Interesting. I never thought of it that way. I am RSS'd to another site that posts articles throughout the day, with some of them a little "padded", but I think most of them are at least worth a glance or two. But bit-tech definitely does do a great job at being more substantial.
I sometimes get frustrated at the lack of news on B-T but as soon as I look elsewhere then I get pissed off with the rubbish they post so I fully understand what's being said here and I think the way you do it is just fine.
At least I know when news is posted on B-T it really is news or something useful or a big update in info for a game.
Maybe sites do this because there is not enough information released by developers as to whats going on with their games etc? So to feed the little monster they just regurgitate with a slight spin, things which have already been said..
CVG is a perfect example of this. They often post rumour and pointless updates as news and worse still deliberate headlines to get fanboys worked up into a lather thus generating more traffic. The most commented on articles over there are "my console is better than your console because xyz" types.
I certainly come here for in depth reviews and features especially however I do RSS a bunch of other sites a couple that do the 'post per screencap' thing and happily ignore what I am not interested in. Because some of those sites, notably RPS and PCG, do a better job with indie news and daily round ups.
Perhaps that's something that could be done here? A daily or even weekly round up of the lesser news stories that aren't enough to warrant a full post to themselves but are still of interest.
Still variety is the spice of life and I don't think anyone could honestly say that they get their gaming news etc from just one source so B-T does it one way other sites do it this way there is room for everyone. Though I have no sympathy for sites that just copy & paste press releases and rehost shots and call it news without even bothering to do some sort of hands off preview or even chuck in a few words of original thought.
The only gaming news writer I would consider a journalist is Patrick Klepek on Giantbomb. For the most part, he actually digs a little deeper into anything he writes to make it more interesting.
I have an RSS for Destructoid, which admittedly is bloated with a lot of crap, but I like to know about everything that's going on across all platforms so I usually just skim the headlines.
Finally there is bit-tech, which while I do read the game reviews, I stick around for the features and hardware reviews. Sure the news isn't exactly in depth journalism, but news in real life isn't really either. It's mostly just copy pasted from reuters press releases. The more you probe into a story in gaming, the more doors you get slammed in your face by ruining a companies meticulous PR campaign. And for what? So you can confirm to everyone more CoD is getting developed? I would argue that there are no true news stories to tell in gaming, only interesting articles and features to write and products to review.
I often wondered why the news section is cut down and I am greatful that it does away with all the rubbish. It wouldn't be Bit-Tech if it had a constant stream of churnalism (love the word by the way) being posted.
Valid argument, however, this also seems a good time for me to raise a niggle that has been bothering me for months. A while ago I asked why BT hadn't posted a review of the PS Move. The response was
"Afraid not. Sony didn't send it to us. Send them an angry email."
Essentially, this said: "we hadn't been sent one by Sony PR, therefore we're not reviewing it", which just seems like bad journalism.
Interesting and valid analysis of current games journalism, but I fear that BT perhaps goes too far in cutting down its news.. these days it seems much too long between articles and entire product ranges and games seem to get missed. I'm not suggesting posting crap like other sites, but BT is blessed with good writers, perhaps it would be worth giving them more to write about?
Essentially, this said: "we hadn't been sent one by Sony PR, therefore we're not reviewing it", which just seems like bad journalism.
The problem with this is : If they are not sent a sample, where do they get it from? surely they are not expected to buy every single piece of hardware that comes out... How do they pay for it?
Even if they sell them afterwards, this constitutes a loss across the board.
You might say that one of the writers might borrow one from someone...who would lend a new piece of hardware to be dissected, dismantled, warranty void and generally abused?
Originally Posted by sotu1 Valid argument, however, this also seems a good time for me to raise a niggle that has been bothering me for months. A while ago I asked why BT hadn't posted a review of the PS Move. The response was
"Afraid not. Sony didn't send it to us. Send them an angry email."
Essentially, this said: "we hadn't been sent one by Sony PR, therefore we're not reviewing it", which just seems like bad journalism.
I remember that and, yes, there probably was an element of that, but there was also other factors that I couldn't explain to you. It was partly a case of bureacracy (if I go out and buy it to review it, I then have to justify to my bosses why Sony didn't send it to us), audience (at the time we Bit-Gamer wasn't launched, so I'd have had to justify to readers why were looking at it) and stretched resources (there were lots of other games coming out at the time and, as always, just me working on the site full time). There's also an element of objectivity (we didn't look at Wii Motion Plus either, for example).
We've moved to rectify a lot of these issues since then, crystallising the focus of the site, investing more in freelancers and expanding our contact base. Apologies if I seemed glib in the original message to you - it must have been a stressful week.
