Your sources for quality Game Journalism ?

[Zersy]

I find that the majority of mainstream sources of reviews, previews and analysis of games are sub-par. Sacrificing tailored content for regular news updates. For a while now I've turned to enthusiast and specific curators for insight and intellectual video game discussion (I find myself reading about games far more often than taking the time to playing them).

Currently I have plenty of sources but as a someone who jumps at the chance to critique and discuss game mechanics and easter eggs it never feels like I have enough. I'd like to know and share the communities personal avenues of consuming quality video game enthusiast content.

Mine would be:

TotalBiscuit - Duh

Jim Sterling - Again a bit of a obvious one

NerdCubed - Hearing his opinion always feels fresh and witty

Caddicarus - A specialist in PS1 titles

Errant Signal - "Win state contextualizes gameplay"

Gaijin Goombah - The culture hidden within videogames, always very eye opening

Extra Credits - Seen every single episode, still love it

Matthew Matosis - One of, if not the best critic

Projared - One Minute Reviews to me are genius

SomecallmeJohnny - Only does games he enjoys, I appreciate that

SuperBunnyHop - Fantastic self made documentaries on breakdowns of the Metal Gear Series

The Game Theorist - I end up learning a lot of things non-videogame related through his content

VaatiVidya - An expert and enthusiast of the Souls games, as well as the maker of "Prepare to Cry"

Yongyea - Well paced, highly detailed analysis of upcoming video games

 

[thanatos388]

Those are more critics yeah. But basically I would go to matthewmatosis, SuperBunnyHop, and Errant Signal for critical looks at games. Journalism implies that they report news stories and such in relation to gaming. So I don't really see why gaming would need journalism in the first place. It's usually just opinion pieces or just telling us what a company said on twitter or at a conference. Which can be useful but I'm not sure if it counts as journalism per se.

Also game theory is pretty cool and so is gaming brit (when hes not going on about resolution and such). Those guys are pretty funny and informative.

EDIT: Oh right, I forgot to mention mr.BTounge hes pretty cool too.

 

[tm96]

I find normal game journalism sites rather bland in their content. I go there when I'm bored or want to see the comments but I usually go these people (Most of these are on youtube):

Jim Sterling: egomaniac supreme but that's how I like him to be smug and full of himself. Thank god for him.

Kit Harrison: creator of the Pixel Show which maybe short but I like the way he does it.

Friendly Ai: News wrapped within absurd comments.

Game Theorists: Because theories can be fun and informative while being depressing sometimes.

The Completionist: Because I can't be bothered to 100% the games I have.

Screwattack & Screwattack News: Two birds one big stone.

AVGN: Because he makes swearing fun.

Others include Extra Credits, FringyGaming, Game On, kNIGHTWING01, joshscorcher, Larry Bundy Jr, Reviewtechusa, LORE, Machinima, Mizzah Tee, RRPGReviews, The Gaming Brit Show, VideogamerTV and last but not least

SomecallmeJohnny - Only does games he enjoys, I appreciate that

 

[Casual Shinji]

In terms of pure reviews, nobody beats Matthew Matosis. He disassembles games so calm and collectively, and leaves no stone unturned. It's like watching an episode of How It's Made, but with games. It's mesmerizing. The unfortunate side effect being that it takes so long for new videos to be released.

I never could get into Total Biscuit. I find his way of discussing games kind of dull and lacking in focus. As Not The Bees already said; too wordy.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Yahtzee. Even as a comedy act, I still glean all I need to know about a game from ZP and EP.

 

[Clearwaters]

I'm subscribed on youtube to a couple of those Normal Boots/Hidden block guys, but I consider those to be more entertainment than an actual source of gaming news. (Except ProJared he reports on stuff well)

I also find Jim Sterling to be funny and it's fun to watch him rant about controversies.

My favorite is Classic Game Room. The Host, Mark, is an older guy (I think he's in his forties) so it is a different perspective to the people who usually write reviews. The shtick of the show is that he reviews any game no matter how old it is so I find it to be a great source of finding out about older games and how they hold up today. The videos are shorter compared to others, but he uploads once a day.
Mark can be a bit too easy on games at times if you ask me, but he's fair. Classic Game Room feels a lot like an "everyman" kind of review show.

 

[MirenBainesUSMC]

None of them --- many times, game magazines are reliant on the adds and money, even more so by magazines like the official play-station and Xbox publications where... pretty much everything is going to be GREAT! and FANTASTIC!

Really I more rely on forums, customer reviews, and maybe you tube reviews --- but mostly places such as this. Too much hype these days and too many eager " journalists". Hell I had read a while back ( can't remember the article) I think it was Game Informer where they were complaining about game journalists --- some even ending up sleeping with Devs for good ratings and such...

So the corruption is the same as the MSM for other mediums.

User reviews and peer reviews

 

[Fox12]

I watch the first 30 to 60 minutes of a game, and then decide. So, myself? Youtubers have made game reviews nearly pointless. As for news, I really on The Escapist for information and Extra Credits for professional views on the industry. You used to be able to get them together, but oh well...

