Why I'm done with Kotaku

Long ago, when I started to get really into gaming I started reading Kotaku. It was a fun place with a nice mix of news and fluff. Most of the fluff was contained in night and day "notes" from one writer to another.
Every other day there would be someone screaming "HOW IS THIS NEWS???" and others would shout back "ITS A BLOG GET OVER IT".

As time passed, Kotaku has changed their format more and more, they added more opinion to less news every day. They style themselves "game journalists" and their site a "gaming news, review and information site"  yet ares till quick to shout down complaints of "how is this news?" with "it's a blog".
I don't think you can have it both ways. If you're going to be a news and information site then you need to provide news and information. Fluff is good, it has its place (like s'mores or hot chocolate) but it shouldn't drown out the news.
News...
 Much of the news they post now is hours if not days late compared to other sites. Hell I live in my own lost little bubble and I've linked or posted stuff before them on my FB.
The site these days can be summed up into a few categories: Live journal, titillating cosplay, opinions everywhere, stuff I read on another site yesterday.

In the past couple of months of skimming through their site I've heard all about a woman who realized her marriage was over when her husband failed to revive her character in Diablo 3. A chick who due to being a rape victim and having a crappy childhood thinks Juliet Starlet (Lollipop Chainsaw) is a good role model and the chick she'd like to be. A guy who claims violent video games don't make you violent but since the Sandy hook shit he's trading in all his "violent games" like Asassin's Creed 3 (because we know how much Tomahawking went down in Sandy Hook. (no I'm not making light of what happened, so keep your bitching to yourself). There's so much more of this crap I could point out, most from the same author.

But, its a blog, you say.
It is, a game news blog, a "trusted" resource for gamers and as such they not only offer insights into their own fucked up neurosis (I do that too, difference is, this IS a fucking blog. I don't get paid, I don't claim to be a journalist and I freely admit I'm full of shit) they also provide game reviews.

Now, Reviews are a touchy thing. I mean it doesn't matter HOW objective you try to be, you will always color the review with your own personal feelings, and lets be honest, if reviewers just made a list of bullet points you wouldn't read it or care. You read them in the hopes of getting a feel for a particular game. Learning a bit about story, mechanics, graphics, and just overall experience. We read many reviews for a single game, to compare and contrast what each person had to say and we either dismiss the opinions,the game, or both.

Today I read a..well i'm not sure what it is..its tagged as both "import review" and "opinion" but thats only if you look a the tags, the main tag right over the title is "Import Review" so I'll take it as a review of the game.
The game in question is Yakuza 5.

Now I will say right here and now, I am utterly biased. I first read about the first Yakuza game for PS2 months upon months before it was released and on release day I went to Gamestop as soon as they opened to get a copy of it. I LOVE the story and I love Kazuma and I'm still upset that Kenzan! was never brought overseas cause man i wanted that SO BAD!
Admitting that I will also admit I might be biased but not blind. I have my nitpicks about the series and much like the Dynasty Warriors series that gets so much crap for its "problems" I will freely admit its shortcomings and add that I don't give a crap because I find them fun. However, were I to review the game I would share those cons along with the pros. Because fair is fair.
Even in my most ranty, vulgar review, I tried to be fair, I did concede and admit I suck at a lot of types of games and that perhaps that type of game isnt my thing. However I went and played a few more games in the same vein and realized that nope, i was right, game blew. But I'm getting off topic.

The review is titled Five Reasons Yakuza 5 is Not for ME. Ok then, why the hell are you reviewing it then? If your opening is that you don't like the game, why are you the one reviewing it? I wouldn't review a Madden game, cause I don't like sports games. But whatever, par for the course on that site. I begin reading and snorting and rolling my eyes and getting more and more angry.
Every line I read, every piece of misinformation and baseless complaint made me madder. even the points we agreed on were written in such a way I could not credit them. Then came the magical moment where I literally saw read AND burst out laughing at the same time.
After recovering my sanity I called my children over. I put forth to my 8yr old son and my 11yr old daughter a question...

Guys, I said, IF you have 5 different people, in five different cities, with five different skill sets and you switch from one to the other and you were at say...level 15 on the first one, would you expect the second one to be at that level?

They both shook their heads and I asked, ok what would you expect?

My daughter spoke up, I'd expect to start over at level 1.

me, why?

My son, Cause they do different things so they'd have to start over.
My daughter chimed in to elaborate on what her brother said "because you're different people in different places with different styles and you wouldnt know the same things so you have to learn the different stuff.

so why is it my kids "get" what this reviewer did not?

