noisewar internetlainen - games, politics, and sarcasm

Wow, disgusting. Sure, this tribute is an honest, sincere, touching expression for their dear friend Gerstmann, but c'mon... this is an unprofessional, weepy-feely, nerd funeral in the worst way. They should grow up and get used to the real, ad-capitalized world that keeps them employed doing a throw-away job. These people seriously think they are on the vanguard of a brave new era, contributing. Per my last post, I believe that is bullshit. Gamespot's own statement about the situation makes perfect sense to all but the kids on game forums who continue to rave over their late reviewer, screaming "fuck you" to the proverbial "man."

Incidentally, talking to our studio head recently, he told me an interesting anecdote about an independent reviewer contracted to cover a major sport title for Gamespot or IGN (he forgets which review site). Anyways, the guy wrote a decent write-up of the game, gave it something like an 8.0 or so, and one of the lead developers wrote to him to say thanks for the fair review, thanks for actually playing the damn game (unlike most reviewers), and offered to send him him an alpha of the next version for him to check out early.

The guy emailed back to say that he probably shouldn't be talking to him. The independent reviewer, turns out, had actually wanted to score the game much higher, at around a 9.0, but was told that was an inappropriate score for a games of its ilk made by big, hated corporations like Sony and EA. He hadn't met their scoring "guidelines." He concluded by saying that his game reviewer stint promptly came to an end, and he decided to give up game journalism and move far away.

So I'm glad Gerstmann was made an example of. In a way, game reviewers are very much like Wall Street analysts, treading a fine line between reporting and currying favor with either the executives or the greedy market. Often, it devolves into a popularity contest with few threads of meritocracy holding the whole system together. Either way, you should take them all with a grain of salt, however much they may seem like the "little guy."

I've been reading Use the News by money honey Maria Bartiromo, and while her book is gossipy and light on practical information, that's what Wall Street is, and her perspective is a great read, especially about those analysts. You can see exactly how she got in trouble over the Bernanke slip, as her personality comes through strongly, but it's an excellent slice of street-think to pore over. If you watch financial news on TV at all, it's certainly worth a read, and will hopefully help you get a handle on your own trading emotions.