Attendee reports G.A.M.E. was lame
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Dec 5th 2005 at 12:30PM }
Josh dropped us a line to report-in about his weekend retreat to
G.A.M.E. (The Game and Music Experience), held in San Francisco. In short, Josh came away from the GameSpot sponsored
event feeling "ripped off, cheapened and ultimately unenthralled." Ouch!
Josh complained that the event was poorly planned, highlighted by long lines (many for games already at retail) and b-list celebs (Rob Schneider was nowhere to be seen). Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the day was the absence of—gaming event staple—scantily clad babes. In the end, Josh was left with this unsettling thought: "geez, maybe I should have just gone to Best Buy."
Anyone else gitcha G.A.M.E. on?
[Thanks, Josh]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Doug teh H-Nut @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
It couldn't be too good. It was one of those mainstream "Hey, This Is Cool, Can We Ruin Your Hobby?" things. The VGAs on Spike TV won't be too much better. I can see GTA: Liberty City Stories and various sports titles walking away with a lot of awards.
Heretic @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
agreed
Snap @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
I was there on Saturday... *yawn* Pretty lame. They gave out free copies of Matrix Online at the door... uhm, yay? Was fun to play some yet to released games like Untold Legends II on PSP (amazing interface), Chibi-Robo for GC, Zelda: Twilight Princess, LotR: Battle for Middle-Earth II looked good as did DnD:Online.
Overall, pretty bland but I did walk away with a vibrator grenade...
ZeroCorpse @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
Yeah. . . I've been meaning to ask: Is there any way we can STOP the Spike VGAs from happening ever again?
Obviously, gamers HATE the Spike VGAs, and the only people who like the shows are people who don't see enough rap performances and cheerleaders between blatant advertisements for EA games.
I refuse to watch that crap this time. They got me the first time, and part of the second. Third time I'm just steering clear and letting you guys take the pain for me.
The only thing that would make the Spike VGAs worth watching is if the show were done with Joel, Crow T. Robot, and Tom Servo at the bottom of the screen with their running commentary at full force.
Doug teh H-Nut @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
I'll probably watch because I'd be curious to see who won, I eat up anything about games anyway and it's excellent blog material. But the constant emphasis on rap is annoying.
By the way, that is a terrifying picture of Rob Schnieder.
J Low @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
Awesome, I'm glad Joystiq posted my message to them.
It really was one of the worst things I've ever gone to and the only thing that offset me feeling like a complete douche was the fact that I paid less than my buddy who dropped $20 at the door simply because I pre-paid. Regardless, 12.50 could have been much better spent on a dinner out or a gallon of Applesauce to throw at the Sony Store in downtown SF.
What a joke man.
haskly @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
It was so poorly done, kiosks not working, didnt know what game i was playing half the time. Just scratch Gamespot off your list of credible sources and sites. Seriously, it was BAD BAD BAD.
Farkman @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
I went to this thing, for free since A) I'm in the industry, and B) I'd never pay for it. It was incredibly lame. 75% of the games there were already out, it was very half-assed in that a lot of the convention floor was empty, nothing interesting happened, and the thing I wanted to see the most, Twilight Princess, was nothing more than the E3 levels from way back when. A lot of the game stations were broken too. If you missed it, be glad you spent your weekend on something more interesting, like scraping your toenails.
Jeff @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
"I'll probably watch because I'd be curious to see who won"
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6140144.html
There, now you don't need to subject yourself to torture.
Kikouken Girl @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
I wholeheartedly agree that G.A.M.E. was L.A.M.E. There was nothing absolutely spectacular to offer; I found myself wandering about, in awe of how lacking the "Experience" was.
However, if one of the reasons why you thought it was lame is because there weren't any "scantily clad babes," the supposed hallmark of all gaming events, then I have to draw the line there. It's bad enough that women are scared off because of the negative portrayals and stereotypes of women in most video games; having scantily clad women on the show floor only enforces this myth that only men play games. Here's a suggestion: For every group of five scantily clad women, I sugest you throw in a group of three scantily clad men. It's perfectly proportional, it will bring the scared girls out from their "Omg big boobied sluts everywhere!" cave, and in general I wouldn't be writing such a smarmy comment.
So, really, if that's even partially a point of consideration for your lackluster experience at G.A.M.E, then I think you need to check somewhere else; I hear Crazy Horse, SF's famed strip club, was only a few blocks away.
