If you do think about game journalism as a career....

[bluedotlounge]

Sorry, these are a lot of questions, so don't feel like you need to answer all of these. Yet, perhaps talking it out might help refine your career roadmap.

A) How are you going about getting to that goal?

B) How are your game publisher relationships currently?
i) How many of your game requests get fulfilled?
ii) Of the games you receive, how many do you get before street date?
iii) How do you deal with any sense of obligation to give the 'free' product a good review?

C) How do you feel about the veterans who were lucky enough to get their foot in the door in the 1980's & 1990's.
i) Any veterans you greatly admire?
ii) Any you greatly dislike?
iii) Would you be able to stay humble if you were given the same opportunities they had in those time periods?

D) What motivates you to continue building a body of work even if all you have is an unpaid blog?

E) What are you proudest about in your writing style and abilities? What would you like to improve?

F) How does it feel like writing about preview builds of your games you're excited about, knowing that your experience of the game is slightly spoiled?

G) How does it feel like reviewing a highly anticipated game under deadline knowing that you're rushing an experience that you would otherwise savor?

H) Say you end up working for one of the major media outlets. Your ability to cover any genre backfires and you're assigned mediocre games at first. How long are you willing to put up with not covering blockbusters or sleepers?

Sincerely,
A semi-retired, part-time journalist, part-time game industry video producer

 

[JoeyDemon138]

This reply would be coming from somewhat of a "junior" video game journalist enjoying both his passions.. video games and writing. WOO!

Now onto the answers...

A) Independently at the moment. I know the main thing you need to become a professional video game journalist is a portfolio more so then a college degree, but I might plan on going to college and studying journalism but if that doesn't work then I'll just spam the IGN boards with terrorist threats and possibly persuade them with lewd photography .

B)Pfft, I wish.
i)Well, considering I'm doing my own little independent operation, it's super hard trying to get to everybodies requests. Especially to those games that have that $59.99 pricetag. I'm able to get to games that cost $60 but it's tough for me to get to multiple new releases at one time.

ii)If I said none would you laugh at me ? My luck is real tough, so the only way I could see me getting games before their release date would be to get a job at a video game store like GameStop or Game Crazy. I hear they let you take home some of the pre-releases for a week or so #.

iii)Same if I was getting paid. It all comes down to the passion you have for your craft.

C)Those guys get more respect from me then my own mother gets from me. Oh how I envy those suckers that got to review Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Burgertime and other countless arcade classics that we've all come to know and love. Arcade style games happen to be my favorite, so I definitly wish I was born probably in the 70's and not 1990.

i)I really enjoy the reviews from the guys at Classic Game Room. They'd definitly have to be my favorite at the moment, for the fact that the guy who does the reviews is so damn funny yet so damn informative in his reviews.

ii)None that I've come across. I'm into Vlog style gaming reviews as much as I am text, so as you'd imagine, do an oral video game review would be a lot tougher then just typing out on a website or for a magazine. Just because you're some guy that was able to edit a video together and talk about Halo 3 for 10 minutes doesn't mean that you'll get a lot of views. Key thing is in your vocabulary. Speak clearly, pronounce your words correctly, and speak at a good tone.

iii)Of course. A true video gamer can get the hi-score on Asteroids and then go and get some trophies/achievements right after. I'd always stay proud of the fact that I do what I love doing.

D)My passion for my dream career. I never really pictured getting paid doing video game reviews actually. I just imagined myself starting up my own independent dot com and having tons of reviews on their for all the hot games on the market and even talks about some upcoming releases as well.

E)I, as a video game journalist, am my own character, just like the characters in the video games I review. I stay very enthusiastic, and probably, the thing I'm most proud of is the fact that not once have I ever hated a video game. I don't know if that sounds random and off topic or not, but all my reviews (even the bad ones) share good qualities about the game as well. I also stay comical and tasteful with both my written and oral reviews.

F)Great. I'm giving to those that are curious about playing the product. Spoiled or not, I'll enjoy the game all the same. Heyy, rhyme . Wicka wicka .

G)Holy lord. This is a tough question. There are a few video game series that I'm especially attached to (Metal Gear, Shenmue, Fallout) and if I was put on a deadline to finish the project, I might be somewhat bummed out. Like, say I'm doing a review on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and I get put on a deadline. Games like that are so massive, that a tight deadline is very difficult to work with in order to give these games an honest and thorough review. I definitly understand the fact that deadlines are crucial, but I'd imagine they could get to anybody depending on the circumstances.

H)IF I ended up with a major media outlet like the question states, I'm sure I'd still be working on my independent company as well. Basically whatever reviews I did for that major media outlet, I'd make a different review for the same game at my independent company. If I wasn't getting blockbuster titles at this major media outlet, then I'd review them at my independent company for the gamers.



And that would be your resume of a 19 year old kid who hearts video games and dreams to work oneday as a video game journalist.