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A Shoe To The Head For Game Journalism
On Wednesday we reported on an editorial by EGM editor Dan Hsu making claims that publications and web sites were 'selling' reviews for ad revenue. Shoe has since posted the original editorial to his blog, along with some commentary on why he makes the claims but doesn't name names. From the article: "My industry pisses me off. I was a little suspicious of the cover choices one of our competitors was making, so I checked in with a contact of mine from a major game publisher. 'Yes,' he confirmed. 'We can pretty much get whatever cover we want from that magazine. All it takes is for us to meet with the publisher, promise that we'll buy some ads, and discuss the details from there.' So...that magazine's cover stories are for sale. Great." Kyle Orland's VGM Watch steps in for some commentary on the broader picture.
I'm surprised this is considered newsworthy. Magazines devoted to video games are going to have a very vested interest in making the game companies happy, and vice versa. If "GameD00d" does nothing but rip on/ignore every game EA makes, EA can respond by pulling their ads, and GameD00d takes a serious punch in the economic teeth. On the other hand, if GameD00d knows that EA will throw some extra cash in their Christmas stockings by making a slightly-bigger-than-usual deal over "NFL Deathmatch Blastoid 2009" then *of course* they're going to do so. Let's face it - what is going to be the "next big game" is largely subjective anyhow. Nothing in the world sways a subjective opinion quite like money. So I say again: Exactly WHO didn't already know this?
The ability to communicate well does not directly correspond to the ability to communicate intelligently.
Welcome to the real world!
ANY and EVERY review magazine of ANY kind that boasts even one page of advertisement is bound to be corrupted.
And guess what, ads are an important part of the revenue stream of these publications, and it's not going to become any better. Even BLOGS are goin' adsense!
Do you know where that leads? Here's a fine example :
"If you give this game less than a 95% rating, I'll just buy my 12 pages of ads at $1,000,000 each at another gaming magazine.
- MMMph! *slurp, slurp* I couldn't talk with my mouth full, O benevolent games publisher!
- I thought so too, slave."
Okay, maybe with more cocksucking from the magazine's part.
If any of this makes your blood boil, nd you can't stand living in a society in which everything works through corruption and money talks, head over to http://www.adbusters.org/
Is it because they enjoy reading about stuff that is 2 months old?
Web publications are where real gamers go for their gaming news and reviews.
Zoom! That's the sound of the headline going right over your head. The author of the piece in question was Dan Hsu, who's last name is pronounced "shoe." (Native speakers might quibble that it's not precisely "shoe" but it's close enough for the pun."
Companies are selling out to the highest bidder, and tailoring their content to be as favorable as possible to the people that back them financially!
Honestly, I didn't realize this was anything new. I always assumed that video game rags were pretty much like every other magazine out there. You throw some money around, get the coverage you want and ride the wave to profit. Just like pretty much every other publication out there. I'm sure we've all heard stories about reviewers coming clean about getting a lot of swag from game publishers that helps up their review a bit. Why would the magazine really be any different?
The days of being able to realistically expect unbiased reporting from anywhere are pretty much long gone.
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
All the trade rags are the exact same. Car + Driver, Computer Shopper, etc etc. Why should video game magazines be any different?
Any magazine that reviews a product that features a single ad for a product it reviews is tainted.
This is why I never trust any reviews from any magazine but Consumer Reports (who buys the products they review through normal channels via secret shoppers, and who do ntot accept any advertisement swhatsoever in their maagainze, and who do not allow their reviews ot be used in advertisements).
The only web reviews I trust are blogs or reivew sites where I know the reviewer purchased the items themselves.
There is no other way to ensure journalistic integrity.