Gene @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
i went on saturday, and i'm gonna say it was worth my time and money, since my tickets were only $7.50, if I had to pay more I wouldnt have gone. i also caught the screening of "grandma's boy" and i thought it was pretty funny...only gamers will think it is tho, or ppl who like those stupid movies, so i guess they struck a wide demographic with that one lol. also, i went with my gf and she was hooked on playing burnout on psp...i'd say the $7.50 i spent on her ticket was worth getting her that much more into gaming. next step: convincing her we need a 360
Ryan @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
My Summary:
it was dark and smoky (from the "military" section) and annoyingly loud (the n-gage booth was bumping some terrible bass and then the noise from the booths were competing with the Music on the stage...). it was really hard to find games, and it didn't really seem like 700 gamestations were that much. since it was MOSTLY seperated by genre, only the PSP and mobile (who cares!?!??!) games were together. most people were walking around in free G4 shirts that they had stand in line for forever...to win an iPod nano.
Cool things: I got to play PDZ multiplayer on a huge widescreen tv for 10 minutes. and there actually were a lot of hot chicks.
phoveo @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
Rob Schneider isn't b-list celebrity?!?!?
(That's what the post seems to be saying.)
Doug teh H-Nut @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
OF COURSE RE4 got game of the year. Why should I have ever doubted?
Well...glad to see other games not involving rap, crime and sports were given the nod. Katamari especially. And I like Samuel L. anyway. (He's Mace Windu!) However...Missy Elliot?!
Thanks, Jeff.
marc @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
Here's some more info:
The screens they used at the stations were terrible. Some worse than others, but they were all cheapo flatscreens like the TFTs that Dell sold like 6 years ago. Terrible. Even the stations with XBox360 games had the same screens. Microsoft should sue for mis-representing their products, as I have regular XBox games that look better on my TV than the XBox360 games they showed at the expo.
After spending about 25 minutes walking around and realizing I'd been cheated out of $20, I spent the majority of my time there playing the guitar game.
QQ @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
GAME was LAME, but I feel better now, since I didnt have to pay $7.50 for tickets and I dont have to find reasons to convince my gf to allow me to buy an XBox 360 (like #11)
victor @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
i got free tickets, so it wasn't that lame. i would have been pissed if i had paid.
i thought they were going to have a chill space for the handhelds (to get my mario kart groove on) but no. as a matter of fact, there were only 4 DS's in the portable section. there was hardly a nintendo presence at all. i did play a net game of MK/DS while waiting on the iron on t-shirt line. that was cool.
as for the other stuff, it's true that most of the games were already retail. i was glad to get a lot of freebies - t-shirts, matrix game, Star Wars Game, and a vibrating grenade.
Also, on sunday, they just hauled out all of the free matrix online boxes. people were taking tons of them hoping to either ebay them or return them to ebgames.
Nymo @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
Here's My Thought On G.A.M.E.:
This Is The Closest You Can Get To E3, But You're Stuck In Between The GameSpot Reporting Stage, EA Theater, 2k Theater, G4, Best Buy, Tylenol, America's Army, And Jinx Booths, With Only A Limited Amount Of Games To Play, All In A Tiny Space.. And 2 Empty Food Courts..
The Only Good Thing From The Whole Time There Was Watching "Grandmas's Boy" In A Month Advance And Meeting Some Of The Cast (rob schneider only did a small role in the film, fyi), Gettting SOME, Not-Too-Good-As-E3 Swag, Playing Some Games Before They Come Out (most notably, zelda..), Some Good Music, And Watching The GameSpot Staff Live, If You Consider That Good..
sid @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
i was at g.a.m.e all weekend. i was helping out. yeah the show was lame to some extent, but remember if you actually read into it. they stated that there were 150 titles and 20 unreleased titles. that meant that most titles were already out. i got to watch grandma's boy, it was okay, it was funny and thats about it. cant wait for demonik to come out.
the best part of g.a.m.e. for me was that i was actually on button masher. iwas paired up with nick. i got mario ds and mario strikers of it. then allen covert said that he didnt need mario kart ds and he gave it to me.
also i was referred as the guy who beat the senior editor on gamespot at dead or alive 4. that was cool.
overall the show was good and bad for me, ill come back again working for the show.
SF @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
Hey, I was at GAME! I saw Bigfoot there! It's true! Why don't you "report" it as news now? Huh?
Seriously, if all it takes is one email to get you to write a "story," that says a lot about your credibility. Imagine if GameSpot or IGN or any of the other major sites wrote an article that said "A user has sent us an email suggesting that the writers of Joystiq are paid by Sony to avoid negative press. Ouch!"
Sure, you would probably say that this is different, since you're merely airing someone's opinion. But given the context of your other stories, I think a clearer picture is drawn.
Remember this? http://hacks.joystiq.com/entry/1234000470066608/ - "Whats up with this viral marketing crap? And why is GameSpot participating? Oh, thats right, theyre getting paid to." And then that quiet little "update" (known as a retraction in real publications) that dismissed it all. You weren't even making allegations, you were stating as fact that that website was getting paid to run the supposed ad. I wonder if you actually tried to contact them about this. Actually, no I don't really wonder.
