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Unread postby Molloy » 17 Dec 2007 21:55

I like my reviews to be entertaining. The fact is I know what games I'm going to enjoy from watching videos, playing demos and glancing over impressions on forums. I think alot of reviewers get a bit obsessed with this idea that they're informing big expensive purchasing decisions.

The truth is people usually make up their own mind, and read the review afterwards to have someone validate their opinion.

Unless they're fanboys and idiots in which case they read the review and get annoyed if it doesn't fit their expectations of what the game will be like.

You aren't there to inform casual players. Those who don't know anything about games don't read magazines or websites. They make their decision when they're in the store based on the coverart or what looks most familiar.

So the main thing for me is to write something funny or clever that keeps the reader engaged. Very few people seem to do this consistently for me other than Stuart Campbell who rarely puts a foot wrong.
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Unread postby racketboy » 17 Dec 2007 22:21

Which is why I rarely review games.
I usually just point to other reviews unless its an obscure game that needs some love.

But I usually will read reviews for a game I'm thinking about buying. I look to see if certain characteristics line up with what I'm looking for or the game is living up to its hype.

I'm all about Metacritic.

On a side note, I actually don't like reviews that try to be "entertaining". The first two or three paragraphs of reviews on the "big" sites usually have little to do with the actual game. (It's almost as they are trying to build up filler).

I'll typically skip down to the part where they talk about the actual gameplay and then look at the final comments. If I do review a game, that's usually what I'll focus on.
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Unread postby Recap » 18 Dec 2007 00:03

But if you go back and read circa 1990 reviews you will see that the style was much more easy and relaxed back then than it is now (especially in Britain), with tons of (mostly silly) jokes as well as the occasional personal anecdote.


And there always were the editorial pages which served, essentially, as the place for the staffers' profiles and individual preferences. So I agree, including the reviewer's "state of mind" and whatnot is not _new_ game journalism at all. Anyhow, I always wondered if "journalism" is the proper term here. Or "game", for that matter.






I had a conversation with Brandon about this recently. I said, and he basically agreed, that because the very nature of a review - of any sort - is subjective, you have to know more about the reviewer to make use of his review. For example, knowing I hate RPGs would go a long way to understanding the 2/5 stars I'd give to Chrono Trigger.

NGJ is, to me, an attempt to give the reader that context with which to judge the review's worth. 1990s reviews might have made more sense when there was so much more common ground. Every game was 2D, every game used pixels instead of polygons, and (let's face it) every game could slot into one of about six different genres.

It's not like that anymore. Every game is trying to be all things to all people. Stealthy action 3D platform shoot-em-up RPGs!! FFS, how can you review THAT with any kind of objectivity?

So I start my reviews with a story: About myself, about the game, about anything that will present the reader with my state of mind.

Tim takes it to extremes, and while he's occasionally a gifted storyteller his reviews are definitely hit or miss, but that shouldn't become a damning indictment of NGJ entirely. It's a criticism of Tim.

You can't write reviews like we used to, they're not worth as much because of the lack of common ground. Something new is needed, and NGJ is it.


I don't know. That sounds more like "we can't write reviews of stuff we really like anymore, so something new is needed in order to enjoy ourselves". I like your description of today's games, but can't see why there's no place for "objectivity" for them. Eclectic, denaturalized and uninteresting, but there is a common ground.


Anyway, nice topic. May well worth a thread apart. Back to "lols":

I was just banned from NeoGAF for starting a thread called "Arkanoid DS lol" and saying that the DS is only suitable for one or two genres -- if that. I swear to god that's all I had time to say before they banned me.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=212696


Awesome. And I believed I had seen everything about forum moderation.




Note: lifesaving vest not included

What's really interesting there is the number of non-publishing companies Arc System Works has managed to gather since it became a publishing company itself a few months ago. We can vey well have here the next giant in the Japanese industry. Give it a couple of years and quote me then.


