When The Hype Bites

...we ran a post that generated an immense (and unexpected) amount of interest and speculation. Instead of defusing the prolonged PR tease that Nintendo has been escalating for the past year, we contributed to it. Instead of doing our readers a service, we added more confusion to the situation. The post was vague and left only room for disappointment which, inevitably, came at 12:01. The worst part is, we understand that it was our hard-earned credibility that contributed to this excitement cocktail. There are gaming websites that trade in hype, and we've always prided ourselves on avoiding it

-- Joystiq: An apology, and a note on hype

Joystiq's measured use of hype is why they are still on my RSS feed (and some other gaming blogs are not). I saw the "big announcement we can't tell you yet" post last night and to be honest was suspicious at that point. Still, I can't help but feel that the major gaming blogs, in general, have gotten more sensational than when I first moved from web forums for opinions and on to blogs.

In fact, blogs have gotten more and more forum like with an emphasis on hype and rumor and less on facts and analysis. Worse, I think when it comes to mainstream outlets some are actually deferring to the blogs for research and soundbites. That's the only way a rumor (which was physically impossible) gets echoed by the L.A. Times in both print and cable television.

That's not a good place to be going, people.



tagged: game, gaming