The Future of News and Reviews - Social Journalism....

[Shane R. Monroe]

This thread turned into something very useful.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/11546170...ts/j9EspseWPtc

When it comes to a close, I'll try to remember to paste it all here.

[NE146]

"This post could not be found.

Your URL may be incorrect, the post may have been deleted, or this account may not have access to the post."

[Shane R. Monroe]

CRAP ... someone else must've started it. here we go...


Chris Hentschel

7:11 AM - Limited

About FREAKING time!

[IMG]https://images1-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http://images.nintendolife.com/news/2012/06/heroes_of_ruin_demo_hits_north_america_next_week/attachment/0/medium.jpg&container=focus&gadget=a&rewriteMime=im age/*&refresh=31536000&resize_h=150&resize_w=150&no_ex pand=1[/IMG][IMG]https://images1-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http://images.nintendolife.com/news/2012/06/heroes_of_ruin_demo_hits_north_america_next_week/attachment/0/medium.jpg&container=focus&gadget=a&rewriteMime=im age/*&refresh=31536000&resize_h=150&resize_w=150&no_ex pand=1[/IMG]
Heroes of Ruin Demo Hits North America Next Week - 3DS News @ Nintendo Life »North American 3DS owners can try out upcoming action adventure Heroes of Ruin with a free demo on 5th July. The trial wil...

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21 comments

Alex J. Lopez7:16 AM
Sweet!



Shane Monroe8:02 AMEditHELLS .. YES



Matt Rau9:19 AMVery nice!!!



Kevin McMinn11:15 AMI'd love to know why this games receives such a mediocre grade on Metacritic.



Shane Monroe11:19 AMEdit+2
Let me assist you there:

1) There are not 30 minutes cut scenes to establish an Avatar-like story before you get to play.

2) The script for the story of the game fits on a 3x5" index card. Games can't just be fun anymore. There HAS to be a J.K. Rowlings novel behind each and every one or it "sucks".

3) You either LOVE hack and slash - or you don't. By definition, hack and slash are grinding games. Wash, rinse, repeat. Grinding games don't have a big audience anymore - namely because of #1 and #2 above.

4) It isn't on PSVita, PSP, Xbox or PS3. It would get the same shitty scores on Wii, too. Anything on 3DS/Wii that hails from a "proper console" is given the finger on Nintendo devices.

I'm sure I can come up with more ... but that's a good start.



Kevin McMinn11:21 AM
So, what you're saying, +Shane Monroe, is that Metacric are bias?



Ian Haupert11:29 AM+1

Shane nails it. The major review sites are playing to a very small, defined crowd, or have very small, limited tastes in game genres themselves.

Add in the fact that Nintendo systems often prioritize interesting new features and the entire gameplay experience over just making a powerhouse, and what you end up with are systems that make these people feel uncomfortable or uninterested.

Those are, of course, incredibly stupid and self-denying stances for any gamer to take, let alone a professional reviewer, but that's the state of videogame journalism on major sites.



Kevin McMinn11:31 AM
So what would you guys say is a reputable site, for unbiased views on general gaming?



Ian Haupert11:37 AM (edited)
I would really, really like to say that I could give you one. That the state of modern games journalism wasn't this bad. But it is.

You're best off going with smaller sites. Lots of passionate, honest gamers run these things, and it's great. Hats off to your NintendoNerds and Shane's ReviewLagoon.



Shane Monroe11:37 AMEdit+2

Metacritic is flawed for so many reasons - a lot of what +Ian Haupert has pointed out.

Consider the following:

"Professional" gaming journalism - on a whole - sucks. We could go into the hows and whys of that, but I think most people agree that "big site" journalism is off ... A LOT. Aggregated scores from THESE sources are a big chunk of Metacritic's algorithm.

Who else contributes? We all know it's COMMON knowledge that people don't speak up when they LIKE something or are HAPPY .. they only come forward, be heard , when they are pissed or UNHAPPY with something. That adds even MORE "bad press" to the algorithm of games on Metacritic. Gamers are ESPECIALLY bad about this.

Gamers are also the biggest fan boys around - loyal to a system or a genre. That gives them less of a valid, objective opinion.

So now, the two biggest audiences of Metacritic's algorithm of scoring are either borderline incompetent or disgruntled gamers. Great. Scores you can trust.

We've been talking about this for years now ... Myself, +Chris Hentschel and others have been complaining about this for some time. Frankly, I wouldn't give Metacritic the steam off my feces - and I'm not going to waste MY review time and input to try and "overturn" the debauchery involved with their scoring system. I'd rather turn my attention to my own Review Site - even if I can't get the coverage and "press" that tripe like Metacritic gets - at least if someone stumbles upon my reviews and thoughts - they get the other side of the coin.



Kevin McMinn11:40 AM
Excellent, +Shane Monroe and +Ian Haupert. Thanks guys. I never knew...



Shane Monroe11:44 AMEdit+2

In a direct answer to your question - there really ISN'T a location. Honestly, you're in the best place possible; social news aggregation.

Why?

Google+ is great because you're already consuming information from similar, like minded people - not a load of people that you hit "ADD FRIEND" for. You have already roped in the demographics that are MOST LIKELY to be like minded.

Now what you need .. a source; be it a PERSON or ORGANIZATION that you line up with. Notice I, personally, tend to only review things favorably? Or things I like? You aren't getting me to review Halo xxx. Why? It isn't my genre. It isn't my taste and it isn't an IP I care about. Despite how much you might "like" me or "appreciate my opinion" or AGREE with ALL my other reviews - the fact that I am shoved into reviewing a product I have ZERO love and passion about - not even liking the IP? How accurate of a review - that might align with your personal tastes - are you going to get?

Exactly.

You can't just give journalists a "beat" of "3DS" or "360" or "Android" - and expect that person to give games or genres of games they hate a true, honest review that would be useful to fans of that type of game.

You can't get someone that plays and loves space marine shooters on Xbox 360 to write a fair and honest review of WarGames on an Android Tablet.

That's why Socialist Journalism and things like Google+ make the perfect tool for finding what you need. This socialist journalism is in it's infancy. CNN has been trying to get it to take off for years without success. But I think it could really work in gaming - if done right.



Kevin McMinn11:47 AM+1

These "review" sites are starting to sound more and more like franchise restaurants: quantity, over quality. I think I'll just stick to the holes in the walls. 



Ian Haupert11:55 AM+1

Good analogy, Kevin.

I also agree immensely with Shane (I seem to be doing that a lot today) about community and fellow gamers being the best resource for reviews. An intelligent conversation between multiple gamers can deconstruct why a game might be fun, or not for you, far more efficiently than a single review can. This has pretty much been my approach to game purchases for the last six years, and it's served me exceedingly well.



Kevin McMinn11:57 AM
Thank you, sir. I always learn a lot from everyone here.



Chris Hentschel11:59 AM
+Kevin McMinn just ask us, we'll set you straight. You don't need no stinkin sites, just people who share a similar mindset.



Kevin McMinn12:01 PM (edited)
Understood, +Chris Hentschel, but I wasn't relying on Metacritic for anything; was merely trying to figure out where their scores derived from.



Ian Haupert12:04 PM+1

Yeah, Kevin, I love this particular community. Probably never would have bothered to check out Order Up and Lego Batman if it wasn't for you guys.



Chris Hentschel1:19 PM+Kevin McMinn derived from? Easy. Psychotics.



Kevin McMinn1:24 PM...as already elaborated on by +Shane Monroe and +Ian Haupert. 



Shane Monroe1:26 PMEdit+1
- Reply
You're tardy to the party pal. Ian and I handled this