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Anyone else tired of Gameinformer only featuring WoW?
Karesh
Member UncommonPosts: 242
I decided to make this thread after reading the latest issue of Gameinformer. I'll start off by saying that they actually did an article on WoW & APB, so I can't say that they only did one on WoW. My point is this, Every so often, Gameinformer does an article or 2 on an mmo....and it seems like WoW is included quite a bit. Personally I don't mind when they do one on WoW every so often, but when they overdue it is when it starts getting annoying.
The new Gameinformer was titled "A cataclysmic reason to come back to WoW", or something like that. They then went on to point out different things that they were "adding/doing new" in the new WoW xpac...but it seems (as far as I've heard/read), that a lot of the content they are adding, are only actually improvements to current features. With some exceptions here and there including the new races/areas for those races. I could be wrong on that, so if I am be try to be respectful and actually correct me instead of trolling. Besides what I said about the content...from what I read in the Gameinformer, half of it sounded like he hadn't played it yet, and the other half sounded like he had.
By now I'm sure some of you feel like I'm just trolling, but I'm trying not to. My point with this thread wasn't to troll about them having articles on WoW in Gameinformer, but it was a way for me to vent about my annoyance that Gameinformer always seems to pick WoW out of a huge list of other mmo's. I don't want to read about WoW every few issues of Gameinformer, I'd like to see them actually give some variety to their mmo articles, instead of constantly pushing WoW into people's faces...Especially when it results in even more people playing WoW, thus growing such a horrible community. (when I say horrible community, I mean as a whole, I'm not calling everyone a jerk). I'd really like to see them direct some traffic to other mmo's, it just feels like they're WAY to biased towards WoW.
I know I've kind of ranted on, so I apologize for that.
Does anyone kind of feel the same way that I do? Please try to keep this thread clean from flaming/trolling, try to keep it on topic and keep from putting other's posts down just cause they have their own opinion.
Comments
WoW is bigger than the other MMOs so it gets the most press.
I no longer get GI magazine but I do recall a lot of Cata articles but dont recall the content. I guess they wanted to publish new info about it as it came to them. wow seems to get a lot of publicity and I would guess Blizz pays for a lot of it but legitimate game updates being included in a game magazine is understandable.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
HAHahahaha!!!
Hate much? Who cares if WoW is getting more mainstream play! Are you that spiteful of WoW?
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
I agree, it is understandable. I just get kind of annoyed when they overdue it, especially when you can easily tell that they are biased towards it. (only making it more understandable that they cover it so often)
ah, I couldn't read your post at first...the hahaha was covering all the other text. Well...if you read my post correctly then you can answer that question yourself. I remember saying that it would be nice to see them cover some other mmo's instead of focusing on WoW. So I guess the answer to your question would be no. My question to you would be, are you really so biased towards WoW that you can't read my post correctly, thus posting stupid and uneducated responses?
They know where their bread is buttered. The awful cycle of WoW
money->others see money and want a peice->free marketing->new players->money
and on, and on, and on....
New player -"Why would I try any other MMO's? WoW must be the best, 'cause it has the most players. Here's my money Blizzard."
The other MMO companies, like Turbine, are geting smart and removing barriers to start playing their games. Now, new players can avoid instantly getting sucked into the WoW black hole when they want to try out an MMO for the first time.
Like questions often get like responses. Why should I take the time to give a thoughful, well-mannered response to such a bias one dimensional statement. You're not asking for an unbias opinion. You're looking for like-minded posters to jump on your bandwagon. That and the fact that you clearly pointed out in your own post 3 times that it sounds like trolling and once that you're ranting........go figure when you give the man what he wants....
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
My response to your post had nothing to do with the fact that you didn't agree with me, I responded because your post had nothing to do with the actual topic and it accused my reason for posting because I'm spiteful of WoW. When the reason I posted was because I was annoyed with GI's lack of variety in mmo articles, and the fact that they overdue articles on WoW (instead of creating some variety). If you can't take the time to create a "thoughtful, well-mannered response", then you might as well not make a response at all if it's not even going have anything to do with the topic.
