Support Independent Gaming - Gamespot Certainly Doesn't

Despite being one of the most cut-throat competitive industries out there, independent studios still attempt to plan, develop and produce little gems that are miles above any of this multi-platform trash that seems to be polluting the PC charts recently *cough* World in Conflict *cough*

Unfortunately, finding such games can be a difficult task - Gamespot by the large fails to do any investigative work into these titles - and as such they tend to slip by the radar considering that the majority of the PC gaming community frequents GameSpot, GameSpy, Eurogamer, StrategyInformer or PC Gamer - and none of these (bar SI and PCG perhaps on occasion) really give much attention to non-AAA titles lest of all give them a fair review.

I'm not talking just casual games (like the Popcap classics), as the independent sector has produced titles for every single genre remarkably - again with a minimal budget.

Is anyone else fed up with the multiplatform focus that GameSpot is headed in - as in - only giving rave reviews to titles that are multiplatform - whilst intentionally marking down exclusives - especially if they aren't an AAA title?

Or perhaps I am just barking up the wrong proverbial tree. :)

I'm not confused at all. You mean people like Webfoot, Spiderweb Software etc etc.

I never said that PC only games were independant, it was just an off topic comment.

No need to hate on WiC man.

BTW WiC is clearly meant for the PC, it was only recently that it was announced for the 360 as well.

No need to hate on WiC man.

BTW WiC is clearly meant for the PC, it was only recently that it was announced for the 360 as well.

onemic

And being ported by another company(who made rugby games)

Despite being one of the most cut-throat competitive industries out there, independent studios still attempt to plan, develop and produce little gems that are miles above any of this multi-platform trash that seems to be polluting the PC charts recently *cough* World in Conflict *cough*

Unfortunately, finding such games can be a difficult task - Gamespot by the large fails to do any investigative work into these titles - and as such they tend to slip by the radar considering that the majority of the PC gaming community frequents GameSpot, GameSpy, Eurogamer, StrategyInformer or PC Gamer - and none of these (bar SI and PCG perhaps on occasion) really give much attention to non-AAA titles lest of all give them a fair review.

I'm not talking just casual games (like the Popcap classics), as the independent sector has produced titles for every single genre remarkably - again with a minimal budget.

Is anyone else fed up with the multiplatform focus that GameSpot is headed in - as in - only giving rave reviews to titles that are multiplatform - whilst intentionally marking down exclusives - especially if they aren't an AAA title?

Or perhaps I am just barking up the wrong proverbial tree. :)

kweeky

Stopped reading at "multi-platform trash that seems to be polluting the PC charts recently *cough* World in Conflict *cough*"

I don't know why you trash gamespot for the games they cover. They simply cover games that the COMMUNITY who visits it wants to read about. Gamespot is just catering to it's customer base.

Also, as people already pointed out, your argument is so flawed and rediculous, it's impossible to take what you say seriously.

Iam a person who supports the indie community. I have bought many indie games, including recently Mount & Blade and Depths of Peril. But I also am smart enough to know where to look for these titles. A site dedicated to mainstream games obviously is not the place. They only have so many resources, and they can't possibly cover every single game equally. There are literally HOUNDREDS of indie games released a year, it's impossible.

I don't know why you trash gamespot for the games they cover. They simply cover games that the COMMUNITY who visits it wants to read about. Gamespot is just catering to it's customer base.

Also, as people already pointed out, your argument is so flawed and rediculous, it's impossible to take what you say seriously.

Iam a person who supports the indie community. I have bought many indie games, including recently Mount & Blade and Depths of Peril. But I also am smart enough to know where to look for these titles. A site dedicated to mainstream games obviously is not the place. They only have so many resources, and they can't possibly cover every single game equally. There are literally HOUNDREDS of indie games released a year, it's impossible.

dnuggs40

Maybe BECAUSE it's a mainstream site they should cover it, that's the whole point. The games industry is getting stale with such huge sums of money being involved, a mainstream site can do other things than report on only mainstream stuff and make less mainstream suff reach out to more people.

