Coffee Talk #265: The Gaming Press Must Evolve or Die

I’m convinced that the videogame enthusiast press is at a critical junction. When I first started writing about games, a magazine cover from the likes of EGM, Game Informer, and Compuer Gaming World was a PR flak’s ultimate prize. That changed to website takeovers, with the big fish being IGN and GameSpot. These days…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Cliff Lee going to the Phillies, Brett Favre’s streak ending, or Christina Aguilera’s naughty photo leak, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’m convinced that the videogame enthusiast press is at a critical junction. When I first started writing about games, a magazine cover from the likes of EGM, Game Informer, and Compuer Gaming World was a PR flak’s ultimate prize. That changed to website takeovers, with the big fish being IGN and GameSpot.  These days games are making big splashes on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, in Entertainment Weekly, and during the Spike TV VGAs. Traditional videogame enthusiast outlets can’t compete with NBC, EW, or Spike TV.

Last night Uncharted 3 made an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra were on hand for the demo. Can you imagine Hironobu Sakaguchi and Yoshinori Kitase showing off Final Fantasy VII on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 1997?!? Triple-A videogames debuting on mainstream television and in mainstream magazines is becoming the norm. Traditional videogame outlets have to change their approach or lose relevancy.

That’s what I think anyway. How about you? Do you think the Entertainment Weeklies and Jimmy Fallons of the world are making it harder for the IGNs and GameSpots? Will videogame outlets have to focus on follow-up articles on triple-A games instead of debuting them? Or are enthusiast magazines and websites fine the way they are?

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

64 thoughts on “Coffee Talk #265: The Gaming Press Must Evolve or Die”

  1. I think the more coverage the better. I do remember being excited about what was on the cover of magazines though. I don't do much into research into games, I generally just rent them for an opinion.

    1. Every now and again I'll go grocery shopping with my wife and while she's shopping I'll go to the video game magazine isle and read stuff that I read 2 weeks ago online. I honestly don't see how any mag is still in business with the internet as fast as it is.

  2. magazines in general are either obsolescant or already totally obsolete, i dont read any, i dont know anyone who does. The only tech sites i sometimes visit (beside this one) are kotaku and engadget…i dont have any need to regularly visit any other sites, i get all my news here

  3. First off, I wish these B list celebs would stop claiming to be gamers. In that Uncharted 3 debut on Jimmy Fallon's show Jimmy claimed to be a gamer and he claimed to have played Uncharted 2 but when they gave him the controller the first thing he said was "how do I shoot?". Hello, if he had played Uncharted 2 like he said then he would know how to shoot. Heck, if he was a gamer then he would know the R1 button is to shoot for any shooter on the PS3.

    As far as IGN, I think they are suspect anyway. They give every big game at least a 9 rating. Now I know reviews are just one man's opinion but I find it strange that IGN gives all big games at least a 9 and they keep getting most of the interviews/previews/news before most other big sites.

  4. I think that will be an uphill battle all the way. As big name titles become more popular, especially with the Jimmy Fallon show (also where Gears of War 3 was announced I believe), and become more mainstream- that attention to video games that has never been given in the past is what is desirable. They can reach more people with that spot and press about that spot then they could by announcing it in GameInformer or something like that (speculation- I don't actually have numbers to prove that). It just seems like bigger games are going to try to go where they think the most people will be whether they are gamers or not. I'm not sure what video game journalists should be doing to change the tides here other than increase their reader #s.

    1. Yes, Gears of War 3 and Kinect made big appearances on Fallon.

      I think enthusiast outlets need to stop following the schedule laid out by PR people. It's usually announcement, preview 1, preview 2, preview 3, and review. There are better and more interesting ways to cover games. Hopefully the mainstream coverage pushes them to do that.

      1. That is a pretty dull format, but in all honesty I have no ideas how else to change that monotonous linear progression of information.

      2. There are plenty of ways to do it. I think you'll see more post-launch coverage. Traditionally, after a game is released, the coverage scales down abruptly. That's completely foolish. There are plenty of interesting ways to cover a game post-launch and you get the audience involved since they're all playing it. I actually prefer it that way. It's inclusive, as opposed to previewing and early reviewing where the audience is just listening to you instead of talking about it together.

  5. I think we need to get RPad.tv some airtime.

    Maybe one day, Ray will be the TMZ of the video game industry.

    1. You know, my friend Gavin is a producer on Fallon. He's a huge reason why the show gets so much excellent videogame content. I'll pitch him on me following Naughty Dog, Epic, and Microsoft. Ha!

  6. @WWE

    Am I the only one who sees the main event potential in Alex Riley? When will they stop having him be the Miz's lackey and use him? This guy has it all and that's rare these days.

      2. That's because you're not being objective. Nobody is drawing more heel heat than The Miz at the moment. Riley is nowhere close to getting that kind of reaction out of the fans. It's actuality vs. potentiality.

      3. A lot of the Miz's heat is X-Pac and LayCool heat. If Alex was used I feel he could get some serious heat. The Miz took advantage of a Randy Orton who was beaten down by the entire Nexus gang and now they're trying to sell me a PPV where the Miz is supposed to have a chance to beat a fresh Randy Orton?

      5. No. I just used him as an example that a lot of people booed because they genuinely didn't like him.

      7. Let me be clear, the Miz is far better than X-Pac but I just used him as an example of someone getting genuine hate heat. A lot of people feel that the Miz is unworthy. I really like him but I just feel he's unworthy too.

