Gamespot floors me.. gaming "news site"...PLEASE.

Mainstream media SUCKS.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6150398.html

Specifically:

The current generation's war is functionally over, with the PlayStation 2 having sold over a 100 million units worldwide (to Microsoft's less than 5 million Xbox units and Nintendo's 21 million GameCubes).

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"Oops...we accidentally released a massively erroneous figure to thousands and thousands of people on a high traffic website". Sure, that grossly incorrect misfigure on JUST that console is an accident. In light of the obvious downplaying of the price differences in the quote below by a "news site", I think there's no question these sort of things are intentional.

Another is the price advantage both Nintendo and Microsoft will have when compared to the PS3--the premium Xbox 360 is priced $100 dollars below the cheaper of the two PS3 iterations, and the Wii--with a price many speculate at between $199 and $249--could be a whopping $300 less than a PlayStation 3.

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So they compare the expensive version of the 360 to the neutered HDMI-less cheap version of the PS3 and act like that's a relevant point? Straw man argument over and over all over the place. This crap kills me. There's gaggles of little kids who'll be mislead by this kind of "reporting" and it's a travesty. Of course, it's not like Gamespot is unique in this (IGN, CNN, Foxnews, the list goes on forever).

Navy

wow, other than the miss quoted sales numbers i have no idea what your upset about.

Edit: would you have rather had them compair the cheap 360 to the high-end ps3? and show how it costs x2 as much

It's intentional. No way that's an accident... That's fine if it were an ad, but it's misrepresented as news in an official-like manner.

That said, I think this could use a lock which I suspect is pending. After re-reading what I wrote, it's more about media in the context of the gaming industry than games. Sorry guys.

Edit: No, cheap 360 to cheap PS3 or expensive 360 to expensive PS3. Otherwise, what's the point?

Edit2: Wish I had a delete button for this sucker about now.

Edit3: Dang, can't even report my own post..hehe. Mods, please delete this thread. I got a bit carried away.

Navy

I think this thread is ok because it's still relevant to the gaming industry. A lot of people complain about games journalism, and it tends to be one of two complaints:

1.) It's just marketing disguised as journalism (very true)

2.) It's just bland reporting and not about the experience that accompanies gaming (ie it's immature compared to film/lit criticism).

I for one agree with both, and I think that for games to be taken seriously as a medium, the literature surrounding them needs vast improvement.

Maybe it's just a mistake? The PS1 has sold over 100 million consoles (I think... all I did was a quick google search). Maybe they've got their facts mixed up?

And the last part... I don't think there's anything wrong w/ the comparison they made. Like saying "for the less than the cost of the cheapest <insert expensive car here> you can get a fully-loaded <insert cheaper car here>".

They're showing the vaule of the xbox 360 by saying you can get the premium one for less than the cheapest PS3.


Jason

I thought you could lock your own thread? Anyway I don't know the sales figures myself but if they're way off base, then they should do a little better fact checking.

It says Microsoft's less than 50 million now, instead of 5 million.

Still, as far as I know, Microsoft didn't sell anywhere near 50 million units. It was only a few million units ahead of the cube in worldwide sales I thought.

Slartibartfast said:

I think this thread is ok because it's still relevant to the gaming industry. A lot of people complain about games journalism, and it tends to be one of two complaints:

1.) It's just marketing disguised as journalism (very true)

2.) It's just bland reporting and not about the experience that accompanies gaming (ie it's immature compared to film/lit criticism).

I for one agree with both, and I think that for games to be taken seriously as a medium, the literature surrounding them needs vast improvement.

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would people really be interested in indepth reviews and analzyes of games like lit/flim recieves though?

It's off their front page now. So it was an incorrect figure of 5 mil instead of 50 for approximately 15 minutes and was corrected at a point when it has less impact. It's possible its just an honest mistake, but I sure see that sort of stuff too frequently for that I think.

Kinda conspiracy theory like, but this stuff just keeps happening and it happens all around the various sites.

Navy

talley said:

would people really be interested in indepth reviews and analzyes of games like lit/flim recieves though?

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I think so, I think that the indie scene is starting to take off and people are expressing an interest in that sort of thing. Check out Ludology.org and Lost Garden for some examples. Lost Garden has a very interesting "design review" of advance wars ds. For more of a personal reactionary type literature, check out The Escapist or The New Games Journalism.