Over at GameSetWatch there’s an article today from game designer Brice Morrison, who takes a look at the Wii and its successes and failures. It’s the second of a two part series. The first part focused on what the Wii did right, and the second part takes it to task for its shortcomings. The initial article is your typical pro-Wii fare you’ve read before, but the second piece is more evocative.

From the article:

I remember teaching my cousin how to play Wii Tennis, and when he went to serve the ball, he lifted his left hand, the one not holding the Wii remote, to toss. At that moment, he didn’t understand how the Wii worked.

All he knew was that it was some sort of magical machine that mimicked your real life movements. It was a joyous occasion and a incredible exploratory experience.

But the innocence did not last long. Upon further experimentation, he learned how the controller worked, discovering that a quick snap of the wrist gave the same forehand as a loopy swing of his whole upper body. As the initial amazement wore off, Wii Tennis became simply another video game.

When the public imagined what was possible with the Wii, we imagined complete, full-on physical experiences akin to backyard football. Perhaps, we thought, you may even get a little bruised up in a game on the Wii, playing with competitive friends.

The article should be of interest to any readers looking for a designer’s point of view on the most influential games console in some time.

Source: GameSetWatch

In a sobering update today, we feel compelled - despite going outside our normal subject of choice - to keep those who read our previous story on missing gamer Brandon Crisp up to speed. It seems the police have decided to end their search for the runaway 15 year old after roughly two weeks of searching.

We’ve exhausted our search in the area. We’re going to look through our tips and make a determination of where else to look… We didn’t find [Brandon] and that means there’s a potential likelihood that he’s hiding out. We don’t want to assume anything at this point because he could be anywhere.

No foul play has been suspected yet. He just basically vanished.

Microsoft Canada is still cooperating with authorities to enable police to search the contents of the teen’s Xbox 360 hard drive and details of his Xbox Live account.

We’ll keep you updated.

Source: GamePolitics

Rob Fahey over at GamesIndustry.biz recently dropped a piece examining the state of games festivals, specifically decrying the fact that these conventions are typically industry-only events that don’t speak to consumers, representing a failure by the industry to grow up and look outside of itself. He lists some exceptions to the rule (PAX, TGS), but goes on to say the following:

In many ways, though, this is still the industry which thought that it was fine to occupy the LA Convention Center with multi-million dollar stands for a week, and not let any consumers in unless they blagged it. It’s the industry which is happy to let intermediaries handle that whole tricky business of product sampling - for years, largely the preserve of magazine coverdiscs and pods in specialist retail stores. You’d think the interactive entertainment industry would be better at, well, interacting.

Fahey believes some relief may be on the horizon however, largely in the form of the London Games Festival, which he discussed at length. Fahey thinks there is high potential as the show evolves for consumer targeting that may help the industry get away from “talking to itself”.

If anything, following the implosion of E3 - and faced with the amazing expansion of the industry’s demographic reach and the corresponding opportunity to win genuine legitimacy with the public at large - London finds itself in a position to define the model for gaming events of the future.

Organisers of various other arts and culture focused festivals learned a long time ago that if you host a concentrated event in an exhibition centre, it attracts a small but dedicated hardcore audience - leaving you preaching to the converted, little more. If, however, you overspill the convention centre and instead trickle your events and installations into the city’s public spaces and across a broader calendar, you’ve suddenly got a festival on your hands - supported by local government and attracting interest and attention from people and media outlets who would never have dreamed of going to an expo at ExCeL or Earl’s Court.

Full article here.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Kyle Orland over at Crispy Gamer drops his latest installment in his Press Pass column, in which he rounds up comments from games journalists who discuss their feelings on the impact pre-release hype has on review scores for blockbuster and heavily promoted titles.

The general consensus is that pre-release hype does affect game review scores, with some games affected negatively by intense hype (some journalists noted that they felt Spore was taken to task for not living up to everything Will Wright claimed), while other titles are beneficiaries of their pre-release hype, perhaps unjustly (Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV were given as recent examples). Also, one journalist expressed objection to the way hype forces reviewers to give huge amounts of coverage to games they believe are not worthy.

“I object to big marketing campaigns because they effectively tell us what to cover in the first place,” said game blogger Rachel Webster. “If enough money backs a title, and if the fans and publicity force it onto our radar, then we have to review it prominently, even if it’s Too Human. … The press should always have the power to ignore. Even when we deal with blockbusters.”

What I personally found most interesting was a detail contained but not discussed within the column. Note the following excerpt:

Another game journalist, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his relationship with Rockstar, called the company’s crime simulator the “one shameless, ultimate example of hype influencing review scores … Virtually every publication — print and online — rubber-stamped GTA IV with a perfect score, and once the dust settled, it became increasingly clear that GTA IV was actually fairly disappointing.”

