Gaming Journalism has gone down the toilet
- Thread starter SG854
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I love when people randomly interject their political commentary into a video game review. Not.
Except I actually tend to agree with the second part. There's the running joke asking why Aerith's joke was such a big deal, since couldn't they have just used a phoenix down? It happens all the time in movies and tv shows. Someone not important suffers a flesh wound? He falls over death. The main protagonist gets shot 50 times? He needs a band-aid.
Political bent or not, there's something to be said for at times taking a step back from a genre, accepting that tropes that codify it make no sense, and then considering if that makes that genre as a whole pretty bad.
Political bent or not, there's something to be said for at times taking a step back from a genre, accepting that tropes that codify it make no sense, and then considering if that makes that genre as a whole pretty bad.
More accurately, it sounds like they're trying to put themselves in the context of the game. Part of the appeal of "survival horror" games is at some level putting you in the mindset of the character in the game. So, when you're running around looting the police station for all possible healing supplies when said police station was supposed to be a rally point for outbreak survivors, doesn't that come across as somewhat scummy? Or do you brush it off as everyone else must already be dead?
I don't think there's anything wrong with understanding something is a game but at the same time pointing out just how absurd in-game is. Some people directly criticize it. Others make whole parody games pointing out just absurd it is--RPGs are notorious for this precisely because of the example I gave in FFVII. Eventually, games generally improve because of that criticism. Some game series continue their own way and we understand they're not trying to be overly complicated--Resident Evil was always B grade horror material.
My point is, it doesn't make much sense to me that you would criticize all gaming journalism just because one person decided to write a review from a specific perspective. Maybe in a while people will get sick of it, and they'll have to write differently. Maybe it'll actually give some really deep insights into how games could be a lot better. At this point, I don't know. I do know no matter what happens, there's still going to be plenty of B grade (especially plot or overall story consideration) material games that will probably always be made. And for that reason, I can understand thinking it absurd to judge Resident Evil by any other standard.
I looked for this in the post, but didn't see that you made it up. I find it sad that it has come to the point where I expect shit like this to be written in dead serious reviews.
You’re giving the person too much credit. They are not that deep. They’re just crazy.
And the article is literally a person giving themselves a pat on the back talking about how good of a person they would be in that same situation.
I think this video sets the mood in trying to convey.
It’s more of an exaggerated statement. It’s like me saying “I wanna die, please kill me” When I’m in a really embarrassing situation. I don’t actually wanna die but I’m using that over exagerated statement to express the deep embarrassment I’m feeling. It’s the same when I say game journalism has gone down the toilet.
But recently there has been many journalist where I start smaking my head thinking, Oh MY God, these people, wow.
Far Cry 5 game review. That is all.
Was talking about police brutality in a video game review made by Japanese people who probably aren't in the know about American or European culture necessary? It’s so out of place. It’s forced political beliefs injected in game with nothing that has to do about it.
It’s like this Final Fantasy video. It’s a joke. From the video- Fire profits are up this year by a margin of 5%. First they came after our Guns, will they next come after our Firaga?
Last edited by SG854,
I’ve kinda always assumed that thinks like Phoenix Downs don’t canonically exist (or at the very least are rarely acquired canonically) and are only there to provide a “gamey” revive system tbh.
It’s kind of like how Zombie bites in the early RE games were directly stated or at least implied to be capable of spreading the T-Virus and/or G-Virus even though the player characters never get infected even if they’re bit, it’s because they simply manage to avoid that in canon.
That sounds like a pretty reasonable interpretation. I think it does sort of prove the point that in making games, well, gamey they're also making the games incredibly easy relatively to realistic. I think RE would be pretty radically differently tolerated as a genre if they were one-hit KO. Same with RPGs. I think to some extent it does speak to the way in which most games (and really all fiction) tends to gravitate towards the hyperbolic though. That's not inherently a bad thing.
It's just, it really is limiting when so much focus is precisely on that, and then you take a step back and realize just how overpowered the whole story has become. Like, it makes certain things painful absurd--I have zero interest in Injustice: Gods Among Us as one example. Power Creep is quite a nasty thing.
There is no press to speak of.
Kotaku posts articles about Kratos' nipples and controls the "weeb" market (not "anime fan market", please note) with bait "news".
Polygon is infected with some heavy "progressive" people who would actually write "I am sick of playing as white dudes". Imagine changing "white dude" to "color dude / gay dude" or "female".
Gematsu is nice but its key person (Sal Romano, I think) is just a huge "senpai, notice me" person and if you spend some time browsing that web-site or reading Gematsu Twitter, you'll figure that out.
IGN is there for hype, Gamespot makes reviews according to what's going to sell better in Gamestop.
And that's pretty much it. There are some others but they're relatively the same. Gaming "journalism" is controlled by those insecure hateful people who are probably so tired of playing those games that they can't even write an objective review anymore, it's always "I like / dislike".
Can't remember when was the last time I ever looked up anything. If you're someone who is into video games, just follow your favorite publishers and developers, subscribe to their official newsletters and websites, pages on Steam and elsewhere. This will make your gaming experience much better.
I remember seeing all the reviews from IGN and others, where they review certain games and bash them for belonging to this or another genre. Like Xenoblade C. 2 for being a shonen game or fighting games... for being fighting games, anime adaptation games for not being "good for newcomers". Those kinds of things.
