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About Me


Veni, vidi, vici.

Name: Francisco *AKA* Y0j1mb0

Age: 38. I'm the residential Old Geezer of Destructoid & You Tube Superstar.



Likes: Poker, Roast Beef Sandwiches, unsolicited sex, video games of all genres.

Dislikes: Elitist Pricks, Hippies, People who use the words "But I digress" and "n00bz"

Consoles I Own: PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, PSP Slim, DS Lite.
[ PSN:k0wb0y-b33b0p - Friend Code: 0774-3918-3804 - LIVE: y0j1mb0 ]


Founding Member of The Official Destructoid Beard Club and once Proud Reserve Recap Cblogger.

Past proprietor of PS3 Friday Night Fights and PS3's Poker Nights

For those who are weird and may actually want to read more of my stuff here are things off the blog I do. Occasionally I write for Flixist, a rad movie site where, get this, we talk about and review movies. I also help out a bud and try my hand out at game journalism (heh) at The Obsessed Gamer


Epic Card Courtesy of The Ghost.


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The Glut of Gaming Websites & How Everybody is a Game Expert.
Y0j1mb0 | 3:14 PM on 11.06.2008 19 comments




It seems that everywhere you turn, there's yet another game site ready to give you their expertise criticism and review. Can't get what you want from one? Aren't being fed your particular brand of "Game X" product? No worries mate, just a Google away I'm quite sure you will find what you are looking for. From game blogs/sites catering to a particular console of choice, to anecdotal ones catering to your funny bone, to others focusing on your gaming frugality it's out there ready for you. As a matter of fact there's a ton of it. So much so that it is getting to the point that anybody with DSL and an opinion is an instant expert on games and are ready to roll out their gaming site to the masses. If Joe Blow from Kokomo likes games, has time on his hands and wants to make a name for himself, enter another new game related site to the picture.

Why really all you need to have for a semi decent launch of one is a gimmicky name, a bit of controversy via flame inducing pieces or nonsensical reviews used to highlight an extreme opposite view of the norm for vacuuming hits from the game fanatics and you're getting there. Hell, it's just as easy to write for a gaming site nowadays as it is doing amateur porn. While I don't begrudge anybody from making either a stab at what they love or from making a living, is having so many gaming sites, so many so called "experts" hurting the gaming scene overall? Should there be a universal litmus test that be required before the creation of these new gaming ventures? And are the glut of them, with a large percentage being of the amateur variety, hurting the legitimacy of real gaming sites and blogs?

From a layman's point of view I'll try to tackle these questions. First, for the purposes of this post I will refrain from distinguishing between journalistic and blogging sites. The point of this is not whether one is better than the other, because both types offer a needed voice for gamers and both can be just as informative as well. No, this is a look at the differences between game sites/blogs done right and those that are just lazy affairs and offer nothing more than a platform for fanboys to rally against each other or worse... echos of pieces posted elsewhere with just enough words changed that accusations of plagiarism can be held at bay.

It is actually pretty funny, when you think about it, how people in general with not a lick of experience in the game industry think unto themselves that they indeed are legitimate writers or editors because they got some facsimile of a game site up. That's like me touting off a title for myself, on my gmail and everywhere I post something, below my name akin to: Francisco Rodriguez, Feature Editor of the Cblogs of Destructoid. Everybody seems to be an expert nowadays so it's only fitting they create the illusion of legitimacy with a title but just because I can cook a mean omelet doesn't mean I'm a chef. That same analogy should be applicable here with people and their gamesites/blogs.

In my humble opinion I believe the glut of gaming sites are definitely hurting the gaming scene overall. Why? Because the majority of it is of the sophomoric kind. Offering nothing to the table that somewhere else is not being done, except that there it's of better quality and infused with a sincere passion. I mean look at the Metacritc user score buffoonery for a snapshot of why some people just don't need to have an open portal to the masses. Hell, take a look at N4G and peruse the titles of the sites/blogs' pieces highlighted there. About a third if not more, are of the flamebaiting kind. Drivel that even in our own Cblogs would be pounced on as fail and if done enough might get you a closer look at Hamza's banhammer, yet there it is, out in abundance... thriving.

