Video Game Journalism Old and New Styles and the Differences Between Them

Last Thursday I received a lecture on journalism, primarily games journalism, and the differences between old games journalism (OGJ) and new games journalism. (NGJ).

For many years now I have followed the video game world, mostly by using the internet to read articles, reviews, previews etc about the latest games. Until Thursday I never really knew the difference between each type of journalism, and what effect that had on each review/article I had read.

I will now define OGJ and NGJ and discuss specific examples of each type of journalism which I have read.

OGJ - In this type of journalism the author seeks to evaluate the different elements which make up a game, typically: graphics, gameplay, sound, presentation, and replayability are all graded, or at least mentioned in the review.

Pros of OGJ:

• Often gives the reader an in-depth analysis of the game and it's strong and weak points. This allows the reader to do research by reading reviews before purchasing a game. (It's worth noting that although most reviews give each game an overall 'score' out of 10, this is really just a summary, and a much better impression of the game is gained by reading the entire review).

Cons of OGJ:

• Ultimately, it's only the article authors personal opinion on whether the game is good or not. When a reader plays the same game, they may have a very different experience and like or dislike the game for different reasons.

NGJ - In this type of journalism the author writes an article about their personal experience with a game. The purpose here is to tell the reader a story about the game. Sometimes a specific event is recounted in great detail.

Pros of NGJ:

• Allows the reader to sympathise with the author.
• Well thought out examples of NGJ can make the reader actually think about the article they just read and it's implications on them and the world.
• May prove to be more entertaining to read, especially for people who like fiction.

Cons of NGJ:

• Often doesn't give the reader much information about the game itself.
• Some people may find NGJ articles long winded, case in point, the people who run the 'UK Resistance' website.

Now I have defined NGJ, OGJ and the pros and cons of each, I will discuss specific examples of each type of journalism below.

Examples of OGJ

The UK Resistance website has helpfully provided me with 10 examples of OGJ. Sadly the link to the 'Project Rub' review is broken, so I was only able to read 9 of the examples. I have chosen to discuss the Half Life 2 review, and the Die Hard Trilogy review.

Half Life 2 Review (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_half-life2_pc)

I decided to discuss this review, because,

a. I believe it to be well written

and

b. I recently played through and completed Half Life 2 (hereafter referred to as HL2), and HL2 Episode 1, so I should have a good understanding of the game itself.

This review is in effect, two reviews in one article, since each of the two pages of the review is written by a different person, thus the reader gets two entirely different perspectives of the same game. (Albeit the second page is shorter).

Page one of the review is split into 8 separate sections, these range all the way from, the validation issues the game had with Steam upon release, up to the different elements that make the game unique in its genre, e.g. the attention to detail, the body and facial animations of the characters in the world, etc.

I felt that these sections successfully broke HL2 down into manageable segments, allowing the author to discuss all the major parts that make up HL2.

As I re-read the review I tried to put myself in the mindset of someone who has never played HL2 before. As I did this I realised that although the game being reviewed is very complex and multifaceted, that the author talks about almost anything the reader could wish to know about the game including: weapons, sounds, AI, characters, mission structure, the overall feel of the game, puzzle elements, physics, the game story, the combat and voice-work. All of this information is covered without giving the reader major spoilers about the game or its story. There is one spoiler warning in the article itself, which briefly talks about the Gravity Gun weapon and the effect it can have on the game world. The spoiler warning allows the reader to skip the rest of the paragraph and continue at the beginning of the next, if they wish to discover all the weapons in the game as they play through it themselves.

Overall I believe this was an excellent review for UK Resistance to cite in their '10 Best Examples of OGJ' list, since it covers all the important aspects of the game, gives the player an idea of what they actually do in the game, and does a good job of persuading people to actually play the game.

Die Hard Trilogy Review (http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/saturn/dhtrilog.htm)

I decided to discuss about this review because I was intrigued that the website, UK Resistance, decided to link to one of their own reviews to show the benefits of OGJ. To me this seemed like an unprofessional path to take, unless the quality of the review was very high...

After reading this short review through several times, I am puzzled as to why UK Resistance chose to include this on their list of '10 best examples of OGJ'.

Before we begin, it's worth noting that I've never played any of the Die Hard games, or even seen any of the movies, so my perception of the game is based entirely on this single review.

The review itself is broken down into 5 short sections; Graphics, Sound, Control, Gameplay, and Overall.

