About as Timely as the NY Times "Circuits" Section
on
Girls Got Game
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Yes -- I'm always amazed at how themainstream media "discovers" girl gamers every few months. Although, every year when I go to E3 (the big games trade show), plenty of industry professionals are surprized by the women's gaming angle as well.
I always mention this, so the best source out there for mainstream girls gaming news is http://www.gamegal.com/.
I find this to be an interesting discussion, especially because it's a topic that gets revisited every so often without ever being resolved.
If we pull back and look at the big picture, we can see that a lot of the same issues are raised, or example, against film reviewers (biased, paid-for reviews, etc.). But film criticism is still held in higher regard than game reviews - largely because film critics are most often journalists first, while game writers are gamers first, journalists second (often a distant second).
I've written reviews of everything from films and music to beer and wine, and I do some of game reviews/previews, which on their face are not really all that different.
Obviously different publications will treat material differently. This isn't "bias," it's the editorial focus of the publication. The New York Times and the Village Voice have different focuses and editorial directions, so its no wonder they have different things to say about the same film (although, much as in game reviews, there is an overall trend towards positive/negative reviews most of the time).
If you've ever seen an ad for a turkey of a movie with one or two positive quotes from reviewers you've never heard of (often a UPN affiliate in nowheresville), that's the equivalent of some website giving a great review to, say Driv3r (Driver 3) as a favor. It happens, but it's usually pretty easy to spot.
Bottom line? Game reviews are no more or less corrupt than mainstream film/music/etc. reviews, but game reviewers should strive to up their journalism skills so they can be taken as seriously as say, Roger Ebert, Janet Maslin or Elvis Mitchell (not a personal endorsement of these cats, so don't flame me if you hate them).
[Personal disclosure: I've had game reviews/previews in (partial list) Sync, USA Today, UGO.com, Happy Puppy and I edit a lot of material for girl gamer site http://www.gamegal.com/.]
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Yes -- I'm always amazed at how themainstream media "discovers" girl gamers every few months. Although, every year when I go to E3 (the big games trade show), plenty of industry professionals are surprized by the women's gaming angle as well.
I always mention this, so the best source out there for mainstream girls gaming news is http://www.gamegal.com/.
I find this to be an interesting discussion, especially because it's a topic that gets revisited every so often without ever being resolved.
If we pull back and look at the big picture, we can see that a lot of the same issues are raised, or example, against film reviewers (biased, paid-for reviews, etc.). But film criticism is still held in higher regard than game reviews - largely because film critics are most often journalists first, while game writers are gamers first, journalists second (often a distant second).
I've written reviews of everything from films and music to beer and wine, and I do some of game reviews/previews, which on their face are not really all that different.
Obviously different publications will treat material differently. This isn't "bias," it's the editorial focus of the publication. The New York Times and the Village Voice have different focuses and editorial directions, so its no wonder they have different things to say about the same film (although, much as in game reviews, there is an overall trend towards positive/negative reviews most of the time).
If you've ever seen an ad for a turkey of a movie with one or two positive quotes from reviewers you've never heard of (often a UPN affiliate in nowheresville), that's the equivalent of some website giving a great review to, say Driv3r (Driver 3) as a favor. It happens, but it's usually pretty easy to spot.
Bottom line? Game reviews are no more or less corrupt than mainstream film/music/etc. reviews, but game reviewers should strive to up their journalism skills so they can be taken as seriously as say, Roger Ebert, Janet Maslin or Elvis Mitchell (not a personal endorsement of these cats, so don't flame me if you hate them).
[Personal disclosure: I've had game reviews/previews in (partial list) Sync, USA Today, UGO.com, Happy Puppy and I edit a lot of material for girl gamer site http://www.gamegal.com/.]