[QUOTE="dnuggs40"]

I don't know why you trash gamespot for the games they cover. They simply cover games that the COMMUNITY who visits it wants to read about. Gamespot is just catering to it's customer base.

Also, as people already pointed out, your argument is so flawed and rediculous, it's impossible to take what you say seriously.

Iam a person who supports the indie community. I have bought many indie games, including recently Mount & Blade and Depths of Peril. But I also am smart enough to know where to look for these titles. A site dedicated to mainstream games obviously is not the place. They only have so many resources, and they can't possibly cover every single game equally. There are literally HOUNDREDS of indie games released a year, it's impossible.

kyrieee

Maybe BECAUSE it's a mainstream site they should cover it, that's the whole point. The games industry is getting stale with such huge sums of money being involved, a mainstream site can do other things than report on only mainstream stuff and make less mainstream suff reach out to more people.

Which I have already showed why they don't...

Ignore these facts if you wish, doesn't matter to me, but it's quite obvious what the actual situation is. CONSUMERS drive the markets, and drive the people that covers these markets. If you got a problem with what gets the most attention, take that up with your fellow gamer.

While i agree with you to some extent, and would like to see the major game sites do a indy review every now and then, most of the indy games honestly wont appeal to alot of gamers, and yes i realize it would be nice to let people make up their own minds about indy games.

The simple fact is, as a previous poster stated, gamespot is publishing content that its customers want to see. Rarely do you see any conversation on the major sites about indy games, and of those conversations the majority focus on one or two games like mount and blade , which catches the attention of people for awile. It would be nice to see a change,but its unlikely.

Well, off hand I'm trying to come up with a game that was truely great and still was created on a limited budget.

Last one I can think of was possibly Threadspace:Hyperbol, which even the team for that game had a few individuals that worked with blizzard. Face it, it's tough to make a dynamite game on a limited budget.

Gamespot by the large fails to do any investigative work into these titles - and as such they tend to slip by the radar considering that the majority of the PC gaming community frequents GameSpot, GameSpy, Eurogamer, StrategyInformer or PC Gamer - and none of these (bar SI and PCG perhaps on occasion) really give much attention to non-AAA titles lest of all give them a fair review. {snip} Or perhaps I am just barking up the wrong proverbial tree. :)

kweeky

Maybe, looking at your game list doesn't show a lot of independent games being played either. Start a blog with your own reviews of indy games like the big games you've reviewed.

[QUOTE="kweeky"]

Gamespot by the large fails to do any investigative work into these titles - and as such they tend to slip by the radar considering that the majority of the PC gaming community frequents GameSpot, GameSpy, Eurogamer, StrategyInformer or PC Gamer - and none of these (bar SI and PCG perhaps on occasion) really give much attention to non-AAA titles lest of all give them a fair review. {snip} Or perhaps I am just barking up the wrong proverbial tree. :)

Protoford

Maybe, looking at your game list doesn't show a lot of independent games being played either. Start a blog with your own reviews of indy games like the big games you've reviewed.

Funny observation lol. Person is complaining about independent games...eyt they don't even have those games in thier collection. Either they don't have any independent games, or those games aren't even worth putting them in thier own collection :P

So if you dont even bother caring about these games on gamespot's site, why should they?

That wasn't adressed to me but overall I don't bother with stuff like a profile page on a site, too many sites, too many profiles, too much wasted time.

Gamespot does coverage on smaller titles without huge ad campagins. Whatever goes for those games goes for indie games. I think many people who come to the site have an interest in reading about awesome games, indie or not. Maybe they should only review AAA games because that'd be even more cost effective. More hits per review

I'm not confused at all. You mean people like Webfoot, Spiderweb Software etc etc.

I never said that PC only games were independant, it was just an off topic comment.

zeus_gb

I was scripting my post the same time as you. My post was to the original poster, not you. You should know that.

Independent Games Festival

you can find a lof about these indy games there. Im downloading a trial for one called RoboBlitz. Enjoy!