The main issue I have with this example of OGJ is that it doesn't tell the reader enough about the game itself. The information contained in each category is short and tells the reader next to nothing about the game. At no point does the review actually explain the overall objective of the game, and what the player does throughout the game experience.

The only information I was able to gather from this review was that the player has to shoot people, using the lightgun as the game's controller. The review mentions one weapon, a machine gun, references a driving section several times, and very briefly refers to "villains" in the game. the review also touches upon, again briefly, the games music and voices.

In all honesty this is the kind of review where I finish reading it, and end up with more questions about the game than I started with. Here are some of my burning questions: Are there multiple enemy types?, different weapons?, does the game use an objective based level structure, are the levels well designed?, is Die Hard Trilogy an on-rails-game, or does the player have the ability to freely move around the environment?

I sincerely believe that I could have learnt more about Die Hard Trilogy by reading the back of the game box, at least that would give me a vague idea of what the player actually does throughout their time playing the game.

Another issue I have with this review is the repeated and constant use of words such as; COOL!, SUCKS!, ACE, fairly crap and fun. When the author of the review uses these words he never backs up his point with actual evidence. Here are some examples taken from the review:

"Just make sure you set gore levels to max, as the blood splats on the windscreen are COOL!"

"Despite all the shortcomings listed above, this is still an ACE game"

"DH2 is fairly crap really, but I guess it does give you something else to do with your Light gun."

The overall impression I got after reading this article, was that the reviewer should have spent more time expanding the information contained in each section of the review.

In conclusion I honestly think this is one of the worst game reviews I have ever read, it barely tells the reader any information about the game, and since I've never actually played the game, it makes the review almost entirely pointless. After reading the entire review, I know next to nothing about the setting, characters, or mechanics in the game.

The thing that strikes me the most is that the UK Resistance website cited this, this, abomination of a review as one of the "10 best examples of OGJ". Granted it's a review on their own website, but if they actually wanted to sway peoples opinions and make them think, then they wouldn't have linked to this particular 'review'.

Examples of NGJ

The Guardian Gamblog has helpfully provided me with 10 outstanding examples of NGJ. Sadly only 7/8? of the these articles work, the rest are broken links. I have chosen to discuss the, Bow N*****, Possessing Barbie, and Dreaming in an Empty Room articles.

Bow N***** Article (http://www.alwaysblack.com/blackbox/bownigger.html)

BN is an article recounting the authors experience playing the FPS/action game Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast 2. JK JO2 is an unusual game since it mixes first person shooting with 3rd person lightsabre based combat. Since the BN article focuses on the lightsabre based dual mode, I shall do likewise.

The rules of dual mode are simple, two players take it in turns to fight to the death using lightsabres. The winner stays on and fights the next opponent, and the next, until eventually, he is defeated, and then joins the other players at the back of the 'queue' of people waiting to dual.

The article itself was enjoyable to read; a classic tale of good, the article author, vs evil, the swearing, racist opponent. I've played enough online games to partially understand the authors situation, unless a player is extremely lucky then after a few years of online play, they are likely to encounter a similar situation in the online world.

The last such incident I can currently remember is far less dramatic. As far as I can recall, I was playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare with a friend on Xbox Live, probably playing either Team Deathmatch, or HQ, (moving king of the hill). Me and my friend were chatting casually, about the game itself, which points to capture next and which points to defend, and occasionally about other random topics. Eventually either, one of our team mates or possibly an enemy, started to speak to us, mainly me over voice chat. The conversation went something like this:

"Hey there are some damn brits in the game!" - Some Guy

"Yeah we're from the UK, so what?" - Me

"Damn, you've got a posh accent" - Some Guy

"Just because I don't pronounce 'water' as 'warer' doesn't mean I've got a posh accent." - Me

"I bet you know the queen" - Some Guy

At this point I was getting irritated by the chat, just because I try to pronounce things properly, doesn't mean I have a posh accent. I don't think I sound like some sort of cartoon British Jeeves butler character. So I decided to try a bit of sarcasm to vent my irritation at the speaker.

"Indeed, I often have tea and crumpets with the queen, old chap" (Sarcastic voice).

- Me

That's about all of the conversation I can remember in detail. After that, my friend replied defending my accent/the UK in general, the other person started properly insulting us, and then the game ended and we joined a different server.

It is a sad fact of the internet and online games, that being anonymous seems to give people the courage to act differently than they likely would in real life in a face to face conversation. In real life, people give each other respect, whereas online people hide behind their avatar/alias and hurl insults at one another without fear of retaliation.

