What This Industry Needs Is A Good Game Review Book...

[Rogmeister]

The movies have all these movie review books, the most popular being Leonard Maltin's annual paperback...we need something like that. Don't get me wrong, the DP Guides are awesome but their main use is to help us in buying and/or selling what we want. I'd like to see someone do a book reviewing every game in short Maltin-like digest format. Would it be possible to fit every game in one volume? Perhaps not...we may need to make something like a 3-volume set...

I may start working on such a list for just myself for my personal use. Of course, that could take years...

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm also starting to put together a list of short game reviews...will take a long, long time, but hey, I want to do it :)

[Kid Ice]

The Videogame Bible is the closest thing I've seen to what you're talking about.

[Xtasy]

Well i wouldn't mind helping at all we could name it DP Reviews digest or something

-Xtasy

[Ed Oscuro]

DP already has a reviews section, though.

I'm just doing something by myself, that's all.

[zmweasel]

The movies have all these movie review books, the most popular being Leonard Maltin's annual paperback...we need something like that. Don't get me wrong, the DP Guides are awesome but their main use is to help us in buying and/or selling what we want. I'd like to see someone do a book reviewing every game in short Maltin-like digest format. Would it be possible to fit every game in one volume? Perhaps not...we may need to make something like a 3-volume set...

I may start working on such a list for just myself for my personal use. Of course, that could take years...

The difference is that you can rent or buy the majority of movies that are reviewed in Maltin's book, which makes it useful, whereas the average gamer can only readily rent or buy games for the current generation of hardware. And I can't see a computer-literate hardcore gamer seeking out a gigantor paperback instead of consulting a website.

-- Z.

[kevincure]

Here's what might be more useful: A list of the "games worth playing" with brief review. I made lists for a few systems - at most, a system like the PSX or SNES will have 100-200 games that are fun to play today (or have some historical significance, etc.). Many systems (such as the Jag) would only have a few. Including PCs, and picking the best conversion/most accessible version for ported games, I think such a book would have between one and two thousand games, which is quite manageable. If well written, I'd buy it.

The bigger problem, as I'm sure Zach will attest, is that videogame journalism is damn awful. For every "Supercade", there's a "Joystick Nation" (just the first that comes to mind - I collect books on gaming and, believe me, this one is only mediocre). Maltin is read not because he lists a bunch of movies - you can go to imdb for that. He's read because he provides intelligent insights into the game histories, lays out the text professionally, and has good taste in film.

[Ed Oscuro]

The difference is that you can rent or buy the majority of movies that are reviewed in Maltin's book, which makes it useful, whereas the average gamer can only readily rent or buy games for the current generation of hardware. And I can't see a computer-literate hardcore gamer seeking out a gigantor paperback instead of consulting a website.
Aye. You can "lug" around Maltin's slim (though fat) little tome and find cheap movies you'll want to watch. The DP Guides are another thing...you carry those around if you're into some seriously hardcore game buying to save yourself money. Games aren't movies, though, so there's a good incentive not to make impulse purchases. Heck, O^2 William almost passed up a great unusual Intellivision within the last few days for exactly that reason.

[Ed Oscuro]

Here's what might be more useful: A list of the "games worth playing" with brief review.
Essentially what I'm working on.

If I had my own domain name and some professional hosting, it would be easier to sort the list - right now I'm pretty much stuck with whatever I can do in HTML, which means no slashdot style "this game is below your current threshhold" sorting. That'd be an awesome feature.


He's read because he provides intelligent insights into the game histories, lays out the text professionally, and has good taste in film.
Yup. I find that most non-pro game reviews are pretty damned awful (well, actually, that's a pretty meaningless statement since most reviews are written with less presence of mind than my average forum post!), but the high-rank pro stuff, on the other hand, is very pleasant and conversational in tone. Even so, it's rare that a reviewer can really pick at the historical issues...Maltin can only do so much with his short reviews, too, so I'm not arguing that anybody's been slacking off ;)

[o2william]

Heck, O^2 William almost passed up a great unusual Intellivision within the last few days for exactly that reason.

