February 2006

I wrote about video game journalism at length some time ago, but a few thing have happened since, so maybe its time for a revisit…

Job mentioned something in the comments section of yesterday’s post which I feel warrants elaboration. As I’ve stated in the past numerous times, one of the main purposes of this blog is to help spread information. Primarily things related to video games, everything from stuff that’s in the headlines, to stuff that’s below the radar. Basically, anything which I think is particularly interesting or just fucking cool, and my aim is to present it either friends of mine whom I think might find such information interesting, or to just spread the word to the rest of the world. And maybe for the folks who are “in the know”, I guess its a chance for them to hear my opinions on them and perhaps foster dialogue. But for everyone, I guess I just want to save everyone the time and energy of looking for such things by doing it for them.

Does that make me a news source? I guess…. but its not like I’m some news bureau or something. But as we’ve all seen, and not just in video games, the lines between actual new reporting, primarily online, and blogging is starting to blur. Sticking with games (and who knows if this also applies for everything else… a part of me wants to say yes), for the most part “real” news sites like IGN, Gamespot, and 1UP have writers who go out and scope the news, either by going to places, talking to people, or having their ears on “the street”. And in this case, the streets are often message boards. And perhaps the most well known of them all is… you guessed it… the GAF, or Gaming Age Forum.

So what the hell is GAF? Its a video game message board. And what’s so special about it? Well, it seems to be the place for video game discussion. You can seriously find anything and everything there is to know there; not only is news at is reported by the bigger sites dissected, but you can find import coverage (there’s quite a few members who are fluent in Japanese), sales figures, analysis, speculation, debates, and best of all, folks who manage to find the craziest stuff from seemingly out of no where. Often its from other, perhaps lesser known message boards. Video game news, as is all news, is extremely fluid, and as I see it, there’s a need within anyone who’s a fan of something to get pass the world to as many people as possible.

And who exactly goes to this thing? Lots of folks. Mostly whose who are really big fans of video games, i.e. “gamers”. You have everyone from casuals, to fanatical, obsessive diehards, but there’s plenty of working professionals as well, such as other game journalists and even designers, who all use the GAF as a place to seek feedback. Like many online communities, certain relationships can often be formed; I’ve made a few even friends via the GAF, and have even managed to get paid work by impressing editors with what I had written. And like many online communities, the GAF has its cast of characters. Some are simply very passionate about their beliefs and opinions, and when stating them, get into arguments with others who are the same way but disagree, while others just say stuff to get a reaction, whether it be intentionally funny, or intentionally antagonistic. There are people who find message boards a means to get information or help, and a fun distraction. But there are others who take it seriously, often too much so.

I’m not exactly uncovering secrets by stating that the internet breeds crazy people. Having learned while living in New York City, that these days, the one thing people crave more than anything else is attention. And the internet allow people who feel lonely and disenfranchised folks to feel a sense of belonging. Which is great and all, but it?s helped to spur some rather bizarre subcultures. How else can things like furries become as big as they have. I’m certain that guy in Topeka, Kansas who always wondered why it might be like to dress up as a sexy raccoon might have finally gotten that extra push when he realized that were folks just like him all over the world, thanks to the world wide web. For many, the internet fills an emotional void in their lives, and it seems to be the case most certainly with video game fans. As mentioned previously, being a video game aficionado is ultimately frustrating. Because most folks, if they really love something, will want to create something of their own. Someone who really like comics or movies can always simply draw or get a camera, but its not as easy when it comes to video games. Its very hard to create games, and requires a lot of specialize skill (and more than just one). So fan of games will often converse with each other, with a certain underlying level of frustration. Hence why there is a lot of crazy people at gaming message boards.

