exploring game journalism

When I come across something with a title like "the problems with game journalism," I have to stop by and at least skim the content. It's always nice to know what's wrong with you and profession. (And as a journalist, you get that a lot... just about every one of my non-journalism classes finds a way to discredit the media... yes, even my Japanese class. But in some aspects, the news industry does deserve a bit of it)

The editorial I came across was on the Advanced Media Network, written by Michael Kelly:

Mainly that games journalism, in its current state, is largely a shill for moving product. It's either an industry that is so reliant on staying in the good graces of publishers that they sacrifice journalistic integrity, or phlegmatic enough that it is an unwitting branch of a publisher's PR.

This is true. I've seen it happen many times.

Until there exists a core of reviewers and publications that are consistently accurate and unswayed by their relationship to large publishers, there won't be any objective way to determine quality games. If gaming journalism stays reliant on the good graces of publishers, that will likely never happen.

I only wish I could rely on such "good graces." I know this is a double-edged buster sword. As a small blog, I haven't even merited any publisher's attention. Free games probably won't come my way for a long while, if ever. So for now, I have to pay $30-$50 per game to review. Not a cheap price for a non-profit blog. But let's step away from the "woe-be-me"s and look at how these costs may impact other publishers.

Then this got me thinking... what are the costs for giant video game magazines? Given their current popularity, ow much would their profits hurt if they had to pay for their own games? Granted, this isn't a very profound thought, but up until this point in my explorations of game journalism, I'd seen most of the American gaming mags, read over the disgusting "I'm a 13-year-old fanboy who likes to cuss because it's cool" attitude that pervades all of them. So I moved on, scavenging for my news/previews on the Internet, which isn't much better, but, hey, it's the Internet--it's supposed to be a wild'n'crazeh warzone.

I plan on looking into this more, so this is by no means the final word on this post. I'm gonna start with finding what company owns what magazine, and take it from there, keep the post as a reference for myself and any other person who's got an interest in game journalism:

EGM: Ziif Davis Media
IGN: Fox Interactive Media
GamePro: IDG Entertainment
Game Informer Magazine: Sunrise Publications [*couldn't find a link]
Nintendo Power: Future US/Nintendo
Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer, Playstation the Official Magazine: Future US
Edge (a UK gaming mag; my personal favorite): Future US
Hardcore Gamer Magazine: DoubleJump Publishing, Inc

If anyone has any tips, advice or working knowledge about the evolution process that is game journalism right now, let me know. E-mail or comment please :D

Wow, what a total 180 from how this post started. XD