Game Journalism (Fishie's ecred)

The vast majority of VFDCer's work full-time. You have NO point dude... You don't play VF5 cause you don't want to, not cause you don't have time. Do you work 24 hours a day? I highly doubt it...

 

yes, clearly if I don't set aside those 5 80-hour RPGs for review sitting unplayed on my desk to become a VF Lifer and also travel constantly and rearrange my deadlines and appointments to make room for meetups my opinion is worthless

forum props >>> life, I get it now! THANKS FOR THE INPUT INTERNETS



ps. I was actually in nyc twice this year and asked for meetups

 

Yeah KOD, Plague or Myke please lock this thread. I don't ask for much in this world...

 

this is a good plan!

also love the avatar hee hee /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

 

I could careless if you have been on these forums for since day one. I also could careless if you have 10 blogs all detailing your everyday life from shitting to eating. You are coming off as a huge DICK. You are just one of the billion journalist out there trying to be the next anchorman. In my book you are right there with my local weatherman. Get off your high horse and chill out.

 

yhbt

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Move along people, show is over.

 

First, thank you to Shag for unlocking this thread so I can say my piece. I got name-dropped here so I wanted to provide my input.

secondly, ShinobiFist, you are so far off the mark it's pretty laughable, but that isn't your fault because you're on the outside looking in. I know you said you worked as a tester in the past, but really, working at a place like IGN, 1up (I worked for both) and such are a bit different than being on the development side of things.

You say that game journalists are afraid of asking hard questions, when the truth is that almost all interviewees would just repeat "no comment" to any hard questions you throw at them, and those that would actually answer your questions are more often than not the higher ups of the company. We're talking about the Iwatas, the Miyamotos, the Kojimas. Those are the only ones you can ask hardball questions and you'll get answers. The reason being is that these interviews WILL get back to someone on the administration side, and if you happen to say something bad or stupid, you WILL get chewed out. Remember when Ryan Payton was misquoted about MGS4 needing to sell 1 million copies at launch? I'll bet you any sort of money that once that quote got translated into Japanese and then got back to Kojima and the rest of the higher ups at Konami, Ryan probably got HUGE flack for even letting that happen, even if he wasn't in the wrong.

When interviewing Japanese developers you also have to take a very, very different approach as opposed to Western developers, who are more often than not more open to "hard" questions. Japanese people in general aren't very fond of conflict and pressure, so if you think that asking them hardball questions is going to make them open up any more, you're really kidding yourself. Not to mention that if you were using an interpreter for said interview, a question that you may think is good may come off as confrontational, something you don't want.

Personally, I find GAF good for news and that's it. Impressions posted on that board, especially of Japanese games don't impress me one bit, and knowing some of the J-GAF members a bit better than you, I know better than to trust their opinions. I mean, when you got one guy saying Sengoku Basara Cross plays like Last Blade (lol) and another dude saying that Ibara (2006 Cave shooter) feels like a copy/paste of Don Don Pachi, you got some MAJOR credibility issues.

 

Thanks Reno for the input. I am glad someone with insider experience can throw some information without acting like a god.


Other then that I believe Game Journalism is simply about the money. In regards to reviews especially. The Gamespot fiasco not too long ago is a perfect example. A journalist tried to be honest and have a pair of balls. The result ends up being that guy is fired. I unfortunately have no inside information but its not exactly some secret that the business is about making money first then journalism. Even Kotaku has posted several apologies based on comments they made that somehow reflected upon their sponsors. With that being said, I completely agree with Shinobi.

There are journalist with balls and want to get real dirt. They ask the questions that matter and speak their mind rather then blur the truth with dollar signs. Then there are the ones who care about the money and do it probably because they enjoy writing. That's cool, but when it comes to respect, the first is what gets it from me.

 

this isn't front line journalism in war zones or watergate, it is reporting on videogames. that said, I think some people here do a good job of reporting on the industry they have a passion for.

and thatbeing said, I think people are missing the larger point. The industry isn't set up for "reporters with balls" or "tough questions. It seems that it is set up for simple questions and some ego smoothing. don't play ball and you get dismissed, reprimanded or denied future interviews. likely, there's a middle ground where everyone comes out happy.

