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Examples of Good Games Journalism

P

Palette Swap

Member
I usually like a lot the weekly gamesindustry.biz editorial, that is reposted on Eurogamer.

Overall, even though I don't always agree with their reviews, Eurogamer tend to have very solid features. I also respect the approach of having a sister site dedicated to gaming for kids/parents. That might seem obvious but most sites cater to teens/young adults.

I also usually love reading Tom Chick, if only because I enjoy his take on things even when I strongly disagree. This includes Quarter to Three podcasts, which are usually a great listen.

edit: one example among many of a good EG feature: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-12-06-are-pre-owned-sales-killing-gaming-article it's not necessarily mind blowing but it is informative and sensible.
 
K

Kimosabae

Banned
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
This one is near legendary, but maybe it'll be new to some. Bow Nigger, one of the best pieces of (new) gaming journalism I've ever read.
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Wow.

Without even a passing interest in the game I managed to be engaged throughout the whole piece. Could you imagine if most games journalism pieces were like this?
 
A

Acosta

Member
Cat in the Hat said:
The adventures of Quintin Smith in Minecraft from Rock Paper Shotgun. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/09/14/minecraft-mine-the-gap-day-1/

It perfectly describes why Minecraft is great. It's fun to read and you can't wait for the next adventure.
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Excellent suggestion, but if you want to read what I consider the master piece of Mr Francis, read this:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/161570/blog/galciv-2-war-report-final-entry/?site=pcg

and then this:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/195920/blog/galactic-civilizations-diary-days-1-26/

They are his both AAR based on GalCiv 2 and they are awesome, hilarious, and will make you buy GalCiv 2 if you didn't already.

There is a ton of stuff I could post from RPS, let´s say:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/31/the-five-year-spree-part-1/

That is the first part of the experience of Jim Rossignol in Eve, the whole lecture of the 4 parts is really recommended.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/09/14/minecraft-mine-the-gap-day-1/

Minecraft RPS reports. They really championed the title back then these features gave it a lot of visibility among the RPS userbase.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/08/18/ragnar-tørnquist-on-storytelling/

First part of a huge interview of John Walker with Ragnar Tornquist about storytelling and other fields.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/gaming-made-me/

Gaming-Made Me series at RPS, where each one, among other developers, describe the games that impressed, shocked or influenced them.

And, while I can't link physical mags, each month there are EXCELLENT works of great videogames journalism on Retro Magazine, Edge and Games TM (especially Retro, tons of interviews and great features with a lovely presentation and design, a true jewel of magazine.)
 
S

SpaceDrake

Member
Hell, almost anything on Rock Papaer Shotgun tends to be at least fairly solid (and, full disclosure again, I'm not saying that just because they liked my game). The guys over there take their jobs and integrity very seriously, and you end up with some damn fine reporting. Their recent takedown of Fox News is going to become legend, I'm sure.
 
I

Ihya

Member
I guess Eurogamer tries to explain itself and its motives more than most mainstream journalism; if I agree or disagree with it at least I see where they are coming from.
 
A

Acosta

Member
Another one I just remembered (for adding something not coming from UK):

http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3162472

I know some people dislike Mielke for one reason or another, I don't care, his retrospective of Panzer Dragoon is amazing, a true act of love and great journalism.

Generally, the cover stories from 1UP are fantastic and worth checking:

http://www.1up.com/features/1up-cover-stories

Just to name a few:

http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3182178

Alternate history (first pics of the canned Spielberg game.)

http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3152290

Another great Mielke's feature covering Q Entertainment.

http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3182644

Shenmue's piece, with a meaty Yu Suzuki interview on it.
 
E

Empty

Member
really nice work guys, lots of promising (based on your descriptions) reading material for me to bite into posted already. keep sharing.

_Bro said:
I'm not sure how much of stuff technically qualifies as Journalism, I'm guessing "Games Journalism" is slightly different than the intent of newspaper journalism.
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"games journalism" as i see it used online and by people on podcasts has a pretty broad definition, so people shouldn't get too hung up on whether stuff fits.

Archurro said:
That RPS Fox-Response posted this morning was a great read, especially going through each part of the Fox article and responding to it.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/02/21/bulletstorm-gate-fox-news-responds/
Click to expand...

i read their earlier reporting on the bullestorm-fox news story, but missed this one. superb, very thorough and well organised work.
 
A

Acosta

Member
Shurs said:
"Bow Nigger" was written by Ian "Always Black" Shanahan.

It's an inspiring piece of games writing.
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Very true, thanks for calling me out on that, for some reason I linked that feature to Jim's book.
 
S

Suairyu

Banned
Acosta said:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/31/the-five-year-spree-part-1/

That is the first part of the experience of Jim Rossignol in Eve, the whole lecture of the 4 parts is really recommended.
Click to expand...
Excellently written. What New Games Journalism is all about - writing about a videogame in such a way that the reader doesn't have to have any experience with the title in order to be gripped by the article. It's basically travel creative non-fiction in digital worlds. Makes me wish I played EVE back when I was a student and had loads of free time. I'd love to get into it now, but something tells me my life would suffer for it.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
I always found this piece amusing:

Yakuza 3 reviewed by actual yakuza

S: You got your salaryman in there, the delinquent school girl and her sugar daddy, Chinese people, and even those Nigerian touts. What's with all the fucking gaijin (foreigners) in the area anyway? It used to be just Japanese, Koreans and Chinese.

M: Don't say gaijin. Say Gaikokujin. It's more polite. Jake's a gaijin.

S: Yeah, I forget sometimes. What's with all the fucking gaikokujin in Kabukicho anyway?
Click to expand...

M: The corporate yakuza guys get a thumbs up for realism. Nice suit. Smart. Financially savvy. Obsessed with money. Sneaky and conniving. Ruthless.
S: There are a lot of guys whom I feel like I know. The dialogue is right too. They sound like yakuza.

K: Braggarts, bullies, and sweet-talkers. I agree — it feels like I know the guys on the screen.

M: Kiryu is the way yakuza used to be. We kept the streets clean. People liked us. We didn't bother ordinary citizens. We respected our bosses. Now, guys like that only exist in video games.

S: I don't know any ex-yakuza running orphanages.

K: There was one a few years ago. A good guy.

M: You sure it wasn't just a tax shelter?

K: Sure it was a tax shelter but he ran it like a legitimate thing. You know.
Click to expand...

Ironically, the sections that Shirokawa seemed to enjoy the most were cut out of the US version: mahjong, the sexual massage parlor, and the hostess clubs. After I explain to him what Sega cut from the US version, he said: アメリカ版を買った奴がかわいそうだ。セガＵＳＡが最低だね.

(Translation: I feel sorry for the people who bought the American version. SEGA USA sucks.)
Click to expand...
 
E

Empty

Member
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
This one is near legendary, but maybe it'll be new to some. Bow Nigger, one of the best pieces of (new) gaming journalism I've ever read.
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okay, that was amazing. i love how he brought together some critiques on the game itself with a look at how players project their own stories into the games they play, the strengths of emergent gameplay, the ephemeral nature of many online communities and how intense online conflict can be and then wrapped it around a well written and engaging story of a single game situation written in such a way to captivate those with no familiarity at all with jedi outcast. i can see why it's near legendary.
 
R

REMEMBER CITADEL

Banned
I'd also like to post an article from an old issue of Edge in its entirety since it was never published online. A few weeks ago I asked Nirolak whether it was okay to post it and he said he'd ask around, but I never got a final "yay" or "nay". So mods, is it kosher to post it? It's from 2007.
 
H

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
Archurro said:
That RPS Fox-Response posted this morning was a great read, especially going through each part of the Fox article and responding to it.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/02/21/bulletstorm-gate-fox-news-responds/
Click to expand...

Read this today. Really thorough, thoughtful, and as a bonus it rips the shit out of a pretender to journalism working for Fox News. This is excellent writing that just happens to be about video games and I'd like to see this kind of serious dedication to accuracy in all news outlets.
 
E

EXGN

Member
Came here to post Bow Nigger and Gillen's Deus Ex review, glad to see I was already beaten. Pretty much anything from Gillen is great... a relatively recent one that stood out to me was his piece on Mafia II where he came to the conclusion that the more a game relies on story, the more people are going to disagree on whether or not it's a good game.

It makes sense - that's why a game like Metal Gear Solid 4 can win GAF's GOTY 2008 and at the same time have such a large contingency of extreme haters, while a game that relies solely on mechanics - Mario Galaxy, for example - is commonly held in high regard.

In terms of traditional objective journalism - Patrick Klepik's covering of the Infinity Ward case was really well done. Also, as much as everyone hates Kotaku, they've definitely posted a few stories that few other publications would have been brave enough to room - such as the PlayStation Home piece that got them blacklisted by Sony.
 
O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
I don't know many of there names, but I enjoy reading articles from Edge.
 
S

Shurs

Member
EXGN said:
Came here to post Bow Nigger and Gillen's Deus Ex review, glad to see I was already beaten. Pretty much anything from Gillen is great... a relatively recent one that stood out to me was his piece on Mafia II where he came to the conclusion that the more a game relies on story, the more people are going to disagree on whether or not it's a good game.