From the review:

#4 — Start From Zero Again and Again

Each time you complete one of the game's five sections, you start as a new character in a new city. This would be fine, except you start again at level one and all your skills are gone as well. It felt like all my hard work had been for nothing and that I was being forced to start the game over. It was almost like being punished for playing the game as intended. It left me incredibly demotivated.

 Other complaints this person made were the amount of random fights, the lack of checkpoints and the unskippable conversations (someone did point out to them that the conversations were indeed skippable.)

Though Yakuza has been compared to GTA a lot it really isn't. While the setting might seem similar I think Yakuza is more of an RPG than anything else. As such, Random encounters are par for the course. I admit that I myself found the amount of random encouters in the Yakuza games annoying sometimes, particularly when I just wanna get to the next street over and all i hear is a high pitched "Whadda Fuck!"  for the umpteenth time. But, much like in traditional RPGs there's a reason for this. Those random fights help level you up, they help you develop your skills and learn the move sets so you can defeat the bosses that pepper the story. Without them you'd be grossly unprepared.

Checkpoints, again, mixed feelings. Yes, I prefer games that offer a save anywhere function, however, this isn't exactly Demons Souls. Checkpoints are set at decent intervals and as long as you play through the game as intended, you should get through the game with minimal difficulty or frustration.

Finally, The complaint that conversations are unskippable...ok..I...you know what? fuck it I'm gonna go all fucking ranty angry all caps pissed off wanna kick you in the junk type mad now...WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOUR FUCKING DUMBASS PLAY A MOTHERFUCKING GAME WITH A MOTHERFUCKING STORY AND FUCKING SKIP THROUGH IT ALL. WHY????? WHAT IS THE POINT???? IF YOU JUST WANNA GO FROM FUCKING FIGHT OT FIGHT THERE ARE TONS OF FUCKING FIGHTING GAMES OUT THERE. PICK ONE DUMBASS!!! DON'T FUCKING SHIT ON A STORY BASED GAME BECAUSE YOU ARE TOO FUCKING IMPATIENT TO FUCKING SIT THROUGH SOME FUCKING EXPOSITIONAL DIALOGUE DUMBFUCK!!!

...
out of breath now...give me a sec.
...
Sorry, I'm better now.

After reading all that (if you did) you might wonder why, besides my obvious fangirl love of Kazuma and Yakuza am I complaining about a review full of opinion if I do the same thing here all the time.

Maybe because I'm a hypocrite.
Maybe because I tend to play and review (in most cases) games in genres I enjoy. Maybe because I am VERY upfront about it being my personal opinion and if you want a very professional and technical review there are many professional sites to visit.

Mostly because Kotaku styles itself a Game Journalism site, because they post their Reviews as an official and professional view.

Mostly because anyone who starts their Review with this paragraph:

Until I sat down and played Yakuza 5, my knowledge of the Yakuza series was limited, to say the least. I knew the characters and some of the story (from wikis, friends, and the movie), but when it came down to playing the series, the most time I had spent with it was in playing the demos of Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, and Yakuza: Dead Souls. While I don't have particularly bad memories of playing those demos, none inspired me to go out and buy the full games.

Should not be allowed to give the sites "official" Import Review of the game.

For a while now, ok for years, I've watched the "star" commentors on Kotaku leave or get banned. I've watched the format change and the comments section become a trolling bonanza. But most importantly I've watched the site itself become one big jumbled mess of  mixed messages, garbage and fluff. Its all sensationalist writing for pageviews and all the writers airing their dirty mental health laundry. You wanna do that, its cool, but do't do it on a "professional" site.

Today's review is the straw that broke the camel's back and the thing that has led me to finally deleting Kotaku from my Bookmarks for good.

Worst part is, "official" reviews like these are the kinds of things that keep certain publishers from bringing their games here...So keep opinion where it belongs people. You do your readers a disservice by passing this garbage as professionalism, journalism, truth or fact.

A moment of your time please.

Hello Internets!
I know that a few new people are stopping by here thanks to my very kind friend Iowastate from Gamespot.
I would like to assure you that the previous post is not something I do often. This is an isolated vent. :)
I can assure you that most of my blog posts are very normal, slightly informative and even a bit amusing.
Just wanted to clarify this.

So, look around, leave comment, a rant, a suggestion. I'll listen and reply.