This isn't unlike american journalism with reporters being forced into a situation where if they want access to the president they need to play ball.

people who think it is so easy should really start their own insider blog and then ask all the tough questions they can.

 

Reno is right that its only the higherups that answer the tougher questions with anything more then a NO COMMENT and who dont simply walk out on you when you ask something that does not fit straight into the PR plans.

I personally had Shigery Miyamoto running damage control on comments made by Satoru Iwata(after Iwata had apologised at E3 for their bad Gamecube performance, Miyamoto started claiming Iwata was talking about N64 instead of Cube and he didnt see things from a gaming standpoint because they had delivered but from an engineers standpoint and yadda yadda yadda.
I pushed Peter Moore in the defensive when I called Japan a lost cause for the 360(and then the outlet I was covering X06 for decided not to run the roundtable interview)
Phill Harrison became agitated when I called him on his bullshit when he said that the PS3 was of to a better start then PS2 was and the press had always rooted for the OTHERS whenever Sony launched hardware.

I can give dozens of personal examples like that but ill stop the name dropping for now.

Even the big guys cant always say what they want though.
They are insanely hard to get a hold of unless you are favoured media.
And when they do say something from the hart it can bruise them badly.
Like Mark Rein for instance when he said BULLSHIT on Sony`s claims that next gen would not start untill they released the PS3.

 

Again, People getting it twisted like bambo. Reno, I've mention YOUR name, as some of the people who are well respected over @ Gaf(just like MarkMan)If you read the thread, this whole thing started by me mentioning Gaf for getting pics and info on TGS. Then, Fishy came out of left-field with comments comparing "professional game-journalism" to posters on Gaf. You quoted me by mentioning those games(BlazBlue & KOFXII for example)I've mention those games as a example of products NOT going to be cover in depth, compare on what you'll get on Gaf(Pics and Hands on)Never did I mention I'll get a editorial over there, lol.
Media outlets are to busy covering AAA stuff. I'm not going to repeat what I've said about journalism in games. (Not to Reno)Ya are reviewers NOT journalist. So please, stop acting like ya up there with the "New York Times", "Wall Street" or the "New Yorker" for christ sake. You are, what are; No shame in that. Thanks for the non-egotistical input Reno.

 

Listen you twit, Zerochan and I had an interview with Arc System Works about Blaz Blue(and other stuff) that will appear in a US magazine, a Swedish magazine and a Russian magazine.
We could have had it published afterwards on two mayor websites as well but for some reason Arc System Works wanted it to be print only.

We tried the same for KoFXII as well but SNK couldnt placate us in time for our Japan visit.

Dont come here acting like you KNOW what we do or how hard we try because you have no clue whatsoever.

Personally as I mentioned before I dont even do reviews and I strictly do event coverage and interviews and I have a feeling that Reno(even if he is too nice a chap to straight out say it) thinks you are just another clueless fanboy shouting from a top his soapbox thinking your oppinion matters.

 

I really wish you had gotten that KOF interview. I would have had some real tough questions I would have wanted you to ask.

SNK doesn't like to answer much though it seems.

 

The problem I have with this is that you call sites like Kotaku and Joystiq (both of which I dislike, ESPECIALLY Kotaku, but I digress) fanboys when that's the large, large majority of gaf posters anyway. There are maybe only a dozen or so posters on gaf whose opinion I would take seriously, and the rest of them can be just as misinformed and misguided as the "professionals".

Even if the big sites don't pick up the niche/obscure titles, would you really trust a poster on gaf to give honest impressions? Personally I wouldn't, but that's just me.

 

Yeah, I would have loved to do that interview but sadly it was not to be this time.

 

Dude, did you read what I wrote? I said, I rather have "info" from you then someone like Brian Crecente when it comes to VF. Same could be said about SFIV, rather hear it from MarkMan or Seth then any major outlet journalist or reviewer. Again, never did I mention everyone in Gaf is the truth. Just like you mention, only a few I take serious. That's why I mention your name. The NPD threads are a testament how fanboyish it gets over there.

Fishy, no one here is debating how much work you put into your job, no one. I always give props to TMZ, National Enquire, Perez Hilton, FOX News and the Gawker Network. Major props! Work is work, no shame in that.

No need on beating a Dead Whore.....The bitch is dead. Whats the point.