In large part not because they are so good but because we here in the land of the Internets love us a fanboy fight, or a nice heaping of fabricated controversy to get the focus of most ADD gamers' attention. Should there be a universal litmus test that be required before the creation of these new gaming ventures? Boy, in a perfect world a video game SAT should be taken by all before even thinking of starting something but that's just not going to happen. In that same imagined perfect world, people should pay their dues in the industry or in the very craft of writing itself before they can stand toe to toe with the creme of the crop.

How many times have you heard such and such site said this or gave this review score yet here in Destructoid is different? Just because the sum of participants in Metacritic shell out a rating percentage on a game that doesn't gel with what's on tap here doesn't mean they're off base here, and I'm not even talking about a true 1-10 rating system, it could be the growing collective of Metacritic may not have a clue. The new fad of" I don't like it... therefore it sucks" mentality of these so called experts who honestly don't know better, are taking root and conceivably diluting not just the quality of game reviews but of gaming websites overall. We could take it the other way as well. Maybe these new game sites are not wanting to buck the norm. They may want to fall in line with the rest out there which is just as bad. If you have to read somebody else's review before you post your own, there's something wrong with that.

Lookit, I'm getting sidetracked here, this isn't about reviews. This is about a shitload of sloppy gaming sites making real ones look bad, or just lost in the sea of stupidity. Like a big tower of Jenga pieces that people keep piling on to, the only question to ask now is this.

Just how many more of these garage made gaming sites will we stack before it all comes tumbling down?



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17 comments | showing # 1 to 17
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MrSadistic's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/06/2008 15:29
MrSadistic
I'm pretty sure you're wrong. I should know, I'm an expert at these sorts of things.
SilverDragon1979's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/06/2008 15:40
SilverDragon1979
Why look at that. Yojimbo finally stopped playing SOCOM and LittleBigPlanet long enough to write a blog. Well it was about damn time and it's good to have you back.

I personally only stick to a few gaming sites myself. The list includes ...

1) Destructoid
2) Giantbomb
3) Joystiq
4) Kotaku
5) Gametrailers

Honestly of those 5 I really only pay major attention to Destructoid and Giantbomb. Those are the best two websites out there in my opinion, with opinions on games and game related issues I respect the most.

On a side note, I only recently stopped reading IGN because their site it to fucking hard to navigate since the layout change.
shipero's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/06/2008 16:03
shipero
Please, old man, you just don't understand the nouveau game journalism scene. People are tired of facts and rational opinions, the public now demands hyperbole and cynicism. Get with the times grandpa, the age of the angry, sarcastic, malcontent is upon us and it is good.

Shipero - Feature Editior: Shipero's Blog
mix's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/06/2008 16:20
mix
So are YOU telling me that there is, as well as gaming sites, too much amature porn...*GASP* lol

I really only check out Dtoid.com and I post the odd post on Gamefaqs.com and yea the odd time I go to gamespot.com and other than that I dont post ot chat with anyone on any other sites nor do I check them out or look for them.

I could care less what rating a game gets and I will not create an account on a new site to defend a game becuase someone gave it 1/10. I play games and rent them and create my own opinions.This is not the case with millions of people though as they feel that if they like something everyone else in the world should like it as much as them. This also applies to people who find something to be crappy and everyone should agree with them as well....big 'ol circle of assholes.

So yeah I think there will always be a bucket load of various internet sites/porn/clothes as not everyone can, or ever will, agree on the same thing so they will sort through until they find something that suits them best.
VWGTI's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/06/2008 16:33
VWGTI
Yojimbo, I want to thank you for writing this piece and expressing how I feel exactly. Too many people think they can create their own web site and find a niche, when in fact they offer nothing unique or original.

IGN and Gamestop offer corporate news and nobody is going to compete with them anytime soon. Gametrailers focuses on videos and videos alone. Screwattack focuses on retro gaming and provides an interesting video game news segment every day of the week.