Kids and Gaming Part 2

My Kids are Game Addicts and I'm ok with that.

Perhaps I never should have been a parent because I'm the kind of parent most parents HATE.
When my kids were 2 months old I started putting a little cereal in their bottle at night so they would sleep through the night (and they did). At 3 months old I fed them baby food. As soon as they got their first teeth I was feeding them Rice and Beans. I think my oldest had her first slice of Pizza before she turned 1.

This attitude spread to other things as they got older. I actively encouraged my kids to watch TV. Barney, The Rugrats, Dora the Explorer, and everything in between on PBS and Nickelodeon as they got older then they added Cartoon Network.
I always heard people saying you shouldn't let your kids watch TV when they are little, and you should read to them every night and blah blah blah. But me, I don't listen, I let them watch TV, LOTS of TV.

My oldest daughter is now 10. When she was 1 she would talk your ear off telling you stories. When she was 2 she would tell EVERYONE she ran into stories (including embarrassing ones about grandma needing to go potty, but that’s a story for later). One day I was in a a waiting room and my daughter was walking around yapping to anyone and another mom leans over and asks me how old she is. I tell her a little over 2. She looks at me with surprise and says, "My goodness, she speaks so well and in full sentences! My daughter is the same age and only says a few basic words like 'ball' 'mama' and 'cookie'. I don't know what the problem is I NEVER let her watch TV and I read to her all the time. How did you teach your daughter so much so fast”?
I looked at her and said "TV. She watches LOTS of TV." The mom gave me a tight smile and and then turned away and didn't speak to me again.

What does this have to do with games? I'm getting there.

When I was a kid my dad got me a Colecovision followed by an Atari 2600. I played a little here and there but I was more into books and Barbie dolls. Eventually my dad bought me an NES and a Sega master System. I still didn't really care; I was still into Barbies and books.

When I was 17 I bought myself a gameboy, mostly out of curiosity. I fell in love with Link's Awakening and Stargate. But it was something I played once in a blue moon, and then I forgot about it.

When I was 20 I played the N64 for the first time and I finished Mario64 and bought Ocarina of Time when it came out. I tore through Ocarina of Time and bought Majora's Mask. I hated it and as quickly as I had started playing I stopped.

Life went on, Games came and went, and I didn't care. Then the gamecube came out and new Zelda games. I remembered how much I loved my GB and N64 Zelda games and asked my husband for a Gamecube for Christmas. He had asked me for a PS2 for Christmas. Before meeting me my husband was into playing Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat and football games.

So that Christmas He got his PS2 and I got my Gamecube, I was happy with my gamecube and he was happy with his PS2 and neither one touched the others console. Then I saw Prince of Persia Sands of Time. I bought it for the PS2 and the first time I put it in the console, that console became mine...all mine.

Games became a huge part of my life, I fell in love and I started collecting and playing A LOT.
Being a hoarder I still had every console I had ever owned and their games so I went back and played some old stuff as well.

Now I'm 32, I own tons of consoles and handhelds. I collect games and action figures, I write game reviews for the library system's Teen Blog in my town. And I encourage game play in my family.

A few years back Vtech came out with a console for kids, the V-Smile. Gaming and education, sounded good to me. I bought my kids one for Christmas and they loved it, they would play for hours. The next Christmas, I got them the V-Flash; it was another learning console, a step up from the V-smile, a sort of educational starter Playstation. By the time I got it though my girls had moved on to PS2 and Gamecube, but my son Loved playing the V-Tech consoles.

By the time birthdays rolled around they all wanted GBAs. And there we go. I had turned my kids into gamers. I was so proud! My husband was sort of amused by my glee. I swore up and down that gaming was good for them; he just smiled at me and shook his head slowly.
From Gameboys they graduated to DSs and borrowing my PSP. Each one has a clear gaming identity as well.

My oldest daughter likes Girly games. Makeups, animals, dress up and she also likes JRPGs.
My middle child, an 8-year-old girl is a bit harder to place. She can play the dress up thing and she loves cooking mama and animal games but she's not above a little Zombie shooting in House of the Dead.
My son...My son... Before I talk about him let me just throw in that I even got my mom into games. She loves Wii sports and good lord you should hear her smack talk while playing Soul Calibur. (Her favorite is SC 3 because she likes the character creation. She has a shirtless Ninja she named Jackie Chan)
Ok back to my son.