Also, Molloy = Icycalm? 'Cause I'm lost.
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Unread postby NFG » 18 Dec 2007 03:36

if you have that much criticism, constructive or not, I recommend you at least post a copy of your comments on my site (to my face, so to speak) instead of me finding them later via my site stats.

Heya racketboy.

Just a query: If we want to talk shit about you, do we have to do it on your site?

Personally I occasionally enjoy a fun bitch session about people, and I don't always feel the need to involve them. Sometimes too I like to keep things away from the person in question 'cause I'm bashing the ideas, not the man.

I can't presume to speak for icy, and as a newcomer to these forums myself I don't really think I speak for insomni.ac, but I think you're a madman if you get pissed off when people talk about you instead of to you. Get used to it.

That sounds more like "we can't write reviews of stuff we really like anymore, so something new is needed in order to enjoy ourselves". I like your description of today's games, but can't see why there's no place for "objectivity" for them.

Interesting point. I disagree with it, but it's interesting. I write reviews for myself. I talk about the things that interest me, and sometimes people find value in that. When I write for magazines, I tend to stick closer to the core goal of 'reviewing', but even then it's not hard to find enjoyment within the confines of editorial demands.

I didn't say modern games couldn't have objective reviews, I just don't think it's as easy to do. There's less common ground.
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Unread postby JoshF » 18 Dec 2007 06:55

I can't think of any new genres today that didn't exist twenty years ago, with the possible exception of rhythm games (although you still had things like Simon, and you could argue that they're puzzle games.) There have always been sub-genres to group together games within a particular style, like beat 'em ups. You could compare that to todays sandbox games, which are really a type of action/adventure game.

Modern games can still be described as action (fighting and shooting games might be included here,) adventure, puzzle, role-playing, simulation, and table. A lot of times the supposed genre is a marketing gimmick, like "survival horror," "tactical espionage action," or "modern tactical shooter."
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Unread postby NFG » 18 Dec 2007 08:26

Genres...
Fighting: 24 years old (Karate Champ, 1984)
Puzzle: 23 years (Tetris, 1985)

Yeah, you might be right.

But wait! First-person shooters are nothing like Xevious or Space Invaders. And Wolfenstein 3D was created in 1992!

Yeah, I forgot where I was going with this. My point still stands though: Modern games with their mish-mash of genres makes things harder to review, and really, what is the difference between Maximo and Billy Hatcher and Unreal Tournament 3? You run, you jump, and you do <other>. They're the same genre, but wildly varying games.
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Unread postby racketboy » 18 Dec 2007 13:15

NFG wrote:
if you have that much criticism, constructive or not, I recommend you at least post a copy of your comments on my site (to my face, so to speak) instead of me finding them later via my site stats.

Heya racketboy.

Just a query: If we want to talk shit about you, do we have to do it on your site?

Personally I occasionally enjoy a fun bitch session about people, and I don't always feel the need to involve them. Sometimes too I like to keep things away from the person in question 'cause I'm bashing the ideas, not the man.

I can't presume to speak for icy, and as a newcomer to these forums myself I don't really think I speak for insomni.ac, but I think you're a madman if you get pissed off when people talk about you instead of to you. Get used to it.


Oh I'm quite used to it, trust me. But usually its from people that aren't familiar with me at all. He seemed like he has read my stuff before, so I guess I would expect a bit better from somebody like that.

You could also think of it this way.... if you were at a party and you heard somebody talking crap about you behind your back (and they thought you couldn't hear them), wouldn't you feel like saying something to them?
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Unread postby NFG » 18 Dec 2007 14:11

Nah. I starting to believe I'm fairly unique in my slow rise to anger when people slag me. I can't be everyone's friend - I can no more be angry about people talking about me than I can for not being invited to every party. I'll live longer if I just let it slide, so I do. =)

I do however hate it when people mistake what I say or take things the wrong way. I'll go out of my way to correct people and I'll get upset when tehy refuse to listen, but hey, it's the internet.

