Comments on: The Sunday Papers

By: Troy S. Goodfellow

Troy S. Goodfellow — Sun, 18 May 2008 18:43:47 +0000

Zima:

Age of Mythology is one of my favorite games. I could have fudged on the Roman thing (the original Age of Empires didn’t have Romans, and neither did Great Battles of Alexander) and included it, but I already had one Ensemble game on the list. My time with AoM would have been spent on outlining how it departed from their usual design scheme and was all the more brilliant because of it.

AoM is one of the high points in RTS design, and I may write a long essay about it in the future. This series has gotten enough attention to persuade me to do more of these multi-part features in the future.

By: zima

zima — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:43:24 +0000

I’m sort of dissapointed that Troy S Goodfellow didn’t include Age of Mythology in his Ancient games…yes, he limits himself to Romans, but Greek mythology isn’t that far off ;P

By: Iain

Iain — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:11:27 +0000

@dhex:

I did twitch at the line “It’s all in our database”.
Why not just come out and say it? “While you’re watching the TV, your TV is watching you!”

Very Nineteen-Eighty-Four.

By: Ohle

Ohle — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:09:46 +0000

Tom Ohle’s interview reveals him to be smart and engaged in the medium, although I have to question his line:

if that one person is convinced to buy your game because of that coverage, you’ve spent your time well.

Unless, of course, it cost you two hours to convince that one person, and, since that one person couldn’t get anyone else to look at her(his) blog, odds are he(she) isn’t a good investment of time. But, then again, 100% market penetration is its own reward.
I won’t mention the other, quality, details of the interview, since I’ve used up my RPS troll quotient for the week.

Thanks for the flattery :). That being said, I still think it’s worth working with a site if they have one reader. In general, it doesn’t take a ton of time for a PR rep to secure a story — only when you’re working with some restrictiv mainstream publications that rarely cover non-blockbuster games do you have spend a significant amount of time researching and writing a big pitch letter. When I talk about working with small sites, you should understand that I’m not talking about putting a ton of time into it — it takes me very little time to write a couple of emails, respond to inquiries, make a few phone calls, etc. When I was working with agencies, this became more difficult; you’re told to make sure you’re getting the most out of your clients’ $150/hr or whatever ridiculous fee you’re charging them, so spending 20 minutes on the phone to generate one sale probably isn’t getting your money back.

By: dhex

dhex — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:40:16 +0000

damn, that licensing commercial is scary.

By: phuzz

phuzz — Mon, 12 May 2008 10:20:53 +0000

That TV licensing ad is actually quite pretty, if just a tad dark.
Personally I find the car tax one more scary (can’t find it after literally seconds of looking, so to describe: various shots of large black obelisk/mainframe everywhere the protagonist looks), but that probably because I’ve always lived with flatmates who sorted the TV tax, but I have to buy the car tax meself.

By: Yhancik

Yhancik — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:01:37 +0000

Leeks! :

Something in that spirit ? :p

(I had no idea it existed, but i was sure someone had done it)

By: Crispy

Crispy — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:53:45 +0000

@Jae:

Articles usually have input from more than one writer/editor, so his use of ‘we’ I don’t think is royal; it refers to himself and everyone else collaborating on those paragraphs (he even refers to the influence of his editor on his work in the same article).

By: Radiant

Radiant — Mon, 12 May 2008 05:49:42 +0000

“Managed Online Communities” aka Forum Mod aka Moron Herder.
Please RPS never ever have a message board.

By: RichPowers

RichPowers — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:50:06 +0000

@Alex:

That, and preview writers tend to make every game sound incredibly awesome when only a fraction of them actually are. This probably has more to do with careful marketing on the publisher’s part, but I still feel cheated when the reviews finally tell me a game sucks.

Red Alert 3 was revealed back in February. A large beta is expected over the summer. Release is slated for Q4. EA nailed that release cycle.

By: Kadayi

Kadayi — Sun, 11 May 2008 22:57:33 +0000

The difference between a good review vs a bad review to me is one where the reviewer puts you into the experience and doesn’t spoil it, as opposed to the ones that do. I hate it when a review gets into scenario specifics in order to explain the games mechanics. The thing I least want to do when I’m playing a game is have the second voice in my head going ‘Oh I think this is the bit where X betrays me…’ because some numb nuts hinted at an ‘ingame betrayal’ in their (p)review. Elude to what it better than, what games it builds it legacy upon, how it’s mechanics work without getting scenario specific, it’s setting in broad outline, but please for the love of God don’t hint at clear plot spoilers….

By: mrrobsa

mrrobsa — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:38:54 +0000

@ Mike:

I can see where you’re coming from in regards to N’Gai. I’m usually a fan, but didn’t like this piece on GTA4 reviews.

Both N’gai and Seth Schiesel’s (of NY Times) reviews seemed to focus on ‘the experience’ of the game, but from a different angle. Seth’s was about the detail and artistry in the game, how it sucks you in, and yes, plenty (probably too much) of cultural namedropping. I don’t have a problem with this as GTA always has been a bit of a culture mash-up. And his description of just cruising with the radio on is something that almost anyone who has played the game has done and is definitely part of the experience for me.
Whereas N’gai focused more on the game’s increased (compared to others in the series) emotive impact, relationships and morality. Again though, talking about being on the crane with a lowly hood’s life in your hands is just talking about the experience, only a different part of it.
Plus the first two paragraphs of N’gai’s piece are fairly redundant, and I do like the NY Times review.