Following dudes on twitter
by mfpantst
So last night's trainwreck of a ustream for battlefield 3 got me thinking. This year is really the first year I've been able to see lots of live E3 footage, thanks in large part to ustream and livestreaming in general. It's interesting because livestreaming isn't all that new- GiantBomb has done it for a while actually. I suspect others have too, but now livestreaming is so prolific- like it's...
So last night's trainwreck of a ustream for battlefield 3 got me thinking. This year is really the first year I've been able to see lots of live E3 footage, thanks in large part to ustream and livestreaming in general. It's interesting because livestreaming isn't all that new- GiantBomb has done it for a while actually. I suspect others have too, but now livestreaming is so prolific- like it's a media format in of itself (as opposed to just recorded video coverage). Anyways I had 3 windows up at the same time, switching between audio feeds and checking twitter on my phone, and I finally arrived at the other conclusion:
It's not just that there is more media for me to consume it's that I am consuming more media as a direct result of being more plugged in
One of those ways that has really stuck out to me is how now I follow all these games dudes (journos, bloggers and devs) on twitter. And I guess, in a way, I'm prepared to say perhaps I consume too much. Because I've made the following observation:
In the video games world the overwhelming tone of commentary is snark. This is actually not bad in of itself. In particular I think of how the GB dudes have this constant pseudeo-negative tone on everything, but for me at least their notion of what they want and do not want in games development roughly matches my wants/desires, specifically:
Not interested in handheld gaming that is replacing console experience
Not interested in tacked-on motion controls
Not willing to settle for more of the same
That being said, some snark has gotten to me. And unfortunately so, from a particular set of people at particular developer related to making a certain space rpg action trilogy I am very interested in. And here's why: I sat following the Microsoft presser hearing about kinect being put into mass effect in ways that I am not really interested in. Actually, ways I think could be done without kinect and makes me feel like they think I'm stupid if I believe you have to have kinect to put in voice commands. That actually insults me. And yet, this particular tweeter was talking how awesome all this kinect support for ME3 looks and is and how excited they are. Ok- you're a developer or whatever, so I understand you have to be excited about your own project. Here's my problem- for every piece of coverage they have tweeted about outside of ME/EA content- they've said the following: "this is crap and I don't want it, bad job."
And to finalize my internal reaction:
WHY THE FUCK DO YOU MAKE GAMES IF YOU FUCKING HATE THEM
Seriously- if you're going to shill you stupid shit that's tacked on, don't go hard on other stuff that may or may not be great. I mean I agree with the dude on some stuff, but he's being disingenuous. And that really pisses me off. At least most dudes who have some snark to them tend to keep up the act for everything- or still can be genuinely impressed with stuff that is legit good.
Arghhhh... anywho, @manveerheir your e3 attitude has pissed me off, and made me think all this new media coverage I get is just too much.