      8. I understand what you're saying, but I mostly disagree. I don't think the two wrestlers are comparable. Fans hated on X-Pac because he leached off his two famous friends and genuinely acted like a dick. He was actually better in the ring than The Miz currently is. The Miz draws heat from his outstanding promos and his cowardly actions, which you already mentioned. If he's getting booed because marks think he's unworthy because of his cowardly route to the WWE Championship then he's doing his job. As far as being unworthy for booking purposes, I think you're overestimating what "smart" fans react to. Marks are still the majority.

  7. Well as much as I have not wanted to admit it (I've been denying this since last spring but just can't deny it anymore)…my hair is going gray already. I don't even think I can really deny this anymore because it's just becoming a little too apparent up close.

    1. Lol. I only lol because my facial hair is going gray under my chin. I thought it was cat hair/lint balls from my scarf (I have nappy hair so that stuff likes to get all up in my face) and I pulled on the strands and much to my surprise it hurt like hell lol.

      I feel ya body slam U.

    2. I think I have two gray hairs on my head (that my wife loves pointing out to me), so I cam up with an awesome solution: Grow my hair out to the longest it's ever been and all of that excess hair will drown out the two gray hairs.

      Unfortunately, I now look like a cross between a retarded-looking hippie living in the 80's and Katharine Hepburn. I'll give you a moment to let that sink in.

      -M

    4. my fiance likes to remind me constantly about the gray hairs that do show through. Some are more prominent than others, but nevertheless they are always brought up.

      @Iceman

      I would grow my hair out to make them less prominent, but I look much better with short hair, not to mention that I look horrible with long hair.

  8. There is nothing you can offer to get me to watch this douche bag or any of the others like Stewart, Letterman, O'Brien, G4 numb nuts , etc. I can care less what they try and hock since they are merely doing what they are told. I care as much about what they market on shows like this as I care about buying Barbasol or Milwaukee tools listening to MNF on the radio.

    I prefer individual blogs and web coverage. More often a blogger has a skin in the game or they are actually impassioned about the product at hand.

    1. That's only because nobody has ever offered you cake while you sit down and watch Jimmy Fallon together.

      1. I could never refuse anyone who brings me a cake.

        Wait a minute. Is it a regular cake or a "Tokz-approved" cake?

        -M

      3. The only reason peace talks in the Middle East get violent is because nobody thinks to bring a cake.

      4. I believe you are absolutely correct on both counts. I think you should definitely replace Hillary as Secretary of State. You've got my support.

        -M

  9. …And here is my nomination for world's stupidest game-related iPhone app:

    http://www.esrb.org/mobile/?utm_medium=email&…

    No, your eyes do not deceive you. It's actually an app that allows you to take a picture of a video game's box art and then tells you what it is rated and a subsequent description of the rating. Someone actually sat down and developed this app AND the game database that the program cross-references the picture to.

    Truly, technology is making us dumber by the day.

    -M

  10. Pingback: Tweets that mention Coffee Talk #265: Gaming Press Must Evolve or Die (Right?) | RPad.TV -- Raymond Padilla & friends talk games and geek culture -- Topsy.com

  12. there are video game gold box deals all day on amazon.

    right now GTA 4 the complete collection is up for 25.99

    this isn't a gold box deal but mass effect 2 is 10.96 right now.

    2. mass effect 2 would have been a good one to pick up, granted I still haven't played the first one.

      I'm looking forward to X-Men Arcade whenever we all play that together though!

      1. it would've been. i've never played M.E. either. i just figured there were still some people here that wanted to play it but not pay retail for it now.

        the new Amazon Deal is a DSi for $127.99.

      6. I only have a 360 so that is what I am planning on getting it for. It's times like this when it would be nice to be able to play online with different systems, I know technically speaking that would never happen, but its's nice to wish.

  13. Hey guys! Sorry about the lack of posts. My Mom is in town, so we've been hanging out. I've also spent the last 90 minutes chatting with Time Warner to fix my cable modem issues. Those guys blow. I'm going to go send them nasty tweets.

    1. 90 minutes! you're a very patient man. i guess the powercycle portion of the troubleshooting didn't work huh?

      1. No, it had to be reset on their side. The first two idiots couldn't do it properly. The third one kept asking me stupid questions and telling me to do stupid things before reseting it. Oy.

      2. it sounds all too familiar. it happens, when you get people working in something they're not familiar with or when a company forces you to use a certain some trouble shooting program or else you'll get dinged on your monthly review. it blows not only for the employee but the for the customer for the most part.

      3. that's always frustrating, I need to get around to calling Linksys due to there apparently being some limitations to it, at least that's what Microsoft says about why I can't get media center to work on my 360- and I'm not looking forward to getting them to not give me the run around.

        Have fun with your mom in town though! Hope you two have a good time!

  16. COD black ops is freezing my ps3 every 5 minutes…this shit is infuriating

    and yeah, its a problem with 60 gb ps3s everywhere, not just mine…they actually released a patch for it, which ironically made it worse…good times

    1. @thundercracker

      i had the same problem since the game launched. It made me buy the xbox version which i haven't opened yet.

    2. that's too bad, sorry to hear about that. It's very frustrating to have that happen! hopefully they come out with another patch to fix the patch to fix the problem.

      1. oh i'm also having this freezing issue with the Scott Pilgrim game on the xbox, it's not every 5 minutes but it froze when i got to Matthew Patel and it froze halfway through the 2nd level too. anyone have this issue with the Scott P game?

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