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Good gaming journalism? Europe's got you covered.

L

Larsen B

Member
This morning, Eurogamer posted a wonderful piece from Christian Donlan about playing LA Noire with his dad who grew up in Los Angeles during the 1940s.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-10-09-night-and-the-city

I'll never forget the moment we found it. Dad could just about remember the cross-streets - 6th and Flower - and I had a little trouble fiddling round in the game's map to set a waypoint. Then we were off. On the drive, dad kept up a low-level muttering trail of recollections and fiercely specific critiques: the lamps on this bridge were right, but the large dumpsters in alleyways weren't like anything he remembered seeing; a gas station's Coke machine was just perfect, but little skirtings of exposed brickwork around the low walls of vacant lots 'didn't seem very Californian'; this was meant to be 1947? Why was that a 1950 Chevy, then? When we finally turned onto 6th, though, he suddenly stopped talking.
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And reading it made me think that I've read some great stuff recently that has come from European-centric websites.

Like Eurogamer's review of Pokemon Black/White 2 which was mainly done by the sons of 2 of the regular EG reviewers.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-10-09-pokemon-black-and-white-2-review

"There are five new ones," James insists with all the self-assured confidence of a young boy being quizzed on his specialist subject. "Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus in Therian Forms, and Black and White Kyurem."

"Well, I guess we shouldn't count Black and White Kyurem," interjects Dillon. "They're really just Kyurem."

"Or the other three," admits James without breaking stride. "All five are just forms of other Pokémon."
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And Nathan Brown writing in Edge about re-playing Red Dead Redemption with his wife.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/still-playing-red-dead-redemption/

I no longer sprint through towns to objectives. I saunter, I strut, tipping hats to passers-by. I did the entirety of an early mission where you rescue an NPC’s daughter from a mine at walking pace, shotgun in hand, using no cover at all, the ultimate expression of cowboy badassery. Our choice of mission isn’t dictated by proximity, but time of day; we head east of a morning and west in the afternoon, forever chasing after one of videogaming’s finest suns. The camera is rarely fixed in place over Marston’s shoulder but is constantly roving as I search for the perfect cinematic angle. A colleague has suggested I ham up gunfights, too, pretending to struggle when I’m not, taking Marston to death’s door before saving his skin at the last second with the slow-mo Dead Eye. I’ll be trying that out this weekend.
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And at the moment, Eurogamer (again) have a regular column by ex-Consolevania presenter Robert Florence but his best piece was over on Rock, Paper, Shotgun where he writes another regular column on boardgames like this heartbreaking one on HeroQuest.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/27/cardboard-children-heroquest/

I am sitting in my living room. My ma is making my dinner. It’s my da’s favourite – mince and peas, on plain bread. Mince and peas from a tin, and some good gravy, all laid on a thick slice of plain bread. Beautiful. I can smell it.

My da’s not home yet. He’s a roofer. When he comes home, he’ll be black with dirt and dust and work. He’ll wash up and sit in front of the TV with his dinner, and then we’ll watch Star Trek: The Next Generation together. Me on the arm of the chair, leaning on him, and nudging him to keep him awake if it’s a Wesley Crusher episode.
Click to expand...

All of these are a bit New Games Journalism but all have been absolutely wonderful to read and I hope, if nothing else, you read some of them today.

I feel like a large number of people read IGN or Kotaku in order to complain about the quality or tear Polygon reviews apart line-by-line when they could have spent that time reading more worthwhile stuff.

So there is definitely good journalism out there, GAF. You've just got to cross the ocean to get to it*.



*Although Gamasutra's pretty good, I'll give you that.
 
E

excaliburps

Press - MP1st.com
Larsen B said:
This morning, Eurogamer posted a wonderful piece from Christian Donlan about playing LA Noire with his dad who grew up in Los Angeles during the 1940s.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-10-09-night-and-the-city



And reading it made me think that I've read some great stuff recently that has come from European-centric websites.

Like Eurogamer's review of Pokemon Black/White 2 which were mainly done by the sons of 2 of the regular EG reviewers.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-10-09-pokemon-black-and-white-2-review



And Nathan Brown writing in Edge about re-playing Red Dead Redemption with his wife.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/still-playing-red-dead-redemption/



And at the moment, Eurogamer (again) have a regular column by ex-Consolevania presenter Robert Florence but his best piece was over on Rock, Paper, Shotgun where he writes another regular column on boardgames like this heartbreaking one on HeroQuest.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/27/cardboard-children-heroquest/



All of these are a bit New Games Journalism but all have been absolutely wonderful to read and I hope, if nothing else, you read some of them today.