Originally Posted by kaiser Interesting and valid analysis of current games journalism, but I fear that BT perhaps goes too far in cutting down its news.. these days it seems much too long between articles and entire product ranges and games seem to get missed. I'm not suggesting posting crap like other sites, but BT is blessed with good writers, perhaps it would be worth giving them more to write about?
On the games side this is still an issue of resources, unfortunately. I'm the only writer in the entire company who focuses only on games and that means, while I have some freelancers and can occassionally poach Antony, Harry, Paul or Clive, I have to do all the game reviews myself. How many games like The Witcher 2 do you think you can review in a working week, without factoring in news, proofing, editing, meetings, events, etc.
I'm not making excuses, just explaining we do the best we can.
Part of the reason is the internet is a different consumer environment - I haven't spent money buying a magazine which I am taking time to read at home. I am quite probably sitting at work/studying/meant to be doing something useful and looking for a 5 minute distraction - at that point a bit of non-news on BF3 becomes quite appealing.
Originally Posted by sotu1 Valid argument, however, this also seems a good time for me to raise a niggle that has been bothering me for months. A while ago I asked why BT hadn't posted a review of the PS Move. The response was
"Afraid not. Sony didn't send it to us. Send them an angry email."
Essentially, this said: "we hadn't been sent one by Sony PR, therefore we're not reviewing it", which just seems like bad journalism.
tbh, you're not missing much with Move, I think the only thing I've used my Move controllers for is PGA Golf and Eye Pet for the little one.
I RSS over 50 tech sites, not because they all publish unique stories, because they certainly don't, but because amongst 50-100 daily tech stories you can find exclusives and get a fuzzy feeling having read them on the exclusive site before any other sites regurgitate them.
It made me laugh when the Huddy story from BT was taken and rewritten and posted up on another site with no credit given to BT. I got my pitchfork out and got that one corrected!
There are a few things I would add and improve with Custom PC and Bit-Tech, but these blog posts make an interesting change from technical reviews and are a good read.
Great rant Joe, very surprised to see a critique of your own industry on the site, but very interested to read it. I am a recently qualified journalist AND hardware and gaming enthusiast and I am struggling to find work in your field (not surprising, given the state of the economy and the amount of graduates out there). In my experience my training and qualifications seem to be overlooked, I sometimes feel it would be better to leave off my NCTJ qualifications off my CV and lead with my love of all things PC when applying for jobs. Saying that, I did have more luck when applying for the recent position at CPC and BT so perhaps I shouldn't be so cynical!
I was speaking to a friend last week, who had fallen into travel journalism after completing an English degree, but was in the process of making the move to PR because he felt that was where writing talent and creativity was celebrated. Is it possible that PR's are doing all the journalism and journalists are doing all the PR?
As for lack of "news" on the site, I think that BT and CPC are primarily about reviewing and features, there are plenty of sites where screenshots, rumours and PR prattle can be found, so carry on sticking to what you guys do best.
The name of your site is Bit-Gamer and as such I expect your site to have news and articles to do with games. Being a Pc man(47 yrs old), I like multitasking machines not consoles. (me being biased, i refuse to own a console(To play a game I have to own your console F*** Y** p.s you might get sued if you tinker around inside it too(sry bit of rage!) ))
You have written many excellent articles to do with hardware and games and keeping us iinformed of the latest developements. I have several bookmarks that I check everyday. I would like to see a profile of the writer on the article he writes to see which side of the fence he is(what games he plays (regularly) consoles owned pc spec) With this in mind it is a simple step to cross reference your articles, reviews.
Being 47 I remember black and white tvs, colour, atari,sharp mz700,basic. Technology has come along way in 30yrs, would i care about p gates or n gates that i learned in college if i was 18 today, I very much doubt it.
I used your hardware reviews to build my pc though i had to skimp a little bit on my graphics card (ka2 560 ti) but it still does the job. I love your hardware reviews for being factual with plenty of test data.
I have about 200 current games but probably got 1000 resticted by different operating systems.
I don`t really care for some of the interviews you do about (so called) up and coming technology. the batlle between amd and intel for example but that doesnt stop me from reading it or the colouful comments which follow, some are very amusing and show great wit.
Ultimately my opinion of your site is great hardware reviews and game reviews, I always cross check your articles anyway.
Originally Posted by r8bwp The name of your site is Bit-Gamer and as such I expect your site to have news and articles to do with games. Being a Pc man(47 yrs old), I like multitasking machines not consoles. (me being biased, i refuse to own a console(To play a game I have to own your console F*** Y** p.s you might get sued if you tinker around inside it too(sry bit of rage!) ))
We tend to think that the journalist should approach any topic neutrally and without bias or ego getting in the way, which is why we don't shove our bios on to each page. Also, it's just not relevant for most readers and it's just ego stroking for us. Still, broadly speaking you can see the interests of individual writers in both the staff page and the blog posts done by that author.
