edge - end of the road?

ObeyGiant

Chalk wrote:

so basically their making a game and have tacked a license on, woopy de do,
back to my point, i dont understand why edge, with its standards of old, would, give print space to this.

Well, because -- as you pointed out -- the ramifications for the industry are huge. This isn't the meaningless hyperbole I think you're interpreting it as; they're saying that if EA manage to create a compelling game by plundering this action-free IP (as the creators mention, there are probably only 15 minutes of actual 'action' in the movie vs the 8+ hours required for a video game), this throws the door open to all sorts of other non-obvious licenses. Think "Citizen Kane: The game" and you're on the right track. For this reason, it's important to keep an eye on The Godfather.

Plus, it's not like they were entirely pandering to EA's whims. There are more than a few pointed remarks in that article, not least of which the comparisons between EA and Don Vito himself.

Chalk wrote:

surely the other links you have given are websites who have little discretion in what they post?

I'm sure Eurogamer wouldn't like to hear you talk that way about their editorialising

CiDeRmAn

The most worrying piece of info I have heard recently is when people are employed to infiltrate boards like this one and try to bend opinion to their goals as set by their employers.
This, I believe, was the case with Driver3 where people masquerading as gamers were logging on to the future publishing forums and tried to break up threads that described the never ending faults with the game and spread Good mojo about it, so to speak.

The purchasing of reviews in magazines is common, just look to see who has the largest ads in the mag and then check the score.
Without its reliance on adverts I don't think Edge has this problem.

And after playing Mafia on the Xbox, I don't think I will be rushing out to buy The Godfather any time soon!!

Lets have a licensed game where you get to hunt and kill Pat Kenny and Marty Whelan through the corridors of RTE! I'd buy that for a dollar!

monument

Chalk wrote:

surely the other links you have given are websites who have little discretion in what they post?

They are news sites - they act partly like newspapers, they cover most things and (should) do their best not to have bias for one publisher or another.

I'm not too sure what Edge printed, but it's a game people want to know about. Anyway, pages have to be filled.

Wicknight wrote:

I, for one, welcome our new Sony overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality I could be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves ...

> Looks at SCE IE's record...
> Looks around...

What do you mean by "new Sony overlords"?

dearg_doom

monument wrote:

Anyway, pages have to be filled.

WITH BLATANT ADS?



do you see, now?

po0k

Do You See?

monument

dearg_doom wrote:

WITH BLATANT ADS?

do you see, now?

Yeah, adverts are blatant. It's kind of the idea, ads getting noticed and all.

Do you see?

BloodNinjaCult

As i see it; edge is an island of relative honesty and excellent articles in a stinking market.
With edge having an credible rep. and its publisher is the market leader, a backlash is always on the cards.

My advice? Pick your fav, read it on the bus, pinch of salt.

dearg_doom

monument wrote:

Yeah, adverts are blatant. It's kind of the idea, ads getting noticed and all.

Do you see?

No, you clearly didn't get my point...

The Godfather article was basically just a ten page ad, nothing more.

The game hardly merits such huge coverage, name the last movie-based game(except for Riddick;)) that was any good...

monument

Actually, I thought you were implying that games publishers paid for good reviews vie adverts. I deliberate ignored you. But never mind that…

The article was ten full pages long?

L5

dearg_doom wrote:

name the last movie-based game that was any good

Spiderman 2 on ps2/Xbox/GC

dearg_doom

I knew someone was going to say that, but it wasn't REALLY that good now was it?

I mean do you still play it? No.

dearg_doom

monument wrote:

Actually, I thought you were implying that games publishers paid for good reviews vie adverts. I deliberate ignored you. But never mind that…

The article was ten full pages long?

No, no, no, I wasn't implying that, I was bemoaning the fact that whole articles (like the recent godfather one) on games which are months away from being testable and undeserved hype.

My main moan is that EDGE used to be so against all that bullshiit, they used to be good even though they were pretentious.

Now(and for the last few years) they've just been pretentious(save for the odd inspired article), it's sad to see the hobby that I've grown up with being taken over by the 'Loaded generation' bollox.

CiDeRmAn

I guess that little Gaming Culture subtitle is a little loaded alright.

ObeyGiant

dearg_doom wrote:

No, no, no, I wasn't implying that, I was bemoaning the fact that whole articles (like the recent godfather one) on games which are months away from being testable and undeserved hype.

The article was four pages long (three if you don't count the entire page given over to a pre-rendered image of the main characters). Compare this to the other games they're doing features on - God of War and Wipeout Pure, both of which got 6-page articles each (5 if you don't count their lead-in images). Now, ask yourself this: why such a bruhaha over the Godfather game? Why not complain that they're giving even MORE coverage to Wipeout Pure - a game we probably won't see for months now? Is it because it's an EA game? Granted, the Godfather game is still in very early development, but it is not unsusual for Edge to give even a little coverage to interesting games that are barely past announcement.

This is nothing new. I think there's something else going on here.

dearg_doom wrote:

My main moan is that EDGE used to be so against all that bullshiit, they used to be good even though they were pretentious.

