Blogging

It’s late and I should be sleeping, but this can’t wait until the morning.

It’s hard for me to believe I missed this one. Hard for two reasons: 1) I regularly read Technology Review at work and doubt I would have looked past an article such as this (even though it was posted a couple days ago) and 2) I am fascinated with all things blogs and video game blogging in particular. So when I read this over at Cathode Tan, I was flummoxed. How can someone at the pinnacle of the technology world (MIT) be so off?

First, for the full story, you need to read Josh’s attempt at contacting Tech. Review here (thanks for the mention, Josh). It’s classic. Adam at render was equally upset with the lack of journalistic research and sounded off here. Finally, Amit at Damned Machines is sucessful (?) at contacting someone over there with some jabs at this piece. All good stuff and I’m glad everyone was on this. The video game blogging community is growing pretty quickly. With Bloglines I currently subscribe to 80+ video game blog feeds, with more popping up all the time. There is no dearth of bloggers blogging about video games. To only mention Joystiq (which I enjoy) and Gamespot is simply embarassing. I’m no journalist but I try to hit up Google anytime I’m unsure of something I’m about to write. It makes sense to me, but I’m just a blogger.

But the “there are no gaming bloggers” gaffe is only one of many the writer makes. The article in question also hints at blogging in MMOG’s. Hmmm, that seems like something Foton mentioned, ohh, I don’t know, two months ago! Of course, the all-mighty dollar looms large in all of this and we can’t forget marketing!

“The reason we don’t have more community elements like blogs in games is because the publishers haven’t figured out how to harness it and make money off of it,” says Li.

Holy crap did I just read that right? “We already take fifty bucks out of their pockets but when we can use blogs to take more, we will!” Blech!

And we end with this doozie:

Everyone contacted for this article expressed interest in seeing more game-specific or within-game blogs. While it may be awhile before we see blogs within games, one thing’s for certain: there’s plenty of room for them and, well, there’s interest in blogging.

“Video game blogs are on the rise,” says Swofford. “The segment is growing.”

Plenty of room for them? I beg to differ.Video games move at such a quick place that I really don’t see their utility within most games. Screen shots and funny stories, sure. That usually takes place after you’ve played a session of gaming. But in-game blogging, even in the MMOG sense, doesn’t really resonate with me. And yes, video game blogs are on the rise.

So blog on, gaming bloggers. I’d like us to have an even bigger presence. Join the ranks of more “accepted” forms of blogging (whatever that entails). Personally, I’ve been mulling the idea of a “Carnival of Gamers” in the near future. I’m still hatching my idea, but I’ll be presenting here soon, hoping to drum up some interest. So stay tuned!

I’ve been reading Dubious Quality for a while (and enjoyed it immensely) but I haven’t really mentioned much here. An oversight that I intend to correct. I wanted to point out two great reads from Bill over at DQ. First, there’s this post about his experience with the new RTS/I-dunno-what game, Darwinia. The game is getting a lot of critical acclaim and this is a great read. Second, here’s another great post about the new Xbox RPG, Jade Empire. Again, excellent reading. This is why I love video game blogs. I can go to twenty different sites online where I can read a review of Jade Empire but I don’t find experiences like this very often. A score of 9.9 might convince me that the game is good and worth a look, but reading something like this has a more meaningful effect:

… the world is beautifully dynamic and immersive, defining itself beyond the written world, which I see as a remarkable accomplishment. I experience the Jade Empire most fully not by reading, but by being.

Following the vein of gaming experiences, Adam posted this about Ico, a game I’ve never had the chance to play. Judging by Adam’s feelings, I’m missing out.

It’s incredibly engaging, refreshing, and liberating to experience gaming/interactive storytelling absent all the clutter that continually screams, “I’m a video game.” Ico instead whispers, “I am another world for you to explore,” gives you a simple, intuitive control scheme, and then allows you to completely forget there’s a controller in your hand.

It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game like that.

To round out the games I haven’t played yet, this review of God of War is the best one I’ve read to date. On a blog. Goodness gracious this looks like a trend to me.

I’ve been light on the blogging lately (having a new baby in the house has been keeping me a little busy). But I’ve been keeping up on my reading and I wanted to highlight a couple things that have tickled my fancy. So on to the stroll…

Gamers come in many flavors (which is a topic for another day) but game girl advance has a great post about how EA has appaled to the gamers that aren’t “hard core”. Call them what you like (sports gamers, frat gamers, whatever) but they are a force t0 be reckoned with. I would wager that the non-hard cores outnumber us more “committed” gamers 10 to 1. I love my sports games as much as the next sports gamer but I would wager they could care less about the beauty that is found in TLoZ:Wind Waker. People can say EA is doing a lot of things wrong but they sell games. When it’s all said and done, that’s what this business is really about. People can rail against the commercialization and “Hollywood way of doing things” but it’s all about making money.

I’m still torn on the PSP/DS debate. I will more than likely end up with a DS but I am so very tempted by the beauty that is the PSP. I followed Brian’s live blogging of his experiences with his “honey”. Good stuff. Looks like Mike at Pixel du Juor likes it, too.

I am rather jealous that render is going to E3. That would be such a mind job to attend that gaming mecca.

There have been complaints galore about the spotty (that’s being fair) reliability of WoW’s servers. But Foton puts it rather eloquently:

My point is this: you would not accept this kind of treatment with your car, or your cell phone service, or your cable service. If every time you went to a particular movie theater the soundtrack was mismatched, that would be entirely unacceptable, wouldn’t it?

Yes, it would. So the complaints are getting louder and Blizzard better start paying attention. But then again, I imagine complaints to your crack dealer would fall on deaf ears. He knows you’ll be back, whether your rocks are good or not.

I was impressed with Nintendo’s GDC Zelda trailer, but nowak brings up some good points. I, too, miss the cel shading. While the new Zelda looks amazing (and yes, I will be buying it) I wonder what beauty and art we’ll miss by not having the cel shaded look. At least there’s a chance for the next generation to have a cel shaded Zelda. Here’s to hoping.

So our stroll comes to an end. It’s a great time to be a gamer. So many possibilities. And so many things to complain about!

Foton over at AFK Gamer is considering a really cool idea for those of us in video game blogging (actually, for anyone who loves gaming). You can read about it here, but the gist of it is:

One weekend, a collaborative blog. Anyone that pre-registers can post. It’s an orgy of gaming in whatever game you choose. The objective is … a stream of conciousness on your gaming experiences for the weekend.

I think this good be pretty cool. As I said over at his site, it would be great to see what the other gamers out there think. Hopefully everyone who participated would be mature and civil, no lame fanboy ranting and bashing. Meaningful dialogue, funny anecdotes, good ideas and constructive criticism would be cool to see.

If you’re interested, leave a message over at his site and we’ll see where this goes.