I feel like a large number of people read IGN or Kotaku in order to complain about the quality or tear Polygon reviews apart line-by-line when they could have spent that time reading more worthwhile stuff.

So there is definitely good journalism out there, GAF. You've just got to cross the ocean to get to it*.



*Although Gamasutra's pretty good, I'll give you that.
Click to expand...

While these pieces are good, do also keep in mind that most UK/EU sites also fail miserably at proper attribution/sourcing when it comes to news...thus making them bad at "games journalism," too.

Based on my experience, they don't attribute the proper source a lot of the time. Say, X site ran a story that got reposted on Y site, they'll attribute Y site. No idea why this happens as this is the basic when it comes to posting news and is generally taught to give the site that found the news the proper credit.
 
N

nofi

Member
excaliburps said:
Based on my experience, they don't attribute the proper source a lot of the time. Say, X site ran a story that got reposted on Y site, they'll attribute Y site. No idea why this happens as this is the basic when it comes to posting news and is generally taught to give the site that found the news the proper credit.
Click to expand...

Yep, I'd agree with this. On certain sites, at least...
 
S

snap0212

Member
excaliburps said:
While these pieces are good, do also keep in mind that most UK/EU sites also fail miserably at proper attribution/sourcing when it comes to news...thus making them bad at "games journalism," too.

Based on my experience, they don't attribute the proper source a lot of the time. Say, X site ran a story that got reposted on Y site, they'll attribute Y site. No idea why this happens as this is the basic when it comes to posting news and is generally taught to give the site that found the news the proper credit.
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Post a few examples, please. It feels to me like Eurogamer especially links to NeoGAF all the freaking time, for example.
 
S

Shurs

Member
There is a lot of worthwhile writing about video games being produced every week.

I prefer independent game criticism blogs.
 
M

Marcel

Member
excaliburps said:
While these pieces are good, do also keep in mind that most UK/EU sites also fail miserably at proper attribution/sourcing when it comes to news...thus making them bad at "games journalism," too.
Click to expand...

Yep. Let's not forget too that the items in the OP are a game review, two personal essays about games, and a weekly column. It's sort of a slippery slope to call any of those things 'journalism' proper. I've seen the term 'enthusiast press' used here on GAF a lot and that covers it pretty nicely.

It's rare to see proper journalism in games at all. Tracking and sourcing the facts, breaking important stories, and holding the persons reported on accountable. A good example would be the coverage of the LA Noire debacle where many, many Rockstar staff that worked on the game were abused in the workplace by their managers in service of pushing a game out. Unfortunately the story did not lead to much change because you still see stories of lower-end staff being pushed to the limit to meet a deadline, and those who left along the way not being properly credited.

You don't see much good reporting, quite frankly, because many game journalists are beholden to publishers for that free game copy. They have to meet representatives of publishers and developers at trade shows for interviews. They rely on $700,000 in seed money for a laughable documentary that could be at best just called 'unintentionally funny'. It's mostly terrible which is why if you read a lot of game news stories you have to read between the lines and the marketing bullshit to determine who's worth trusting.
 
B

Bumhead

Banned
Eurogamer and Edge are the only two "mainstream" publications I read, and they've both got their fair share of crap, but they do produce some excellent pieces as well.

It's nice to talk about games beyond mere mechanics. We seem to be constantly talking about videogames as "experiences" now so it's nice to move away from such a formulaic, boring and tedious template when discussing (and especially reviewing) games.
 
S

StuBurns

Banned
Eurogamer, despite it's many issues, is the best major gaming website out there generally. I always think it's funny the US press constantly shit on Europe, despite generally being bested by them.
 
J

JonCha

Member
Edge still do the most articulate, well-written reviews of any gaming website I've read. My brother doesn't play video games but he read an article and agreed, a person who knows how to write very well.

Regarding Eurogamer, I find they blend personality and factual reporting well. Sites like Joystiq and Engadget (albeit a different area) go too much in favour of the former to be honest.
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
Eurogamer, EDGE and GamesTM produce the best games journalism in the industry. They've made their fair share of mistakes too, but when they are at their best they blow everyone else out of the water.

Its amazed me that no one else has tried to do anything comparable to the wizards over at Eurogamer's Digital Foundry,
 
S

Shurs

Member
StuBurns said:
Lots of people in the US press, you've never heard them? All the 1up folks used to, GiantBomb do it plenty too.
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I don't go to those types of sites anymore and I stopped listening to gaming podcasts, aside from Idle Thumbs, at the beginning of the year.

