Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Analysis: Breakdown of video game journalism

When it comes to news articles, news can have varying meanings for myself. I prefer my news to be something more like this. It brings up several thoughts I'll expand upon, especially this is the type of writing i wish to do in the future.

Analyzing it for what it is, it's clear that this game has sold a hefty amount of copies and is doing quite well. this is interesting, considering the game is extremely difficult. It's interesting to read an article like this, because as someone who read about this type of information on a daily basis, it's refreshing news. If a game isn't Final Fantasy, a FPS or something that holds you hand the entire way through, it's likely that the sales won't be that huge. But the fact that this game rose from obscurity, especially as a sequel, is amazing.

The writing is something to be desired however. "Set in a dark fantasy world complete with dungeons, Dark Souls features a variety of outdoor areas that are seamlessly connected to one another." Ouch. Not only is it totally irrelevant, it doesn't really explain anything about the game itself. sure, people can just do a quick Google search, but it's also just as easy to have a coherent summary that does the game justice. It's a lesson in writing, I suppose. If outdoor areas are the best talking point the writer can use, then he obviously should have done a little research before publishing this. Although it is in the style of a brief, it's just as important as any "regular" article.
Despite that, the article gets the multimedia right with a n embedded video of a previous review and some use of images. It's probably a staple at this point, but it's good to see that even video game journalists are just as viable as any other news publications. People do indeed read this material. It's the material I read on a daily basis, and therefore, I prefer it to be of good journalism qualities. It's the material I wish to write. Getting to that point is the hard point.

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