Over the course of the past 3-4 Years, gaming enthusiasts have been treated with Article after Article day in and day out, all pertaining to the fictional Hi-definition console war between two Giants: Sony Corp of Japan, and the American software giant Microsoft, both battling for the hearts of gamers worldwide and affectionate love of the gaming community.
Obviously the last 10 or so words are a lie, as both Sony and Microsoft only care for your Money, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make. The corporate attitude and ‘make-money-anyway-possible’ ideology of both giants has trickled down into gaming journalism, and this has sadly resulted in the emergence of videogame websites run by forum douche bags posing as professional journalists. See “planetxbox360.com” for further reference.
The rise of these heartless websites has been both a gift and a curse, as while the majority of these small establishments have led to gaming journalism turning into a series of “which buffoon is reporting what today” and “another unprofessional article from [insert mediocre website here]”, they have also led to gamers realizing just how lifeless the “big guys” in the industry are and continue to be. By “big guys”, I’m referring of course to websites that have amassed both a large user base and command a significant amount of traffic to their websites on a daily basis .
For today’s lesson, let’s use IGN and Kotaku as our Guinea Pigs, since these two websites pride themselves in being “for the gamers” and providing “unmatched videogame content!”specifically for he or she who indulges themselves in gaming. It would be profoundly ignorant for me to claim that in the past 3 years there has been nothing but corporate gaming journalism and “must-get-hits” articles with no accountability behind them, no, there has also emerged a new kind of journalism, one that Kotaku.com echoed during its humble beginnings and has since abandoned for in favor of hits and mainstream attention.
This new journalism is a ‘personal’ kind of journalism. Some call it blogging in a professional setting, I call it websites having the nuts to publish their two cents on what’s happening in the video gaming industry and basically, injecting-at the very least-a portion of their honest views and opinions on the very same matter. Since we’ve already established IGN and Kotaku as our corporate test subjects, let’s establish the hiphopgamershow.com as our personal journalism subject.
Right about now you’re probably asking yourself “why the hell should I care about personal gaming journalism?” and “what’s the problem with websites simply providing information without their take and or personal views on it?”.To address both your questions, let’s take a look at a recent situation that emerged as a result of misinformation, an issue that will help illustrate the point of this article; The Killzone 2 Super Bowl Ad. A lot of Sony and Playstation fans were disappointed to learn that the Advertisement was not official and therefore would not air during the Super Bowl festivities, but these very same Sony fans immediately took it to task to find out who the blame falls upon for providing inaccurate information.Hiphopgamershow.com being one of the first websites to post the YouTube creation was, as expected, the only website that took the blame for the entire incident.
But where was the ‘heat’ for Kotaku.com, another website that posted the very same video? Are they exempt from being held partially responsible because they chose to classify the said video under their ‘Rumor’ section? Or are gamers so accustomed to them not taking responsibility for what is posted on their website, to the point where they’re not even remotely considered part of the problem due to their inability to simply state “we were misinformed”? While the Hiphopgamer chose to address this issue in his latest Video Podcast, Kotaku.com chose to post about “pregnancy in videogames”…or something of that nature. Where was IGN while all of this was going on in the gaming community, you ask? It appears IGN have some super exclusive information on Sony’s marketing plans for Killzone 2, as while the rest of the gaming world was reporting and commenting on the Video, their website contained no such information on the matter.
Their info must have been super duper exclusive to the point of them not informing their readers and user base of the legitimacy of what was apparently the official Advertisement for one of the biggest Videogame releases of this generation. Since it’s been confirmed the Ad was fan-made, IGN must have commented on the issue after the fact; Provided some of their exclusive information perhaps? Not a single HTML line on the matter from the immense IGN staff.
So much for them being a Games Network that’s dedicated to providing the latest information and inside scoops on the gaming industry. It’s clear that websites such as Kotaku do not give a damn about being held accountable for the information posted on their website as they choose to cower behind the ‘Rumor’ tag they associate a news piece with and thus offer no follow-up to the issue for fear of appearing as a ‘site that messes up every now and then’.
It’s also clear gaming websites such as IGN.com aren’t about gaming and the gaming community anymore, as while the majority of the gaming community was rejoicing at Sony for finally getting their marketing act together, IGN was rejoicing and doing the Cha Cha Cha at their ability to provide the millionth article on “hottest chics we want to date!” or something of that irrelevant nature. The corporate nature that these journalistic establishments decided to adopt has inevitably led to the lack and decline of gaming journalism.
For my next and final point on the issue, I won’t spend an entire block of text subtly explaining the difference between corporate journalism and personal journalism, and the problem of accountability mixed a feeling of being lifeless corporate journalism presents; Instead, I’ll provide a simple JPEG, one that will reveal why the hiphopgamershow.com is more about gaming and the gamers than IGN or Kotaku.com:
Google: You love it, I love it, it works. Take a close look at the results contained in each of the mini screens above, and you’ll notice a few things: #1.I roll with SafeSearch off and #2.The above images illustrate exactly why the hiphopgamershow is the right direction for gaming journalism. Whereas IGN and Kotaku neither have a face nor personality behind their work (unless you count Jessica Chobot taking a shit being the ‘life’ of a website), the hiphopgamershow is built around the idea of accountability for ones work and providing nothing but gaming news and views first and foremost from the perspective of a person in love with the gaming and Hip-hop culture.
You can attempt to build an argument regarding the sources of that are behind the individual images, but when Google itself acknowledges fluff and a Colorful logo as being your websites image, direction ,and content, then you have a serious problem in regards to the way you’re conducting and presenting your journalism. By looking at the above image, is it possible to tell who runs their respective websites? I doubt a busty Blonde bimbo runs IGN(though I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case),I doubt Stephen Colbert has any ties with Kotaku(though judging by their laughable journalism I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case),but I have no doubt in my mind that the person with the Red doo-rag is the Hiphopgamer, and thus, the issue of journalistic responsibility and accountability is nonexistent with the Hiphopgamershow as I, a gamer, know for a fact that the gamer with the Red doo-rag is accountable and or liable for the content presented by the Hiphopgamershow. It’s personal, unique, full of life, and is more impactful to a gamer than say, a Logo being the first, last, and only thing you see representing an establishment.
Personal journalism has life to it, and this is the element that corporate journalism lacks and will never establish.
