Game Journalists Uninteresting Vultures?

Next Generation has commentary on an article penned by David Jaffe, creator of God of War. In the article Jaffe charges folks in the game journalism business with being uninteresting hangers-on. He implores journalists to consider themselves journalists first and "part of the games industry" a distant second. The Next-Gen article has some interesting insights on the topic. From the article: "... intimacy with the game industry is a positive, rather than a negative, so long as the line that divides the journalist's function from the game-maker's is understood. The game-maker, in turn, relies heavily on journalism, en masse, on which to base creative decisions. Did every game maker play the last Tomb Raider game? Doubtful. But they all know they don't want to make a game like it. The press feeds the imagination of the creator through a system of warnings and prompts, which are then interpreted and transformed into progress."

Comments

Its more true then you could believe

[Anonymous Coward]

I went to interview at a gaming magazine once. The blatent amount of graphics fanboyism, baseless accusations, and flat out stupidity is incredibly rampant.

During the interview, I was asked what I could contribute to the magazine. I said (paraphrased) "A more intellectual, artistic angle on gaming. I find that most games these days are simply minor graphical updates or add-ons to prior games, and it was becoming boring. That reviewers needed to focus on originality, artistic expression, and funfactor beyond the increasingly meaningless graphics."

I could see the interviewer recoil and his face twist up when I said this. He gave me a very dismissive "well, thats an interesting perspective."

I didnt get the job, obviously. But the shallowness and intellectual laziness of game reviewers is totally warrented.