There's been a lot of talk about how the mainstream gaming press is
1) boring
2) acting more like a partner to game publishers than a truth seeker for its audience.
I'm not really sure when it's been very different, but the debate is healthy, so let's have at it. PCGamer, Game Informer, Gamespot, MaximumPC - they all have their good moments and their bad moments - though some are worse than others. Feel free to wail on the worst in the comments section.
Can anything be done to give the wayward media a jolt of life? Guardian lays out some good thoughts on where we're at and where we might go from here. Some of it is a bit too ethereal, but that can be forgiven considering the very premise of a robust, vibrant, innovative mainstream press is ethereal to its core.
The basic backbone of the article is an essay called "Bow, Nigger" where the blogger talks about his experience dueling an asshole online in Jedi Outcast. It's an incredible read that gets to the core of the game's appeal. The guy never mentions the quality of graphics or sound. He never even complains about lag or cut-scenes. Can you believe it? Yet you finish the piece out of breath, and ready to buy Jedi Outcast. Now that's a good game review.
It�s not that the mainstream press doesn�t have the talent to drown us in reads like that. They do. But they can�t really print stuff like �Bow, Nigger.� First, the title (though that�s for another discussion). Second, it was written months after the game came out. That�s like asking someone at Time Magazine to write about the Los Angeles mud slides. Ancient history is not going to sell issues.
Let�s not forget the biggest problem facing the mainstream (and this is true of every mainstream news source). Telling the truth can be about as palatable as eating your own poo.
We at Joystiq know what we like, and we know what we don�t like, and we have no problem writing about either. In fact, the nature of this beast we call blogging is as simple as the New Hampshire motto, �Live free, or die.� If we don�t speak freely, then we have no value. The mainstream press, on the other hand, has a puzzle to piece together, because their motto is more like New Mexico�s �Land of Enchantment.� They can�t rock the boat too much or they�ll face the wrath of their sponsors (or customers, if you buy Trip Hawkins� wild and wonky and somewhat correct world view).
While it�s true that good game blogs risk less when they criticize, cajole and antagonize (constructively, of course), it�s also true that the mainstream press will die, mag by mag, if they don�t bite the hand that feeds them once in awhile. Why? Because if they don�t do their part to keep the master honest, the master will believe its own lies. The result of that will be more crap than the marketplace can handle. The result of that, of course, will be less gaming press. If you think that�s far fetched in a market-driven business then consider the collapse of the videogame market in the 1980s. A lot of factors went into the collapse, but hubris can certainly be pegged as a prime contributor.
So what�s a mag to do? We agree with Guardian � if you can�t tell the truth now, tell the truth later. Give your writers the freedom to come back to a title and slam it if they want to. The publishers won�t be happy, but they won�t be nearly as pissed if the truth had been told out of the gate (when most titles sell most of their copies). The truth told later, rather than earlier is still telling the truth. Sure, this is a half-baked plan. But the hope is that it would be viral. Blunt talk in one column can set the tone for the surrounding articles. Naive, yes, but we know it�s been done before, and, unfortunately, abandoned soon after. Wonder why�
We all need to do our small part to keep this hobby thriving. Players need to support the good games. They usually do � except in the case of Driv3r, of course. Bloggers need to keep (intelligently) screaming bloody murder when they see bloody murder and promote excellent products, mainstream or not mainstream. And the gaming press? They need to adapt to a demanding, growing audience of gamers who want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth while they read well-written, excited articles with exclusive, pretty pictures. Now that�s a challenge.
