Slashdot Mirror
Game Site Space For $$
Wagner James Au writes "Thought y'all would be interested in part two of my 'Preview Ho' series for Kotaku -- in it, a media buyer tells me how Gamespot and Gamespy sells editorial space on their sites to big publishers for thousands of dollars. In other words, the games you see on the front pages of those sites are often there because publishers paid for that privilege. In their defense, Gamespy's Vice President of Content Publishing tells me the practice is 'pretty common both in print and online'." Nothing surprising here, but it's interesting to see it laid out like this.
Thought y'all would be interested in part two of my 'Preview Ho' series for Kotaku
No, I'm not.
Trolling is a art,
I've heard that you can even buy editorial space on a website called slashdot. Pot, meet kettle.
This guy's the limit!
I read a rant by someone who works as a game reviewer that said that they have a hard time evaluating games fairly. Since a) they don't pay for their own games and b) they play so many games (2 or 3 full games per week if I remember right) it gets tough. That's why small innovations are weighted far more heavily than the acutal "Fun Factor" of a game. I review games at my own site, SkorchedEarth, it's small and personal. Sites like these are the reviews I trust, because it's more of a recommendation from a friend than a review from someone who shares a bunk with game publishers. The biggest problem with them, though, is that there aren't many games reviewed (because I'm super-broke), especially not obscure ones, and it takes a while to publish them (since I don't get the games early, and I have to beat them on my own time). But, this gives the lesser-known reviewers a much better perspective on whether or not the game is worth your scarce time and hard-earned cash.
Obvious disclaimer: I run the site. There are no ads though, so I don't stand to gain from hits, except the joy of watching my server get slammed.
Just because whoring out editorial space is 'pretty common both in print and online' doesn't excerpt the editors from being ethically corrupt as journalists. When you sell a publication's editorial space, be it online, magazine or whatever, it's no longer editorial. It's advertorial and as such, should be clearly marked, much like those "special advertising sections" you see in Time and other mags. There's no real recourse or anything other than consumers and journalistic peers calling other publications out and holding them responsible, but really...journalism, whether you're covering world affairs or the mating habits of squirrels is a profession and as such, has ideals, ethics and rules off conduct. It's just depressing.
Except the vendor section with AMD specifically says "Special Advertising Section". It makes clear to the reader that the section is paid for and they can read through with that bias in mind. On the other hand, I have never seen one of those front page game articles mention that the game maker paid to have it highlighted. When I see a game site put big headlines up for a game I would assume that they really think highly of the game and want to inform their readers.
My favourite game reviews site is probably Eurogamer - surprisingly, it's Europe-centric (conveniently for me), and I've found that the reviews (and previews) are usually well worth reading. It's helped get me to broaden my gaming horizons a bit, too - I bought Darwinia on the basis of the Eurogamer review, and found it to be one of the best games I've ever played.
As for GameSpy, someone from one of their sub-sites recently asked if they could make my MINERVA mod the level-of-the-week, or something. Unfortunately, there was a corporate-mandated requirement - that in the review, there had to be a Fileplanet download link.
To their credit, they did ask (the MINERVA terms of distribution coincidentally forbid mirroring on subscription-based download sites without permission) - but awkwardly for them, I said no. Citing a sheer distaste for Fileplanet, its queues, its Win32-Internet-Explorer-only download system, etc.
I never got a reply. And I've yet to see a review!
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
...I get all my game reviews from trustworthy and unbiased sources like Official PlayStation Magazine and Nintendo Power.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak