After listening to their latest podcast, I can only conclude the chaps at IGN are now completely open about and entirely comfortable with the fact that they are no longer journalists, but a marketing arm for Microsoft, Sony and any number of “epic hardcore” developers.
Quick question to close out: Was this IGN podcast conducted in one of Activision’s Review Rooms for optimal privacy and crystal clarity?
Those business models are cash cows, so the glowing preview language and gentle critiques are sure to continue for a while still. I especially liked how Game Informer called the newly unveiled Dead Space 2 “stunning” on their cover. O’ RLY? The game doesn’t come out for another year? Why all the early praise? :)
That’s an easy one, Blake: Game Informer is owned by GameStop. It’s in their best interest to hype games as early in the cycle as possible. :-)
I recently realized that I’ve been solely responsible for the games I want to buy lately. Ads and reviews haven’t done a thing to me lately. I watch some gameplay footage online and let my imagination take over. So far, so fun! :)
IGN is attempting to blame Nintendo (and their perceived ‘casualization’ of the game market) for their staggering traffic drop-off over the past year.
What IGN doesn’t get, however, is that they are already a dinosaur in a medium that doesn’t need–nor particularly want–their unpleasant brand of repackaged game company PR, since the staggering number of gaming blogs, Twitter feeds, etc. make it pointless to bother with them. (There’s also the fact that now you can get all the ‘news’ you want w/o the IGN/GI/GameSpot-imposed filter and with demos only becoming more and more common-place on console machines, you’re going to see mega-sites like these become less and less relevant more and more quickly–I predict they go belly-up at a much faster rate than game mags.)
—What IGN doesn’t get, however, is that they are already a dinosaur in a medium that doesn’t need–nor particularly want–their unpleasant brand of repackaged game company PR, since the staggering number of gaming blogs, Twitter feeds, etc. make it pointless to bother with them.—
Indeed; the only reason I ever did use IGN was for developers and publisher names for my gamelists and such. However; since Nintendo.com is publishing them and even Gamefaqs.com is doing them too; that will no longer be a problem.
I basically gave up on IGN the moment Matt C came out and proclaim that every game should be 16:9 and Progressive Scan and Nintendo should force developers to do it. My response to that was simple: Why would Nintendo restrict the Wii and DS even more than it already is? If developers want to bypass Friends Codes; then they can on Wii if they are willing to put the effort behind creating such a structure. As I said before; I don’t mind Friends Codes as long as they aren’t the only choice.
There is a reason why I go to GoNintendo.com. It’s because I get all my news there without the BS (although it does take a lot of effort to go through it since even missing a day can have at least five pages of news on average.). Cassidy and I have our disagreements on certain things (like Japanese games that didn’t sell enough to his liking for instance); but when it comes to honest opinions, his batting average is awfully high. And there is Infendo of course for Jack and Blake Snow’s thoughts.
Even more to the point; if I want to see demos and trailers; I just simply go to Wii and go to the Nintendo Channel for my viewing pleasure (I’m sure Sony and Microsoft have something like this too).
Then again; I haven’t have much sympathy for Imagine Media for a lot of years since their stupid boycott of Nintendo because they cut and paste a Nintendo Power magazine to create their Pokemon guides and got caught and sued (and rightfully so). And Next Generation Magazine wasn’t so hot either. I guess I’m just bitter of Imagine in general.