Before any of you get smarmy, yes, I realise that there is no single "gaming journalism entity" (probably) but this was the best way I could think of to frame some of these comments and spark a little discussion, so please, just swing with it.

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I. Are you really going to ride the equality train all the way down?

Lately there's been this trend among gaming journalists to criticise games for not being inclusive enough to women and to ethnic minorities, and, I've got to ask, how far are you willing to take this pony?

You do realise that you're simultaneously endorsing "games as art" and asking for developers to include certain content catering to various groups, right? This means, essentially, that you are supporting artistic freedom whilst telling developers that they should only exercise that freedom around and atop a series of ethics which may or may not jibe with their own.

Crackdown 2, for example. It got a bad rap for, besides just sucking, not including the option to play as a female agent. What, now developers have to spend time and resources creating a particular play-****before they're on safe ground, ethically? Suppose budget were an issue? Suppose they didn't want to, for whatever reason?

ME2 was criticised by some for not offering the same level of homosexual romance options as Dragon Age; that is a blatant attempt to pressure a studio into altering its artistic vision for the sake of a particular audience.

If you want gaming to be taken seriously as an art-form you shouldn't be making these kinds of insipid demands; imagine if a major film came out and was criticised for not including a specific type of sexual encounter; those particular critics would be mocked, and widely.

I very much want to see quality content for ALL audiences (i.e., not just heterosexual males, who typically have dominated the industry) but demanding it is stupid, and the credibility of gaming journalism is undermined by its refusal to recognise the developer's vision as sovereign.

Do you actually care about these audiences, or are you just making a poorly thought-out attempt at appearing conscientious?

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II. Cinematic? Who cares?

Sorry. There are any number of highly cinematic games which are good in their own right, but they aren't moving the medium forward. Heavy Rain is a step backwards; Rockstar's storytelling methods are archaic, and boring.

The strengths of the medium ought to be played up, not down. Why should games imitate another medium when they can do so many other things that film simply cannot?

It's like the film adaptation of Watchmen; sure, you can make it (they did), but why in the bloody hell would you want to? Watchmen was a comic book, and it played spectacularly to the strengths of its particular medium, in ways that the film (which sucked, mostly) simply could not capture.

Look at Braid for an excellent example of a game telling the kind of story that a film never could; play Amnesia: The Dark Descent and realise that the future of horror (name the last truly good horror film you saw) lies with this medium, which can, through means of interaction, create a sort of terror that no other medium can imitate.

Look at all the journalists pissing their pants over L.A. Noire. Why do you give a flying **** about that game? Film is off in one direction, and the gravity of gaming innovation is pulling towards another altogether. Leave the past where it belongs.

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III. Are you going to be product reviewers or art critics?

This is a choice which must be made. Now, clearly I'm not suggesting that racing games should be criticised for their weak stories, but there is the question of whether or not any major gaming journalism outlet is ever going to have the balls to call some of these games out on their bull ****.

For instance, can you name any major outlets that were willing to trash Black Ops for its degenerate, psychopathic story, which had not a shred of value? Not merely that it was bad, see, but that it was sick, and ugly, and utterly masturbatory?

Of course not. Most of gaming journalism is devoted to basic product reviewing. Even the ones that tend more towards aesthetics rarely take that kind of stand on any issue, whereas it's quite common in other, more developed critical fields.

In other words, who's going to have stones enough to step up and decry a major commercial game for failing artistically, and not just in some other way?

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Ok, now clearly this was meant for the SW community, mostly, so let's get a talk going.

Thoughts, anyone?

jethrovegas

I think you should ask HIPHOPGAMER.

He's pretty well known...perhaps he could mentor you and answer your questions with validity.

What Sony and Nintendo do or stop doing does not give us any information about the circumstances those studios were closed under.IronBass

We don't need the reasons....We have the end results.

I like "cutting to the chase" ;)

Okay hold up, I dont understand why your compairing Bungie and Naughty Dog. From my understanding, Sony infuses a lot of cash into its studios, ie polyphony and its 60 million dollar budget in gt5, so obviously Naughty Dog doesnt want to leave. Ms has more of loose relationship with its studio, they arent that much invovled. But that doesnt make them incompetant. Also, HAL's games are targetted for nintendo consoles, so why would they want leave. Another thing is youre assuming again, how do you know Bungie left Ms because theyre "incompetant" ? And I dont see Bungie high-tailing it, I thought it was a pretty clean departure.pl4yer_f0und

Just as HAL's games are targeted for Nintendo consoles, Bungie's HALO games were targeted for Microsoft's consoles.

and to the bolded part:

I'm not necessarily saying Bugie left for the reason because Microsoft was incompetant.....rather, what I'm more saying is Microsoft is incompetant because Bungie left....there's actually a subtle but fundamental difference there.

