Word Play: The Evolution of Game Journalism

6/23/2008 5:56 PM | 2 Comments | Page 1 of 10

Like them or hate them, game journalists have helped shape the interactive entertainment industry for nearly as long as videogames have existed.

Some game journalists have better writing skills than player abilities. Some game journalists play better than they write. Unlike film and music critics, some of whom have formal educations in the arts that they critique, few if any game journalists have attended game colleges such as DigiPen or Full Sail. Most game journalists are game enthusiasts with nothing more than strong opinions and a lot of time playing games under their belts.

Yet, by virtue of their access to the gaming community, many journalists have a loyal readership.

The following is not a discussion about the power of game journalism, but rather its evolution. In fact, this limited little article doesn't cover the evolution of international game journalism, just the rise and history of game journalism in the United States. If you are looking for the roots of Edge, The Official Belgian PlayStation Magazine, or Famitsu, you will not find them here.

If you are curious about the beginnings of American videogame reporting, however, read on. Game journalism has come a long way since its meager beginning.

Starting with Coin-Op

Like the birth of videogames themselves, the roots of videogame journalism can be found in the coin-operated amusement industry.

"The first videogame that ever hit the market was this thing called Computer Space somewhere around the end of 1971 if memory serves," says Eddie Adlum, publisher or RePlay Magazine. "It was built by this guy named Bill Nutting up in the San Jose region, and it was more or less 'designed' by the iconic Nolan Bushnell."

The San Jose Mercury News did not cover Computer Space when Nutting Associates released the game. None of the local papers covered the appearance of the revolutionary new computer game when it appeared in the Dutch Goose, the Menlo Park pub in which Computer Space first debuted. And, of course, there were no videogame magazines at the time.

But at least one journalist wrote about the game when it appeared at an Amusement Industry trade show.

"I was working at Cashbox Magazine," says Adlum. "What was unique about Computer Space was that it had a television screen in it. Otherwise it was an average game in which you shot stuff, no big thing."

Except for Adlum's small write-up in Cashbox, Computer Space did not receive much attention. It might have been forgotten entirely except for what came next.

"The big thing was the following March when a new company that was formed by this guy Bushnell came out with a ping pong game on a television tube, a thing that they called Pong." Videogames did not exactly take off after that. Arcade companies liked the games because they were less expensive to make and maintain than mechanical amusement devices such as pinball machines, but the early days of videogaming were clogged with Pong rip-offs and racing games.

Not long after American amusement industry writers began covering television games, their counterparts in other countries picked up on the story. Masumi Akagi, the dean of game journalism in Japan, began covering his country's coin-operated amusement industry before Rosen Enterprises and Service Games merged into a company called SEGA Enterprises. While Computer Space did not migrate to Japan, Pong and many subsequent television games did.