It's clear that a lot of people spend a lot of time on this site, I for one check it at least thrice daily, and it's clear that a lot of people spend a lot of time contributing, through build logs etc. So, why not introduce a 'Reader Review' section; a reader could have a bit of hardware/software that BT doesn't manage to get it's hands on, and can tell the rest of us what it's like. Obviously there will be fanboys and haters posting, but if other readers took everything they read with a pinch of salt, then it could prove to be very interesting.
Also it would be a nice way for budding, or enthusiast writers to get pieces to the masses, rather than setting up a largely unread blog.
We've thought of doing this before in the past, but it again becomes a matter of resources. If we look at doing that and surfacing them on the site, we'd still have to read every one to make sure it wasn't inflammatory, was legible, etc. It might be something we do later this year though, with some other plans we're cooking...
I appreciate what's being said. However, I do feel that Bit-Tech compromised this 'low output, high quality' message a couple of years ago when game reviews became much less detailed.
I don't understand the logic behind enforcing the current two page limit; it's woefully short for sprawling lengthy titles, but conversely overkill for others, such as many indie releases.
I was Joe's predecessor at Bit-tech and this article beautifully sums up why I left and left 'journalism' in general. What you describe here Joe isn't limited to games journalism either. You only have to read one of Charlie Brooker's angry tirades against the world of media on his Guardian blog to see this same problem of Chinese whispers and news regurgitation has, in fact, infected all types of 'journalism'.
The problem isn't isolated to the news. Deadlines are placed on reviewing games, churning through as many as you possibly can. Always staring, metaphorically, upward at the views counter. Are people reading my latest review? Is it performing better than the last one? Is it because I'm a great writer? Or is it simply because the game happens to have the word 'sex' in it?
What I wont do, though, is blindly take every press release, developer quote or sliver of information and pad it out into a full article just to keep the advertisers happy.
oh joe your job is respectable.. not many out there who do it
the reviews are pretty good imo.. I don't really read any of the hardware articles as their are better with a forum full of bucktooths who love to oc (think of a forum full of pete j's and truegamer obsessives).. but when it comes to gaming and even the modding section (which I'm not into myself at all- if I made a case mod it would be a swinging wiener with a setup overclocked to it's limits, stability and longevity.. I always liked the sleeper black box, never cared for a case that screams look at me)
sometimes you skip over things I'd like to hear more about like guildwars 2 builds and age of empires online beta, but the ones you review are always a good read
Comments 1 to 25 of 37
ReplyAt least I know when news is posted on B-T it really is news or something useful or a big update in info for a game.
Maybe sites do this because there is not enough information released by developers as to whats going on with their games etc? So to feed the little monster they just regurgitate with a slight spin, things which have already been said..
Perhaps that's something that could be done here? A daily or even weekly round up of the lesser news stories that aren't enough to warrant a full post to themselves but are still of interest.
Still variety is the spice of life and I don't think anyone could honestly say that they get their gaming news etc from just one source so B-T does it one way other sites do it this way there is room for everyone. Though I have no sympathy for sites that just copy & paste press releases and rehost shots and call it news without even bothering to do some sort of hands off preview or even chuck in a few words of original thought.
I have an RSS for Destructoid, which admittedly is bloated with a lot of crap, but I like to know about everything that's going on across all platforms so I usually just skim the headlines.
Finally there is bit-tech, which while I do read the game reviews, I stick around for the features and hardware reviews. Sure the news isn't exactly in depth journalism, but news in real life isn't really either. It's mostly just copy pasted from reuters press releases. The more you probe into a story in gaming, the more doors you get slammed in your face by ruining a companies meticulous PR campaign. And for what? So you can confirm to everyone more CoD is getting developed? I would argue that there are no true news stories to tell in gaming, only interesting articles and features to write and products to review.
I often wondered why the news section is cut down and I am greatful that it does away with all the rubbish. It wouldn't be Bit-Tech if it had a constant stream of churnalism (love the word by the way) being posted.
"Afraid not. Sony didn't send it to us. Send them an angry email."
Essentially, this said: "we hadn't been sent one by Sony PR, therefore we're not reviewing it", which just seems like bad journalism.
The problem with this is : If they are not sent a sample, where do they get it from? surely they are not expected to buy every single piece of hardware that comes out... How do they pay for it?
Even if they sell them afterwards, this constitutes a loss across the board.
You might say that one of the writers might borrow one from someone...who would lend a new piece of hardware to be dissected, dismantled, warranty void and generally abused?
