How Broken is Games Journalism?

MasonicGamer.com: The other day the gaming community was flooded with reports of an alleged leak regarding information on the next Microsoft console. The anonymous email was whored out to several “reputable” gaming news outlets in an attempt at a response. As the author cast his line into the shark infested waters it was only a matter of time before someone took the bait. Of course not only did he get a bite, they broke the line as practically every site contacted proceeded to post the speculation immediately.

However, are the games journalists to blame? In a word, yes, but nothing is ever that black and white.

[XeNoStRatoS]

Massively broken if stories like this one ( http://n4g.com/news/1160644... ) head to the top notch of the weeks list.
I dont have any idea about journalism for Nintendo, MS and PC systems, but in my opinion there are just few blogs left which are actually enjoyable, like PSXExtreme, PSU, Joystiq and vg247. The rest? Dunno... N4G? Too much rumor and opinion without any further proof. The worst? Kotaku for trying to be cool without beeing.

[Ezz2013]

you know ?! i miss the days when there was no gaming media to review games and trash them or love them when ever they want

i really miss the ps1 era ...when i just used to buy and play games and have too much fun while playing

[XeNoStRatoS]

Well said bro, well said. Sometimes I find myself reading through all this crap forgetting to actually play the games...

[tiffac008]

Agreed, gone are the days that we enjoy to talk about games for what they are and not what some so-called gaming journalist thinks they should be.

[morganfell]

Game journalism, more than any other reporting has gone completely awry. These pretenders fail to realize they report ON an industry. They are not IN that industry. Their massive egos have swollen to the point they feel their tepid and bland opinions are more important than the game about which they are reporting. They think their personality more attractive than the game. It is the age of "I want" and "I think". Me me me, effing me. The idea or insight is less important than the fact the idea is THEIRS. The thoughts are THEIRS. It no longer matters what the idea was or what constitutes the thought, it is about the writer.

There has also been an idiotic acceptance of "opinion" as mainstay reporting and this validation has come from readers themselves, usually because some lopsided tantrum article supported that reader's point of view. Suddenly scoring titles is seen as an exercise that cannot possibly be separated from opinion and performed in any objective manner. A belief which is patently untrue as many objective reviews are had in numerous industries and existed widely in gaming until recent times. The internet has also made it possible for anyone with a website to proclaim journalistic expertise. Overnight rampant know nothing teens have had their erred insights validated by sites such as N4G and Metacritic. Sites such as IGN have also fallen victim to such maturity issues as their wet behind the ears staff have been given a free hand with no system of checks in place.

Once upon a time game journalism had an Editor in Chief. That person's job was to insure a degree of professionalism was maintained in the material crossing his or her desk prior to publication. The Editor also screened reviews so they were mostly devoid of self influence and a more objective and balanced hand was at work on the story. Opinion pieces were for the opinion page and that was it. Such a job as Editor is name only now if it exists at all having been relegated to little more than proofreading. Reviews are full of jackassery from Ritalin dosed malcontents whose likes and dislikes change overnight. Shock mentality and TMZ style reporting over true insight is the new normal. I remember years ago when Dan Hsu picked a cover for EGM to mock Sony and he laughed about it in detail in the Editorial column.

I remember when Leo Laporte was removed from G4 when Tech TV was purchased and instead we were treated to the constant humorless idiocy from jerkwaters like Kevin Pereira and his twenty something condescension with a know it all attitude. Just another person that felt his view more important than the story. It was all about short attention span fluff and cotton candy for the brain.

True scoring in reviews is deceased. No one even attempts to justify their whimsical methods resulting from fanboy rage, flat out payola or sometimes just incompetence. From the small sites to the top of the heap it is now worthless. Remember when IGN gave GTA IV a 10? They awarded such a score for graphics to titles that pushed the boundaries. Really? Has anyone or did anyone at that time look around at some of the titles that were available? And GTA IV was beyond those?

I espouse the belief that a properly run organization should have a grading mechanism that was broken down and explained fully over the course of several detailed pages. It would relate how titles are obtained, how they are graded, to what weight is given and from what areas it is removed. Then, and most importantly, the staff would stick to such a document and hold it in high regard no matter how much they wanted their favorite series/platform/character to fare in the review. And an Editor in Chief with balls would see that the standards were maintained across the board. All we can do is spend less time reading, clicking, or listening and more time gaming.

[asmith2306]

The internet in my opinion has put the amateurs on the same playing field as the experts in all areas, from politics to science to journalism, the list is endless. Check any forums, comment sections, etc. and you will find "internet intellectuals" whose OPINIONs are put across as fact in any given subject. It's sophism at it's best and their so called facts contain no actual value in reality.

Unfortunately, their arguments are wrapped up in good language and rationality, making it very hard for the unknowing to distinguish it from the truth of the matter. And so the "facts" spread like a virus, the victim doesn't even know he/she is carrying it. Personally I prefer a commentators renown as a judge of their opinion, which the vast majority of these internet bloggers, etc. don't have.

[pr0t0typeknuckles]

games journalism is just a joke, just like any other journalism i really dont see how anyone can believe these so called journalist especially the mainstrem journalist.

[NastyLeftHook0]

you have so much incorrect information in gaming journalism as much as diet and nutrition journalism.

Confusing! Get to the facts!

[Tetsujin]

Gaming journalism anymore is people using each others stories, add their own twist, then post it as fact from "unknown" sources. Sites like this give them the hits/revenue they need and later produce more junk articles just to have more people hit their site based off "what if" and "might/maybe" situations.

I hate to say this but N4G has lost a lot of ground from the majority of people with their fanboy articles that get approved, and the important articles "might" get front page.

There's another site I've been visiting lately that has way more important gaming news, very, very limited fanboy articles, and even more limited fanboy comments (some get moderated out). You come to N4G its mostly Fanboy articles and unless there's some sort of console/game basing it might hit 500 Degrees, and a brief time of front page. I actually try to dig through the first 10 pages to see what other stories come up, and there's a lot of articles some other sites have that's legit news that N4G never even gets submitted, or even approved.

[drizzom]

If you want to know how bad games journalism is, just look at the previous headlines that covered the Devil may Cry Reboot. Games journalism is a god damn joke! Granted, there are some good journalists who can cover news without using some idiotic controversial click baiting headline, but they are drowned out by the mass of "journalists" who don't know a thing about a given game and quite honestly don't care either. Just as long as their site keeps getting hits.

Its unfortunate that the mainstream sites are the worst offenders of this; even more so when they hold a fair amount of influence when it comes to public perception.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

When they would rather hype a game instead of trying to encourage gamers to band together against the media who condemns their very hobby then some housecleaning is in order....

[amaguli]

There is a lot sensationalism and reporting clearly fabricated rumors in video game journalism, but we have to admit that the readers are also part of the problem.

While we always complain about fanboy articles, baseless rumors, and editorials that talk a whole lot about nothing, guess which ones get the most heat and comments? Journalists only have as much "power" as what their readers will give them.

[MasterCornholio]

Just unleash the hulk into a china shop and thats about how broken gaming journalism is.

Oh noes the Wii U is doomed oh noes the PS3 is doomed oh noes Microsoft will raise the price of live again they are doomed.

Seriously those type of articles are completely uncalled for and its a shame that there are so many of them on a daily basis.

[metroidfusion2]

Its shit and its as simple as that

[ShabbaRanks]

Id say unfixable broken

[southernbanana]

Not any more broken than the rest of the world of journalism. It seems no matter where you go 90% of what you read is opinionated garbage.