Block Party

In Response to “Hurry Up and Blog Me” from The Escapist Forum: Bloggers aren’t journalists.

Bloggers are to journalism what your grandmother is to medicine. That is, like your gramma, bloggers can provide remedies to some typical problems you might have. Gramma knows what to do when you have a cold or a sore throat. Bloggers are good at telling us how many people are in line for a PS3 or why they think the latest Gears of War review is unfair. But bloggers, like grandmothers, are not professionals at what they do and lack the required amount of training to do the job a professional would do. Gramma can’t treat you after you fall down the stairs or come down with pneumonia. Just like we shouldn’t do away with doctors, we shouldn’t do away with trained journalists just because a bunch of people have started keeping online diaries.

– arrr_matey

In response to “Game Journalists on Game Journalism” from The Escapist Forum: I would really like to see some true criticism. Example: Gears of War, best game ever and maybe it is. But, it’s got ridiculous things like guns with glowing parts that would give a soldier’s location away, 4 inch thick body armor but nothing projecting the most important part of the soldier – his head, robots that appear and disappear for no reason, missing scenes “we found the resonator” (O RLY? when did that happen), women that show up in a combat zone without shielding, Cities that look like Roman ruins and yet all the buildings are full of automated doors.

I’m only picking on GoW because it’s the most recent game but many games are filled with story/setting BS like this and yet “game journalists” rarely bring it up. We don’t except these kinds of things in other media. They exist in other media and they are called out on it. Not in games though. Why?

– greggman

In response to “Game Journalists on Game Journalism” from The Escapist Forum: I think the thing we should be criticizing is not that Gears of War, or indeed any specific game, has these continuity errors, but that the game industry by and large considers it acceptable for a game to have a plot even more threadbare than the female lead’s costume in a summer blockbuster. Why, in short, the no middle ground between the fluffy and the cerebral is so bare. Why the only times when the story isn’t just used as a half-assed excuse for the gunfights (in such times when a story would add any value to the game, that is) is when it’s deliberately created for the purpose of telling that story.

– Bongo Bill

In response to “Game Journalists on Game Journalism” from The Escapist Forum: How can we expect meaningful criticism (appreciated by adults, that is) when the latest, greatest games are tamed down and catering to kids? Will an independent videogame company risk its livelihood on a game made strictly for a mature audience?

When we talk about videogame journalism being in its adolescent phase, it’s also a reflection on the products the industry offers. However, I think game journalism should challenge and educate developers/publishers to make more intelligent offerings… and grow the industry.

I think The Escapist is doing a great job of this.

I’d like to see a game review site solely written by critical minds, taking the gaming industry to task. So, Escapist … when are we going to see a game review section to your portal?

– Echolocating

In response to “Miss Video Game” from The Escapist Lounge: It’s perhaps a little terrifying that everyone chose to ignore the gender implications of said contest, and what it says about gaming culture.

– Dr. Wiley

In response to “Miss Video Game” from The Escapist Lounge: I was never a big fan of pageant type things anyway, so this doesn’t endear me anymore. I’m a girl and I play video games. Does that make me a gamer? I like to think so but I’m not going to debate with anyone about it. In addition to considering myself a gamer, I am also a feminist and a contest like this one makes me cringe.

A pretty picture does not a gamer make, obviously. I tend to think of gaming as more of a passion than something someone can just “qualify” for by X amount of hours or money spent. It’s not a definition but it’s a start. I like to consider myself a gamer and my significant other would definitely agree I’m sure. Whether anyone else cares is irrelevant to me, but I know I love lots of games for many reasons and I’m not going to join a contest to make myself feel more like a gamer.

– luminousshadow11

In response to “Team Humidor on Used Games” from The Escapist Lounge: The only people that really benefit from used game sales are retailers. Some would say that the consumer benefits too and to an extent they do. They get to buy their games for a few dollars less in the short term, but in the long term the developers are shorted and we end up with less innovative games and publishers unwilling give new ideas a chance.

My mom always says “you get what you pay for.”

-Lex Darko

In response to “Team Humidor on Used Games” from The Escapist Lounge: If book publishers can cope with used books market, why not game publishers?

– iod