Exhibit B: Time to pick on IGN! http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000817039941/
"How will the boys in editorial stay impartial when a positive review means more money for IGN?" More unfounded speculation, and, surprise, surprise, about another gaming journalism site.
Finally, Exhibit C, just a little example of pettiness: http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000977068923/ - Headline is "Joystiq is better than Gamespot." Inane article is about Xbox Live scores. Trying to be funny, but there's a little-man complex that's pretty obvious.
It's apparent from this article and others that Joystiq will use any opportunity possible to take cheap shots at other gaming sites. And I guess they feel they can hide behind it based on the fact that it's technically a "blog." Apparently calling something a blog means you can ignore any concepts of journalism and reporting. Funny, considering the writers for this site seem to so obviously want to be game industry reporters. Can't have it both ways.
Eih'Beir @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
Wow...that dude is pretty worked up.
I haven't been reading Joystiq that long, but it seems to me like a site devoted to encouraging dialogue and debate among its readers regarding various game related issues.
As for your three links.
A) Yeah, that was pretty slanderous...provided you don't read the THREE updates, the final of which included, "Now that weve been told that it was not, we can lay this to rest," and, "Thanks for setting it straight, Tor!"
B) Wow...also pretty slanderous...pointing out a possible conflict of interest. And admittedly it looks as if Joystiq had decided that this was in fact a conflict of interest. Now, take a look at all the user comments defending IGN. Looks like there are more than a few people who think IGN is okay. Guess IGN can stay in business after all.
C) This one is just funny. Your reaction to that "story" is the one that makes me believe you are either a hardcore Gamespot fanboy, or an actual member of the staff....possibly the member who posted the weak 261,895 score. But yet again, there are comments underneath defending Gamespot.
And for your information, the "little-man" complex isn't shown by Joystiq posting their score...it's shown off by someone reacting to that "story" the way you did.
As for the topic at hand... Some people said GAME sucked. I guess you guys....er...they, will just have to do a better job next year. Personally, I wouldn't pay anything to game with the Gamespot staff. I've got friends who are better gamers than they are, but they come without the speech impediments.
Slartibartfast @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
Sounds to me that either Josh was retarted or he was blind because I went there and had a GREAT time. The only thing bad was the food...damn...that was NASTY!
wraith808 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
I went, and I paid, and I wasn't disappointed. I got to play DOA4, DDO, BfME2, the Star Wars RTS, and decided to buy 4 games that I was on the fence about from getting to play them... The Guitar Hero contest was pretty good too. Sure there was a lot they could have done better, but it was the first year... I'm sure E3 wasn't as good as it is now the first year. Had a wide variety of cultural events too... the capoeiristas, the tiko(?) drums, the classic cars... and the demo of the hydraulics in the car was pretty cool... I'd go again.
ErbilT @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
I went on friday and I have to say that I was disappointed. Seeing a video for Black was one of the two highlights. The other highlight was getting a disk for Albatross 18, which is a online golf title that is currently in beta. It reminds me a lot of Shot Online mixed with Hot Shots. Pretty cool considering I would have never heard of it otherwise.
www.albatross18.com if you all want to check it out,
SF @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
So, #21, you're perfectly okay with, say, the first example?
It's perfectly okay to "report" completely incorrect info as truth, without doing any fact-checking, so long as you update your story as actual facts trickle in?
There's a new way of doing things.
Eih'Beir @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
Yes, #24, I'm fine with that. It's called reporting news as it happens.
They had their first impression, and they drew conclusions based on the information they had at the time. As more information came in they drew new conclusions based on the new information.
I especially like that they did not erase their initial impressions. And seeing three updates as new information came in leaves me with the feeling that they did not just see it once and that was the end of the story.
If a person cares about it, they'll likely come back and see if anything new has been posted, or to read comments other users have left. If they don't care, they don't care.
And posting this information before doing any real fact-checking, yeah, I'm fine with that as long as it's not done with malicious intent. If it seemed to me as if Joystiq was purposely and maliciously trying to deter readers of Joystiq from visiting GameSpot, I would feel differently about this.
I find the quick Blog-style news to be a refreshing change of pace from the meticulous, "please take us seriously, we're journalists damnit, give us a Pulitzer" reporting that GameSpot insists on.
My last point will be, the New York Times has been publishing for 154 years...
...THIS is the new way of doing things.
(Wait, the Pulitzer is just for print journalism, isn't it?)
really now @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
i still find it amusing that people get so upset and equally feel validated by discovering the opinions of others.
it really doesn't matter either way.
- random event/object/presentation/idea is good.
- no it's not - you're a tool.
- i agree with the first guy, that makes me special, and the second guy a tool.
- i agree with the second guy, that makes the first and third tools...
some people get into some things, others don't. you won't always understand it, and you don't have to. there are more important things in life.