Then maybe you should read PC gamer instead. Or do you REALLY think GI is gonna have the lastest breaking news for mmos......a freakin CONSOLE magazine! Yeah sure they throw tidbits of info and reviews to the PC crowd from time to time, but more than anything it's a freakin CONSOLE magazine!
That being said if they're gonna cover anything it would be the PC games that are making (or going to be making) the biggest splashes. Nothing new there. And if you think that CATA is not gonna be a huge hit then you're as bias as I made you out to be in the begining.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Even though most of what you said was only meant to offend me your post was at least somewhat related to the topic. Good enough for me
Wow is the biggest MMORPG out there so of course its gonna get more coverage. If id didnt it would be like ESPN covering volleyball over the NFL. These smaller games are simply dont going to get as much cover as the big guns.. especially in the limited page magizane and with a major expansion coming out
Im sure right before GW2 and TOR release they are both gonna be on the cover and have a big deal covering them.
Now the home website may do a better deal covering smaller games i dont know but thats for people to speak up on the forums of the site( if they have forums) to let the people know that they are intrested in that information
I challenged my reflection to a staring contest....4 days later i won
It is no secret that GI's Editor-In-Chief Andy McNamara is a major WoW-head (as well as a few other staff members). Yes I do get tired of all of the WoW coverage in GI and very little of other mainstream mmos but hey, GameInformer is by far one of the best gaming magazines I've read, and I've read them all since I was a kiddo. I honestly don't think most gamers don't want to hear about MMOs though. GI's website is pretty good too and I check it regularly for general gaming news. I come here for MMO news. Sure Massively may spit out more mmo news I like coming here for the different points of view (and the pvp). GI proudly graces my toilet.
I'd suggest telling him yourself:
andy@gameinformer.com
The biggest thing to really keep in mind is Who Owns Game Informer Magazine?
Answer: GameStop
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Informer
This means the magazine is also a HEAVY marketing push for GameStop stores. In the "Smart Business Sense" thing to do, they will 100% overhype any game they think will push serious traffic through the GameStop stores. If those articles get their stores more pre-orders/sales, they'll do it.
If a game in question is pure-download, it's unlikely to get more than a 1-page AD taken out in the magazine by the games publisher. Doesn't matter if its P2P, F2P, WTF, if they don't sell a physical-retail box, its unlikely to show up in the GI pages.
All of the magazines content is directly geared towards getting people in the stores and on the website. Sure, they'll give it a good production value and try not to show any bias in most of their work, by GI is still all about convincing you to buy games that are sold in GameStop stores.
Lets Push Things Forward
I knew I would live to design games at age 7, issue 5 of Nintendo Power.
Support games with subs when you believe in their potential, even in spite of their flaws.
This,,,
besides, WoW gets little press from sites like MMORPG and other MMO gaming site. Just check WoW's Hype lvl here.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Alright, to start off; Wow is probably the most updated game ever. This game has gone through more postive change than any game I can think of to date. It has not only held it's initial fan base, but increased it almost 30 times over. That said, the current set of implementations on the beta realms just blows my mind, and to think it still has months of polish yet.
They have almost completely overhauled several classes, and not because they were broken, but because they needed some major changes to be streamlined with other classes so that they can make the most balance possible.
The Paladin class has seen the most change, allowing it to have it's own style yet feel like a holy warrior.
The Druid has also seen significant change, only because of the huge lineup of balance changes.
The Death Knight has had major changes to it's rune system, allowing it to feel more thought out, and not spam buttons by smashing face against keyboard for best results.
New class combos, allowing people to play the classes they know and love, but from a new perspective. Also allowing for a much needed representation of several races which many players avoid because of lack of class choice.
Many other classes have seen large changes including the warrior, the priest, and the Hunter.
The thing is, WoW could have done much less this expansion and still held most of it's fans. Blizzard always aims for the stars, and manages to soar far above any other game company. You may not like their games for what ever reasons you have, but you can not deny they know how to take a great concept and turn it into a spectacle for everyone to see; whether good or bad.
The new guild leveling system, yes tweaked from last years blizzcon, has still shown Blizzard is not affraid of change. Also shows they will do what they can to make it the best possible.
Many new interface updates that make the game more enoyable and accessable for new players, and helping them find their way through the many choices they will have to make in order to progress through the large amount of content. Plus giving the rest of us much needed change, including the spellbook, the talent page, the crafting system, and the character page.
