One of the worthwhile things I have read in ages. Thank you. I'm guilty as well, and looking back on some pre-release things I have written makes me cringe at times. It's a touchy subject, but one that I think needs a lot of attention.

I can't imagine this ever changing, it would be financial suicide to try and stamp it out, and when that one company with the balls to do so does it, do you think others will follow suit? In a world where money comes first, morality second, we'll just have to rely our sense of judgement and common sense. The gaming industry needs it's own version of The Razzie Awards for the worst in gaming crap to showcase on our store shelves, at least that will give some developers something to worry about. The way to win this war (I use the word loosely) is the power of the internet. Know an awful game that's being hyped? Then post about it on your gaming forum of choice. Make an intelligent and thoughtful post, and you will affect sales by a tiny amount, and if enough people do this, then these awful games will take the hit in sales they rightfully deserve. What really concerns me though are these "forum plants", people paid to pimp these awful games across as many forums as humanly possible. So maybe we can't win, but either way, i'm not going to stand by and watch these games get away with it. Solution? Anti-Plants. That's right, people who spend there time downplaying god awful games, helping consumers to avoid the garbage and pick up worthy titles. If I had the programming skills to create such a website, trust me, I would. Think of it like a review site, but only for the really *bad* games - free from the bias of money exchanging hands and loss of profits.

This should be interesting. I haven't actually read a game preview since I was about eleven years old so sadly I won't be much good for contributing to this but I look forward to reading unintentionally humorous ass-kissing.

Welcome to The Circle Of Life. everyone needs something from someone else, for example: money.

Nobody is forcing these people to buy these crappy games. If they don't like the game a magazine advised them to play, they should simply stop reading the magazine. I don't see why the world even needs gaming mags anymore, what with the internet and all.

"I don't see why the world even needs gaming mags anymore, what with the internet and all." I can only partly agree with that. Edge does some fantastic and original articles that you simply won't find on the internet, and it's nice to be able to sit back or lay in bed with a nice magazine rather than sitting in front of a computer. Gaming magazines though on a whole I do find poor, it's only the original content and perspective of some writers that I enjoy. I've stopped buying a lot of gaming magazines simply because they don't really offer anything you can't find online, the only added inventive is game demos, but being mainly a Nintendo fan i've grown to live with that shortcoming. The declining sales of many magazines is a good thing (I heard edge is actually doing better than most, which proves my point) it'll force them to give us more than what we can already find out for free, like you touched upon.

The other problem is the same thing is happening on the net. There are a ;ot pf On-line only gaming mags who post previews purely based on speculation or just what they have been told. Until most of the publishers wait until they have a solid playable demo before making a review, the suckage will continue.

er...bye the way, that was "lot of" not ";ot pf"

Sounds like a great idea! The point you make about previews is accurate. EVERY preview is always full of glowing promises. I don't know how people can take print magazines seriously anymore. If there are any worth a read, I haven't seen them. The best publications, in my opinion, were Next Generation for its insightful features articles and industry coverage. It was more of a trade-publication than consumer. The other PC Accelerator. Humor aside, it unabashedly ripped on games when necessary and called bullshit for what it was. Perhaps why the lost a lot of advertising and ultimately died. I'm really looking forward to this. Now if only, although highly unlikely, the unethical writers (I spare the word journalist) will have the courage to defend what the wrote.

This was a very worthy read. The things that were pointed out in this article were undeniably true. I'm getting quite tired of positive previews where negative criticisms about the game in question are sorely lacking. It's even worse seeing the same game then get low review scores nearly across the board. That's one of the many reasons I stopped buying EGM in the first place. But it's not just IGN. It's not just EGM. There's a lot of gaming publications, on both the Internet and on paper, that are guilty of feeding their readers the same "No problems here" bullshit with every new game that is about to arrive. It's getting harder to find a preview that actually points out even a minor problem with a game. And for what, more profit from advertisments? If this is what a magazine or a site has to resort to in order to get paid -- to relinquish their journalistic integrity, the trust of their readers, and the overall credibility of game journalists in general, all for a few bucks -- then frankly, they don't deserve any payment at all, much less readers. As for Preview Ho of the Month, I can hardly wait.

Fantastic idea - media watch for the gaming press. I decided to call it quits on gaming magazines when i saw an 'article' on girls who play in arcades, (and thus, just luurrve guys who do as well) which was 'sponsored' by Timezone, a big Arcade franchise here is Aus. And i couldn't stand reading Tim Rogers anymore.

