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Gaming News
Topic Started: Aug 28 2011, 09:03 AM (32,800 Views)
Romanticide
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I don't think we should be calling it "gaming journalism". Sometimes we get some good stuff, like Kotaku's recent article on the realities of crunch in video game development. That was a pretty good piece that makes me question why I enjoy media with insane development schedules (crunch is a huge problem in anime, too). However, most of it is reviews that are generally positive and give a score in the 7-10 range, videos/previews to hype the next big thing in a given genre, and all that stuff. You know the types of articles.

I won't deny that I enjoy it (I read it too much for my own good), but it's also not exactly accurate to call that stuff "journalism". I've taken to calling it "enthusiast writing", which is more apt.

I also don't see the hypocrisy. All we have are three tweets saying that he looks forward to GoT. For all I know, he could have tweeted or wrote an article about GoT's misogyny and violence elsewhere. I'm not about to confirm this because I don't care that much, but it's a possibility and if he has, the hypocrisy doesn't exist.
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DucksFAN93
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Well, there's always more than one way to see something. I see it as a little hypocritical. The polygon reviewer is also a member of Suicide Girls or so I read(?).
How dumb is it to say there's too much sexiness in a game if you're a member of a porn site. Idk.
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Outlaw454
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This is mildly off-topic, but the Medium article had a thing that didn't sit well with me, and it had nothing to do with any of the points you guys were just discussing. It was this line,

Quote:
 
It is the Token Minority trope after all — and, as we know thanks to the megaphoned dilettantes, tropes are bad, mmkay?


All fiction uses tropes. Tropes are literary tools. You don't have to use a trope 100% straight. I'm gonna babble a bit if I keep going, so here is a link that can do a better job of explaining it than I can.
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CALJR_8760
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I think the biggest problem with gaming journalism progressing and actually becoming more like journalism is that it's already the way it is and it's a hard force to change it. IGN for example is a pretty terrible site in a lot of ways, but it's kind of hard not to go there because it's one of the few sites that has everything I'm looking for. This can be a problem with film too, but in film there are more prestigious efforts at criticism. With video games everything is pretty much just there to make some money and little else. One of the biggest problems is that unlike other mediums, with gaming you really do need to know as much as you can about the game compared to buying a movie or book. With gaming the smallest details can make the biggest difference. If they recasted am actor in a.movie then you can still watch that movie and will most likely still enjoy it or if a writer decides not to kill a character at the end. With a game though, the little differences make a difference.

Take the new Battlefront for example. Let's say the game was first person only, this would probably turn away many fans from the game. Or that there's no prequel stuff, someone might've liked those maps the best. The lack of a story. The amount of maps. The modes. And so on. The point is you have to know these little things because they really can be deciding factors of whether you see the movie or not. Same could be said with Rock Band 4 not having keys or guitar hero's new guitar. These difference can make it break a game for people, and when you're spending $60+, you need to know these little details, so you have to constantly keep informed about the new games coming out, unless you just buy the same games every year. But what happens is you end up getting locked into staying on these sites. Yes you could go to another site for better professionalism, but the sites that probably look more like real journalism don't have all the information, and they don't have the exclusive interviews or play sessions, because they don't have the money or staff to afford it and you can be damn these triple A publishers aren't going to be paying for advertisements for or inviting to exclusive events to the people who are expecting them to live up to a higher standard.

Basically it just becomes hard to not feed into the crap when there is a system like this. All of this is made worst when you look at the majority of the people who are into these things. I'm not dissing gamers, but people in general. It reminds me of something a teacher used to tell us, if you want to see a terrible book, then look at the best sellers list. The majority of people don't want intelligent insightful writing, they want polished crap, and gaming just isn't a big enough industry outside of casual gaming to really have a lot of intelligent true journalism for it. This is one of the things that's just kinda burned me out on gaming. I mean even comics, which should have just as bad of a problem if not worse considering its niche, have better standards.
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MilkAndCookies
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DucksFAN93
May 17 2015, 07:28 AM
Well, there's always more than one way to see something. I see it as a little hypocritical. The polygon reviewer is also a member of Suicide Girls or so I read(?).
How dumb is it to say there's too much sexiness in a game if you're a member of a porn site. Idk.
(disclaimer: I have only skimmed this discussion because I have only a mild interest in The Witcher)