Your post came across as fairly confrontational. It's likely that if you'd been a little less grrr, angry! your actions would have been very similar to my own.
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Unread postby racketboy » 18 Dec 2007 14:39

eeh -- I guess it came across that way. That's the problem with text. You can't convey emotion and such too well. But we all kinda know that.

part of what got me to respond is that I respect this site and the articles on it. If it was just some site I could care less about I wouldn't give it a second glance. I know I haven't been on the forum before this other than glancing at a few threads, but the articles and reviews are top-notch.

I'm actually a pretty easy going guy. Like I said before, in the vast spaces of the interweb, I'm always getting at least some criticism. In most cases, I could either care less or I usually take the useful criticism and use it as a learning experience.

The criticism at the beginning of this thread: not so useful.
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Unread postby Recap » 18 Dec 2007 15:30

racketboy wrote:The criticism at the beginning of this thread: not so useful.


Now you've found it, it should be.

The Best High-Resolution 2D Games Yet To Be Released

Luckly for old-school gamers, there are plenty of two-dimensional games on portable gaming devices like the GBA, DS, and PSP.

The UDON team is striving to give a modern look to every element of the game while keeping its original style.

The optimist in me says that with all the work they are putting into this remake, I don’t think that Capcom and UDON will let Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix be anything less than incredible.

and polished it with modern gaming gloss in order to resurect a genre that has been forgotten by the gaming masses.

As if the standard adventure mode and game’s slick and humorous style wasn’t enough to get old-school fans excited

Hudson is teaming up with Natsume (the team behind Harvest Moon)

Omega Five is stricktly 2D in terms of gameplay, but does feature 3D elements. One particular gimmick for this game is that enemies can emerge from the 3D background and not just from the top and bottom of the screen.

In their informitive preview, IGN discusses the control scheme:”As your player hovers over the screen, like Space Harrier from a different perspective,

The XBox Live Arcade might have been the most logical choice for a 2D Action RPG,

so there should be some quality behind Söldner-X’s promises.



Your article is a total failure. You'd do better by removing it from your site. Best criticism one can do for it, believe me.
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Unread postby racketboy » 18 Dec 2007 15:44

No clue what all those quotes were supposed to accomplish....

Anyway, let see you do better and I'll take you seriously.
Last edited by racketboy on 18 Dec 2007 16:07, edited 2 times in total.
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Unread postby Recap » 18 Dec 2007 16:00

racketboy wrote:
Anyway, let see you do better and I'll take you seriously.


Considering that the only couple of information bits one could save from your article have been directly taken from the stuff I wrote before, that comment is quite unfortunate, to say the least.

But hey, keep it on. You're just reminding everybody here what's the thread's title.
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Unread postby racketboy » 18 Dec 2007 16:06

Could you be any more vague?
Have I even read your stuff before?
I have no clue who you are....
Last edited by racketboy on 18 Dec 2007 16:09, edited 1 time in total.
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Unread postby Recap » 18 Dec 2007 16:09

Bet your mother that you have.
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Unread postby racketboy » 18 Dec 2007 16:10

Recap wrote:Bet your mother that you have.


Clue me in.
URL, please?
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Unread postby icycalm » 18 Dec 2007 16:17

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Unread postby racketboy » 18 Dec 2007 16:19

icycalm wrote:http://insertcredit.com/


Great site.
Now, what's your point?
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Unread postby icycalm » 18 Dec 2007 16:22

racketboy, first off I want to extend to you a warm welcome to this forum, and then I want to explain to you a couple of things.

There are three reasons I did not bother posting anything on your website:

1. I hate comments-based systems.

2. I usually don't go around to other people's sites to laugh at them because they get mad and start swearing at me, or if the authors don't their readers unfailingly do.

but above all:

3. I didn't want to laugh at your article in front of your readers and cause you to lose massive amounts of face.

So all I did was chuckle a bit in my room when I saw your article, and then I came to my forum to have a bit of a laugh at your expense with my friends.

But it was a well-meaning, good-natured laugh, trust me. I like you and I like your website, and I applaud your efforts.