It makes sense - that's why a game like Metal Gear Solid 4 can win GAF's GOTY 2008 and at the same time have such a large contingency of extreme haters, while a game that relies solely on mechanics - Mario Galaxy, for example - is commonly held in high regard.

In terms of traditional objective journalism - Patrick Klepik's covering of the Infinity Ward case was really well done. Also, as much as everyone hates Kotaku, they've definitely posted a few stories that few other publications would have been brave enough to room - such as the PlayStation Home piece that got them blacklisted by Sony.
Click to expand...

When I think "reporter," I think of Patrick Klepek.
 
J

Jintor

Member
Holy shit, that Pathologic article is incredible.

This thread is great. Thanks for making it and contributing to it.
 
T

TheWoj

Neo Member
Nert said:
Most of Gamasutra, actually.
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The best things that come out of Gamasutra are the interviews. A lot of other outlets don't seem to treat interviews with developers as anything more than an opportunity to "wax on new features for the sequel" or "tell us what makes game X different from game Y" kind of stuff. They've got such a history of interviews, they know the questions that really make you interested in the game's process, through design and development to the consumer.
Two that I've got starred in my Google Reader are for Fallout 3 and Tetris, both are older interviews, and both are by Chris Remo. Good stuff, IMO.
 
V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
EGM Sept. 2008 Issue: EGM takes a look at Japan

685.jpg


IMO THE best latter issue of EGM. I read that issue multiple times. It was great because it wasn't just an issue about a big new game or covering say a big even like E3. Instead they took a core topic that really needed to be explored and decided to go all out and really drill down into a larger issue. The mag was focused on a core topic which was focused enough to feel like they were tackling one issue as a whole, but large enough that they could take it from multiple angles.

They had interviews from game devs, look backs at days gone by, previews of what's coming, and a general article just looking at the state of the Japanese game industry from sort of an outsiders perspective which info from people actually there in the industry trying to shed a light on things.

I just wished all of the EGM issues at the time could have been like that or that more gaming magazines took that approach. I don't think it was an easy thing to do by any means though, and I'm not sure how many people really appreciated all the work and if the time investment would pay off in the end.
 
J

Jintor

Member
chickdigger802 said:
Not really journalism, but I do believe that Giantbomb's Quicklooks are more informative than any game review.
Click to expand...

Personally that's more a medium thing than anything else.
 
E

Empty

Member
butts said:
Saw the title and immediately thought of the Geoff Keighley HL2 article.

Also, Game Boys by Michael Kane.
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oh cool. that's the book about counterstrike shawn was talking about on gfw radio ages, the one written by a sports writer. i was trying to remember what it was called a while back so i could buy it and didn't want to relisten to every gfw episode to find out. now i know what it is i'm definitely going to order it when i finish the book i'm working on.
 
C

cartman414

Member
FINALFANTASYDOG said:
Toastyfrog's review of super mario all-stars:

http://www.1up.com/reviews/super-mario-all-stars-wii-review

A plea and a hope for what should be our industries historical packages.
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Heck, his own blog Gamespite, as well as the Quarterly books he publishes, are packed with tons of great content, not just from himself, but also the many members of the forum who write many of the articles.

(Speaking of which, you might be interested in knowing that Aeana and Segata_Sanshiro have both started posting over on the forums there.)
 
G

ghibli99

Member
I don't know if it counts, but HVGN is great because he almost always captures the essence and the little (yet so very significant) reasons why I play games in the first place. He's not only knowledgeable about gaming, but he keeps things fun. Without him, a lot of folks would have never known about stuff like Journey to Silius.
 
S

Shurs

Member
ghibli99 said:
I don't know if it counts, but HVGN is great because he almost always captures the essence and the little (yet so very significant) reasons why I play games in the first place. He's not only knowledgeable about gaming, but he keeps things fun. Without him, a lot of folks would have never known about stuff like Journey to Silius.
Click to expand...

Abbreviating a name without having a link is pretty much worthless.
 
S

SamJD

Neo Member
Most of my gaming career I was at IGN. I thought a lot of their articles were rather childish, and since then I never really gave gaming "journalism" a second look.
 
M

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
Damn, I'd never really checked out Rock Paper Shotgun before, as I haven't had a good gaming PC until last fall.

I was really missing out.
 
C

commissar

Member
Metroidvania said:
Damn, I'd never really checked out Rock Paper Shotgun before, as I haven't had a good gaming PC until last fall.

I was really missing out.
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they really are special :)

I tend to basically pick up edge and go straight to the opinion pieces. Even if I disagree with some, they tend to be interesting and insightful.

Also just ordered volume one of killscreen magazine, hope it's good
 
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