Anyway, back to journalism, it used to be that gaming news sites often got the “good stuff” from message boards, but now there’s a new source: blogs. A place where people who pontificate on whatever they wish, and on their own personal forum. Hey, just like I do! Often it?s on something that’s caught their attention, like the current events, or things which they feel others should know about. Again, just like myself. And because they can be a good source of news, the major outlets are paying attention to them, and re-reporting this. But often, the original news was found somewhere else, like a message board, which is actually re-reporting something from another message board, or new site. Basically, it all gets quite messy, and figuring out the original source is often quite impossible. But that’s the way it goes. Most people who recognize this quietly understand it all. The internet is this massive gold mine, and everyone’s harvesting it for the goods. There’s a certain sense of bragging rights that comes from “finding something.” Which leads to a dick waving contest of who find something first, and/or lay down bragging right as the person who “found it.” This of course is fucking ridiculous because then you have people fighting over “ownership” over something which they didn’t even just create.

Which I guess brings me up to this, since I believe enough time has passed for me to talk about it (its no longer embarrassing and is not something I can look back and laugh): recently, someone of the GAF accused me of plagiarizing. Its a long messy story, but I’ll try to keep it simple: recently it was discovered that 1UP had published a strategy guide for Dead or Alive 4 in which the author actually stole the information from another source. This of course sent everyone in the GAF into a tizzy, including one person. Let’s call him Person X. Now Person X was just like many other GAFfers, a young guy, in his early 20′s, went to school, and wasn?t just into games, but into talking about them, primarily on the GAF. And he was most definitely a GAF personality; Person X would start many topics, and participate in many others. Like many members, he was quite opinionated, and what he would say (and the frequency in which he said things) made him noticeable, and not everyone liked him. But hey, whatever, everyone needs a hobby. Anyway, over time, Person X contacted me, I believe to discuss something I had said which he had found agreeable. Over time I discovered that he was just an ordinary fellow; most people seem to forget that seemingly esoteric or hotheaded folks online are just regular folks that use the anonymity to sometimes act peculiar. But in the end, I would like to think, they’re just nice, and normal people, like you and me.

One opinion which Person X stood by quite vocally was that video game journalism, as a profession, was bullshit. As stated in the past, it does have a bad reputation, and for good reason. But there are people who wish to see things improve, and perhaps one day gain some respectability, such as myself. And Person X thought this was equally foolish. And that’s okay I guess… everyone’s entitled to their opinions. Then out of the blue, Person X began reviewing games. An odd turn, considering how he felt that it was such a pointless waste of time, yet he developed a real zest for it. He even developed a shtick of sorts, in which he exclusively reviewed bad games. In them he would spend much time ripping it apart, often for comedic purposes. Now, I personally am not a fan of this… when people ask for advice on how to write a game review, I always suggest that the reviewer not go out of his or her way to “talk trash” about a bad game. A few jokes at it’s expense here and there is fine, but often reviewers take things too far, and it then becomes some bad Dennis Miller impression. But hey, to each their own… if that’s what Person X was going for (its a gimmick, but one that can be marketable when done right), more power to him. Plus he was starting out, and we all write pretty shitty in the beginning. Hence why I never said anything, even when he would instant message me some zinger of his to gauge my reaction (I tended to not really say anything and simply try and chance the subject). At least one time I wondered why he had given certain game reviewers a hard time towards their review style (which he articulated as being “too bloggy”) and then turns around to do the same thing himself. To that, he responded that he ultimately doesn’t care and is only in it for the free games. Needless to say, given that I actually care about the field of journalism, this bothered me. But I tried not thinking about it. Besides the frequency in which I spoke to X has changed over time, and since I don’t spend that much time online anyway, we stopped talking after awhile.

Anyway, back to the DOA4 controversy… as people were dog-piling 1UP, Person X decided to bring my name up. He brought up the fact that I had once said some rather not so nice things about 1UP. And its true: a long whiles back, I had a big problem with the way they were handling the whole blogging thing, and primarily how they were marketing their bloggers, primarily young female bloggers. I ended up speaking with a few, and to one in particular, I had a lengthy exchange via LiveJournal. It was something I felt pretty strongly about, but again, this was on LJ and not on the GAF. Why? Well, I’m not exactly stupid; given the types of people who frequent the GAF, I knew it would have just started some big debate that I honestly did have the energy or time for. The key to effective arguing is to pick your battles well.

