So I thought I'd jumpstart this whole blog thing with a response to Brian Ekberg's Freeplay article. First, there's a forum thread on this topic, but (as I said) I just wanted to go ahead and get my blog rolling.

I have to disagree with Brian on this one. Journalists and critics are, in general, not a subsection of the industry they write about. More often than not, game journalists' writings are consumer-oriented and couldn't really be considered trade publications. That isn't to say that people can't identify and be passionate about games. But then again, just because you do identify with them, doesn't mean that you are a part of their creation. And that's really the only way you can define industry.

As Jaffe says, there are some groups that are doing some really great coverage of the gaming world. I believe GameSpot is the best of them, and that's why I'm a subscriber and will be for the forseeable future. (On a side note, I also loved NEXT Gen magazine and hate that it is no longer available.) But I would love to see more content. More introspective interviews with game creators. What do they love about games? Why did they get into the business? Where did they start? Where do they see the art going? And Jaffe's article idea about Miyamoto's feelings about the future of Nintendo would be brilliant...

And as far as the sports thing goes, I'm a huge Atlanta Falcons fan. They're my team. But whenever I hear somebody talking about a Falcons game say "we won!" I always have to think, "Warrick Dunn rushed for about a hundred-fifty yards last night... what did you do again?"