The whole world is being torn asunder, in a good way. Almost all of the old world zones have seen significant, or atleast marginal change. If the zone didn't get a huge amount of visual change, you can bet it had many quest changes.
The list goes on and on...
Game informer lists most current topics, and upcoming games. It has been months since I have seen any information from some of these other large titles coming out. At least enough info to make an article about.
GW2 has listed info on classes, that's about it. Not even detailed info, you think they have given the press MORE?
Trion Worlds has listed some significant details regarding a few of their major in game systems, yet again not enough to write a whole article about.
The only other game that seems to have brought enough coverage is SW: TOR. Guess what, it has recieved much attention from GI over the months.
Cant say i've heard of GI so it must be a non-EU magazine, but i would have to say that for a more 'unbiased' well, perhaps uninfluenced, would be closer, reviews of games etc, then PCGamer is probably much better, its not all about WoW at least... they do have guilds etc in various games though, including WoW (EU Steamwheedle Cartel server) in general their reviews do seem to be accurate, even if i dont always agree with them myself... i might be biaised though!!
Blizzard probably pays them to do the articles as advertising. Not to mention with it being the biggest MMO they may feel they're dissapointing majority of their readers if they don't post news or updates about what's going on with the game. Personally, I don't read gaming magazines. .the internet pretty much killed them so I could care less what they have to say. If you want unbiased information, search the web and make the decisions for yourself is all I can tell you. Sure it may be annoying that your monthly subscription to a magazine doesn't give you what you want, but chances are you're better off canceling your subscription if that's the case because they aren't going to change.
They had a really big feature on Warhammer a while ago. so no its not getting more play than most.
GI doesn't really give much play to PC games in general.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Very true...the issue I was talking about was actually my last issue. I don't plan on re-ordering it, it was just kind of my last thoughts about GI before I stop ordering it.
Magazines are the same as any other business, whoever will pay them the most is who they cover. They will have to start changing their ways though with the surge in indie games, social games, and virtual worlds becomming dominant forces in the industry.
Changed dominant to prominant. While all those game types you listed are definitely getting bigger each year, they still are not close to usurping the current leaders in core annual-release titles and WoW sub-fees. I do agree some overall news-publication coverage of these games will pick up, but unless they have a physical Point-Recharge-Card/etc that sells in a store, they'll still be ignored by GameInformer.
Again, the biggest thing to remember, specifically to GameInformer magazine:
If the game does not have any form of physically distributed product that can be sold in GameStop stores, it will not get coverage, period.
The magazine is a subscription based advertisement/circular for the parent company(GameStop). It's not made to cover every game that could be good. It's only made to cover the games that could be good AND push large numbers of sales units through GameStop stores.
AoC got coverage before it launch, same with RoG expac, WAR got some coverage before it launched, but those games had people pre-ordering copies through the stores and online, of course they'll cover those games. SW:TOR and GW2 will also get coverage because they're going to sell more physical units in GameStops for covering it.
And I'd bet you'll see more FFXIV coverage when the PS3 version gets closer to launch, because GameStop sells more console games than PC, so they would push what they probably think is the most profitable option(console version).
Potential Physical Units Sold In GameStop Stores ==== Coverage, but thats business. They run the magazine to help sell games, plain and simple.
Lets Push Things Forward
I knew I would live to design games at age 7, issue 5 of Nintendo Power.
Support games with subs when you believe in their potential, even in spite of their flaws.
Gaming magazines have been blatantly biased in their coverage since the 80s. I no longer read them or put any faith in any sort of 'official' critic review, as such things are bought and paid for more often than not, and at least for MMOs they tend not to playtest the game long enough to make an informed opinion.
Although since this fancy thing called teh interwebs came along, I've found peer reviews on sites like Amazon to be pretty accurate.
blizzard entertainment owns game informer lol, you didnt know that?
wait. you still get magazines? seeing as you posted here im sure you have heard of the internet
yea I'm sure blizzard pays game informer to write a complete and honest article about World of Warcraft. "WoW, the best, first, and last mmo ever going to be made.So you better go ahead and get Cata, cause nothing else is gonna to get made."