I think, on a lark, the enthusiast press should switch to text-only reviews and let the accompanying numeric score be set by the users only. The publishers can then really learn what good PR means when the all-important Metacritic/Gamerankings average is determined by a gaming audience largely allergic to BS.

Posted by: Astromantic on December 6, 2007 08:45 AM

Penny Arcade and The Escapist seem to be evidence that you can support your media empire with gaming ads but also have (apparently) quite a bit of independence in terms of giving your opinions.

Of course, both of these publications are web-only and both offer a lot of compelling content that is not pure previews/reviews content. I'm really not sure if Zero Punctuation is really the model for future successful gaming reviews, though it is hell of awesome.

Maybe this is the problem that the bulk of gaming press face? When your content is almost entirely made up of reviews and previews with your competitive advantage over the other publications being exclusive previews or exclusive reviews then you are in a tough position when it comes to relationships with publishers of games.

But if your site is coming from a position of strength through high eyeball numbers that are not dependent on your ability to secure exclusives, then maybe the situation gets turned around. That seems to be the Penny Arcade success model at any rate.

Posted by: Tim! on December 6, 2007 05:30 PM