This is particularly common on internet forums, especially if the forum is too large and has too many members to be moderated effectively.

Possessing Barbie (http://www.alwaysblack.com/blackbox/possessingbarbie.html)

I found this to be a fascinating article. It recounts the authors experiences in an online chat room, mainly focussing on a one on one encounter with a woman, and how the real life experiences of both parties impact on the online experience.

Halfway through the article the woman, nicknamed Babydoll, asks the author if "You wanna to see something crazy wild?" He replies "Always", and prepares to follow her...

She led the way through the little house, up a flight of stairs to a closed door. I plodded along behind curiously and just for instant I had the faintest glimmer of a memory of another woman who bade me follow her through her real house a long, long time ago.

As the author follows Babydoll through the house, it recalls a faint memory somewhere in the depths of his mind...

Behind the door was a bedroom, neatly decorated and furnished, the bed a detailed custom model I hadn’t seen before. There allows a talented player to create their own assets to sell for Therebucks, providing an additional way to… Jesus Christ, what is she doing?!

BabyDoll has changed her outfit. The catsuit is gone to be replaced by a plunging open-fronted camisole, barely pinned in front. Lacy French knickers complete the transformation. 
“Sit there.” she says. My heartbeat quickened and my face flushed

At this point the game has become something much more real to the author. Playing the game is evoking involuntary actions, quickened heartbeat, flushed face, that would also occur in the real life equivalent of this situation.

And in the hallowed halls of my Inner Court of Morals all fucking hell broke loose. My perception cracked neatly into three separate and mutually exclusive shards. In one, I was engaged in a consensual act of intimacy with a woman I'd only just met and hardly knew. I was alone with this woman in her bedroom while she stripped for seduction. The verdict was announced with the hollow boom of a giant gavel. Guilty! 

In the second, my advocate jumped to his feet bawling 'Objection!’ frantically quoting legal technicalities. "It's not real!" he yelled, "It's only a game!"

In the third, in the real world, my ears pricked straight into raw, primitive survival mode, straining for the ominous tread of my girlfriend’s foot on the stairs. A wave of panic shot down my spine, my bowels turned to water and I alt-tabbed like a sonofabitch to something harmless.

By this point the feeling of guilt finally hits the author. He is experiencing the exact same emotions that he would display in real life if he was in the same situation. The guilt turns into panic and he temporarily escapes the moral dilemma by alt tabbing away from the game.

It’s been a long time since I struggled with the difference between basic ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. The filing cabinet of my mind fluttered with fragments of memories as I desperately searched for a previous experience with which to compare the event unfolding in front of me. The results were pretty grim, reminding me remorselessly that I haven't always been a paragon of virtue. It took an effort of will to push the comparisons out of my mind, to quash them with self-reassurances based on the words I had typed just a few moments earlier; that this wasn't real, that I wasn't responsible. I returned cautiously to the There screen.

"Sit there, on the bed." said BabyDoll and I sat wordlessly, pushing the moment along, feeling for the precipice where my conscience would call a halt.

"Not there," she said, "There's another spot further down." I found the hidden place and sat. Some shadow moved at the back of my memory, ghostly and ill-defined, an echo of another bedroom long ago and gentle instructions whispered in the dark. "Now lean forward." she said and I laid my head on her breast.

Once again the game evokes another long forgotten memory of the author, which makes the game scenario seem much more real.

"Tea!" my girlfriend shouted from the foot of the stairs.
I fucking jumped, I admit it. Electricity in my spinal column and then a whole new hand of paradoxical emotions were dealt. Now I had to make my excuses and leave the little virtual bedroom. Right now.

When his girlfriend calls to him, the reality of the game situation finally hits home, and the author is struck with an entire gamut of different conflicting emotions. He realises that he's overstepped his moral boundaries and most leave the situation immediately.

“I have to go.” I typed.
“LOL!” said BabyDoll and I realised she thought I was running away. And I realised that I probably was. 

“No really,” I protested. “I have to go and eat.” I wanted to convince her that I wasn’t chickening out of this encounter because there it was again, an overlay of emotional reality onto crudely rendered image. I didn’t want her to question my nerve; I didn’t want her to question my worldliness. My virility.

Now the author is trying to convince Babydoll that he is not "running away' from the intimate situation due to a lack of nerve, a lack of worldly experience. The author is in fact, "Possessing Barbie" that is to say, projecting his real life image, his experiences throughout the world, throughout life, onto his avatar.

A little while later after finishing tea, the author chooses to return to the game to talk to Babydoll about the situation.

