In an effort to catch up on my freelancing, game playing, and a decently major feature I’m planning for the Ombudsman, I’m taking this post-Christmas, pre-New-Year’s week off from posting here. Can’t go that long without the Big O? Catch up on some of my favorite posts from the year: GTA: Montpelier is looking less […]
Read MoreYou may remember a few posts back when I said that the back cover of a game magazine was the most valuable real estate that a game publisher could buy. Turns out I was wrong. Check out the below image of the EGM cover that was just delivered to my door today (click this and […]
Read MoreFor a few years now, source after source has claimed that the video game industry is “bigger than Hollywood,” or, more specifically, “delivering more revenue than movies at the box office” Now comes a new San Francisco Chronicle article which casually claims the game industry “generates more revenue than Hollywood” as an accepted fact during […]
Read MoreBlogger’s Note: This piece was all but ready to go up on Thursday, before a busted ‘net connection and weekend plans pushed it back a bit. It’s not quite as timely now, but I hope you’ll still enjoy it. Also, let me know what you think of the new style I’m trying in this piece. […]
Read MoreThis is the official VGO Spike TV Video Game Awards Live-blogging Post. The way I see it, I’ll post my comments and you will read them. A have no idea how often I’ll be posting, but if you refresh this page during every commerical break you should be pretty safe. Feel free to go into […]
Read MoreBy way of Kotaku, just got word that Ziff-Davis mags GMR and XBN will cease publication as of the February issue. Some people over at the GMR forums aren’t too happy about it, to say the least. I was just starting to get into GMR, having started a subscription in August. A high quality mag, […]
Read MoreA Reuters article from today correctly points out an interesting fact — tomorrow night’s Spike TV Video Game Awards will be the first such awards to be broadcast live on TV. Other major entertainment mass media formats (music, movies, TV) have featured live televised awards shows for years, so this can be seen as a […]
Read MoreAsk a publisher the most desirable place for their game to be placed in a magazine and they’ll probably say the front cover. Ask them the most desirable place they can buy placement and they’ll likely say the back cover. Who’s buying this space and what they’re doing with it can tell you a lot […]
Read MoreEvery year around this time, the mainstream media gets in the holiday spirit by doing some features the year’s hottest gifts. This year, the collective wisdom is that video games are the gift to beat, which has led to some interesting high-profile pieces in prominent national media outlets. Here’s a few I’ve noticed, and some […]
Read MoreOmbudsman reader (and general Curmudgeon) Matt Matthews wrote in a while ago to ask about “the relationship between popularity of a game and the number of pages that go into a review.” Specifically, Matthews pointed out that GameSpot’s review of the ultra-hyped Halo 2 was four pages, while “relatively lesser-known” (but still highly rated) Astro […]
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