I am announcing that I am writing a blog post

I wanted to take a moment to announce that I am going to write a blog post right now. The blog post just started. I thought you should know.

Silly, right?

But don't worry, I haven't completely lost it. Rather, I'm just practicing to be a videogame journalist. What, you hadn't noticed? Bioware Austin just announced they're working on an unannounced game. There's a rumor that Nintendo's R&D team is engaged in research and development. Naughty Dog is going to announce the release date for The Last of Us DLC...really soon! Oh, and I just saw a news story about a Twitter post from Kojima about a picture of his new Metal Gear game been played via Remote Play on the Vita. And didn't you hear? Respawn Entertainment said that Titanfall is going to be tricky to market. Who knew?

I am about to put a phrase in quotations. It will be the alternate title to this blog post:

"Slow news day, huh?"

There are plenty of things in the gaming industry for us to gripe about and get excited about. We love this hobby. That's why we're at our keyboards, scouring N4G for any juicy piece of videogame news we can find. We love our videogame news. Yet, it seems that the news is getting more and more annoying as every day passes. Here we are, with two feet firmly planted in "Next Gen" and all that videogame journalists can muster up is an announcement of an announcement.

I mean, c'mon guys and gals. You complain when gamers call you lazy. You complain when we say you're nothing but PR mouthpieces, but when a news-day is full of nothing but - literally - lines you've parroted from an email from EA or Activision, you're not helping your case.

Why not talk about the new Kickstarter game from Yasumi Matsuno. Y'know, that one guy who helped create Vagrant Story, FF Tactics, and FF XII. Y'know, THAT guy? (btw, his upcoming game is called Unsung Story). Why not write an examination/editorial about how big of a value small, $15 downloadable indie titles will have in the upcoming generation. Goodness! I hate to say it, but I'll even take some out-of-context sales analysis for the Xbox One and PS4 (yes, please, tell me how one month of sales determines who will win the gen. Go on).

What bums me out is that - in this modern videogame industry - we have grown so accustomed to PR blather, and so have our journalists. It seems like the only critical, opinionated, honest news we get is from "personalities" like Angry Joe or Jim Sterling (Jimquisition). Is it really so hard, Mr. Journalist, to let me know in your review that such-and-such game is full of glitches? I mean, Mr. Journalist, you found the time to talk about how a female character in an upcoming game has too large of a pair of breasts. You found time to tell us that EA just announced that Bioware is close to announcing that they are developing a game that isn't yet ready to be announced...but they'll announce the date when they're ready to announce that this Friday, exclusive on IGN/Gametrailers/Whatever.com, so stay tuned! We have a lot of talented journalists out there, but it all gets trampled beneath the endless churning wheels of the PR machine.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am about to start my closing paragraph.

Less fluff, journalists, and more content. We rely on you to cover the industry and keep us informed of vibrant, interesting, exciting new ideas. The videogame world is a wide, wild place, and if you can't seem to find any big news stories *ahem* maybe you should start covering platforms that you've neglected in the past *ahem*handhelds&PC*ahem*.

That's not too much to ask, is it?

[Crazyglues]

LoL.. I love this blog post, sadly hoping that journalist start posting more content is like thinking you can stop music from being downloaded for free by just putting up a Pay service. -and saying, "uh please go to where you can pay for the album instead of downloading it for free"

Truth is, it's just not going to happen, those who download for free are not going to just start paying, but those who do like to pay will probably enjoy the pay site...

The point is, it's a different world, the days of really good reads, filled with content are just not here anymore, today's world just jumps to the point - or rushes though to the end, and instead of really good reads, you get really exaggerated titles because that's all people are reading.. the title.

example- same story two different titles (news story -GT6 has an update)

title 1. GT6 comes out with an update to fix minor issues.
(gets 50 hits)

title 2. Does GT6's new update completely break the game?
(gets 10,000 hits)

Substance is a thing of the past, too many journalist just rushing to the finish line..

This new world is not ready to do the heavy lifting, where before the iPad and iPhone, heavy lifting was considered the true substance of something, where now it's looked at as
-why so much work?

...LoL

[Christopher]

Wait, are you seriously calling people who write about video games journalists?

I am disappoint, dedicated.

[dedicatedtogamers]

You're right. I slipped. Not long ago I swore to call them "bloggers" not "journalists"

Am shame.

[Noobz1]

So 54 blogs later and now you want to talk about how bad game journalism has gotten. Fair enough but your actions here do not really help your cause. Just yesterday you commented on how development from Microsoft is at an all-time low based on what exactly. So why don't you do everyone a real service and lead by example and stop being so biased because you have a beef with Microsoft.

If you want journalists to abide by your model of how they go about their jobs why not echo those sentiments here, or has this forum truly taken the place of never wanting to take itself serious?

[dedicatedtogamers]

You joined 9 days ago. Not sure you're in a position to determine what is or isn't going to help my cause.

Unless, of course, you're an alt.

[Noobz1]

Alt? What's that an alternate account? Sorry no, but thanks for countering anything I said just like how you decided to post and run in that other topic about the X1.

That's the beauty of being a random person on the Internet, you can be a critic while never having to be accountable.

[dedicatedtogamers]

If you actually think someone is trying to "post and run" and you're actually keeping tabs on that, then you and I don't have anything else to talk about.