I'd say that the issue here is not in the sexualization, but in the context of said sexualization. When one has a porn membership, they know what they're getting into. If I buy a Suicide Girls membership, I do it because I am specifically there for the sexuality. That is the main focus of that medium, and nobody is watching it for the plot. The models, as well, know what they're getting into -- they're choosing to express their sexuality in that way.

But when I buy a game, I buy it for the gameplay, the story and setting, all of that stuff. And when it thrusts bewbz in my face, I'm a little taken aback, a little uncomfortable, and even a little offended, because it seems like the developers think that I can't enjoy a game without that. In short, this isn't what I signed up for. And in contrast to the models choosing to do it, a sexualized video game character is not by default "just expressing her sexuality." The designers are usually choosing to sexualize her for the consumer's enjoyment (typically, the straight male).
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LightningBolt
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http://gematsu.com/2015/05/playstation-network-flash-sale-ni-no-kuni-trials-fusion-freedom-wars-more-under-5

PSN flash sale. Okami HD for $4.90 is a must-buy for anybody with a PS3. I'll probably pick up the Mass Effect Trilogy for $4.80.
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Romanticide
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Outlaw454
May 17 2015, 12:51 PM
This is mildly off-topic, but the Medium article had a thing that didn't sit well with me, and it had nothing to do with any of the points you guys were just discussing. It was this line,

Quote:
 
It is the Token Minority trope after all — and, as we know thanks to the megaphoned dilettantes, tropes are bad, mmkay?


All fiction uses tropes. Tropes are literary tools. You don't have to use a trope 100% straight. I'm gonna babble a bit if I keep going, so here is a link that can do a better job of explaining it than I can.
OH GOD NOT THE BLACK HOLE

I think the author of the article knows that it's impossible to avoid using tropes and is being facetious about this fact. That statement, like just about everything in that article, is a misrepresentation of feminist arguments. (Of course, a lot of it was bullshit semantics word games too.) Nobody in this debate has said "tropes are bad" because they also know tropes are ubiquitous, but they *have* said that certain tropes are sexist/misogynistic and have tried to educate others about them in an effort to educate the audience of their existence/convince developers to move away from them.

My only question is whether or not the misrepresentation was intentional. The guy is a little intelligent I guess, but the audience he's writing for isn't filled with the brightest crayons in the box. They THINK they are, but they're really not. This is to say, he might be pandering at least somewhat to the Gamergate fringe.


Cal's response is on the money. The system is too big. Nothing is ever too big to fail, but some things are too big to change overnight, and the gaming media has been one of those things for a long time.

I guess all I can add is that YouTube seemed like salvation from the gaming media. However, look at the biggest personalities: Pewdiepie, TotalBiscuit, JonTron, Markiplier, Angry Joe (EDIT: I'm a derp and he's not white.), and so on. The first thing these personalities all have in common is the superficial. They're all white males, presumably straight. There is nothing wrong with this. They still had to work very hard at their craft and build an audience before they were even *noticed* by Polaris or whoever their partner might be. Kudos to them for that; I can't imagine how grueling it was or what they had to sacrifice. Still not a TotalBiscuit fan, but you can't deny the guy put in work.

My point in saying this is that by virtue of looking like the "everyman", they benefited from a system that looks for people like them to promote viewpoints that don't challenge the status quo. You can benefit from a system and still be very good at what you do, or even be a good person. Nobody (well, nobody worth associating with) is attacking anyone over this. We are just asking that people recognize their privilege. Also, they brought a very white male set of experiences to the table. While those are valid experiences and people who have them deserve to be heard, the problem is we hear way too much of them. (Straight) White maleness is the presumed norm in all of Western media and it crowds out other perspectives.

