New Vs Old
After our discussions in lecture about the pros and cons of both types of journalism we can to the realization that both are infact needed to really convey a game in today's markets, especially speaking for digital games.
New games journalism is best understood as being analogous to travel journalism we're the player/writer will write of their experiences withing the game, a story or event that had occurred giving the reader a sense of how the game plays.
Old game journalism is the specifics and details of the game. Such as the graphics, interface, controls and game play. All used together to analysis the game and usually score it in some way. You will be given solid , straight forward information about the game and possible a summary of the game narrative or background.
I personally found new game journalism very entertaining and a much easier read to follow. Being informative in in-depth game play from the writers point of view conveys what is possible within the game and how the game plays or feels like. This is a big factor for someone that might want to buy the game because we all want to know what we are buying before we do, try before you buy kind of thing.
Old journalism isn't going to give you the feel of the game nor tell you what may or may not happen within it but it does bring up some key points about the game in question that new journalism doesn't. Key specific designs within the game, statistics, overall score, a brief intro summary or log line. All of which is important depending on what you are looking for.
I personally look at both when buying a new game, but 9/10 I'll look for peoples experience with the game through forums or articles in magazines. The trouble with this though is that people are subjective, meaning not everyone will like the same thing and this is a very important factor when reading new journalism. Keeping this in mind when reviewing articles and post is key and also remembering some things may be a slight twist on the truth.
If I'm not totally sold by new journalism posts, I'll quickly look at new journalism stuff to confirm anything I have questions about which is ideal as you know it will be cold hard facts relating to only the game and whats in it.