I could never understand how and why people read their reviews. The only games that are really bad are games like Lichdom Battlemage or Rambo... the rest is subjective and writing a game review is basically just toying with smart words, based on your own preferences. If they like the game personally, they'll say it has "great writing, exquisite soundtrack", if not - they'll focus on poor aspects and bash games for belonging to a specific genre / audience or telling a story it wanted to tell. They don't want to know if the game is made well, they want to know if it fits the majority and them.
This makes me remember some interview with Sword Art Online creator where he promised to make even more "strong female leads" and all that. I mean, SAO always had strong female characters which people liked more than the main, but they want even more? Uh... It's important because young people like SAO and it's just going to be Westernized even more. It just shows how this whole thing progresses.
Kotaku posts articles about Kratos' nipples and controls the "weeb" market (not "anime fan market", please note) with bait "news".
Polygon is infected with some heavy "progressive" people who would actually write "I am sick of playing as white dudes". Imagine changing "white dude" to "color dude / gay dude" or "female".
Gematsu is nice but its key person (Sal Romano, I think) is just a huge "senpai, notice me" person and if you spend some time browsing that web-site or reading Gematsu Twitter, you'll figure that out.
IGN is there for hype, Gamespot makes reviews according to what's going to sell better in Gamestop.
And that's pretty much it. There are some others but they're relatively the same. Gaming "journalism" is controlled by those insecure hateful people who are probably so tired of playing those games that they can't even write an objective review anymore, it's always "I like / dislike".
Can't remember when was the last time I ever looked up anything. If you're someone who is into video games, just follow your favorite publishers and developers, subscribe to their official newsletters and websites, pages on Steam and elsewhere. This will make your gaming experience much better.
I remember seeing all the reviews from IGN and others, where they review certain games and bash them for belonging to this or another genre. Like Xenoblade C. 2 for being a shonen game or fighting games... for being fighting games, anime adaptation games for not being "good for newcomers". Those kinds of things.
I could never understand how and why people read their reviews. The only games that are really bad are games like Lichdom Battlemage or Rambo... the rest is subjective and writing a game review is basically just toying with smart words, based on your own preferences. If they like the game personally, they'll say it has "great writing, exquisite soundtrack", if not - they'll focus on poor aspects and bash games for belonging to a specific genre / audience or telling a story it wanted to tell. They don't want to know if the game is made well, they want to know if it fits the majority and them.
Japanese are just very polite most of the time and actually even game creators (Yoko Taro, Kazutaka Kodaka, others...) have shown that they know literally nothing about what's going on in USA culture or media, and I think that's the reason why we get these great games from them, because the plague haven't gotten there... yet.
This makes me remember some interview with Sword Art Online creator where he promised to make even more "strong female leads" and all that. I mean, SAO always had strong female characters which people liked more than the main, but they want even more? Uh... It's important because young people like SAO and it's just going to be Westernized even more. It just shows how this whole thing progresses.
If only there were enough games I could be "sick of playing" as female... As for "color dude", most JRPGs tend to be presumably Japanese characters? If you meant "black dude", then yea, those are pretty rare. Same for "gay dude". Playing as a lesbian? About the only time that happens is if someone is trying to make a point of it. It's almost as if game designers refuse to play mad libs with character descriptions, even though honestly that'd be perfectly usable results 90% of the time.
Perhaps that's the issue? Gaming journalism != game reviews. If that's all it is to you, then you're basically complaining that the most base sort of commercial advertising, reviews, just aren't that great. Well, yea, that's because advertising tends to suck. Good journalism is hard, though, and virtually no one wants to pay for it be it in gaming let alone in any serious real world context. That's what makes this specific case funny, as it actually seems to be trying to take an almost journalistic approach to the overview of a game. Apparently, though, that's evil.
PS - I seriously wonder what a heavy "conservative" people write up of Resident Evil 2 would look like. I honestly think it'd be rather interesting.
I remember when games were just meant to be fun, a distraction from the mundane aspects of real life.
Suggesting a police station could be a place of refuge for anyone - bad. But a man dressed in Lycra, swinging through the streets of Manhattan, well that’s just fine, because clearly it represents nothing but accuracy
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the rights of the people, equality for everyone and goodwill. But unless a game is specifically designed around historical accuracy, I’ll take it for what it is - entertainment. Unless we perhaps want to start discussing the rights of the Zombies, who never seem to get any attention
Suggesting a police station could be a place of refuge for anyone - bad. But a man dressed in Lycra, swinging through the streets of Manhattan, well that’s just fine, because clearly it represents nothing but accuracy
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the rights of the people, equality for everyone and goodwill. But unless a game is specifically designed around historical accuracy, I’ll take it for what it is - entertainment. Unless we perhaps want to start discussing the rights of the Zombies, who never seem to get any attention
Here a a few recent ones that popped up from kotaku
Resident Evil 2 article about the orphanage section somehow turned into an anti second amendment article
https://kotaku.com/the-creepiest-part-of-resident-evil-2-didn-t-involve-zo-1832663927
Why overwatch 3d porn doesn't have more diversity (this is on a game journalism site btw...)
https://kotaku.com/what-i-learned-from-watching-a-great-deal-of-overwatch-1831462681
Resident Evil 2 article about the orphanage section somehow turned into an anti second amendment article
https://kotaku.com/the-creepiest-part-of-resident-evil-2-didn-t-involve-zo-1832663927
Why overwatch 3d porn doesn't have more diversity (this is on a game journalism site btw...)
https://kotaku.com/what-i-learned-from-watching-a-great-deal-of-overwatch-1831462681
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