Somewhere along the line I lost track of your reasoning, Ed. I didn't buy the white Intellivision initially because I didn't realize it was something truly unique. I figured it was a known variation, albeit one I hadn't seen before, and therefore not likely to be worth much more than I'd have to pay for it (not enough to pay for the hassle of selling/shipping it, at least). I didn't have a DP Guide with me, although without color photos, it might not have been descriptive enough to prove its uniqueness to me one way or the other.

I'm not a big movie buff, but my suspicion is that people don't use Maltin's book as a "thrift store hunting guide" so much as a way to discover obscure movies that might interest them. Yeah, they can look on IMDB, but they know Maltin and respect his opinion enough to trust his recommendations.

I think what Zach's saying is that movie buffs can appreciate one movie much like another, regardless of age. People typically don't do that with games. A review guide couldn't compete with the DP Guide from a collector's viewpoint... possibly it could from a player's viewpoint, but it would really have to be targeted to retro gamers because it would be outdated almost from the moment it hit the stands -- and that limits its potential market right off the bat. I doubt it'd do much for the industry, but people like us would buy it if it was well-written or if we knew the author.

Still, maybe that's what you were trying to say all along. It's late. :)

[Ed Oscuro]

Heck, O^2 William almost passed up a great unusual Intellivision within the last few days for exactly that reason.

Somewhere along the line I lost track of your reasoning, Ed. I didn't buy the white Intellivision initially because I didn't realize it was something truly unique. I figured it was a known variation, albeit one I hadn't seen before, and therefore not likely to be worth much more than I'd have to pay for it (not enough to pay for the hassle of selling/shipping it, at least). I didn't have a DP Guide with me, although without color photos, it might not have been descriptive enough to prove its uniqueness to me one way or the other.
My reasoning was that you didn't want to make an impulse purchase...I'm afraid I don't see your objection to that. I knew you said you are trying to cut back on expenses. I guess I could be wrong and you didn't get an impulse to buy it (I know I would've for the reasons above!) in the first place, of course.

But my reasoning not being clear? All things considered, I was pretty clear explaining my reasoning... :/

I'm wrong often enough as it is...no need to rub salt into the wound there sir! LOL

You're right, though; I'd be pretty surprised to see somebody with Maltin's book going through their video store.

[pixelsnpolygons]

That would be awesome. I don't even know of a site that has a review of all the games - or even all the games worth playing -- or even all the games people might consider playing. IGN and GameSpot only date back to the N64 and PlayStation era and their coverage from that point on still isn't 100%

GameFAQs has reviews for tons of games but most of the reviews are poorly written and follow the same style of writing - count how many people give a game like Madden or Tetris a 0/10 for story instead of simply not mentioning the story aspect, as it serves no relevance to the game. And those are often the fairly good reviews. There are some good reviews there, but really it is like finding an intelligent post on the average message board. And yeah, I realize I am coming across like an elitist asshole or something, but it isn't my desired intention. Actually I'm writing reviews every evening for the upcoming launch of my website - which covers games from the beginning until now. Along with the other staff, we're trying to review every major game out there. This is obviously difficult - but we feel by this time next year we'll have a really high percentage (of debt LOL).

But anyway, yeah - I'd love to see such a book. I'd love to release such a book myself - I am certainly working towards having that sort of content, it'll just be the book deal I'd be lacking. Perhaps the DP guides could grow to feature a review for every game? I'd be happy to offer up all of mine. I'd imagine it'd double the price of development costs though.

edit: LOL at me criticizing bad writing when my own post had some pretty elementary typos.

[Ed Oscuro]

That would be awesome. I don't even know of a site that has a review of all the games - or even all the games worth playing -- or even all the games people might consider playing. IGN and GameSpot only date back to the N64 and PlayStation era and their coverage from that point on still isn't 100%
I don't know of a site that has all the games period! Though DP is very close, it's always an uphill struggle for the guys here...just keeping in touch with major releases is enough to make one go crazy, and I couldn't imagine trying to track special releases and such @_@

[pixelsnpolygons]

I don't know of a site that has all the games period! Though DP is very close, it's always an uphill struggle for the guys here...just keeping in touch with major releases is enough to make one go crazy, and I couldn't imagine trying to track special releases and such

Yeah, I really take my hat off to all the people who have made this place what it is. We've been using the guides as a basis of what to hunt for next on our site - really couldn't have done it without it. It's truly impressive work.