Now(and for the last few years) they've just been pretentious(save for the odd inspired article)

How vague.

Can you explain in any better terms exactly how they've lost the 'good' part of 'good but pretentious'?

dearg_doom wrote:

it's sad to see the hobby that I've grown up with being taken over by the 'Loaded generation' bollox.

In terms of laddishness, the kind put forth by the loaded generation, I think Edge is distinctly lacking. They know exactly who they're targeting (intelligent, informed gamers who enjoy the art and culture of videogames as much as the simple kinaesthetic rush), and don't try to dumb it down to be as inclusive as they can be. Lowest common denominator be damned - they're writing for who they want to write for.

I recently emailed the advertisers in GamesTM to ask them about the suitability of including ads for phone-sex lines in a magazine that would be picked up by young boys. I was told that this was exactly the kind of market they were going for - the 'loaded'/'FHM' market.

Compare this to Edge, whose advertising is almost exclusively for games. In a fiercely competitive advertising market, I think this reveals a lot about Edge's integrity.

Headshot

i keep hearing that dvdsoon have a bad rep when it comes to shipping ,there so slow
if the shipping is first class how long untill i have my psp games do ye think

dearg_doom

Firstly nice post,

ObeyGiant wrote:

The article was four pages long

Woops:o It seemed longer! That big Pre-render was annoying me though when I read it!

Compare this to the other games they're doing features on - God of War and Wipeout Pure, both of which got 6-page articles each (5 if you don't count their lead-in images). Now, ask yourself this: why such a bruhaha over the Godfather game? Why not complain that they're giving even MORE coverage to Wipeout Pure - a game we probably won't see for months now?[/QUOTE]

Well, as regards GoW, that is released over here this month, and by all accounts deserves to be heralded from on high.

And as for WipeOutPure, that has been released in the US, but like the rest of the latest handheld stuff will be imported practically immediately by the very same

ObeyGiant wrote:

intelligent, informed gamers

you mention in your post! Also more importantly it is an iconic series, which cemented the PSX's cool image right at the start, that had a dodgy last installment which means people are interested in finding out whether it is any good as soon as they can, whether they'll be able to play it soon or not.

Lastly, probably most importantly to EDGE(and most of it's readerahip) WO:P is being developed in Liverpool so it is a 'home' story anyway; also given the dire state of the British games industry[how many Brit-dev's went belly up last year?] any good news should be shouted from the rooftops.

ObeyGiant wrote:

Is it because it's an EA game?

NOPE! This is my opinion on EA:

I don't like EA for their shiitty yearly-update/dev-eating/lowest-common-denominator-dumbed-down-*cool*-image policies like the rest of the informed gaming public, but I don't believe in fundamentalism either, for every bad there is usually a good too, and EA are innovotive (TigerWoods control system, that boxing game's control system, the SIMS, etc...) it's just their crap far outways the innovation.

As for the new Godfather game, I think I'm justified in expecting the worst from them, just look at how they've treated the James Bond franchise... If ever there was a franchise that leant itself to cool games it's James Bond. Yet how many of EA's JB games have been any good? How many of them do you still play?? I've read the press releases and genuinely feel this game could go wrong, but who's to say at this stage? It could be the new SuperMarioWorld!

And that is my real issue at it's hype in this month's EDGE, the game is nowhere near being ready, all that we know is that it's based on one of the greatest movies of all time. There wasn't really a *need* for the article, and that pre-render was soo corny as well!

ObeyGiant wrote:

How vague.

Can you explain in any better terms exactly how they've lost the 'good' part of 'good but pretentious'?


In terms of laddishness, the kind put forth by the loaded generation, I think Edge is distinctly lacking. They know exactly who they're targeting (intelligent, informed gamers who enjoy the art and culture of videogames as much as the simple kinaesthetic rush), and don't try to dumb it down to be as inclusive as they can be.

I don't know if you used to read it up to the mid-90's, it is a lot more 'laddish' now than it used to be. It's obviously nowhere near as bad as the real dross(ie most gaming mags;)) but it is not as good as it was, nowadays it is simply formulaic, to me.

That's not too say I *hate* it, as such, I just think it's a bit meh.

ObeyGiant wrote:

I recently emailed the advertisers in GamesTM to ask them about the suitability of including ads for phone-sex lines in a magazine that would be picked up by young boys. I was told that this was exactly the kind of market they were going for - the 'loaded'/'FHM' market.

*lol* the irony here is that only young boys actually buy loaded/FHM:)

In fairness, I don't think any games mag has ever pitched itself at young boys, they just buy them because they like games and a lot of games mags portray this cool attitude which teenage boys happen to be suckers for. Would you have bought 'Young Boy Gamer' when you were 15?

ObeyGiant wrote:

Compare this to Edge, whose advertising is almost exclusively for games. In a fiercely competitive advertising market, I think this reveals a lot about Edge's integrity.

True, but EDGE also have an unrivalled 'name' too as Future(a huge game[and indeed almost any type of hobby] magazine publishing house)'s flagship games mag, I wouldn't be surprised if they had to turn advertisers down!