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"Very good advice, Demian.
The "whom can you recommend" trap is tough for people breaking in. There's a reason that some of the same names keep floating around and it's not because they are always necessarily the best person for the job. They are a proven commodity, have game press references and clips, and are much easier to screen than freelancer applicants with no body of work to their name.
Though this sounds stupid, if you know a freelance writer on a friendly basis, it never hurts to ask them for their honest opinion on your writing skills and what you need to do to improve your skills. I've taken to mentoring/helping a couple of newish writers and have been teaching them about pitches, organization, creative hooks, etc. because I think they each have a voice worth cultivating. This can help you get past the gatekeepers at some sites. It's almost an old school apprentice relationship."
Saturday, April 17, 2010
"a gamer? No, of course not. People start playing games, watching movies and TV or following sports with no understanding or knowledge of their histories. Games are no different.
But if you want to speak intelligently about them, then some sort of history is important. How far back that history should go is debatable. (A good friend is a huge film nerd - he probably sees three movies a week of all types - but admits that he has a huge gap before"
Friday, February 05, 2010
"s not simply that underinformed pretty women get the good spots, it's that the attractive informed women get valued for their looks as much as their minds. Hence we get Webb and Munn photospreads - both knowledgeable nerds, but no one is craving a Sessler or Hsu spread in GQ, right? So there is pressure for the women to become models or something as well as journalists.
Though I'm sure there is some measure of empowerment there - any smart woman who wants to be a model has every right to - it's also in many ways a fulfillment of the male nerd fantasy; that the pretty cheerleader is also a secret gamer and you can cheat code your way into her"
Friday, January 29, 2010
"an
Aaron mentions his CoH experience in his post. It did not go well. It's one of the best RTSes ever made but it's a terrible intro RTS because it's actually quite difficult for a newb to keep all the counters straight even with rollover"
Monday, December 28, 2009
"ot depends on what you mean by micromanage. I think [i]Rise of Nations[/i] is a the best intro RTS - customizable, lots of variety, simple and deep strategy - but it does require some attention to numbers and managing an economy so it may not be for you. I will be using it to train a noob for an upcoming podcast episode, though. (This is a question we talk about from time to time - getting people into strategy games, how to do it, what the barriers are, etc.)
If you are micro averse, stay as far away from the [i]TA/SupCom[/i] games as you can. Wonderful, majestic games, but there's a lot of balancing in the early phase before you can put your economy on autopilot.
[i]Dawn of War II[/i] is probably right up your alley though. I think it's the best strategy game of 2009. The campaign battles are set pieces, but you can set up a skirmish against bots or with friends that will take no more than 20 or 30 minutes.
Toby's [i]Halo Wars[/i] recommendation is not a bad one. [i]EndWar[/i] is a much better game, though, if you want to play a consol"
Monday, December 28, 2009
"on Wilson wrote:
[i]What saddens is me is your point that too much emphasis lies in previews, reviews, and dogs on skateboards. While I have no real evidence to back this up other than my 11 years of journalism experience and the judgment that comes from this, I'd say the majority of "game" news online isn't really news.[/i]
I really have no problem with previews and reviews and even dogs on skateboard - evaluating the medium is one of our major jobs as writers and dogs on skateboards are cute.
But this is not only the easy stuff - it is the stuff that gets passed around and commented on. When a writer does work on, say, an original column or an in-depth feature, the usual response of readers is to skip it altogether or complain that these are only games and therefore not worth so much heavy thinking. (Check any story ever written about sex or sexuality in gaming for evidence.)
The lighter stuff has its place in the industry, and lets be frank - games writing is Variety at best and TMZ at the worst. We're entertainment media.
But back to the original article, as much as I love 1up and EGM and all you guys, Mr. Lenoch's list implies that only one publisher was doing good work over the last few years and that almost everybody on staff was the epitome of the profession. If you're going to insert an odd paragraph like that, Evan is right - at least you could explain why they kicke"
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
"tin D Light wrote:
[i]"Game journalism is still very young, and I don't think it's going away, but I do think it needs to grow up a little. "[/i]
I'd really love it if gamers would stop pretending that their medium is so young that it can be forgiven sins. People have been writing about games since the early 80s and it has changed dramatically in that time - from mere description in the early Computer Gaming Worlds to serious business reporting and critical thought. You have a greater variety of coverage now than ever.
The fact is, even as so much games coverage is driven by the 24 hour gaming news cycle and the NPD horserace, there is a lot of mature games writing on the internet and there was in some now defunct magazines.
In short, games journalism *has* grown up, but the topic is still largely confined to the enthusiast press and most of the readers who drive traffic show very little interest in talking about it when previews, reviews and dogs on skateboards get more"
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
"field is already oversaturated, and it has nothing to do with podcast audiences. I'd honestly be surprised if even ten percent of any podcast's audience seriously entertains the thought of game journalism as a career.
At the professional level there are already not enough full time opportunities to go around and, as you note, big closures merely exacerbate this problem.
And, sadly, there is a glut of volunteer websites that will pay nothing for young writers with a dream but also give them nothing in the way of training or editing.
What you are describing is not the future, it's the state of the business righ"
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
"at news. Con"
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
"said:
"There are also plenty of strategy games that don't need a lot of text onscreen, such as RTS games like Starcraft or Dawn of War. Though less convenient, I don't see why minute details couldn't be displayed in a console friendly pop-up that pauses the action. After all, as players become more experienced with the game, they're going to be less likely to need that information at all times."
Absolutely true. Many RTS games don't require that much text even though distinguishing between units can be a pain in the ass. Even on the PC, Relic had to introduce hovering icons for the units in DoW2 because they were too easily confused. I can't envision any economy based RTS with more than one resource working well...Mind you those are dying on the PC, too, but more because the genre has moved on.
The second best platform for strategy games is the DS of all things. Here it is largely TBS, but there have been lots of good translations of strategy games for the DS mostly because the interface is unique enough that designers actually have to think about how to translate the game for the platform. I think the best console RTSes do that as well.
But something like Civ? Or Europa Universalis? No way you're playing that "properly" without a PC for a few years at least. Which is fine with me. UIs are getting better year after year, but I do think that the PC will remain the platform for a few genres and is still the very best way to play Dragon"
Thursday, November 19, 2009
"asks:
"Troy, the PS3 could easily accommodate strategy games -- the system allows for in-game use of keyboard and mouse controls. Epic is the only developer to take advantage of this with UT3. "
Because if you have to use a keyboard and mouse, you also need a desk or table and most people don't have those in their living room near their TV. The best console strategy games work with the limitations of the platform (e.g., EndWar) - they don't try to turn the console into what it isn't.
And the keyboard and mouse aren't even the big problem with strategy games on a console - the text and icon size is. Compare Civ Revolution (a great game in its own right) to Civ 4. Firaxis had to make compromises to keep things very simple. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but if you don't have an HD TV, you need to be pretty close to read all that stuff.
Dragon Age is really the best example of this. Comparing equipment on the PC version is easy. You just mouse over it and you can read all you need. On a TV five or six feet away you can't read the comparisons unless you blow them up so that each description takes up half a split screen.
I'm not saying you can't do strategy games on consoles. Halo Wars, EndWar and Civ Revolutions show that you can. But they work by not being as complex as what you find on t"
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Oh, and Napoleon does not have an "economy metagame" - the economy is a core part of the grand strategy game and central to the rule set. That word doesn't mean what you think it does."