Yeah, another session of Webimpulse's bitching is about to come on. Pardon me for doing so...if I don't talk about these things in a frank manner, I'd go insane. Quite literally. As someone who hopes to become a gaming journalist, and who already got started by writing Xbox reviews and previews for the small independent site MyGamer.com, I can't help when reading these articles but feel intense feelings of dread, despair and other negative emotions. Indeed, what the hell am I supposed to do to break this Chain of Suck? To really bring creativity back into gaming? Is pursuing my dream career just a waste of time? Yeah, I know these questions I've asked before in my "therapy sessions" when I've asked similar questions regarding getting into game development. But considering how I find writing significantly easier than creating game content (mapping, modeling, etc.), journalism is probably the one career related to gaming I can competently pursue. But now even that's starting to look like a waste of time too. Seeing as how I've written stuff praising games for the Xbox and some sequels, people are probably going to rake me across the coals merely for liking any Xbox game or sequel or franchise game. If I do honestly like a game, what's wrong with that? Why should I have to suffer such indignity as being called a sell-out or pawn of the oppressor for liking the occasional mainstream game? Problem is, I need to make a living. I can't continue living like I am (dependent upon my parents), nor do I want to live out on the street starving and homeless just to keep my morals and my conscience intact. Signing up for a print magazine may be the only way I can make a living, or even a mainstream online publication. What if I'm confronted with a situation like the above? What then? Throw my livelihood away and feed myself to the capitalist system's wolves just so I can sleep at night? I know there will be some who will say I need to pursue a different job than gamer journalist if I come unglued every time I encounter such a hard-hitting article or issue. But I don't know what other jobs I can do. My psychological conditions (I won't elaborate on what they are) already prohibit me from doing any number of other things to make a living. Maybe I'm just screwed...but one of the only ways I can make my life a bit more tolerable is to keep pursuing that dream of getting paid to write about what I love most in life - video games and the culture surrounding them. Such is the way of reality, I guess, a reality I can't find a way to live in. A reality not even the unreality of video games can protect me from.

Well luckily I'll probably never be on here. I only do reviews for games I either like or look like I'm going to like legitimately. That and I don't have ads, so I don't have that worry as well. XD

Nintendo Gal - you have no idea how lucky you have it. Is your site what you do for a living? Is it doing well enough to support you? If so, can I work for it, and get paid too? Yes, that is a deadly serious question. I'm trying to look for a way I can make a living doing something I enjoy without having to compromise my morals or look evil in the eyes of the world. I'm such a mess...

Please, someone answer me. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Webimpulse, there're positive "role models" for you to follow. Just not in video game publishing world. Take Anandtech.com, for example. A grassroots site that got popular, not because it fed marketing wonks with glowing previews, but because the site actually delivered (delivers?) hw reviews with no bullshit. If something didn't deliver, the site said so, with proof (as you can often do with hw).

I wrote for a videogame site before my days of rock and roll stardom, and I gotta say...the guy who ran the site would bitch me out if I said too much negative stuff. I'd send him the rough draft and he wouldn't even think of posting the article. I was 15 at the time, and was pretty impressionable, so I folded like a chair. The editor had some good connections at some companies, and if I gave a bad review, apparently they'd stop sending him free stuff. 989 was one of the companies he was friends with. You can imagine anyone's conscience being at a crossroads when they have to write a positive review about a 989 game. Here's a concept, guys. How about you learn how to create better games? Sheesh. For as much time as it takes to develop a game, you'd think these people would want something they could be proud of.

Thanks for the comments, Pixelantes Anonymous and BigManZam, but it still doesn't answer my core question, the one that's keeping me up right now - how do I both maintain my conscience and make a living? Again, I don't want to have to live out on the street starving and dying just to keep my conscience intact.

Make an honest site with honest reviews. To make money, deal drugs on the side.

I don't make money on my site. I do it because I want to. ;)

Nice! I'm looking forward to checking out the Preview Ho's. I'm assuming every game from EA will automatically be on the "watch list".... :-)

Good idea. Games are expensive. No one likes to think they wasted cash on a game based on a review that was less than honest. It is getting harder and harder to figure out how far to trust reviews. Many games now have major Multiplayer or Coooperative Play elements, some even developed in a different section of the game company. A game that is great in one mode may suck in single player and vice versa. A rave review about cooperative play on xBox Live might fail to mention the single player mode targeting system sucks. Did the reviewer deliberately overlook that flaw or did enthusiasm for one mode override problems elsewhere? I can see how hard it must be from a reviewer's perspective. Anything that keeps reviews honest and comprehensive has my full support. Bet we uncover some classics! Can't wait....

Oh, gee. Thanks for telling me I am utterly doomed to become a schill writer if I decide to pursue a career as a game journalist. Thanks for telling me that I can't ever hope to make a living and not be homeless on the street starving and dying. Thanks for telling me that my dreams are for naught and I'm stupid and morally corrupt. Thanks a lot.

