His whole ‘innocence through ignorance’ bullshit is pretty tired. He could say plenty, but his refusal to take any accountability for his own writing says the most.

Then again I play videogames . . .

I think that the demand is certainly there, but I think that it’s limited to a particular demographic who are more easily influenced by the media into spending their money.

I wouldn’t say that it’s a sign of the state of the general populace, but more a display of the power of the capitalist marketing juggernaut that relentlessly bombards us with every means at its disposal.

Sure, there are millions of people who no doubt see BB as the pinacle of entertainment, and who treat the likes of Goody as heroine, but I wouldn’t say that they count for the majority or are indicative of any sort of dangerous trend.

The media is an expert at convincing us that whatever their top story is is the topic of discussion in every household, but that’s not always the case.

Don’t forget that BB has also been in the press for having a big decline in viewers, and I believe that there was talk of it being in real trouble during the racism episode.

Even more than that, both Channel 4 and ITV, two stations known for the kind of low level TV that BB falls into have been in real trouble in terms of a decline in viewers and have been linked with attempts to get some government funding recently too.

Where Goody lived it, Ballard critiqued it and in his death there is the final irony that the voice of dissent, the genuinely important is relegated to below the interminably trivial.

It’s not Keynesian economics: demand creates supply. That’s why we have VG247 and all of the polemic and controversy that it spits up.

I appreciate your continued efforts. Maybe we’ll start a movement. Let’s do lunch with Paul Jackson.

I see the point you’re trying to make Axle, but I’m not sure that the demographics of JG Ballard fans and Jade Goody fans shared too much common ground in the first place.

I believe audience relevance could also be argued in your example. I’m not sure how relevant conjecture and misleading a readership could ever possibly be, however. Unless your audience prefers being treated like idiots that is. In spite of growing evidence of such a notion, I’m not inclined to believe this is the case.

Pretty fucking harsh of you to associate Mike’s writing with a recently deceased, questionably racist, frequently vacant reality TV ‘star’ but that’s your call, not mine.

He’s got a Masters you know.

That’s because Goody sells advertising space and makes money. It’s about contraversial news that people want to watch/read, not what is more or less important.

Blame Murdoch.

http://www.vgmwatch.com/

This must be a nice diversion for you. As I’ve said before I agree with much of what you’re saying, and you’ve in turn accused me of apathy but consider this:

When Jade Goody, who by her own admission is a ‘reality TV star’ dies, her image is plastered all over print, news and digital media.

When JG Ballard, who, by my admission is one of the finest ever writers to grace the English language dies, he is barely given an ‘And finally’ on the evening news.

When one of Britain’s greatest novelists dies and is extended nothing more than an arbitary addendum can you expect any more than a reflected culture of sheen, shallowness and vacuity?

Not aimed at you, either: you’re entitled to your opinion of this place, and I make it a rule to try not to make personal digs or be sarcastic.

Sinking to levels, and all that.

I think “critiquing” the industry – interrogating and condemning/lauding its methods and products instance by instance, that is – is a fair though general description for the games media’s activities, though I accept that it doesn’t cover the associated role of publicist, transmitting information of interest to consumers.

This second role, naturally, is the one publishers are most interested in, but critique and publicity are two sides of the same coin. Positive reviews from a trusted source are worth more in resulting sales than the mere transparent transmission of a press release, and even middling or negative reviews can be a boon to PR if they are balanced and detailed.

Of course we wouldn’t expect such commentary from “any hack with blog software and a blackberry”, but it seems ill-advised to lambast the media as a whole for the sake of some biased, inarticulate bloggers – especially when their plenitude is far from proportional to their actual impact on copies sold. Babies and bathwater indeed.

The industry may not “require slapdash critique” from any two-bit blogspot outlet, and it should take justifiable offence at any withholding of information, but it does benefit from the opinions of articulate, painstaking and (as much as is humanly possible) impartial writers like the EG crew, Edge and so forth. And not merely in sales terms, either – do you think EA would have taken some of the worthwhile creative risks it’s been taking recently (Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space, etc) were it not for the pressure of Metacritic averages? Not all writers are completely clueless as regards the ins and outs of game development, and most of those that are take pains to get to grips with the subject when developers/publishers give them an opportunity.

Again, all of this is not to say that continual self-analysis isn’t crucial and that’s why sincere though naturally prejudiced efforts like those linked in the last post should be welcomed, rather than dismissed as pseudo-objectivism. And again, the idea of an external review process has merit. I wonder if it’s something TIGA, the ELSPA or the BBFC have ever discussed?

Other articles on other sites using the identical source have managed to produce better articles that aren’t remotely as sensationalist or misleading as this one aims to be.

If the source material is the same then, logically, the differentiating factor is how it was conveyed to its audience.

The journalism’s still shitty though. Isn’t it?

5/10

You can’t get common sense and reason from loonies.

It’s just a great big waste of time.