But here in the middle of an argument, Person X posted something I had said, granted about the same party in question, but taken completely out of context. This took place over the weekend, a time when I choose not to surf the web. So imagine my surprise when I came across my name, totally out of the blue like this. Despite the fact that no one really said anything, and how one should never air personal grievances in public, I felt as I had to say something, since my peers were present, and I felt as if my reputation had been maligned somehow. It’s also worth noting that it this point, a few days had passed since I had brought up, and during that time he conducted “detective work” to put someone else on the hot heat: after attention was called up on the problem, the article was pulled down and the one of the site’s editor was present to address the situation; when someone who was late to the game wanted to see the offensive material in question, Person X posted a copy of the page which he had cached, which needless to say infuriated the editor (who simply wanted to get to the bottom of this himself, which is perfectly understandable). So I simply had into question Person X’s quite vocal belief that game journalism is a joke, and treating it as such when getting involved, yet how he could then turn around and call people out, especially by drudging things said in other places and from the past. Again, I maybe shouldn’t have said such things in public, but I guess I was sorta freaked by the fact that he had saved something that I wrote on some girl’s LiveJournal many months ago, for such a thing, that bothered me so. It just felt… I dunno… stalker-ish.

As expected, he did not react well, but I was surprised by what was said: Person X claimed that he was simply championing “journalistic integrity” and that I had no room to speak because I was ripping off the GAF by using it as a source for all the news and whatnot I write about on this very site! One specific point was that I had failed to cite sources, but admitted that I had “fixed” in recent time. And its true, to a certain extent: this site, and the whole culling of gaming odds and ends was originally just something for friends. So I felt no need to really bring up where I found the information at; none of them cared what the hell a GAF was then, and I suspect that most still don’t give a damn. But as time passed, and I realized that more and more strangers were reading it, and how it was also leading the other to paid work, I felt it necessary to mention the source. But then again, as stated beforehand, gaming news, like all news, flows from one place and the purpose of message boards to help this happen. Its important to cite the original author of an article on a cite, but those who find it and then post in on a message board? There’s no glory in that, hence why pursuing it is a lost (not to mention retarded) cause.

There have been occasions in which I have “reported” something, and then later on it appears as “news” for some other site, or even in the pages of EGM. Do I become upset by this? Dear God no. Sometimes I’m just happy with the knowledge that I knew about such-and-such first, as well as have friend or colleagues who know this fact. I’m not some egotist who has to let everyone know that I discovered some great internet fad, because I have better things to do. Besides, how do I really know that if EGM prints something I previously reported, that they got it from me in the first place? The web’s pretty fucking huge you know, with tons of people “discovering” the same shit at the same, or sometimes, differing times. When Steve mentioned to me a whiles back“Hey, I think Entertainment Weekly is reading your site! All the game related stuff in their hot ten list was something you’ve just written about last week!”, it felt very nice to hear, but my head’s not that big.

Plus one must consider what I consider to be “news” in the first place, which for me is letting the whole world know how cool a game in which you drive an ambulance and now down zombies can be. But then again, I guess this is all just one small example of what a clusterfuck the world of video game journalism is: what is considered news, what the sources are, and the means by which it spreads. As Job said yesterday, much of it seems to revolve around the GAF. So what does it say that most gaming news “comes” from message boards? I don’t know…. all I know is that I just don’t sit around all day typing key words into Google, hoping for something interesting to pop up, and most people are the same, regardless of their interest. We all have our sources for news, and for some, its habit that we enjoy spreading the good word. That’s really what makes my blog somewhat like an issue of EGM, or EW, or any other “news” publication I guess.

Back to the internet drama: so why exactly did Person X decide to drag me into the mud like that? Hard to say, but one guess is that it was a means to get attention. Despite when someone says “I don’t care” to a particular group, its always a sign that they actually desire gratification or approval from them. But in regards to gaming message boards, its goes back to a primary issue of video game journalism: almost anyone can do it. Hell, look at me, I was just at the right place, and at the right time. Someone who liked what I wrote was in a position to allow me to do the same but be paid for it… I didn’t have to go to school or apply for anything. It happens a lot, and it really irks some, at least those who believe that those who are making a living of it are perhaps not deserving of such a privilege. And sometimes, I can see why it can be so frustrating. But as I’ve also learned, one should never start shit online. Because not matter what you say, people will find out.

