Who Reviews the Reviewers?
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/28/11 at 11:18 PM CT
Critics have always served as curators of culture, passing judgment on what has value and what has none. Yet in the environment of Web 2.0, everyone with a connection to the Internet has suddenly been empowered with this capability that was once limited to the connected and elite few. Sites like FilmCrave and MeltedJoystick are built upon this new paradigm and retail outlets like Amazon are relying more and more on customer input, in which mobs of users are free to share their own personal opinions to build-up or tear-down a product or piece of media, almost like a form of vigilantism. While ‘professional’ critics still exist, they are becoming less and less relevant, drowned-out in the ocean of other voices shouting opinions. To paraphrase Juvenal, “Who reviews the reviewers?”
Professional game reviewers have always battled off-and-on with a perception of corruption – that they receive free, early copies of games in exchange for favorable reviews. I have seen …
Terms of Enmity
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/21/11 at 04:07 PM CT
Any hobby that has been around as long as videogaming has is bound to accumulate a layer of jargon. Jargon is useful, as it allows the initiated to express complex concepts in few words. However, in my many travels across the vast intellectual wasteland of Internet gaming forums, I have come across several terms that grate on me with their utter lack of meaning.
1. “AAA”
I see this term bandied-around constantly about whatever newest, most over-hyped release is just around the corner. WTF does this even mean?! AAA… like the United States’ credit rating? Oh, nope, not anymore! Most of the time, games designated as ‘AAA’ are those with massive budgets for ‘realistic’ graphics and enough marketing to tell everyone in the developed world just how realistic those graphics are. Really, ‘AAA’ seems to be synonymous with the ‘summer blockbusters’ of the movie world, in that they’re all hype, no substance, have huge budgets, make a lot of money, and are forgotten …
5 Game Series Being Killed by Lack of Innovation
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/14/11 at 09:08 PM CT
Crafting an ongoing game franchise requires a delicate balance between conforming to the core elements of the first title in the series, incremental gameplay improvements, and subtle innovation. Straying too far from a franchise’s roots can alienate fans and risks losing touch with what made the original game popular in the first place. But being too conservative is fraught with risk as well. So here’s a list of 5 franchises that I used to enjoy, but have stopped caring about because the sequels have become more and more like blurry photocopies of the original.
5. Pokemon
This series started out with a lot of ingenuity: A turn-based RPG that focuses on one-on-one battles, local multi-player, and collectable characters. The first game, “Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow,” was pretty broken, as some of the Pokemon types had a huge advantage and no real weakness (Psychic) while others served as nothing but a burden, making a huge swath of the character roster worthless (Poison). These …
WTF is Wrong with You, Japan?
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/07/11 at 05:16 PM CT
Dear Japan,
We’ve been friends for a long time. Ever since we met back in the 1980s, I was impressed by your quirky sense of humor and ability to come up with strange ideas that ultimately ended up being very entertaining. Sure, you were weird, but your weirdness was what made you unique.
But now, things have changed. I should have suspected it all along, but we were having such good times that I just went along with it and didn’t say anything. Now it seems obvious to me that something was wrong the entire time we’ve known each other, and you’ve been walking closer and closer to the precipice as the years have passed.
Japan, you have a problem, and this is an intervention.
I know you’ve had it rough lately with the economy. We all have. But the fact that your youth population is shrinking and what few youth you do have are straying down the paths of NEET, Hikikomori, Otaku, and Herbivores doesn’t mean you should embrace those negative aspects of your …
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