Where are the prominent YouTubers of color? I'm sure females exist, but I don't know of any in gaming who have the subscriber base or get the press coverage of the most prominent males. They also get dismissed as "using their looks to get ahead" or other such nonsense. As far as LGBT+ YouTubers go, we have... Jim Fucking Sterling, Son, who is also one of the very few who dares to tackle more substantial issues like representation, sexism, consumer rights, and what not in his videos. But beyond him idfk of any.

Maybe prominent YouTubers tackle issues like Jim Sterling does, idk. I don't watch their shit, so it's possible that I'm wrong. If I am, I won't be surprised to see someone post a video or three to prove it. However, given the current gaming landscape, I would have heard if they did in the gaming media or on Twitter. I have my doubts.


Another thing I wanted to say but didn't really get to is that it feels like people who are hyped for a major release expect 9s/10s across the board, with the requisite glowing reviews to go along with them. It also feels like there are certain gamers who expect reviewers to start at 10 for their most anticipated games and subtract points from there. Bad camera? Oh, take off .2 points or something. Bad ending? Eh, the rest of the game was good, take off .3 idk. It's a problem with a culture that hypes an upcoming big thing, plays it for a bit, shits out its opinions on said big thing (which is naturally either the greatest thing ever or the biggest disappointment since FFXIII), and then moves on to hype the next big thing. This probably happens in other mediums too, but not at all to the extent that it does in gaming. It just doesn't.

Polygon didn't criticize much about The Witcher 3. They hit on the misogyny, lack of representation, the ending, camera, and maybe a few other minor points. Is that worth an 8/10? I'd say that's more than fair, myself. It's not my review and idk how much weight the writer puts on these factors, after all. The only way this oversized reaction to a very positive score and review makes any sense to me is if there's a rabid fanbase that expects a certain score/type of review and an environment that is hostile to cultural criticism.
Edited by Romanticide, May 17 2015, 10:17 PM.
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DucksFAN93
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I don't think Angry Joe is white bruh :p
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Romanticide
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*opens mouth*
*inserts foot*

My point still stands, but yeah I should have gotten that right.
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Romanticide
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SGDQ usually isn't as big as AGDQ, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. Here's the schedule. Hopefully we break a million this year.

https://gamesdonequick.com/schedule

Personal highlights would include:
Yoshi's Island (FUCK YES BEST WAY TO KICK THIS OFF)
DKC/3 (no 2 wtf plis)
Tetris: The Grandmaster block (you know this shit is fucking hype)
Twilight Princess
Bastion
Kirby Super Star
Earthbound
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Space Station Silicon Valley
Oregon Trail
Majora's Mask
Oblivion
I Wanna Be the Boshy (the commentary should be highly amusing)
Mario/Pokemon blocks
Zelda games/SM64
Super Metroid (fuck yeah race, also #SaveTheAnimals)
Chrono Trigger (obv going to meet the 100% incentive)
Edited by Romanticide, May 18 2015, 09:44 AM.
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Romanticide
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http://kotaku.com/the-witcher-3-downgrade-controversy-sucks-1705882405?

This.

I get wanting games that push your hardware to teh maxxx!!!!1, but everyone in capitalism tries to sell a product by making it look better than the real thing in their advertising. We already know that fucking burger in a commercial/on a poster isn't going to look that good when we order it. We know that we aren't going to magically look super sexy/pull all the hottest *members of gender/s we prefer* if we use their products. Yet, gamers expect something that looks like or even better than the most polished up trailers/tech demos when they buy a new video game. Gamers also seem not to know (or ignore, whichever) that breathtaking trailer is running on PC and has been edited to hell and back to look that good. How dumb can we as a demographic be?

I agree with hype culture being a big part of this. They call it "preorder culture", but I think "hype culture" is more encompassing and more accurate. In this environment, it doesn't matter how good the game is. Gamers have already decided how good the game should be based on the trailers and such, and anything that doesn't meet expectations is torn to shreds, including the game itself.

