Week 5 – Writing About Games

Why do people review games?

Because gamers want to know if the game is good or if it was a complete waste of time. An actual games journalist or NGJ (News Games Journalists), give us this information. But for me to review a NGJ I would have to look at the likes of Kieron Gallon. He works for Zero Tolerance, and has a good reputation in the games industry in terms of journalism. I mean this guy can write, he has a view on games is not only unique but it also very interesting. I read his review called Saving Private Donny and it was amusing to read, although he does tend to go on and not get to the point as fast as one would like but his views are unique.

As for myself I never read reviews, but I am not going lie and say that I have never read one. I believe reading a review can spoil a gamers excitement for a game. With some games journalist just completely destroying the game before people have actually played it. Or giving a game 10/10 rating which I know isn’t true in most games. But I feel most people should look at trailers for the game or check in game footage of the game to get an insight and to get there own interpretation of the game. That’s how I feel a gamer should review the situation instead of reading someone else’s view, which could be absolute bull crap. But there are some good reviews in which game are being reviewed in all aspects i.e. game play, graphics, interface and presentation etc. These are the kinds reviews I probably would read because would be able to access information that would divert my attention to a certain game. In my personal view gamers should review the games themselves instead listening to someone else.

As for myself to write a review of a game, again I would prefer gamers to actually play the game and review it themselves or check out trailers and in game footage. But I would most definitely focus on the basics such as life span, game play, storyline and graphics. These would be the things I would want to know and I am sure other gamers would. I guess It could ultimately become a very boring review but all I can say is that reviewing game is probably the most difficult because there are so many aspects to a game that are far to difficult to explain i.e. if I wanted to go into further detail such as the genre of the game, interface, accessibility and regulations etc. this kind of information would just ultimately bore me. Not that I don’t respect there view and there jobs (I mean they get money by the tons), it just something I don’t access on a daily basis.