Writing about games

New Games Journalism
“Bow, Nigger”


This was an article written about Jedi Knight II by Ian Shanahan. In his review of this game, Shanahan concentrates on his feelings while playing. He writes in a personal style describing events and reactions in a story type way. There is hardly any actual discussion about the aspects of gameplay such as the interface, but rather he concentrates on how his experience of the game and his interaction with the other on-line player made him feel.  
The article is interesting in giving you a feel for one possible way you could enjoy or not enjoy the game but it doesn't give you enough information to be able to make a good choice. He mentions the graphics briefly before going in the 'story' of this one encounter. How often does this sort of encounter happen? Is this the only gameplay mode available? What about other weapons? The New Games Journalism (NGJ) approach of this article helps to give an idea about the game, but a combination of reading this and also a traditional review would be needed to get a better indication about the game. The NGJ article would definitely be a help rather than without it.


“Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”


This is an article originally written for the February 2005 issue of Edge Magazine. As a review of a game it fails to describe the actual gameplay in terms that a potential buyer could use to discern what they will actually be doing. The author does note that you have a weapon and need to kill things, but concentrates more on the story than gameplay elements and the players experience during and after playing. This makes the article a good example of NGJ. The author also comments on the effect the game design could have on the market and also in relation to the sequel (The Warrior Within).


Comparing this article with “Bow, Nigger” above, there are both similarities and differences. “Bow, Nigger” concentrates solely on the player's experience while playing the game. This article describes the story in depth and the re-playability of the game, talking about the players experience outside the game when evaluating there ideas and feeling from when they were playing it. While both discuss the experience of the player from playing the game and they seem to come at it from a different angle. This article also discusses effect of the design and why that may have affected the experience.


Old Games Journalism


“Project Snowblind”


This article is an example of Old Game Journalism. This article does not worry too much about the what the player will feel during the playing of the game. Instead in concentrates on discussing the actual aspects of the game, describing them so that a potential buyer can get an idea of what the game contains. For example, the article describes the the graphics and gameplay in detail, talking about the weapons, the enemy AI, the graphics (textures etc.) and rating these at the bottom of the article. Something which is not in this type of article as opposed to the NGJ articles is that it doesn't try to set the atmosphere. It simply states this is what the game is. It gives a lot of information to allow the reader to compare to games that they have already played and then make a decision if it might be a game they would like. In NGJ the reader would have to find this information by reading between the lines of the article. For this fact, this seems to be a good way of writing about games but a combination of the two forms may be the best way forward.




Bibliography
Ian 'Always Black' Shanahan, 'Bow, Nigger', September 2003, http://www.alwaysblack.com/blackbox/bownigger.html, Date of access: 1st December 2006.


Edge, 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time', February 2005, http://www.edge-online.co.uk/archives/2005/02/prince_of_persi.php, Date of access: 1st December 2006.


Ivan Sulic, IGN.com, 'Project Snowblind', 18th February 2005, http://uk.xbox.ign.com/articles/589/589077p1.html, Date of access: 1st December 2006.