[digitalpress]

Considering that we've got over a thousand reviews already in the database and about half as many "Santulli Slants", just taking the time to edit things down to Maltin-sized capsule reviews is all we'd need to get started.

Add a little help from some good writers who have some time on their hands, and we're not very far away from having such a thing.

[Cav]

That would be awesome. I don't even know of a site that has a review of all the games - or even all the games worth playing -- or even all the games people might consider playing. IGN and GameSpot only date back to the N64 and PlayStation era and their coverage from that point on still isn't 100%
I don't know of a site that has all the games period! Though DP is very close, it's always an uphill struggle for the guys here...just keeping in touch with major releases is enough to make one go crazy, and I couldn't imagine trying to track special releases and such @_@

...we try.... www.allgame.com

-Cav

[Rogmeister]

A review guide couldn't compete with the DP Guide from a collector's viewpoint... possibly it could from a player's viewpoint, but it would really have to be targeted to retro gamers because it would be outdated almost from the moment it hit the stands -- and that limits its potential market right off the bat.

Well, you could say the same thing about the Leonard Maltin movie books...try as he might, the movie studios just won't quit making movies. When one of his books hits the stands, there are many movies from the past few months that are already missing from that book. That's why he has to make it an annual publication. The one way to fix that with such a book is to simply not review games from current consoles...or review them through the end of a specific year and perhaps title it as such "The Complete Games Review Book 1978-2005" or whatever...perhaps you could then have annual supplements?

[RCM]

Some neato points have been made. I am against the idea personally. I have a hard time agreeing with a majority of the reviews today and the reviews of yesteryear.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[o2william]

I'm wrong often enough as it is...no need to rub salt into the wound there sir! LOL

I wasn't trying to... I just didn't exactly follow how my Intellivision quandary related to the discussion of game review books. But like I said, it was late when I read the post. No worries.


or review them through the end of a specific year and perhaps title it as such "The Complete Games Review Book 1978-2005" or whatever...perhaps you could then have annual supplements?

Now that is a good idea. Current-gen'ers could snatch up the recent volumes and retro gamers could buy the past volumes that interested them. As a collector of game paraphernalia, I'd enjoy 'em... although I still have to accept Zach's point that many people would rather hit a web site than shell out for paperback(s).

[Ed Oscuro]

...we try.... www.allgame.com
I'm not aiming to start some inter-site dispute here, but what's seperating that site from DP, goal-wise? I checked out some of the lists...no Million Seller listings. For me, that's a big thing. Do I expect a list to have such listings? No, but I'm pointing it out.

Also, this tidbit:


In order to immediately increase the number of titles for the SNES, Nintendo decided to alter its policy for outside game manufacturers. Nintendo would not restrict companies to design games only for their system. They would allow their licensees to produce three games a year, but to encourage a standard of quality; they instituted their own rating system. If a third party game was impressive enough to receive a rating of thirty or more points, Nintendo would not count it as one of the three.
I understand the bit as it applies to, say, Konami and Ultra Games. However, by this point Nintendo already had a lawsuit brought against them, which they had lost. They couldn't legally continue to restrict their game developers as they had (I recall the rebate certificates as being good for NES carts, but hey). Correct, right?

As for writing...I'll be throwing up a page of small reviews I've done for arcade games; I desperately want to have some sort of system to allow creative sorting for it. I'll be asking if people like the style, or if they want it to be more formulaic.

[zmweasel]

What I'd love to see is a mammoth book with detailed histories of individual games (both great and awful, as long as they're milestones--Myst, Night Trap, Grand Theft Auto, Daikatana, et cetera) and individual designers. High Score! comes close with its chapters on specific developers and publishers, but I want more graphic descriptions.

-- Z.

[kevincure]

Hey allgame.com is great; I usually use allgame when I'm looking for data about a specific game, and use the DP guide for collecting purposes.

[Melf]

I've been trying to fill the gap a bit on the Genesis front. My site has about 115 reviews up so far but there's far too much for one place to do it all alone.