Press Pass: August Roundup
8/28/2008 7:35 PM | 2 Comments | Page 3 of 3
Movers and Shakers: Geoff Keighley promoted
Congratulations to the Geoff Keighley, host of Spike TV's GameTrailersTV (formerly Game Head), for his
recent promotion to the new position of "executive of game publisher relations." That title might sounds little too cozy for a guy who will still be working as host of a show focused on analyzing games (rather than just promoting them) but Keighley explained that there's no reason to think he's been co-opted. "It's an editorial role," he wrote in an e-mail. "Much like an editor-in-chief decides on which games to put on the cover of a magazine I will be focusing on which games to cover ... There's lots of analysis still going on inside of GTTV, the Bonus Round show I do on GameTrailers.com, etc. ... The publishers have no control over what we say about the games, but of course we're selecting them BECAUSE they look great. (Much like a magazine wouldn't put a crappy game on the cover)."
In an
interview with GameDaily, Keighley also promised to use his new role to transform the Spike TV Video Game Awards into something more "gamer oriented and less Hollywood." All I can say to that is: Amen.
Bits and pieces
I stumbled upon the existence of
"The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy" through a recent
RipTen mini-interview, and I have to say, it seems like one of the more interesting game-related books to come down the pike in a while. I've read "The Simpsons and Philosophy," from the same publisher, and if this new title is anywhere near as accessible and interesting, it should provide a valuable new angle to the world of games writing.
From the "mainstream journalists should not play videogames on live TV" file, I direct you without further comment to
video of NBC's "Today Show" crew gamely attempting to play
Rock Band.
Speaking of painful video, GamesRadar recently ran a couple of
entertaining features about the endless wasteland that is most online video reviews of games. Try as we might, we can't all be Yahtzee.
Quote of the Moment
"This is, without doubt, the cheapest cop-out in journalistic history. If the reader doesn't like the game that you're so blinkered about you can't comprehend that other people might not like it, then it means you've f***ed up the review."
-- Game journalism critic
the RAM Raider (some NSFW language), venting against journalists who blithely write "If you don't like [insert game title or facet here], then you have no soul."