My son is a 5-year-old MAN. The boy LOVES girls and cars. So I started him with racing games. (By the way he is quite proficient at Midnight Club 3, except he needs a stack of books to reach the pedals.)
From racing games he moved on to Mario games and His favorite "Drawn to Life Spongebob edition".

Recently Scribblenauts came out and I got it for the girls and myself. I didn't bother getting it for my son because at 5 he really can't read very well...actually he's having a lot of trouble at school.
I got their progress reports right before thanksgiving and besides having a fan club of girls, he also likes to throw things at people who annoy him and ignore the teacher, and he also has trouble with reading and writing. I have been stressed and worried about it for days. Then it happened....
We were watching TV and he was a scribblenauts commercial. He said, "I wanna play that" I said, "but sweetie you can't read" He looked so dejected so I figured what the heck, let him try and I'll help him along.

It’s been 2 days since he started playing; He's already learned to spell about 10 words. The first night we sat together and he would tell me what he wanted, I would spell it for him, he'd type it and then he would squeal with glee when his items appeared on screen.
Of course, as much as I enjoyed playing it with him, I can't sit all day doing it so I decided to make him a "cheat sheet" I wrote out in all caps the things he had asked to make the most and I gave it to him. I read each word to him and told him if he needed more words then he could come to me and I'd add them to the list.
I started with about 10 words and now I'm on page 2 and he's spelling words on his own! He doesn't actually play the game he just stays at the beginning screen making things and seeing what happens when they interact.

Brain Age, Style Savvy, Scribblenauts and so many other games are teaching my kids so many things, helping them learn without them even realizing it. Heck even the JRPGs have helped my daughter immensely. Unlike me, my daughter has never cared for reading, what she doesn't realize is that while playing JRPGs she's reading so much text her reading has improved immensely and she's enjoying it.

Like me, my kids carry their DSs wherever they go; they play every chance they get. When they aren't playing DS they're playing any of the other consoles we own. We play Guitar Hero together and Singstar. We play Champions of Norrath and we teach them how to cooperate, how to share the spoils they pick up, how much money they need for an item, and which weapon is better between the weapon with a high attack and one with a lower attack but +20 Lightning Damage.
I encourage their game play, I buy them as many games as I can afford. I teach them how to play mine or sit in and watch.

Recently my 10yr old started to play Oblivion...I'm so proud.

I don't know if I'm a good parent or not. I know a lot of people wouldn't approve of how much TV they watch and Games they play. Maybe they're right, I don't know. All I know is that my daughters are both straight A/B students. They have a huge vocabulary, and know Cloud is overrated as a Hero. All three of them also know all the words to "Still Alive"
Oh and in the time it took me to type this, I'm on page 3 of words for my son.

I think any game can be educational to a certain extent if you talk about it to your kids and encourage them to ask questions (and you answer them honestly).
Perceptions and Misconceptions about games runs rampant but slowly people are realizing the good they can do.

East Side High in New York has discovered that Beaterator is a wonderful digital music tool and will be implementing it in their music program. The Japanese already use DSs in the classroom and my son is learning to read and spell thanks to Scribblenauts and learning faster than he has learned anything since school started.

So my kids game A LOT and I am damn proud of that.

The media and people at large attack gaming constantly. It teaches Violence, it makes kids lazy and unhealthy, it causes addiction.

I say it teaches hand eye coordination, cooperation, sometimes a touch of history, math, reading, encourages artistic expression, relieves stress and is just plain fun.

By the textbook definition I guess they are addicts, sometimes gaming for most of the day. However, I have yet to find how this has impacted them negatively.


Oh yeah, You can hear my ridiculous voice below. I sound like I'm 12 and have laryngitis lol

Good Morning

I haven't forgotten that I owe you some Sexism, with pics.
I'm just popping in early to say hello.

Roughly A week ago Kotaku made me a Starred Commentor after A couple of Posts about Scribblenauts and a chat via phone with the Creator of Scribblenauts on their Podcast. (I'll post all that stuff later)

Well Today I have lost my Shiny Gold Star. I'm not sure why but alas, tis gone.

Easy come, Easy go I guess.
I guess that one good thing to come from this (at least for me) is this Blog and the new "friends" I made with my Post about Scribblenauts and my kids.

Star, no star. Guess it shouldn't matter. I didn't write the post for attention, I wrote it because it was how I felt, and I will continue to write my thoughts and feelings, regardless.

So that's it for now, a small rant.

Oh and a word of caution. If you know me from Kotaku or Gamespot, a few of the upcoming posts will be copy pasta. (you've been warned)