However, I think another part is that nobody really knows how the sausage is made. Publishers probably want it this way so we're not as informed as we could be, so they get called on their bullshit less. Doesn't seem to work because gamers criticize even if it's based on erroneous assumptions, but whatever. I think being more informed on how games are made would cut down on some of the vitriol that gets tossed around on the internets.


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/696564/unraveled-tale-of-the-shipbreakers-daughter

Not sure this project will make it (again), but I'm backing for Hiroki Kikuta musics anyway. Unlike many Kickstarters, there's a demo that's available to everyone before you back, so you can try that.
Edited by Romanticide, May 20 2015, 09:35 PM.
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DucksFAN93
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That's a fantastic article. I agree with all the points made. Idk if anyone else has played the game itself, but I'm playing it on my Xbox One ", and it's simply the most beautiful game I own. I don't understand why people are upset about how this game looks, it's stupid. People who buy the promise instead of the video game are really not that intelligent. It's okay if games change in development, because they probably should. That means the developers are seeing things that aren't smooth, or aren't working, or aren't accessible to players and are trying to make it better.
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Romanticide
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http://www.polygon.com/2015/5/28/8683541/amazons-amiibo-strategy-shows-how-dismal-the-collecting-scene-has

I really want the Lucina Amiibo, and knowing when I'll have a chance is nice. I also want Robin, but I'd bet money that they're only releasing the blonde male variant, which is a lower priority to me.

However, it's only during a specific half-hour timeframe, which in reality is even more specific because they'll likely be sold out in a minute or two. Also one-click is disabled, so lol sucks to be on mobile! If you're on your PC during the one or two minutes these are in stock and everything goes right for you, congrats I guess. This is fucking bullshit. This isn't a fair chance to get an Amiibo; it's a glorified roulette.

Said it before, but there aren't many products that are sold like this. I get tickets being sold out in minutes, but we know how many there are in advance because we know venues have a seating capacity. I also get there being limited qualities of anything ever, but they're usually advertised as such: Either they're a collector's edition or they're luxury items for the super rich. Amiibos were marketed as being for everyone but in reality they've turned out to be for the extremely lucky and for the scalpers.

Not sure if I'll even try for Lucina, as much as I want her. What's the point? It's starting to feel like rewarding Nintendo for being one of the most incompetent manufacturers of anything on the planet.


http://kotaku.com/two-years-later-sony-s-jrpgvita-campaign-is-a-bust-1707551204

Uhhhh, #videogames? I guess?

Sure, the Vita has JRPGs. I bought the PSTV in no small part for Persona 4 Golden, which will be nice because I gave my copy away to my bestie, knowing I'd buy it again anyway. It's just that most of the JRPGs are extremely niche and won't sell to anyone outside the small fanbase those games have, or they're on other systems. There aren't many JRPGs that can sell systems to the average person. Final Fantasy can and that's about it. Pokemon can if you count it as a JRPG, but I never have since I see it as an adventure with JRPG elements. Persona/Tales can to more dedicated JRPG players. Stuff like the Atelier and Neptunia series can to niche gamers, but even those are coming out on non-Sony systems now because there's money to be made.

PSTV will be the way I play a lot of PSP/PS1 JRPGs I missed. There's no shortage of those out there, even if many of them aren't available Stateside. It also looks like there's a fairly impressive selection of visual novels on the Vita, so I'll have to look into those and see if any are worth a damn. Really, it's a $40 box. If I get enjoyment out of even like five games, it was worth the money.
Edited by Romanticide, May 29 2015, 02:53 AM.
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Volt
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Goddammit. It just so happens that I'll be working through every single time frame.

I have no idea why Nintendo doesn't print significantly more of these things. The demand and market is overwhelmingly present, but they choose to not capitalize on it for some inexplicable reason.
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DucksFAN93
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I hate amiibo and the whole craze. Idk why it's as popular as it is honestly. Fucking beanie babies.
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