Ain't It Cool Announces Game Site

Remik writes "Harry and the folks over at Ain't It Cool News are looking to do for video games what they've already done for cinema. The announcement is not exactly well received by Gabe and Tycho at Penny Arcade. Great, another place to go complain about Duke Nukem not being out yet." AIC has been a neat site for movies, it'll be interesting to see how well their expertise extends to games.

Comments

This is great.

[Captain Rotundo]

A site to "do for games" what AICN did for movies? so its going to be a terribly designed site with horrid fonts and colors, filled with wild speculation and fanboy style worshipping ? Thats exactly what the entire gaming community needs, more crap. I can't wait.

Re:This is great.

[Golias]

Well, to be fair, that's not all they do.

I'm sure they will also post poorly-written reviews that only express polar extremes (either "it gave meaning to my life" or "the producer should be gang-raped and murdered"). They will also say "fuck" a lot because they think it makes them "edgy."

Also, look for Harry cameos in the shittiest of shitty low-budget games, followed by Harry ripping the movie in his review to show how much integrity he has.

Oh, and "spoilers" for the more popular game franchises. Now you can be the first to know what the ending cut-scene movie for "Grand Theft Auto 5" is going to look like. Whee!

woo!

[Anonymous Coward]

That's exactly what's been lacking in the industry, a video game site with 84 pt fonts.

Like Fat Babies then?

[eddy]

Some competition for Fat Babies then...

AICN is crap.

[Skyshadow]

If AICN was ever useful, it sold out a long time ago. Now it's just useless cheerleading for movies in an obvious effort to get the "editors" invited to screenings and whatever.

Or am I the only one who remembers the infamous "Meesa love [Jar Jar]" review?

There's already a superior choice...

[imac.usr]

For a real movie scoops & news page with an accompanying gaming site, check out Coming Attractions and their sister site, Test Pattern. It's been up for several months already (CA has been around for over six years), features timely reviews of the latest games, and best of all, both are actually designed to be readable by humans instead of Harry Knowles wannabes.

AICN

[TheRealFixer]

I agree with the Penny Arcade comic. AICN comments attract the absolute lowest forms of Internet life in existance. We're talking lower in the chain than 14-year-old AOL girls here.

That, and the fact that it's perhaps the ugliest "popular" site on the Internet. From the lovely "baby poop brown" color scheme, to the 800 pt. Ariel font used whenever Harry speaks. It just screams "hype".

AICN is the movie industry equivilent of the game-review/preview genre: Sellouts with no journalistic intergrity, who are just looking to keep the free "exclusives" flowing by pumping out as many hyped-up positive reviews as possible. And now, what do you know! AICN is actually moving into the game-review/preview genre!

Journalistic Integrity

[kabir]

Since the fellow behind Ain't It Cool News has repeadedly admitted that he's enhanced, or, on occasion, simply made up a fair number of his so called "scoops" I find the site pretty much useless. There's absolutely no reason to believe what it says unless it's been confirmed somewhere else, so what's the point? There are already plenty of gaming sites out there in the world, and while they seem to have difficulties getting accurate information out of publishers, to my knowledge they don't just make stuff up.

I guess I have to share Gabe & Tycho's reaction: no, it ain't cool.

AICG

[M3wThr33]

Maybe now all the crappy games might get fans!
"GUESS WHAT? DAIKATANA 2 IS IN THE MAKING. I CHECKED IT OUT AND IT'S BAD-ASS!"
*shudder*

Sorry to say this but...

[cioxx]

AICN nerds make Slashdot nerds look like Puff Daddy.

No thank you!

[Cranky_92109]

...do for video games what they've already done for cinema

Does this mean I can expect reviews that are 90% about the reviewer's long melodramatic anticipation of a game, how he feels about his chair and how the controller he is using brings back memories of his childhood?

Oh Great!!!

[TedTschopp]

Oh great... Now bad journalism... ellipses... and OTHER wierd Capitalizations, and speeeling mistakes will be further intagrated into the Internet Culture.

Oh, and not to mention selling out to promote a product.

Someone should do a parody site of AICN and call it Isn't it Cool. And run the same news Harry runs, but with corrected grammar, spelling, and a good design.

I'm sure it would be a hit.

Re:Site design

[Politburo]

Hired? I hope to god that their webdesigner isn't paid..

So we can look forward to this?

[rhkaloge]

Hey there Tru Believers! Just got this missive from Underground_Troool about the latest going ons at EA. Seems they can't keep their grubby little hands off the sports games. Personally, I think it will suck, but read for yourself!
- Harry

Hey there Harry-poo! I just got back from my latest underground venture into the Mordor that is EA Games. Cleverly dressing as a pizza delivery guy, I made my way into the bowels of their Manhattan offices. Man, you should SEE the computers they got in this place! I was only able to get a glimps, but some of the code on this one guys screen made it look like Madden 2004 will be AWSOME! And lots of the programmers were wearing red shirts - real fans of EA will know what THAT means! Well, off to dress up as a phone repair man for next week. Over and out!

Enter: Another hangout for the fanboys

[Tom Courtenay]

The forums will degenerate into childish tomfoolery.

SamusGrrl: Metroid Melee Fox rawkz!
Halo3l33t: OMG, If you're 12.
SamusGrrl: MS Gearbox is big. LOL.

The fact is that IGN is the best source of videogame news out there. Not only do they have an exceedingly well-designed (functional) site, but the editors are generally informed and objective.

It's worth the annual fee that IGN charges its "Insiders", in my opinion. Nowhere else on the web can you find such competent & comprehensive coverage of the video game world.

99% of the gaming sites out there are run by teenage fanboys who balk at competing systems & blindly praise the one they've chosen. While I welcome another gaming site, I'd be surprised if this brings anything new to the table.