Category Archives: Long Read
Columns and long-form posts
Hype Train: PlayStation 4
It’s all aboard the hype train as we run down the last few hours before the launch of what is undeniably our first proper next-generation video game console. The PlayStation 4 is going to be the first next-gen console out of the gate.
Chances are that you’re up to date on the latest PS4 news and are adequately hyped (or jaded, if you’re an Xbox fanboy) but just in case you aren’t, it’s time for the return of et geekera’s Hype Train.
Share this:
Violence in Games: When the Agenda Dictates the News
What sounds like a headline that’s likely to get more attention and make a news organization more money: “Father Fails to Secure Firearms, Leaves Them for 9-Year-Old to Play With” or “Video Game to Blame for Boy Bringing Gun to School?” Clearly, it’s the latter. The former would be more accurate if all you were interested in was reporting the facts and just the facts but facts don’t make money.
And that’s the problem with coverage of recent news coverage of anything that’s even tangentially related to video games. Whether it’s a kid bringing a gun to school, a mugging in Britain or a mass shooting at a military installation, the media isn’t interested in reporting the news but in creating a story that’s much more exciting than just the facts.
Share this:
Video Game Violence, Ratings and Your Children
It’s just one of those things that we gamers have come to expect. Any time that video games are even tangentially related to a violent crime, the mainstream media will jump on that as a reason for the commission of that crime, regardless of the numerous studies that show no causative relationship between video game violence and real violence.
The latest case of the persecution of video games and gamers comes from Louisiana where an 8-year-old boy shot his grandmother in the head. The East Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Department have strongly implied that the boy playing Grand Theft Auto IV led to the shooting.
Share this:
Best and Worst of Fan Expo 2013
I promised a recap of my first ever convention / Fan Expo experience and here it is. I spent the blog’s downtime in downtown Toronto attending the 2013 edition of Fan Expo in downtown Toronto along with over 100,000 of my closest friends. I was just completely overwhelmed by the number of people there and I’ve been to a NASCAR race with 110,000 people and thought this place was packed.
So let’s look back at Fan Expo with a little bit of Best and Worst.
Share this:
Games Criticism, Censorship and Artistic Integrity
Did I miss the memo? I’m convinced that there is a missive sent out to video games writers with talking points that we’re all supposed to stick to for a year.
Last year, it was that the vision of a developer should never be questioned. Look at the uproar over Mass Effect 3’s ending. Despite the plot holes and inconsistencies in the ending sequence, many members of the media defended BioWare by saying that this was BioWare’s vision and it shouldn’t be compromised because we shouldn’t compromise the developer’s “artistic integrity.”
This year, artistic integrity is no longer an applicable concept when talking about the contents of a game. Now, if a writer feels that the majority of people should be offended by something, it should be changed. In twelve months, we’ve gone from a developer having unassailable artistic integrity to a press corps getting dangerously close to censorship.
Share this:
Phil Fish vs. Marcus Beer Says More About Games Journalism than Either Man
The weekend’s big gaming news story wasn’t about a new game or another major announcement but a feud between two gaming personalities.
On one side was Marcus Beer, GameTrailer’s Annoyed Gamer, who criticized prominent indie developers Phil Fish and Jonathan Blow for not commenting on Microsoft allowing indie game self-publishing on the Xbox One. On the other side was the aforementioned Phil Fish who didn’t take kindly to Beer lobbing personal insults at him on video.
However, I don’t think that the takeaway from this feud should be anything about either Beer or Fish. I think how this feud started says more about how this gaming journalism works and why it might be irreparably broken.
Share this:
Building a Successful Call of Duty Clone in Three Steps
The most successful video game on the market right now is the Call of Duty series. Say what you will about the game’s lack of innovation and utter disregard for the single-player campaign, this is the most commercially successful game on the market. The last couple of years have seen gross sales of over $1 billion and units sold well in excess of 10 million.
As such, you could understand why everybody is looking to CoD for cues for their upcoming efforts. Just look at the new all-brown colour palette and gritty art style of Dead Rising 3 and EA turning Battlefield into an annual franchise. The thing is that Call of Duty’s success isn’t about how it looks or how often it comes out. It may come as a shock but there’s a simple but largely undiscovered formula that makes CoD a massive success.
Read the rest of this entry
Share this:
E3 2013: Sony Wins the Next Generation in June
Sony had one simple mission heading into their 2013 E3 press conference: Don’t screw it up! Microsoft handed Sony an absolute gift at every turn from the Xbox One’s DRM to privacy issues to used games to rentals to the price.
Not only did Sony not screw up their press conference, they committed the video game console equivalent to homicide. Sony played the Rains of Castamere live on stage and slew the Xbox One in a bloody and violent way that saw them destroy Microsoft’s next-generation challenger in every way possible. Even George R.R. Martin was shocked at the carnage.
Share this:
E3 2013: You Can’t Spell EA without Shooters and Sports
Peter Moore opened EA’s 2013 EA press conference by saying that Electronic Arts was going to show off 11 new titles for next-gen consoles during the event. What he neglected to mention is that EA was showing off 10 games that were shooters or sports games and Mirror’s Edge 2. Did you know that you can’t spell “Electronic Arts” without “shooter” or “sports?”
Share this:
Microsoft Has Lost the Console War Before It Started
The Microsoft keynote event at E3 is about to begin and it doesn’t really matter. Over the last few weeks, Microsoft has repeatedly shot itself in the foot when promoting their upcoming Xbox One. They think that they can do no wrong with their next-gen console but the reality is that the can do nothing right.
Microsoft is walking into E3 thinking that they’re Justin Bieber, they’re on top of the world and full of swagger. They are Justin Bieber but everyone sees them as Justin Bieber, self-important douche, with a bit of Amanda Bynes’ delusional separation from reality.
et geekera 