Isn’t that a shame? A journalist who feels compelled to remain anonymous when negatively speaking his/her mind on a game - even long after its release - because of developer pressure and the possibility of being blacklisted. And if you’re a frequent reader here, you’ll know that blacklisting does indeed occur.

Read the full article here.

Source: Crispy Gamer

Allow us to become Lost Gamer Watch here for a minute, for the sake of missing young gamer Brandon Crisp.

The 15 year old youth recently disappeared from his home near Toronto on October 13th, following a bike ride to what he told his mother would be nearby Oro-Medonte Township. Since then, Brandon has not shown up, and his bike was found 8 km northeast of his home. The details surrounding the story are that Brandon was a big Xbox Live fan, and his Xbox 360 was recently confiscated - apparently permanently - by his father as a disciplinary measure.

Now, officials are relying on an analysis of his Xbox Live hard drive in the hopes that it may yield revealing information about the teen’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, GamePolitics is of course keeping readers up to date on the story, shedding needed publicity on the event and also engaging in some thoughtful and well-written journalism on the possibilities of young Crisp’s whereabouts. To view their detailed breakdown concerning the many possibilities of Brandon’s situation, which we found intelligent and pretty in-depth, click here.

And on the off chance you have any information to share regarding Brandon Crisp, please contact the Barrie Police Service at (705) 725-7025. A reward of $50,000 is available.

Source: GamePolitics

The efforts of Shoe and Crispin over at Sore Thumbs has been well documented here at the Watch, but now their readers are getting in on the action over there, too. The blog is posting “Reader Perspectives” from their fans, whether they be Joe Gamer or members of the press.

Here’s an excerpt from one such Perspective:

I think it’s safe to assume and Shoe and Crispin are getting some sense of personal satisfaction out of their blog. They should feel good; they’re asking people to actively think and question the world around them. What they’re doing on their blog is real journalism: giving people facts with minimal bias so that the reader can make the final judgment. In a world where media is constantly trying to tell you what to think, I want to be part of a different breed of writers.

The above is notable because it seems the journalist has been inspired in part by Sore Thumbs to reevaluate the way the industry works, how the media interacts with and influences consumers, and how that reader personally conducts themselves within the business. It’s good to see responses of this nature, and it’s demonstrative of a maturation of the minds of game consumers.

Head on over to read the first three Reader Perspectives in full. Perhaps Shoe and Crispin have been challenging how you think, too?

Source: Sore Thumbs blog

We really should start thanking Dan Hsu personally, because his and Crispin Boyer’s Sore Thumbs blog either directly or indirectly accounts for a big ‘ole chunk of the publisher/press relations dirt we cover these days. This time, it’s an indirect occurrence courtesy of the happy-go-lucky inebriated party throwers over at Tecmo. And by happy-go-lucky inebriated party throwers, we mean the management.

At a post-TGS party, a wine swilling John Inada took the stage to address members of the press, and at one point joked about one of Hsu’s recent write ups at Sore Thumbs, in which he mentioned that Tecmo was known to pamper press, particularly with the company (not sexual, mind you) of pretty women. Inada none-too-subtly addressed this:

If you don’t know who I am, then you probably haven’t accepted one of my gifts, as they’re called by some guy named after something I put on my stinky feet.

None too long following this outburst, Yoh Watanabe of Tecmo got up and addressed those gathered on the same subject, jovially proclaiming:

Tecmo has been accused of plying the media with booze and girls. Well, it’s true!

At this point or shortly thereafter, provocatively dressed Tecmo cheerleaders took the stage and danced about. But hey, at least Tecmo is being up front and honest about all this, right?

Below is an excerpt of what Hsu originally wrote, for reference:

Editors fly to Japan fairly regularly to visit Japanese game studios. And those studios and their respective publishers will usually entertain these editors — dinner, drinks…the usual. But I guess flying into strange, alien lands deserves high-end hospitality, so Tecmo in the past has treated their American journalist guests to evenings out at Japanese hostess bars, watering holes where women are paid to keep customers company (not necessarily in a “me so horny!” way…it’s more of a “let me keep filling your drinks and you are so funny and handsome and wonderful and let me hang on to your every word!” male-insecurities-nuking thing). Maybe that in itself is nothing shocking, but this part might be: Tecmo has literally spent thousands of dollars giving a very small handful of American editors some lady companionship for one night. Thousands. That’s some pricey conversating.