That's all there is to it really.
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Unread postby racketboy » 18 Dec 2007 16:28

icycalm wrote:racketboy, first off I want to extend to you a warm welcome to this forum, and then I want to explain to you a couple of things.

There are three reasons I did not bother posting anything on your website:

1. I hate comments-based systems.

2. I usually don't go around to other people's sites to laugh at them because they get mad and start swearing at me, or if the authors don't their readers unfailingly do.

but above all:

3. I didn't want to laugh at your article in front of your readers and cause you to lose massive amounts of face.

So all I did was chuckle a bit in my room when I saw your article, and then I came to my forum to have a bit of a laugh at your expense with my friends.

But it was a well-meaning, good-natured laugh, trust me. I like you and I like your website, and I applaud your efforts.

That's all there is to it really.


Thanks -- I appreciate that.
I don't like comment systems either -- I really wish I could integrate them with my forum.
I really don't mind negative comments on there -- I get them all the time.

But as I kinda mentioned before, I handle them a few way ways...

If you have criticism on how things could be improved, or how I was wrong on something factually, I do my best to fix things. (I know I'm wrong quite often)

If it's an obvious troll that posts a one-liner of no value, I'll just delete it. Some people might be against it, but I don't give a care.

If its negative without much backing or just has a different opinion, I'll just debate them or call them out. Like the whole sprite vs. polygon thing. You weren't the first to have an issue with the polygon games being included.


But just a note: if you make a comment on a site that gets any decent traffic, I'll probably see it. I check my stats a lot :)
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Unread postby icycalm » 18 Dec 2007 16:30

Me too -- it's addictive, isn't it?
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Unread postby racketboy » 18 Dec 2007 16:31

icycalm wrote:Me too -- it's addictive, isn't it?


Yeah -- especially when your bored at work :)

Now who is this Recap guy and what is his deal?
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Unread postby icycalm » 18 Dec 2007 16:34

Recap runs a site called Postback, which is among my top-5 favorite game-related sites. He knows what he is talking about, and he doesn't seem to much like people who don't.

PS. You don't have to quote everything I type when you are posting directly beneath me.
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Unread postby racketboy » 18 Dec 2007 16:36

Ok -- so why does he think I've read and copied his stuff if it's in French?
After all, I'm just a dumb American....
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Unread postby icycalm » 18 Dec 2007 16:38

His stuff is in Spanish -- you really need to start paying a bit more attention ;)

And he also contributes to the IC frontpage -- in English -- which is where most of the internet finds out about the kind of 2D games your article should have been about.
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Unread postby racketboy » 18 Dec 2007 16:48

icycalm wrote:His stuff is in Spanish -- you really need to start paying a bit more attention ;)

And he also contributes to the IC frontpage -- in English -- which is where most of the internet finds out about the kind of 2D games your article should have been about.


Ok -- I thought it was Spanish, but then I saw you were from France, so then I thought... oh well.

Anyway. Yeah insertcredit covers some great stuff. But they don't like to expand on their thoughts very much on their blog posts (which is the only part of the site I read)
So is he just jealous that I got attention for covering the games when he did it before me?

That was kinda my goal -- not to steal attention, but to get the games the attention they deserved. Heaven forbid I try to feature some indie games.

Again, I don't know why gaming people get so worked up. While my site does make some side money, I mainly do it for fun and to help people out. For every crabby person like him, I have 50 people thanking me for the stuff I post. It feels like I actually make a difference.

This is kinda an oddball story, but last week I some older lady emailed me based on a post I did about an NES clone. She bought a couple of them for her adult sons for Christmas. It was all she could afford for them this year, but she couldn't get them working.

We went back and forth with emails trying to get a game to come up on the TV (you know how different TVs have different ways of handling inputs).

I ended up calling her to get things figured out. Once Mario came up on the screen and music was playing she was screaming with joy and telling me how I made her Christmas. It's kind of a simple thing, but it made my day as well.

But today, I get to get chewed out by some crabby guy that didn't like my article.
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