12 Harsh Truths You Don't Want To Admit About Video Games

5. The Media Hype Machine Is Not A Good Thing

Though we absolutely need to take responsibility for how we digest information from the gaming media, it's reasonable to say that they also play a massively instrumental role in influencing the decisions of consumers, and as such they owe it to us to ensure they do so with a certain level of integrity. The gaming press help build the hype around anticipated games like Watch Dogs and Destiny, though as intelligent, skeptical people, our minds should always be thinking: what's the vested interest here? We can't expect transparency from the press to detail which publishers are paying them to advertise what, but rest assured that if a website is rife with ads for a huge, upcoming game, they're probably not going to turn around and say that it looks rubbish. And of course, what bearing does ad revenue have on reviews? Jeff Gerstmann's 2007 firing from GameSpot was due to him giving Kane and Lynch: Dead Men a mediocre review, with publisher Eidos, who had placed heavy advertising on the website, pressuring them to dismiss Gerstmann. GameSpot was publically humiliated in the incident, and in the eyes of many gamers has never really regained it integrity. The point here is this: approach the gaming media with a healthy level of skepticism: put your trust in gameplay videos rather than some guy with a financial interest in selling you a game telling you that it's awesome. Whether the gaming press is a "racket" as some claim remains to be seen, but whenever you're taking advertising from the same people you're critiquing, there's bound to be a conflict of interest.