BTW, this all why I really don’t post that much at the GAF anymore. These days I tend to stick around the insert credits forum… its much nicer there.

… Oh, to Person X, or any other internet stalkers out there, if you are reading this, hi!

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- Finally got to see MK for the first time in almost two weeks. Last I saw her was the night before I flew out to Washington; since my flight was so early, we decided to stay up the whole time. So while I did some last-minute work on the computer and packed, MK played Wind Waker while cooking brownies for me to munch on in the west coast. She was also going to drive me to the airport, and wouldn’t you know, just as we hit the road, one of her tires developed a leak! Fucking Brooklyn roads, which have been slowly destroying her car ever since I’ve moved there.

… Oh, I forgot one key detail of the story about me and my dad getting the Seattle Seahawks’ cheerleaders’ autographs: another reason why I didn’t mind stick around for that about thirty minutes after they were set to appear, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were supposed to make an in-store appearance as well! But they were running late or something, so I never did catch them (I wonder if they all showed up, and if not, who? Donatello perhaps?). I’ve also yet to see a single episode of the new series, but I’ve heard from various folks that it’s pretty good…

Anyway, while I was away, MK went skiing in the Great While North, and just got back. While in Montreal, she was awesome enough to pick me up the season 4 DVD of Trailer Park Boys! As mentioned numerous times in the past, its by far the best comedy series that no one (at least Americans) has hears about. I wonder why Comedy Central hasn’t picked it up yet? Cuz if they did, it will be fucking huge I bet.

Back to yesterday: after dinner, we went to Cosmic Comics, then hit the subway, to Jeff Rovin’s for another movie night. Got on the 6 train at 23rd St, and then got off at Union Square to transfer to the 4 or 5. While waiting, MK spotted some crazy old woman who’s face was totally painted white (almost like a mime) and who was on a higher platform, waving to the subway as it passed her underneath. And she was doing it very slowly, and sad like, as if it was the dramatic end to a movie (or maybe just like a mime). Fucking bizarre. Then I turned around, and saw a guy almost fall off the platform!

Those who have been to the Union Square station might already know that for the 4/5/6 line, the platform is curved, so parts of it will move when trains arrive to allow people to get on and off. Well this guy was standing right on one such section (which is like a huge, interlocking metal grate) as it moved, just as a train arrived, so he tripped and fell, and had one leg literally trapped between a car train and the metal grate. I saw this happening and yelled out “WHOA!!!”, I guess due to the shock (it was a pretty scary scene). And I immediately felt rather embarrassed afterwards, maybe because I called attention to something really bad happening without rushing to help (I was quite a few feet away, and was literally frozen in my tracks), though thankfully, there were tons of people around the guy to help pull him out. And despite being pinned in there fairly tight, it wasn’t as if his leg was ripped off or something.

MK & I later got on the train, and the dude also got on, but he sorta gave me a weird look (maybe because I was the guy that yelled “whoa” which may have made an already embarrassing situation for him even worse), so the ride was pretty awkward. But then I began to wonder, why in the hell was this guy standing on the moving platform, especially when everyone else knows better, plus why did he seem totally oblivious to everything, even when he was pulled out? I only realized then, while standing next to the guy, that he was super drunk and high.

As for movie night, we saw the Office Special and Midnight Cowboy. Afterwards, I asked Jeff, who was wearing a Superman sweatshirt, if he knew if DC had any plans to create a shirt with the Earth 2 Superman logo (which as some might recall, I am a bit obsessed) with, and if so, why the hell not? I also wondered once again why the new movie going with such a lame-ass new logo, and why they didn’t choose the Earth 2 variant, which would have been a very subtle, yet awesome nod to Superman canon (which would, at least in my eyes, justify the need for a whole new origin of Superman flick). To that, Jeff mentioned that he’s having a meeting with some folks at DC Comics about their next round of licensed merchandise, and promised to bring up for me. Yes!