[Noobz1]

I just joined and I look at the blogs as well. Yesterday I made a comment in a topic you were in and not just me but pretty much everyone questioned your antics. Now surprisingly enough here you are making a blog about the integtity of other bloggers or journalists. Do you not see the irony?

Never mind, you seem like a pretty shallow person who likes to dodge any undue attention while enjoying stirring the pot. Like I suggested which you conveniently chose to sweep under the carpet. Maybe you should do better by leading from example before you expect others to a higher standing. Your the one who chooses to be ignorant at least concerning the X1. So since I am here I too will question your integrity just like you do for those you wait patiently to bring you the latest gossip and news.

[Team_Litt]

Pointy fingers, trying to redirect, please remain reply to the content of his post. Bit of a hypocrite are we? Hehehe, not going to bother reading your blogs or posts to see the validity of his claims, although your defensive/offensive maneuvering suggest there may be truth to what he has said.
In which case, your blog means bollocks.

[loulou]

Dedicated you should not talk about alt accounts when you post quite often with your Allformats alt account.

Also, you are in no position to call out anyone. When your posts are nothing but Idiotic nonsense, wrote just to be "well said" getters.

The utter trash that you write is beyond belief.

Anyway run along now, the titanfall thread needs some more of your special attention... Smh

[Lukejrl]

You my good sir, are a clown. dedicated please do not respond any longer. He doesn't seem to realize that multiple issues have multiple perspectives and wishes to corner people into one or another in order to argue his point. to him every discussion is an argument not a trading of ideas.

[thorstein]

Awesome Blog, Ded, simply superb. I love how your satirical beginning is like so many journos pieces these days. The fact is, the "video game" journos are barely capable of doing anything worthwhile. Sure, Joystiq isn't too bad and sure, Game Informer is well done, but the quality is too far and few between.

I have lamented this twice here on N4G, in my own blog posts. And it is a sorry state. One of our latest group of journos was called out (Twinfinite) for being so poorly written with horrific grammar and usage of language. Their response was ludicrous in that the journos repeated that what they were doing was correct.

They appear to be a high school journalism class. But, unfortunately they don't employ a copy editor or an English teacher to proof their work. How hard is that?

Sounds like I am starting my own blog post here.

Anyway, brilliant post!

[dedicatedtogamers]

Thanks for the compliment. I was talking to a work buddy the other day and our thought was this:

A lot of the reviews and articles out there are terribly written. There are some that are well-written, but almost none of them have any genuine opinion or detailed analysis in them. I mean, if you were to watch the "official trailer" or the "official dev interview" for a game and then afterward read the actual review, you'd maybe glean one or two new things, but for the most part if you read a review and then reflect on it after reading, there's absolutely no substance or value to it. The same goes for 90% of editorial pieces.

And I don't say this as if I'm a great writer or a great journalists. Long-time N4Gers know this account. They know I used to help manage an amateur gaming website, now defunct. I'm saying this as someone who enjoys reading good content, that's all.

[Stringerbell]

Man oh man I love it! Reminds me of those hypocrites over at IGN. "Please be respectful guys, no flaming." Sorry IGN you created the environment by constantly posting "Vs" articles and other flame bait nonsense. Now you're surprised the comments section is the equivalent of Roadhouse? We need the Swayze to round house kick a few of these "journalists" articles like this are a start!

[Lukejrl]

LOL, Love to see Swayze rise from his grave and make a new Double Deuce out of IGN.

But seriously, IGN used to be games, now it is everything entertainment, and the news is still often crap. They have a video of a guy reading the news article or review that can be read just below the video. He basically reads it WORD for WORD. Sometimes they post the video of the guy reading before the actual article, which would only make sense if the video offered something more visual than a guy reading from a pad or Bristol board.
That kind of nonsense really makes me wonder why I visit the site.

[sweetSWAGGER]

This is brilliant.

[Lukejrl]

I agree with you Dedicated. Though I do not think the problem all lies simply with the ahem "journalists" but lies with the medium.

With the internet, information is constant. It is also unconstrained by conventions of proper journalism. People reporting on news need every table scrap they can get and hopefully get the scoop that will get them more clicks. Anchorman 2 did a wonderful satire part on a 24hr news cycle getting ratings by offering sensationalist nonsense.

Magazines were a different time, where information could be pondered, written, and properly edited. The reader waiting in anticipation to receive his copy,to enjoy without major noise distraction of pop up ads. Also the magazine did not become as dated so quickly. They had editorials, industry comments, and tips for troublesome games.

So while the internet certainly has the latter from the above paragraph, They are easily forgotten in next day's "news".

[sAVAge_bEaST]

Then let's do it.. Let's make a site, where the publishers are scared to get blacklisted by US,, and not the other way around,,.. Where truth, honesty, and integrity are the only thing's that matter, -for the gamers, by the gamers-. We can have a panel of 5 reviewers, to get an overall review.

We have the power to take this industry back.. if Polygon received 750,000$ from microsoft,, We can make a better (and more respected) site for 7,500$ I'm totally ready, and I have the resources.. PM,me.

Steve Jobs, (who got fired from his own creation, by the corporations) once said.-
'Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do."