporter, but I think I have what it takes to be a business consultant. I am more than happy to form opinions about things I lack most of the critical facts about. With that in mind, I can confidently say that the movie playback in the PSP is among the stupidest ideas I have ever heard of and is proof that business conglomerates give birth to awkward genetic mutants.

The DS has these little movie carts. They are a joke, a novelty. You buy them for your kids because you think your kids want to watch Pokemon on their Game Boy. And after about 10 minutes your kids look at you and say, “Why would we want to watch Pokemon on our Game Boy? We have a 150 inch plasma television in the basement.”

This doesn’t matter to Nintendo because they are not a movie company and the DS is not really a movie machine. It’s like watching someone cook dinner on the radiator on the car. It’s funny. You might even try a bite of meat. But unless you are a crazy hobo, it will not change you notion of a hot meal.

The PSP really, really wants to think of itself as a multimedia machine. Sony really, really wants you to watch movies on your PSP. And why? I am 100% convinced it is because Sony has a profitable division called Sony Pictures. Sony Computer Entertainment, the division most of us call the PlayStation people, is another big, profitable part of Sony.

Here’s what happened (as it appears in my imagination:

Location: A board meeting on Sony’s Floating Corporate Dirigible, high above the Andes.

Sony Pictures Executive: You know, our Spider-Man movie made a lot of money.

Sony Computer Entertainment Executive: Yes it did. I liked that part where Spidey grabbed that piece of pizza from that guy!

Pictures: Your Spider-Man game didn’t do so bad either. Kids like Spider-Man. Let’s put Spider-Man on the PSP!

Computer Entertainment: You know, you’re right. Let’s do it!

I know you think that businesses decisions are not made like this. And you are right. They are usually made using fewer big words and more grunts.

The point is this: Sony Computer Entertainment wants you to buy PlayStation hardware and games. The big Sony Company wants you to buy anything with the Sony brand on it. So, the idea of getting people to buy movies for a game system must have come from a movie guy. It did not come from a game guy. The game guy surely figured that the whole movie thing would cost him dearly. But in this case, the PlayStation guy probably wants to be THE Big Sony guy, so he goes along with the crazy scheme to add movies on his game machine.

They might as well have added a GPS in the box. At least you could use that for games.

The real problem with this is that no one will ever be able to prove any of it. Movie companies will sell 10,000 extra copies of some stupid horror movie on the PSP and say, “See, we sold an extra 10,000 copies.” Never mind that we’ll never have any idea as to whether or not those 10,000 copies came out of the regular DVD channel or not. The bigger problem is that while people are making a little bit of money, it will mask the fact that they could have made more money by selling a cheaper PSP to more gamers. The cost of the PSP discourages gamers from buying it. And to the extent that the cost of the PSP is higher because of movie support, it has hurt gaming.

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This was a favourite for me:

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Asking me to write about mobile games is like asking a food writer to write about a package of those orange peanut butter crackers. You might do it once or twice on a lark. But sooner or later you realize that aiming your nuclear arsenal of criticism at subject the size of a pup tent. It’s just no fun.

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"David Thomas is a brilliant writer and I now want to read more of his stuff."

Plus he makes a mean Big Bacon Classic.

Steve Kent was pretty dead-on as usual though he was pretty brief in his responses. Jonny came across well too. He seemed very unbiased which is good because you would probably assume that the head of a Nintendo site would be noticably biased towards the DS.

What I found funny is that after half of the guys tripped over themselves to see who could gush over the PSP more the "do you think there's a bias" question comes up and it's almost unanimous that the press is biased towards the PSP. No one said there was a bias towards the DS. They either dodged the question or said "PSP".

And I think there's a reason for that that goes beyond the Sony name or how "sexy" the PSP is. There is a bias towards the PSP because game journalists are gamers and PSP games are for gamers. The DS isn't designed primarily with gamers in mind. Nintendo's trying to attract non-gamers and more of a broader audience. So the journalists don't like it as much because it's not for them. Movie critics are harsh against mainstream popcorn movies. DS games are like popcorn movies. They sacrifice depth and complexity to appeal to a mass-market. Naturally critics are going to be harsher as a result.

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The DS isn't designed primarily with gamers in mind

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DS games are like popcorn movies. They sacrifice depth and complexity to appeal to a mass-market.

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whoever Doug Elfman (The Game Dork) is, he's an idiot. He says all this crap about both the PSP and DS that aren't even true! He's biased for the PSP and he doesn't even know about it. He complains about the speakers not being loud enough. Fair. Then he complains: "I can't even buy an attachable booster for it?"

Has he heard of HEADPHONES? The PSP even has ones that let you play/pause/etc from the headphone part while the PSP is in your pocket or whatever. Bottom line: Don't listen to that idiot.

This Batman is an imposter. Kids, do not take candy from this Batman.

There is a bias towards the PSP because game journalists are gamers and PSP games are for gamers.

Um, no. A gamer is excited by the possibility of more innovative games and if gaming was their only reason they'd be pretty evenly split between DS and PSP or more towards the DS. A corporate whore, on the other hand, will support whoever pays him the most.
As for the "non-gamer" argument, I don't see it. Care to prove that there are no games appealing to gamers on the DS? Because last time I checked gamers love stuff like Wario Ware Touched or Kirby CC.