- Unfortunately, due to movie night, I had to miss Katie’s new radio show. But for those who are interested, you can check it out here. It’s called THE PHYSICAL ASSESSMENT and is on 4-7 pm on Wednesdays. She plays mostly bizarro beeps and boops, which is my kind of music, and I was delighted to find out that she’s using some of the songs from the mix CDs I made a short whiles back.

I wonder if she played that Jacob ter Veldhuis piece that passed along last night (its this awesome mix of a saxophone and voice samples from Scared Straight.

- While I have been back for a few days now, I’m nowhere near caught up with the world of video game news. There’s like a million news posts on the front page of insert credit, including for a Silent Hill homebrew title for the Virtual Boy, which at this point is buried near the bottom (but you can find here).

Perhaps I should have waited till next week, as well as talk about Lethal Enforcers 3, for Fucking Konami Week, which is yearly IC tradition.

Though I have had time to peruse the boards and have come across some interesting stuff, including…

… a vid of some unfinished coarse that I guess it locked away on Mario Kart DS…
… a reminder of a really neat looking GBA title that I first heard about when I was working at Ubi Soft back in the day, and how its finally been revealed that its officially dead (despite being at the 98% mark or something)…
… word that the add-on D pad that Capcom had made for Street Fighter Zero/Alpha 3 for the PSP will now be available in the US if you buy the game directly from Capcom…
… a look at some neat game shirts…
… a look at very obscure Captain America villian who goes by the name of Gamecock:

… Plus, here’s a thread that has links to some pretty amazing ICO and Shadow of the Colossus fan-art. My favorites have to be…

And on a related note, here’s a cute little, and SoTC related, Valentine’s cartoon by this person…

- Speaking of cartoons inspired by video games, Lifemeter is now officially live. There’s some really neat stuff to be found, including this nice scene from Wind Waker…

This absolutely brilliant comic about the Mario-verse…

As well as this wonderful Katamari piece, if only for the fact that, unlike 95$ of all other fan-art inspired by the game, its nice and peaceful, and not all obnoxiously “OMG THAT’S SO WACKY-JAPPY!!!”

Now I really have to get off my ass and do that Dynamite Headdy drawing I have in my head. Plus I’m also thinking about doing something related to Sparkster. You know, from Rocket Knight Adventure? I sorta want to concentrate on forgotten characters from the 16-bit era, mostly from the Genesis side.

- So as for later this week, Robin will be celebrating his birthday on Friday night at Barcade, so that’s another chance to give the arcade version of Super Mario Bros a spin. And on Saturday is the aforementioned punk rock/comic show…

Seems that there’s going to be a ton of cartoonists on hand, about twenty I last heard. And I just realized that its taking place in the Bowery Poetry Club, which is somewhat of a cramped space, so I gotta wonder what its going to be liked with a bunch of tables filled with comics and live bands. Should be an interesting crowd; a mix of indie comic types and punk rockers, plus maybe some poet-beat regulars, one can only hope. Then later that night is a Valentine’s party (well, actually, its an “anti-Valentine’s” event, you could say) that my roommate is throwing at our house. I was originally going to stick around all day and help prep; even though its mostly Stephy’s thing, I will be helping to host the event, I’m still going to try and make the first part of the show. Because, goddamnit, I’ve been meaning to checkout Blackout Shoppers for fucking forever now, and things keep happening and getting in the way, but not this time!

On Sunday I hope to get at least some rest (and work on the book). Then on Monday, a coworker of mine, who’s a fine artist, is going to have a “painting conversation” with me. Basically, I’m going to say stuff, and he’s going to respond, but non-verbally. Instead, he will paint based up what I say, or what he thinks of what I said, or something. Plus its all going to be filmed. Should be interesting!

- Finally, this year’s ICON is almost here, and I’ll be appearing once again as a guest for the video game component of the show. And as before, I’ll be talking about game development, as well as video game history, plus gender issues, as well as general internet habits. And Star Trek’s George Takei will be there as well, so now everyone has a reason to go! My schedule has not been finalized, but once it is, I’ll be passing along.

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