Hey WebImp, I think you're thinking too much. You need to stop worrying about what everybody else thinks, and just do what you feel is the best way to go. Follow your heart, don't forget your dreams, and keep pushing yourself. Sooner or later, someone will notice you, and your ball will start to roll. Believe me, when the ball starts rolling, you'll realise that it really isn't very hard to keep it going. It's a balancing act. At some point, you'll have to come to make decisions of your own. Money or Integrity? Humility or Pride? You can make the stance that you'll never let the money factor influence your decision-making, but will you still be able to stand on that pedestal when you're one bill away from losing everything? How much is all of this worth to you? Tough questions, but isn't that what life is all about? This is not just about the gaming industry, nor is it about just the press. ANY field you go into (except for pimping out ho's...but even they'll say that there's a certain amount of moral decisions to be made), will present these challenges to you.

As a member of the "gaming press" I tend to only write previews of games that look to be worthy. The problem is, that we are shown one thing and told another. How the final product actually ends up can sometimes be a different story, thus leading to the perception that our preview was really just a plug in hiding all along.

I've written for both print and web and while this idea sounds great for people on the internet mocking people getting paid to write, it's still a little unfair. There are a few reasons for this: - Publishers lie. Exciting features get dropped (Fable), bugs aren't fixed (too many to mention), and only one level is on display (ditto). Writers then try to turn some brief impressions and assurances into a story. - It could get fixed. Some games look like crap and run like a turd (Forza) or have horrible balancing issues (Devil May Cry 3) in the early versions. - Genre games still have an audience. While niche titles are docked on reviews for only appealing to gamers who want simple pleasures, there are still fans who want to know about it and don't care about scores (Neo Contra). Assuming that you can look past these possible pitfalls and still spot a game that you know will be crap from the very beginning (25 to Life) there's a strong possibility that you won't be able to have an honest preview go out. You could piss off a touchy publisher (Atari) who then decides to pull all advertising and let it be known to the higher ups that it was your fault. Thus, many previews are an exercise in reading between the lines, like that IGN preview that Draconis pointed out. Reread it and see if the dude sounds serious when he's really making fun of the game. You can go after the serious offenders if you still want to, but keep names out of it. It's very possible that an enthusiastic editor went in and changed things around.

I'd also like to point out that word of mouth and reputation are the biggest game sellers. Not a few words written by game journalists.

This was a great read, but it's brought up more questions than it has given answers. What I want to know is how the game industry's relationship with press compares with that of other 'entertainment' industries, like film, music, and print. There's a lot of press schmoozing in the video game industry, with glamorous press-only events, swag, demo's, and a whole laundry-list of benefits and creature-comforts offered to theoretically unbiased individuals. My question is whether this is a fair deal when compared to other industries' relationships with press, or if maybe there needs to be a bit more distance for the sake of journalistic integrity... (I'm not a journalist, nor am I pretending to be; this is merely my thoughtful pondering as a consumer and hopeful designer) - sj

Scott, One key difference from film is that while there's a decent-sized industry that does virtually nothing but shill for the movie business, they aren't the same people who actually review the movies. And if they are, they work for pretty obvious hype machine reviewers, and people know how to filter them out. With gaming previews, you can read positive previews right up until the game ships, written by the same people that then turn around and pan the thing as a worthless POS.

I would like to see a journalist become the "sell-out-king" and ONLY write pre/reviews of crappy titles and make hoodles of cash while doing it. Is there anyone out there who can do this? Keeping the magazine/website high-ups happy, because the review is brimming with applause thus keeping the publisher happy, all the while the rest of us know its utter bullshit and to stay far, far away? Maybe its not the best way to go, but at least that way people would KNOW thats what you were doing...But you're not going against anything the companies say. You're writing the review. It sounds good. I guess s/he'd be alright as long as they don't actually review a GOOD game.

Reputation and trust is key. Once you lose that trust, all is lost. I write for the gamers. I write as if I'm the one that has to decide whether or not a game is worth my $60. Hopefully, other journalists in the field are doing the same. I'm going to assume a good number are, but of course, with any other profession, there are a few bad apples.

Great discussion, I'm gratified to see it happening. Just to hit the points from one post, arguing that it's unfair to bag on games in development because: > - Publishers lie. All the more reason to be critical of features that don't seem ready. If a developer is ready to show a single level to a journalist, it should be fairly assumed to be representative of the game as a whole. I don't actually think it's fair to harp on bugs, unless it relates to the release date. (i.e., "The game is so buggy it's hard to believe it could ever make it's pub date next month.") > - It could get fixed. As I mentioned, certain elements can be fixed, but at preview stage, essential gameplay, story, and design cannot be fixed without substantial redevelopment. If the design or story sucks a few months before release, there's very little reason to believe ir can be corrected at so late a date. - Genre games still have an audience. True, but even judging a genre game on its own terms, you can make substantial observations on its originality or innovations within that framework. At least some genre fans don't like playing the exact same game over and over again.