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The Return of GFW Radio?

I miss GFW Radio. In the six months that it's been gone, there's been a legitimate absence in the podcast world; fantastic shows like Idle Thumbs have appeared in the meantime with the same incisive commentary and great sense of humor, but there was something about the interplay between all of the GFW guys that's impossible to replicate. Sure, I was happy to hear about the proposed GFW Radio reunion that might happen at this year's Penny Arcade Expo, but that's a whole six months from now.

But we might not have to wait that long; GFW Radio veterans Shawn Elliott, Jeff Green, and Robert Ashley--along gaming podcast celebs Luke Smith and N'Gai Croal--have recently gathered for a new podcast called Out of the Game. And, believe it or not, it may be just as good as the GFW Radio of yore.

Posted Mar 18 2009, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments

Filed under: 1up Yours, 1up, shawn elliot, n’gai croal, bob mackey, gfw radio, podcasts, jeff green

Patron Saint of Games Journalism Departs

Even if you only have a passing familiarity with games journalism, you've undoubtedly heard the name "N'Gai Croal" pop up from time to time. As the driving for behind Newsweek's Level Up Blog, N'Gai brought a certain amount of credibility to the much-maligned world of games journalism with his insightful commentary and fresh perspective on our hobby--after all, he's only been a gamer for ten years. Yet, even with all of his credibility and goodwill, N'Gai is following the same path many games journalists have taken lately by getting a job in the gaming industry itself. Here's the news from his final Level Up post:

After Friday March 6th, my passions will take me beyond the world of journalism. I’ll be wearing many hats on this new journey: videogame design consultant, media strategist, consumer technology reporter, columnist, blogger and, as always, provocateur.

The good news behind this is that it doesn't seem like the economy is forcing N'Gai out of his job, as we've seen with many games journalists in the past. The bad news--obviously--is that we're losing a pretty vital figurehead in the struggle to have games journalism be taken seriously.

Posted Mar 04 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments

Filed under: level up, n’gai croal, bob mackey, games journalism, newsweek

Things You Should Be Reading: The Review Score Symposium

Who doesn't enjoy a good symposium? Wait, let me rephrase that. Who doesn't enjoy a bunch of brilliant games journalists pontificating on the purpose, methods, and changing nature of what they do? If you're into video games enough to be reading 61FPS, there's a good possibility that, like me, you have an invested interested in the vaguely-defined field of games journalism. And perhaps the most heavily debated element of this profession is the review score; after all, how many times have you seen someone completely lose their shit when a game they love (and possibly have never played) is rated lower than a 9? This topic of game reviews has been on the minds of games journalists N'Gai Croal, John Davison and Shawn Elliott (though I guess he's a former journalist if you want to be technical) for quite some time, and only came to light recently through a multi-part discussion on N'Gai's excellent Level Up blog. His own introduction to the series should give you a good idea as to what areas their conversation covered:

Are reviews primarily a consumer guide, or should they serve another purpose? Do review scores deter intelligent discussion of videogames? Is the presence or absence of a review score the only difference between a reviewer and a critic? What is the role of the reviewer when the Internet is democratizing published opinion? How should reviews and reviewers evolve in light of the emergence and growth of Flash games, small games, indie games and user-generated games?

This series is a definite must-read if you're interested in the review score phenomenon, or plan on reviewing games yourself one day.

Posted Jan 20 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments

Filed under: john davison, shawn elliot, level up, n’gai croal, bob mackey, games journalism

Film to Games: Ghostbusters is the Beginning of a (Hopefully) Beautiful Friendship

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K. Time was that the relationship between film and videogames was one of extremes: games poached the narrative framing devices of film in an effort to grow as a medium and film poached the intellectual properties of games to make garbage movies and a quick buck. However, this relationship is morphing into something far more powerful: artistic collaboration. Even beyond Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s consulting work on titles like Boom Blox and King Kong, filmmakers and game designers are now working directly with one another to produce videogames with sophisticated design alongside the sophisticated so often missing in games. Terminal Reality’s upcoming Ghostbusters game, a true sequel to 1989’s Ghostbusters 2, is going to be one of the first games to truly benefit from this crossover. Not only have all the principal characters agreed to resume their roles, but Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis are penning the script themselves. In an interview with our esteemed colleagues over at Gamasutra, Terminal Reality president Mark Randel discusses the benefits of partnering directly with the creators to produce superior work.

Posted May 19 2008, 10:00 AM by John Constantine with | with no comments

Filed under: john constantine, boom blox, steven spielberg, gamasutra, games to film, Ghostbusters, n’gai croal, cory barlog, peter Jackson, dan ackroyd, george miller, Harold ramis

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.