Yeah Ian... I'm curious as to what part of the PSP lineup is for 'real' gamers? About the only critically acclaimed game is Lumines which is a puzzle game. People enjoy Wipeout Pure too, but it definately isn't an unbelievable game.

You guys give all of these corporate sites too much credit. They like the PSP because its "cooler". That's all there is to it.

"The PSP isn't designed primarily with gamers in mind, either. That's why it's got superfluous movie and MP3 playability."

I didn't say the PSP is designed with gamers in mind I said PSP GAMES are. They're all very traditional. The existing gaming crowd is the target market for those titles.

Nintendo has said that the DS is supposed to attract non-gamers. There are several games for it that are not designed primarily for the traditional gaming crowd. Therefore a journalist who is a traditional gamer might show more interest in the PSP where literally every game is designed with traditional gamers in mind.

Ignore your own opinion of the DS and PSP libraries. Think like a mainstream journalist and it becomes pretty obvious which portable has more games targetted towards them.

::Walks away from a worthless argument::

"Traditional" as in "Yeah, I've played that eight years ago on the Playstation 1". Gamers might like traditional games to some degree but have you listened to the general complaining? Gamers want innovation because the hit-driven business models nowadays give us far too little innovation. What we want is new experiences that are unlike those games we've been playing for the last ten years. The casuals buy those stupid WW2 shooters, they buy those sports games with updated rosters, they buy all those rehashes without complaining. But the gamers complain! They have no issue with going back to their 1995 game if it's better than the rehash released yesterday. Gamers who complain that after all these sequels no Final Fantasy game surpassed 6, that after all this time nothing surpassed Civ 2 or Total Annihilation or Nethack. If you want to see only rehashes, please, stop calling yourself a gamer because you're giving us a bad name.

It's not like Nintendo doesn't deliver its share of "traditional" games, either. New Super Mario Bros? If that's not traditional what is? Castlevania DS? See, third parties are chiming in? Oh no, not released yet! Well, guess what, the game everyone wants for the PSP, GTA:LCS isn't released yet, either.

Your opinion of the DS or what a real gamer is or anything like that doesn't matter in this arguement. I'm saying that in the view of most journalists the PSP is designed more with that kind of person in mind so thus they're biased towards it. That's it. That's all I'm saying. Why is that so hard for some of you to understand?

I'd say there is a media bias toward the PSP. When the DS had some slow month in the early parts of this year, IGN dragged a Nintendo exec up and grilled him about it.

They haven't asked a Sony exec about the slow PSP games schedule and constant delays yet.

Edit:

EGM also had some "E3 report card" or something where they gave the DS a B+ and the PSP a B. Excuse me, were they even AT E3? The PSP's showing was ABYSMAL.

Those journalists say what their company says they say. And their company says they say what brings in the most ad dollars and exclusives. Perhaps Sony told them they won't get any PS3 previews if they prefer the DS?

What they write flies in the face of public oppinion and reality. There is no bias towards the PSP among the populace, there is no bias towards the PSP among gamers and pretty much the only reason these writers can come up with to back up their oppinion (remember, these people are supposed to have well founded oppinions) is "the PSP is sleek and the screen is gorgeous". Perhaps they'll call the DS "Gimicky" or say they're unsure about its future but they'll gladly proclaim a system with such a severe release drought and no defining title the second coming? Excuse me princess, but isn't that exactly why the Gamecube failed? And suddently, because it's shiny it'll sell? What's Nintendo supposed to do to please those guys? Nintendo is trying to make games instead of graphics tech demos and all that time these idiots were complaining about graphics being so overrated and no innovation to be found yet when a system tries to deliver what they demanded they turn around and say "Well, yes, it's innovative and stuff BUT THE PSP IS SHINY!". Journalistic integrity? Hellooooo? If Sony delivered something semi-innovative they'd praise Sony for it but Nintendo gets bashed. Guess what kind of reaction you'd have seen if Nintendo had introduced the Eyetoy instead of Sony? "Oh, it's some stupid gimmick that'll keep your kids busy for five minutes".

Those journalists are anything but gamers. They clearly fail to portray reality in a semi-objective way. If you want reality, read the Penny Arcade newsposts, those guys are more honest and informative than any major news source. What those magazines and websites do is try to make the average guy feel like he's alone in preferring the DS over the PSP. I can't take them serious after the articles they wrote when the DS was succeeding in spite of the PSP, they read like they were trying to hold the floodgates with all their might.

Nintendo has bias against it and I wonder if it is insurmountable.

It sometimes feels like the Revolution could turn out to be a $99 Star Trek quality Holo Deck with GTA and Halo exclusive and the mainstream gaming media would still bad mouth it and favor the competition

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Originally posted by: KDR_11k
"Traditional" as in "Yeah, I've played that eight years ago on the Playstation 1".

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Actually, the DS has had more ports.

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Nintendo has said that the DS is supposed to attract non-gamers. There are several games for it that are not designed primarily for the traditional gaming crowd. Therefore a journalist who is a traditional gamer might show more interest in the PSP where literally every game is designed with traditional gamers in mind.

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"I think THAT is the mentality which has made the current lineup of DS games what they are."

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.

i liked the read
I think its good that Steven L. Kent shared his views, even if he seems very immature with his logic.

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.

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.

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 ^_^

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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.

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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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

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