Hardware and Games enthusiasts are used to the hype. They search for it.
If you stop providing that service, they will look elsewhere, Bit-tech.
I remember that and, yes, there probably was an element of that, but there was also other factors that I couldn't explain to you. It was partly a case of bureacracy (if I go out and buy it to review it, I then have to justify to my bosses why Sony didn't send it to us), audience (at the time we Bit-Gamer wasn't launched, so I'd have had to justify to readers why were looking at it) and stretched resources (there were lots of other games coming out at the time and, as always, just me working on the site full time). There's also an element of objectivity (we didn't look at Wii Motion Plus either, for example).
We've moved to rectify a lot of these issues since then, crystallising the focus of the site, investing more in freelancers and expanding our contact base. Apologies if I seemed glib in the original message to you - it must have been a stressful week.
;)
On the games side this is still an issue of resources, unfortunately. I'm the only writer in the entire company who focuses only on games and that means, while I have some freelancers and can occassionally poach Antony, Harry, Paul or Clive, I have to do all the game reviews myself. How many games like The Witcher 2 do you think you can review in a working week, without factoring in news, proofing, editing, meetings, events, etc.
I'm not making excuses, just explaining we do the best we can.
tbh, you're not missing much with Move, I think the only thing I've used my Move controllers for is PGA Golf and Eye Pet for the little one.
It made me laugh when the Huddy story from BT was taken and rewritten and posted up on another site with no credit given to BT. I got my pitchfork out and got that one corrected!
There are a few things I would add and improve with Custom PC and Bit-Tech, but these blog posts make an interesting change from technical reviews and are a good read.
Cheers!
I was speaking to a friend last week, who had fallen into travel journalism after completing an English degree, but was in the process of making the move to PR because he felt that was where writing talent and creativity was celebrated. Is it possible that PR's are doing all the journalism and journalists are doing all the PR?
As for lack of "news" on the site, I think that BT and CPC are primarily about reviewing and features, there are plenty of sites where screenshots, rumours and PR prattle can be found, so carry on sticking to what you guys do best.
You have written many excellent articles to do with hardware and games and keeping us iinformed of the latest developements. I have several bookmarks that I check everyday. I would like to see a profile of the writer on the article he writes to see which side of the fence he is(what games he plays (regularly) consoles owned pc spec) With this in mind it is a simple step to cross reference your articles, reviews.
Being 47 I remember black and white tvs, colour, atari,sharp mz700,basic. Technology has come along way in 30yrs, would i care about p gates or n gates that i learned in college if i was 18 today, I very much doubt it.
I used your hardware reviews to build my pc though i had to skimp a little bit on my graphics card (ka2 560 ti) but it still does the job. I love your hardware reviews for being factual with plenty of test data.
I have about 200 current games but probably got 1000 resticted by different operating systems.
I don`t really care for some of the interviews you do about (so called) up and coming technology. the batlle between amd and intel for example but that doesnt stop me from reading it or the colouful comments which follow, some are very amusing and show great wit.
Ultimately my opinion of your site is great hardware reviews and game reviews, I always cross check your articles anyway.
We tend to think that the journalist should approach any topic neutrally and without bias or ego getting in the way, which is why we don't shove our bios on to each page. Also, it's just not relevant for most readers and it's just ego stroking for us. Still, broadly speaking you can see the interests of individual writers in both the staff page and the blog posts done by that author.
http://www.bit-tech.net/about/staff
Also it would be a nice way for budding, or enthusiast writers to get pieces to the masses, rather than setting up a largely unread blog.
I don't understand the logic behind enforcing the current two page limit; it's woefully short for sprawling lengthy titles, but conversely overkill for others, such as many indie releases.
The problem isn't isolated to the news. Deadlines are placed on reviewing games, churning through as many as you possibly can. Always staring, metaphorically, upward at the views counter. Are people reading my latest review? Is it performing better than the last one? Is it because I'm a great writer? Or is it simply because the game happens to have the word 'sex' in it?
Invariably you end up churning out articles like this http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2007/01/10/most_wanted_2007/1
This was one of our best performing articles. It depressed me so much it was one of the major factors in me leaving.
Thank you. There is quite enough of that about.
the reviews are pretty good imo.. I don't really read any of the hardware articles as their are better with a forum full of bucktooths who love to oc (think of a forum full of pete j's and truegamer obsessives).. but when it comes to gaming and even the modding section (which I'm not into myself at all- if I made a case mod it would be a swinging wiener with a setup overclocked to it's limits, stability and longevity.. I always liked the sleeper black box, never cared for a case that screams look at me)
sometimes you skip over things I'd like to hear more about like guildwars 2 builds and age of empires online beta, but the ones you review are always a good read
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