“Well what do you think, now that you've seen the alternative seating arrangements?” She said.
“I think I’m confused.” I replied.
“About what?” she said.
“Before,” I said, “When you showed me the bedroom… That was a little weird for me.”
“Of course, it was!” She said, “You hardly knew me!”
“It caught me off guard…” I said.
“It was a li’l thrill though, huh?”
“Well, yes… but it was more the shock. I think… I mean… I dunno.”
“But it’s ‘just a game’ LOL!” she said and that animation kicked it again, knee slapping riotous laughter, mocking.
“No, well I dunno now.” I said. Because I didn’t, I really didn’t have a clue.
“See?” said BabyDoll.
I’m smarter than this, I thought, work it out and make a fucking point or something. Say something.
“Out there,” I said. “In front of all my friends, it was just manipulating animations for laughs but before, in the bedroom, it wasn’t.”
“Exactly. Dear god, I think you've got it.” she said.
“So what’s the difference?”
“The difference is because we were alone and you were beginning to know my mind. I wasn’t just an avatar.” she said. “I was a person.”
“I think it reminded me of something that happened for real once.” I said. “It’s the only way I can explain having real physiological responses. I mean, like embarrassment and heart rate and god, the guilt.”

The author finally comes to terms with what was happening, he was automatically projecting his real life experiences, onto his avatar, so when he entered into being in a situation in the game he would he uncomfortable in, in real life, he experienced the real emotions and reactions he would experience if it happened for real. This is where the title of the article, Possessing Barbie, stems from.

“Ha, I win!” she typed.

From this sentence, it seems that Babydoll was trying to prove a point to the author, I'd say she succeeded.

“But you can only win if it's a game.” I said.
“Yes, that’s true.” said BabyDoll. “It’s both. It’s a game but it’s also real. People are affected by other minds, it’s unavoidable. You bring your own morals with you and you set the limits.
“Kids can’t do that. They have fewer warning systems, because they have been hurt less and they are more open. But they want to explore and there are people who will take advantage of that innocence and curiosity.”

And that was just the final answer. I didn’t have any way to argue, embroiled in my own moral quagmire how could I deny the point she had made? I left the house a little later and headed elsewhere. As I surfed my hoverboard across the green hills I wondered, if There is not a ‘game’ then why did I feel like I’d just been comprehensively owned?
And in the distance I thought I heard the sound of a tree falling in the woods. Maybe I imagined it.

And so in the end, Babydoll won the debate against the author, about how real life experiences affect how the user plays the game online.

Dreaming in an Empty Room (http://www.insertcredit.com/features/dreaming2/)

Now I must confess that I got a bit lost while reading this article. Partially this is because I have never actually played MGS2 (I never owned the original MGS and only played it a few years ago, whenever I next buy a Sony console I'll purchase and play all the MGS titles, I feel I owe it to myself as a game design student to experience a series so beloved by fans, anyway back on topic).

But mainly I think I got lost in the deeper implications of the article, and how the author seems to think that Hideo Kojima, created the world and setting of MGS2 after being inspired by how dreams work, e.g. some elements of dreams are completely normal, while others make no sense at all, and within the dream world, these can exist simultaneously. Even though I haven't played the game, I still know a bit about the over-arching story of the MGS series since I'm a keen gamer,  and I've heard that MGS2 has a reputation for being 'wacky' compared to it's predecessor, MGS1.

I found this to be a deeply philosophical article, since it talks about the nature of dreams, how they work, and how they are different from real life.

It also talks about MGS2 being one of the worlds first post-modern games that is, a game that moves boundaries, does the unexpected, and doesn't necessarily make sense, or have to make sense. Here is an extract from the article.

MGS is not easy to understand. It gets downright bizarre. It’ll make you throw up your hands and scream, "What the hell?" 

Metal Gear Solid 2 in the beginning: A lone vigilante spy jumping off a bridge, boarding an ocean liner, and beginning a mission. 

Metal Gear Solid 2 in the end: A giant robot, a super spy in chains, a guy with a sword, Doctor Octopus, a lady with an enormous gun, all standing on the deck of a ship within viewing distance of the New York City skyline. 

As you can see, this isn't a typical game.

The author then goes on to define what he calls, a 'dream' and an 'empty room'.

By this model:
Metal Gear Solid 2 is a "dream."
Ico is an "empty room."

They are both postmodern masterpieces in their own right.
Now, if your dreams are more like Ico than Metal Gear Solid 2, well, more power to you. The term "dream" doesn't apply to your dreams, or anyone's dreams, in particular. When using a term to describe something postmodern, expect the term to be used postmodernly. 

