First of all, it's nice to be back in business. My recovery took a slight detour for the worse, which took my muse away for a couple of months. Luckily, things are picking up again. I shall continue this semi-serious project of mine. At least until I'm tired of bumming around :P
Anyway, where were we? Today I spent over 2 hours hanging out on the Jimquisition, the HQ of one of my favourite game critics, Mr. Jim Sterling. Today also happens to be the eve of Far Cry Primal's release. The game is indeed a highly anticipated title with a lot of marketing and PR clout behind it. It also seems like a major re-envisioning of the Far Cry formula. Jim Sterling played the review version of the game and concluded that most of the new concepts give new life to the somewhat stale formula. A quite reasonable notion, especially considering that all the material I have seen on the game seems to indicate that the game is at least solid.
Giving the game an 8.5 was met with considerable opposition from some fans. One of them, to whom I dedicate this entry, went as far as suggesting that the publisher, Ubisoft had paid for Jim's positive review. This makes little to no sense for a number of reasons. Firstly, Mr. Sterling does not provide ad space anywhere in his enterprise, buying of which usually is the primary tactic used by publishers to encourage score inflation. Secondly, the Jimquisition is a patreon-fueled operation. Even a hint of a scandal will put this independent project in jeopardy.
Lastly, and most importantly, approaching Jim with a shady deal makes no sense for Ubisoft itself. People like Jim or SuperBunnyHop have built their brands on uncovering scandals and general shadiness within our industry. Trying to bribe them is such an incredibly dumb and risky idea that not even Ubisoft would resort to pursuing it.
We live in times of general distrust for gaming journalists. Don't get me wrong, there are some legitimate reasons to be concerned. We have to stay vigilant and keep Youtube accountable. At the same time, we cannot be consumed by paranoia. Thanks to the crowdfunding movement the independent sector of the gaming industry has flourished. Hard work of people like Jim is at least partly responsible for the bounce-back year of 2015, after the atrocious 2014. Today, more than ever, it is vital to stand together with independent Youtubers such as Jim Sterling, because the alternative is infinitely grimmer . I encourage everyone to scroll through the review section of IGN US. It really fills you with new appreciation for people like Jim.
No comments:
Post a Comment