Not knowing the exact circumstances those studios were closed under, we're in no position to determine that.IronBass

We know that Microsoft can't keep game development studios, but Sony and Nintendo can.

That's what we are in a "position to determine".

But no, they don't. :? They make Ratchet & Clank and Resistance exclusively for Sony because both franchises are exclusively licensed to them. They are now signed up with EA as a multiplatform developer. So just to summarize your arguments; Microsoft suck because they shut down studios - President of Ensemble says they were a horrible business and he was amazed they weren't shut down sooner. Microsoft suck because bungie left them - bungie left because they want to make multi-platform games, just like Insomniac no longer making games just for Sony. So... er... Ninja-Hippo

I think you've totally misunderstood, or are possibly not totally getting it.

INSOMNIAC was never owned by Sony....never....Not this generation, not the previous generation, and not the previous gen. before that.

Right now, Insomniac recently signed on to make multiplat games that are published by EA....but guess what?

Insomnic is still making exclusive games for Sony....still. Or did you not know RESISTANCE 3 is coming soon?

Get it? They are moonlighting on the side, but still loyal to Sony and giving PS3 games that can't be played anywhere else.

Bungie, on the other hand, they got the heck away from Microsoft as soon as their "slavery term" was up. They went on the first thing smokin to get to Activision. That's how bad it must have been at Microsoft.....Bungie went to ACTIVISION for relief and comfort. :lol:

Insomniac want to 'weasel' away from Sony for the exact same reasons bungie left; they want to develop on more than one platform. :|Ninja-Hippo

Insomniac was never owned by Sony.

They were free to leave Sony well before this generation even started....even before the previous generation started.

And to really drive my point home.....INSOMNIAC still chooses to make Exclusive games for Sony.

[QUOTE="Unnatural101"]

[QUOTE="WilliamRLBaker"]

If it helps the argument then the recession actually never happend. He forgot that the head of Ensemble actually said he wasn't surprised they were shut down, FASA had been imcompetent for years, He forgot that Microsoft let bungie go *Bungie paid out no money on last check and never squirmed* but just by Him using words as squirm and wiggled we can tell exactly the source of his topic and its not fair debate.

Brownesque

I don't see Naughty Dog trying to weasel their way out from Sony.

I don't see Nintendo developers like HAL trying to run away to Capcom.

But I certainly see Bungie high-tailing it and burning rubber to get away from Microsoft.

So yes....it's a very fair debate.

I'm sure you already know that Insomniac was never owned by Sony...and interestingly, they still make exclusive games for Sony even though they are free and scheduled to make multiplatform games.

David Jaffe isnt'a dev studio. But since he did start his own studio, his studio has only made Playstation games and has no plans to make multiplatform games at this time. Eat Sleep Play is not nor was it ever owned by Sony.

If it helps the argument then the recession actually never happend. He forgot that the head of Ensemble actually said he wasn't surprised they were shut down, FASA had been imcompetent for years, He forgot that Microsoft let bungie go *Bungie paid out no money on last check and never squirmed* but just by Him using words as squirm and wiggled we can tell exactly the source of his topic and its not fair debate.

WilliamRLBaker

I don't see Naughty Dog trying to weasel their way out from Sony.

I don't see Nintendo developers like HAL trying to run away to Capcom.

But I certainly see Bungie high-tailing it and burning rubber to get away from Microsoft.

So yes....it's a very fair debate.

100 pack of dvd rws 23 bucks. a ten pack of blue rays 25 bucks. yes the cost is too great to make multi dvd games:roll:

blu ray has shown nothing . maybe next gen with ps4 or the next box when they have the power to take advantage of hd

monson21502

PS3's doing HD just fine for this generation though.

PS3's also got BluRay.

Coincidence? I think not. ;)

Youre making assumptions, just cause those studios closed under ms doesnt mean ms didnt have anything to do with it. Plenty of devs closed down over the past years and I would blame the economy more than ms.

pl4yer_f0und

Many of the closed studios weren't shut down durning the recession....So that's not true.