Is Tecmo’s reaction to Hsu’s words hilarious? Pretty much, sure. Is it open and honest? Definitely. Does this honesty provide an important level of transparency that is helpful, versus denying that such perks exist for journalists? Again, yes. But is the clear lack of understanding that such perks are a problem, or at least a clear lack of giving a dang, worrisome? Very.

Now that it’s all out there, readers and consumers can decide on what exactly this all means to them. While they’re doing this, they can also sate their curiosity by checking out a gallery of the speakers and the cheerleaders here.

Source: Joystiq, Sore Thumbs

Games review site GameCritics has contacted VGMWatch to inform us of modifications to their reviews structure that reflect their concerns over the state of the games industry in the wake of such highly-publicized debacles as Gerstmann-gate. The site will now include a disclosure concerning the origin of the review copy they received and the nature in which they received it, and how many hours were spent experiencing each game mode.

After GerstmannGate and in light of other questionable business practices in the video game industry brought to the forefront by Video Game Media Watch, the Sore Thumbs blog and others, we felt strongly that more transparency was needed and having additional disclosures is a step in the right direction towards restoring reader confidence. In short, we want to be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem.

As you can see, they were kind enough to cite us, but we’re just glad the media is taking notice of industry issues that have been highlighted of late, and acting to make a positive difference in their coverage. Whether it’s the Watch, Shoe and Crispin over at Sore Thumbs, or an irate anonymous account holder posting comments on a random site on the web, hopefully awareness will continue to be raised and others will follow in the footsteps of GameCritics, no matter how modest or simple the effort.

Source: GameCritics

Over the weekend Dan Hsu at Sore Thumbs blog delivered his promised Part 5 of Behind the Scenes: Gaming Journalism. All five parts thus far have been good looks into what’s going on concerning press/publisher relations in the games industry, and this latest continues the trend of some swell revealing tidbits and accompanying thought provoking considerations about how journalists should conduct themselves, and what constitutes “crossing the line” of professionalism.

In this edition of the series Shoe speaks again on press perks provided by publishers…. specifically how journalists are often treated to delights such as Super Bowl tickets and baseball game invitations, all of which bring pitfalls for the discerning writer. Shoe hearkens back to an event some time ago as he and other journalists were on their way to a baseball game, courtesy of Sony:

On the ride there, however, I did observe something that bugs me to this day. All of us guests were in a van on the way to the game, and one out-of-state editor yelled out to the Sony PR guy up front, “Hey, when are you going to come out to ___________ and take us out to a ___________ game?” (I had to leave out the city and name of the baseball team out because then you’d know exactly who’s in this story.)

Here was this editor who just outright asked Sony to treat them to a baseball game…in front of a bunch of his peers, no less. Was this just accepted behavior in my industry? But then again, who am I to judge? I did accept an invitation to a free baseball game myself.

The article reveals a couple of additional problems like the above, but Part 5 culminates in a quick list designed to steer aspiring and current journalists away from the Dark Side of press/publisher relations.

Highly recommended - full article here.

Source: Sore Thumbs

We’ve featured Rob Fahey’s work over at Gamesindustry.biz more than a couple times, largely because he tends to provide timely pieces that reflect on the games industry and the outside forces working upon it. His article “Recessive Traits” today is more poignant and timely than ever, as it examines a very real and current problem and its potential effect on the industry: the economic crisis.

In the news the last week in America we’ve heard mentions of “Great Depression” and “worst economic crisis since World War II”, and with this in mind Fahey looks at the long held belief of the “recession proof” games industry and why that perception may be shattered. First, he outlines the two factors that have likely protected the industry in the past.

Two factors influence this. Firstly, this sector has a very healthy basic growth figure, which is created by the rapidly growing demographic of videogame consumers. The industry’s ability to broaden its appeal has always, thus far, outpaced any contraction in consumer spending.

Secondly, interactive entertainment - although a relatively expensive pastime in terms of initial outlay - can actually be a very cheap form of entertainment in cost-per-hour terms. As belts are tightened, consumers tend to cut down on expensive, out-of-home types of entertainment first. With consumers staying in more often, videogames - which can offer weeks of entertainment for a USD 50 outlay - are an appealing option.

All this said, Fahey believes the times are a-changin’ and cites that both the huge size of the current games industry and the recent focus on the casual gamer market are new developments that may threaten that hallowed “recession proof” status that the industry has so enjoyed for so long. In fact, Fahey posits that an industry recession has always been inevitable, the only question was “when?”. Apparently, sooner rather than later, if his words are to be believed.

To get the full rundown on the main points against a perpetually recession proof games industry, as well as what it may have in common with the alcohol industry, click here.

Source: Gamesindustry.biz