If you plan on creating a web site, be sure to break away from the mold or your web site will be lost in the sea of mediocre gaming sites. It doesn't take a genius to write a few paragraphs about a video game.
Josh Tolentino's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/06/2008 16:51
Josh Tolentino
I don't think that the growing abundance of schlock sites will have a significant impact on the quality of discourse, or at least not kill it.

For every self-proclaimed expert there's a great site like Dtoid, The Escapist, Kotaku, GiantBomb, Rock Paper Shotgun or Crispy Gamer.

What we're seeing is growing diversity in voices, and part and parcel with that is a growing proportion of schlock. Opinions. What really matters is whether the game site in question really speaks with its own voice, and there's no harm in letting as many people as possible try, even if what results is mostly a keening screech.
Daxelman's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/06/2008 17:06
Daxelman
I don't think I can call any other Gaming site trash, least for GameFAQs, where they burn churches for lulz over there.

All sites have at least something I'd read, comment about, and link to, save for GameFAQs, where they burn churches for lulz over there.

With me, the more people try, as long as it ain't the blatant fanwanking of another site, I'm welcome to it.

Except for GameFAQs, where they burn churches for lulz over there.
liam2015's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/06/2008 17:06
liam2015
I don't worry about those sites. And honestly, I don't care that anyone can create their own crappy website and try to talk about something. I just try to find the good ones (like ol' Dtoid here), and stick to them.

The others aren't bothering anyone.
BFeld13's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/06/2008 17:29
BFeld13
One of the reasons a lot of people think that they can start up their own gaming site is that game publishers and PR Reps support it. I used to write for one of these hacked-together sites (emphasis on 'used to') and despite having virtually no readership, we were able to get review copies for games as well as press release emails and FTP access.

The fact is that some people who set up these sites may not consider themselves 'experts' but may just simply want free stuff and a piece of the swag action.
RonBurgandy2010's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/06/2008 17:34
RonBurgandy2010
I can't come up with a snarky comment right now. Give me a little more time.

Also, what do you care Jimbo? You're rich! You can just buy every game.
Steel Squirrel's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/06/2008 17:42
Steel Squirrel
What? Destructoid was a sort of "garage" site to begin with. It has completely transformed into something much more official since, but who's to say one of these other random places won't be the next Destructoid or Kotaku? Given the right circumstances, anything like that seems to be possible, that is why people even bother to start their own sites. It is just a new era in journalism.

It's like getting upset because garbage like National Enquirer and The Sun exists amongst highly regarded periodicals.

Ultimately it is up to the individual to sort out what information is relevant to them. If you can't decipher what is quality information and what is shit, that's your problem.

As for it all "tumbling down", that was a tad melodramatic for video game websites don't you think?
Atlas's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/06/2008 17:45
Atlas
I is a good thing a gaming expert like Yojimbo came out and told us this. We need more experts like him crowding the scene and telling us what is what.
swiftly's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/07/2008 02:42
swiftly
I totally agree with you Y0j1mb0 sir. I'm a huge music fan and read a lot of music blogs and the general standard of writing and objectivity in them is so far above the level of the average games site that it's scary.
Alasdair Duncan's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/07/2008 05:23
Alasdair Duncan
I think this is just what the internet promised: everyone get's a voice, even if they are a fucking douche. I mean I write a music blog (only I haven't bothered updating it in over a month)in which I just mainly talk about the music I like and in a fairly easy going manner. But if someone thought I was an expert I think I'd be fairly embarressed.

I think some of the crappy gaming sites won't be able to sustain themselves, if all they're doing is giving people a place to vent and spew bullshit. Eventually they'll tire of it and leave.
Touch's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/07/2008 10:55
Touch
As the last couple of posts have said, this is, unfortunately, a problem with the net as a whole - not just gaming sites. Disingenuousness is rife, people in chat rooms feel no compunction to back up their statements with verifiable facts, and they all claim to be in high-paying positions which they offer as proof of their knowledge in a particular field. As Chief Researcher for Sony, I find this very irritating!
swiftly's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/07/2008 12:47
swiftly
Touch wins word of the day with Disingenuousness!
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