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Jim Sterling, Yahtzee Croshaw, and the Extra Credit Crew. I don't invest must stock in reviews, all of them seemed far too rooted in the 7 to 10 scaling system, and all reviews are affected by somebodies bias. As good as Bayonetta 2 is it is not a 9.5, I can fathom wanting to save a rare genre these days, but it just makes me more sketptical then interested.

Jim Sterling, whilst hyperbolic has his bias on display andis pretty thougher about why he dislikes/likes a feature. Yahtzee tells it like it is and views match up on a lot of games, franchises, etc, behind the jokes is a desire for wit and something new. People go on about him being negative and thrashing their favourite games, but that only makes the odd gleaming jewel all the more greater, he's introduced me to quite a few noteworthy games over the years.
The Extra Credit crew, for similar reasons as Sterling and Croshaw, whilst they don't "review" games in the strictist sense, they've generally got something interesting to talk about and consider. Even when they say a game has something intersting, they're still quick to point out if the product overall is flawed.

Captcha: 'I'm Batman'. You're goddamn right.

 

[Dizchu]

Most of your examples aren't really "journalists" though they do dabble in journalism. Most of them are reviewers, academics and game enthusiasts. Now, while I don't think they count as journalists, they do a MUCH better job at opinion pieces than the usual suspects at Kotaku and Polygon.

Props for pointing out Super Bunnyhop. If there was ever a guy who was on the exact same page as me when it came to taste in games, level of analysis and approach to Gamergate, it's him. It's also noteworthy that he interviewed an ACTUAL JOURNALIST in regards to the scandal.

Totalbiscuit - also noteworthy for distancing himself from certain companies that were trying to lure him into shady deals for the sake of reducing bias and maintaining integrity (gotta love some of that integrity).

Those two guys are examples of critics that are able to actually bring up important talking points and handle them in a mature way. Also George Weidman is a legitimately likeable guy who knows his stuff.

I like Jim Sterling too but I regard him more as an entertainer, though Jimquisition isn't a series that shies away from difficult subjects and I commend him for that.

 

[gigastar]

Totalbiscuit and Jim Sterling. For reasons already stated above.

And while i dont really consider them journalists, i keep up with Extra Credits since they usually discuss something interesting.

 

[Therumancer]

I find that the majority of mainstream sources of reviews, previews and analysis of games are sub-par. Sacrificing tailored content for regular news updates. For a while now I've turned to enthusiast and specific curators for insight and intellectual video game discussion (I find myself reading about games far more often than taking the time to playing them).

Currently I have plenty of sources but as a someone who jumps at the chance to critique and discuss game mechanics and easter eggs it never feels like I have enough. I'd like to know and share the communities personal avenues of consuming quality video game enthusiast content.

Mine would be:

TotalBiscuit - Duh

Jim Sterling - Again a bit of a obvious one

NerdCubed - Hearing his opinion always feels fresh and witty

Caddicarus - A specialist in PS1 titles

Errant Signal - "Win state contextualizes gameplay"

Gaijin Goombah - The culture hidden within videogames, always very eye opening

Extra Credits - Seen every single episode, still love it

Matthew Matosis - One of, if not the best critic

Projared - One Minute Reviews to me are genius

SomecallmeJohnny - Only does games he enjoys, I appreciate that

SuperBunnyHop - Fantastic self made documentaries on breakdowns of the Metal Gear Series

The Game Theorist - I end up learning a lot of things non-videogame related through his content

VaatiVidya - An expert and enthusiast of the Souls games, as well as the maker of "Prepare to Cry"

Yongyea - Well paced, highly detailed analysis of upcoming video games

I tend to mostly listen to user reviews/feedback more than game journalism. Sometimes gamefaqs, sometimes STEAM forums, and believe it or not MMO chatter as to what people have been playing other than MMOs. If I read a bunch of stuff together it will give me a pretty clear picture beyond the bias of one person.

When it comes to professional critics and journalists, it comes down to who entertains me. Total Biscuit is okay but I've only see a bit of his stuff here and there. Jim and Yahtzee can be funny. Most other guys I've watched have been mixed. While I go on periodic message board binges, I don't usually watch that many game related videos. I'd rather be playing a game myself than watching someone talk about one when I have enough concentration mustered.

 

[stroopwafel]

There are a ton of gaming 'journalists'/commenters/enthusiasts on youtube but my favorite one is Gamesack. Its mostly about retro games but they cover so many different titles that there's always a game or two I didn't even know about. Like many obscure ones that never left Japan. I'm also impressed by the production values of this show. The dry wit of these guys is also really funny to me.

 

[Imrix]

TotalBiscuit has consistently impressed me with his honesty and integrity. Aside from that... Escapist (although I'm avoiding MovieBob these days) in general, and GiantBomb. Plus some smaller sites that pique my curiosity.

 

[Duster]

gamesindustry.biz is good often

forbes/games is good sometimes, although they have bad streaks

the verge has a few nice articles here and there

I used to go to /v/ a lot since they usually broke news down, but I don't see that as much anymore. Gamergate killed a lot of it.