I've heard Americans in the game press knock some European sites for breaking embargo dates, but that's all I can remember.
 
Y

Yagharek

Member
I would have thrown my hat in the ring for all 3 of Edge/Eurogamer/Games TM in the past year, but no longer.

Reasons mainly are thus:

Edge: Focus has shifted from "the cutting edge of videogames" to chasing the latest fads (mmo a few years back, freemium, mobile and facebook lately. Less and less room for those interested in traditional gaming).

Eurogamer: Sensationalism in headlines, a few of their writers have an axe to grind on certain issues/platforms, and they often misreport/misquote larger interviews purely to get hits.

Games TM: This hurts me more to say given how good they used to be. They just cover boring games and are following the same fads Edge does. The entire preview section pretty much consists of shooter/shooter/shooter/indie game thats impossible to complete/shooter/shooter/annual sports game. It also doesn't hep that as a multiplatform magazine they spent this entire generation slagging off an entire platform at every opportunity.
 
M

Margalis

Banned
This sort of human interest playing-with-a-non-gamer angle can work in small doses, but when overdone it comes off as a desperate attempt to bolster the notion that video games have some broader relevance so as to legitimize writing about them as a profession.

I'm a little tired of everyone who wants to be considered a serious video game writer taking a Kill Screen style approach where instead of simply writing about games in a way superior to typical games writing they instead try for some games-intersecting-with-life angle.

If you are writing about movies it's fine to write a piece on Jaws about how you saw Jaws as a kid with your father who was in the Navy and survived a shark attack and how that was a formative bonding experience - but you could also just write about Jaws.

The Red Dead piece is particularly irksome for what it doesn't say - the guy is playing the game in a way that is completely unnatural and at odds with the game design in order to keep his wife interested. That opens up a lot of interesting avenues - none of which are explored.

I guess what I'm saying is that while there is room for magazine-style pieces and human interest stuff that tries to come at games from interesting angles there is also a lot of room for reviews, previews, interviews and news stories that aren't terrible. (The Pokemon review is pretty good)
 
K

Krauser Kat

Member
Margalis said:
This sort of human interest playing-with-a-non-gamer angle can work in small doses, but when overdone it comes off as a desperate attempt to bolster the notion that video games have some broader relevance so as to legitimize writing about them as a profession.

I'm a little tired of everyone who wants to be considered a serious video game writer taking a Kill Screen style approach where instead of simply writing about games in a way superior to typical games writing they instead try for some games-intersecting-with-life angle.

If you are writing about movies it's fine to write a piece on Jaws about how you saw Jaws as a kid with your father who was in the Navy and survived a shark attack and how that was a formative bonding experience - but you could also just write about Jaws.

The Red Dead piece is particularly irksome for what it doesn't say - the guy is playing the game in a way that is completely unnatural and at odds with the game design in order to keep his wife interested. That opens up a lot of interesting avenues - none of which are explored.

I guess what I'm saying is that while there is room for magazine-style pieces and human interest stuff that tries to come at games from interesting angles there is also a lot of room for reviews, previews, interviews and news stories that aren't terrible. (The Pokemon review is pretty good)
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Games are the experience. How we play them directly dictates our enjoyment. There is no way something is meant to be played.
 
E

Empty

Member
donlan's l.a noire piece deserves its own thread

but yes the uk gaming press (eg, edge, rps, i like hookshot too) is strong. compliment it with the best of america in gamasutra and neogaf for your news (+venus patrol if you like indie stuff) and you can be a happy camper.
 
H

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
Krauser Kat said:
Games are the experience. How we play them directly dictates our enjoyment. There is no way something is meant to be played.
Click to expand...

Of course there is. Game designers have specific intentions. Games aren't thrown together arbitrarily.

That said, if a person has fun with a game, then that's valid, no matter how they played it. What isn't as useful is their highly idiosyncratic musings because they do a poor job of informing an audience about the merits or faults of a game.

I generally agree with Margalis that "good games writing" doesn't have to take this particular tack, but maybe it's the most fashionable way to do it at the moment.
 
P

PaulLFC

Member
Eurogamer and RPS are great. NowGamer also used to post lots of articles from their magazines like GamesTM and Retro Gamer, which were fantastic to read, especially the Making Of... articles focussing on retro games. They don't do that as much any more and are more a general gaming website now, which is a shame. The magazine articles were something that made them stand out.
 
W

WrenchNinja

Member
That Pokemon review was pretty bad, didn't really tell me much of anything. So there's a new mini game that they like more than the last one and some small new additions that the review doesn't go into detail with and that warrants a 9? Oooookay.
 