The empty room is a clean slate. You can put anything in the empty room.
Even a horned boy leading a princess through a castle. Even a language that doesn’t exist.
A dream, however, is always grounded in reality. Dreams have . . . well, not rules. Not constructs. Not even "logic." All they need to keep us from waking up is a sense of the real.
Dreams have terrorists. Dreams have presidents, hostage situations.
Ever dreamed you witnessed a bank robbery? I have. 

Dreams, sometimes, even have terrorist/hostage situations involving vampires.
Dreams mix the real, and the unreal. Dreams mix whatever is in our minds. We can drift off to sleep in a recliner while half-reading the Lord of the Rings and half-listening to the NBC nightly news. Tom Brokaw can be talking about a hostage situation in Israel one second, and a breakthrough in health care the next. We can fall asleep, and hear his voice say: "Ninjas officially kidnapped the president at six o'clock this morning." That happened to me, once. (Except I wasn't actually reading Lord of the Rings.) 

Do your dreams resolve, without fail, before you wake up?
Mine don’t. 

This part of the article got me thinking about my own dreams. When I was much, much younger I remember having a dream or more likely a nightmare, about musical notes. It was a very odd dream as far as I can recall, I think I was a musical note watching all the other musical notes being carried away by a train. I suppose I was left behind. As you can see, this dream isn't really grounded in reality at all, okay, I suppose the train was realistic, but I'd still classify that under the 'empty room' category, e.g. absolutely anything can happen, without reality intruding.

That's the exception though, most if not all of my dreams in recent memory have taken place in real places, with real people, and so contain many elements of reality, thus being classified in the model above as a 'dream'. I used to have the ability to realise I was in a dream and then 'force' myself to wake up getting characters within the dream to throw things at me. Having control over the dream itself and it's characters, meant I could wake up when I wanted to. A few times I have experienced a dream within a dream, that is, thinking I've woken up, while in 'reality' still being in a dream. I find this to be a very weird and not overall pleasant feeling.

Games are a young form of entertainment. The children who grew up with games are now adults. Many of them are as blind to the idea of the artistic videogame as our parents are to Eminem, as our parents' parents were to The Beatles, as The Beatles' fans were blind to the conceptuality of Yoko Ono. God bless the children of today, for seeing the genius of Pokémon. One of them is the first Tolstoy of videogames. 

That, however, is for another day's installment.
Here, at the end of this ridiculous, postmodern "editorial," I’d like to take a stance: I am a strong advocate of New School Gaming. Yes, I can beat Gradius III in one life. Yes, my favorite game is Super Mario Bros. 3. Yes, I do play Street Fighter II Turbo Hyperfighting and Gunstar Heroes at least twice a week. Yes, I like Landstalker more than Final Fantasy X. That doesn’t matter. I have hope for the future. Maybe more hope than you have. 

Or maybe I just have a thing for the Colonel. 

TURN THE GAME CONSOLE OFF NOW! 

Finally the author discusses that games are still a young form of entertainment, so its likely that in the future, their will be more game developers who are willing to push the envelope, to create more post-modern games. Games which challenge peoples perception of what a game should be, should contain, and how it should play.

This concludes my blog entry on OGJ and NGJ. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of the examples provided, and discussing the examples I chose. Thanks for reading. :)


Bibliograpy

Church, Doug, "Formal Abstract Design Tools", 1999. Available online at: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3357/formal_abstract_design_tools.php 

Kristan Reed, "Half Life 2 Review", 2004. Available online at: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_half-life2_pc

Pete Edward, "Die Hard Trilogy Review", Pre 2000. Available online at: http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/saturn/dhtrilog.htm 

Always Black, "Bow N*****", Post 2000. Available online at: http://www.alwaysblack.com/blackbox/bownigger.html

Always Black, "Possessing Barbie", 2004. Available online at: http://www.alwaysblack.com/blackbox/possessingbarbie.html

Tim Rogers, "Dreaming in an Empty Room", 2002, edited 2004. Available online at:http://www.insertcredit.com/features/dreaming2/


Games Referenced 

Half Life 2 (PC) Valve

Die Hard Trilogy (Playstation) Probe Entertainment

Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast (PC, Gamecube, Xbox, Playstation 2)  Raven Software

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of the Patriots (Playstation 2) Konami Computer Entertainment Japan

Ico (Playstation 2) Team Ico