Video Game Media Fanboyism

[Che Musashi]

I don't if you have the lastest issue of the US OPM. But in it they have a recap of all the fighting games that were at E3. The list Celebrity Deathmatch, Backyard Wrestling, Bloody Roar 4 and their new king of games Soul Calibur 2. Now there is no mention of Virtua Fighter Evolution, which Sega did manage to have a kiosk for at E3, and is worthy enough to take out a full page Ad in OPM on page 13.

Still there is no acknowledgement of it, in their little E3 wrapup. John Davidson in their little coversation blurbs on the side of the page manages to say how SC2 ownz Virtua Fighter 4.

I guess the days of fair and balanced reporting are behind us. Even though Sega is appealing to the 10 of us in America who like the game. Soul Calibur 2 will cure cancer and teach your kids to read. This game is great for hardcore and enthusiasts alike. Forget the lack of saving replays, command training, 10th Anniversary mode, character customization, revamped and updated moves since the last incarnation.

Its a shame that the editor at OPM saw it fit to declare Evo not worthy of discussion much less coverage. Already GBA is dead because of the PSP,"What can Nintendo offer a better backlight?", meanwhile they say how they can't wait to play FF Tactics Advance. Do they even read what they write?

If they didn't have the demo disc I would cancel my subscription. Unfortunately they are the only official magazine in the states. Officially they suck.

[Tokuda]

Quite simply, you can`t trust Western media other than a couple of sites on the internet, to give you really good, balanced and fair coverage on the fighting game genre. Its obvious that the people reporting their stuff are either only casually into fighting games, or don`t actually have a clue of what they`re talking about. Being only casually into fighters is not a problem, but what gets me is when a lot of media speaks authoratatively on fighters and arcade games when it is clear they are completely ignorant. As a journalist, I believe it is your duty to inform yourself of the things you are writing about rather than spout the `accepted word` or pretend you know what you`re talking about.

Its a sad situation, but theres basically nothing we can do about it. You`re just going to have to enjoy the right games for yourself (safe in the knowledge that you enjoy what you enjoy) and ignore what the majority of Western media tells you.

[Treble]

Excellent post, Tok, and completely true.

In the East, gaming is just accepted as part of popular culture, and therefore has balanced journalism associated with it. In the West, it's still seen as niche (despite the fact it patently isn't), and therefore the journalism is mostly hype for a single platform, fuelled by vested interests and back-handers in the boardroom.

Just like cinema before it, gaming is having to crawl out of the womb still, unassisted. Movies were looked upon as low-brow and artless for many, many years and, even after they received recognition as a valid form of artistic entertainment, the journalism surrounding it was either vapid or highbrow. Now, of course, everyone thinks they're a film critic, and most people have a good standard of knowledge, based on the fact that film is part of acceptable mainstream popular culture. You're going to get shoddy, cash-directed Western video game journalism until gaming gets the variety and depth of recognition it deserves.

[Brats]

Excellent post, Tok, and completely true.

In the East, gaming is just accepted as part of popular culture, and therefore has balanced journalism associated with it. In the West, it's still seen as niche (despite the fact it patently isn't), and therefore the journalism is mostly hype for a single platform, fuelled by vested interests and back-handers in the boardroom.

Although I've never been there, my understanding is that gaming is not totally accepted as a part of Japanese culture. It is more wide spread for sure, but to imply it carries the same cultural acceptance as say film I don't believe is right. Cacky wrote a very good piece about it in Games TM .

Also, there is just as much unbalanced journalism in Japan as there is in the UK. How much excellent Western software gets the brush off in Japan?

Just like cinema before it, gaming is having to crawl out of the womb still, unassisted. Movies were looked upon as low-brow and artless for many, many years and, even after they received recognition as a valid form of artistic entertainment, the journalism surrounding it was either vapid or highbrow. Now, of course, everyone thinks they're a film critic, and most people have a good standard of knowledge, based on the fact that film is part of acceptable mainstream popular culture.

This I completely agree with. There is a cultual snobbery in place where reading a book is seen as being more acceptable than say watching TV, even though something like Six Feet Under is infinitely more significant than say a Jilly Cooper novel. Video games are at the bottom of the heap, even below trash TV .