M

Margalis

Banned
The reason I wanted to play L.A. Noire with my game-hating, beard-doubting dad, though, wasn't just to show him how different games could be to the vision of them that he had in his head.
Click to expand...

I’m sure we’ve all fought in some way to get our significant others to see games the same way we do.
Click to expand...

See, when I read stuff like this it's hard to avoid the feeling that these guys are a bit insecure about their profession and are combating that by writing pieces that make video games seem important to the human experience, family life, interpersonal communication, etc.

Not that video games can't be important in that way - they can be. But that seems to be the go-to approach for people to be "serious" game writers and strikes me as a bit of a crutch.

What games writing really needs is more competently executed previews, reviews, news, interviews and critiques/analysis. Longer form or more human interest (for lack of a better term) stuff is fine but get the basics right please!
 
Auto_aim1

Auto_aim1

MeisaMcCaffrey
excaliburps said:
No idea why this happens as this is the basic when it comes to posting news and is generally taught to give the site that found the news the proper credit.
Click to expand...
Because they didn't find the news on the source site. That's what (Via) is for. It is a proper crediting practice.
 
F

F#A#Oo

Banned
ScreenSplitter said:
All are good examples, but I'm inclined to dislike Edge. Every time I read their stuff, it just seems beyond pretentious.
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Edge is a specialists magazine. It's the closest thing to the inner workings of the industry but they also give monthly/yearly up-dates on where the best places are to get in the industry and job listing present and future.

You're probably upset about the reviews but they make up less than 10% of the magazine. The side interviews are very Iwata Asks-esque.
 
S

Shiloa

Member
Anyone who says Edge reviews are good is crazy. As a long time reader (10+ years), the quality has plummeted. HOWEVER the articles and contributions tend to be incredibly well-written. I love the various features they've been doing lately, with a focus on gaming topics each month.
 
Y

Yagharek

Member
F#A#Oo said:
Edge is a specialists magazine. It's the closest thing to the inner workings of the industry but they also give monthly/yearly up-dates on where the best places are to get in the industry and job listing present and future.

You're probably upset about the reviews but they make up less than 10% of the magazine. The side interviews are very Iwata Asks-esque.
Click to expand...

Edge isnt worth buying though, seeing as 90% of the content is online now. Granted that's a different issue to the quality of writing, but it does contribute to a general decrease in standing of the magazine.
 
P

pelican

Member
This has nothing to do with European Gaming Journalism.

Eurogamer, Edge, Games TM and RPS are all British. Thanks.
 
Z

Zia

Member
ShockingAlberto said:
Eurogamer got put on GAF's List of Sites That Don't Matter late last year.
Click to expand...

Probably because they awarded some Sony game an 8/10.

Thanks for the round-up, OP. Donlan is a great writer, and if you're interested in something really casual I'd encourage folks to check out hookshotinc.com. They're kinda-of, sort-of framing it as a RPS for games under $15. It's been pretty interesting so far, especially considering it's obviously still a side project at the moment.
 
S

SteveWD40

Member
RPS > Edge >>>> Eurogamer >>>>>>>>>>> anything else from anywhere.

For some reason, UK game journalism seems to be really good, we don't make many games but we must be very verbose about playing them.

Oh I also think Totalbiscuit is good for PC gaming content on Youtube, if you ignore his blatant elitism / PC master race attitude seeping through.
 
L

Larsen B

Member
More Fun To Compute said:
You say "Europe" as if you are pulling from a wide selection of talent then list places that all pull from the same small pool of English journalists.
Click to expand...

This is where you should post an article from another European source.

I am ignorant to mainland Europe's games writing through lack of exposure but would gladly read good stuff.
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
Apart from when I'm looking for Japanese news, pretty much the only sites/mags that I feel actually hold any weight come from the uk.

Metro Gamcentral is my favourite, carrying on digi's reputation for not messing around when it comes to reviews, and has fantastic interviews. Eurogamer, gamestm & retrogamer are good reads, and I also read edge every now and then, although less then before now biffo no longers does a column there.
 
G

glimmerman

Member
GamesTM has pretty much replaced Edge for me.
Articles are better, plus I really gained respect for them after the article where they did an interview with the Yakuza producer Toshihiro Nagoshi... and slated him for being an asshat. (issue 72 iirc). None of your American style "how awesome is your game?" interviewing there.

Check it out on Zinio if you can't get a physical copy, or cant afford the space for all that pulped wood at home... :)
 
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