[saif]

Brats, I know we don't agree on the game quality from east/west but there is a difference between the west's reactions to some games and the jap reactions to others.
The japanese gamers actually "do not like" the western games given the brush off. Difficult to believe (though not for me) but true. FPSs, I find dull and the other western games they don't like are those that try to be "mature". IE swear and are "cool".
When a game like vf4 is reviewed in such a way, it is not because they do not like fighters.

Also, the games image in Japan is not as strong as film probably. That doesn't stop the arcades being full. And full of a fairly large cross-section of society. Men, women, old and young. Not as popular as Pachinko, admittedly. Whatever, it is not looked down on by the "people". SAME as film. It is an accepted segment of popular culture.

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

It's a strange thing for sure, I agree with Brats in that much Western software is unfairly brushed off in Japan, but equally I see your point about people who shamelessly favour SC2 over VF4 still claiming to love fighters, Saif. The thing is, you say games which try to be 'mature' in a cynical fashion are not appreciated in Japan - yet Medal of Honour Frontline has seen significant success over there, which is for many players a fundamentally weak FPS which dresses itself up in a significant setting and conflict ( while Halo remains largely ignored, natch ).

I share your frustration in the official mags Che, there's seldom a headline on the front of each one which doesn't make me scoff and shake my head in disbelief, their mindset is firmly that 'a game on "our" system is better than the equivalent on a "rival" system' - as demonstrated by a past "Splinter Cell - Better than MGS2!" blab on the official XBox mag. The sad fact is they make their money by cosying up to the ignorance of rabid system-isolationists, those who spent their hard-earned cash on this system so it damn well better surpass every other one out there, and ironically this means that they usually end up missing out on the true gems such as VF4 because they're too busy presenting an easy solution.

Before the Internet, this frighteningly narrow-minded journalism would have worried me in that it had a captive audience, people would get behind it simply because they had nowhere else to go for reviews and viewpoints. ( To be listed under "God bless the Internet for.....#54" )

[Che Musashi]

Little edit note the ad was on page 31, not 13 I was at work and didn't have the magazine handy.

[Smeghead]

Before the Internet, this frighteningly narrow-minded journalism would have worried me in that it had a captive audience, people would get behind it simply because they had nowhere else to go for reviews and viewpoints. ( To be listed under "God bless the Internet for.....#54" )

Sadly it still does have a largely captive audience for the less serious gamers. I know I get OPS2M reviews shoved down my neck at work when I say I don't like a certain game, an they had the cheek to give Tokyo Road Race 3/10!!!!!! Oh, they also sum up Tokyo Xtreme Racer (Shotokou Battle Zero) as a dull Gran Turismo clone.

It's annoying, but we have to live with it

[JU!]

Alot of people seem to not acknowledge Virtua Fighter at all in magazines, i think the fact it takes so long to get good at that makes them not want to tackle it. I assume this magazine thought that instant gratification is the key, thats perhaps why they did not even mention VF, but this is beyond me why they did not mention it barley at all.

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

I know what you mean about there still being a large audience for these publications Smeghead, but my point was that even if you don't agree with them it used to be the case that there was nowhere else to get your gaming info - whereas with the internet we're informed about breaking news long before it graces a magazine page, and can easily find like-minded folk with a few mouse-clicks.

[Smeghead]

I know what you mean about there still being a large audience for these publications Smeghead, but my point was that even if you don't agree with them it used to be the case that there was nowhere else to get your gaming info - whereas with the internet we're informed about breaking news long before it graces a magazine page, and can easily find like-minded folk with a few mouse-clicks.

fair enough definitely agree with latter part, I only really buy mags now if they've got a demo disc I'm after, unfortunately that means I end up with official propaganda whenever I buy a mag

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

Not really, just play the demo disc and chuck the mag away, it's what I always did with PSW!

( I'm not joking, either )

[Smeghead]

Not really, just play the demo disc and chuck the mag away, it's what I always did with PSW!

( I'm not joking, either )

yeah but ?6 a pop for Xbox seems a bit steep to chuck that shiny paper away