Timeline of major news stories
Week 1 – Muslim boy accused of ISIS connections for saying ‘eco terrorist’
Week 2 – New right given to consumers to refund “faulty games”
Week 3 – League of Legends to be streamed on BBC Three
Half Term -Nintendo set to release first ever mobile game
Week 7 -The Million Mask March
Week 8 – Fallout 4 launches with 12 million copies world wide
Week 9 – Paris Bombings
Week 10 -Game fails to reach to reach crowdfunding target
Week 11 -Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 won’t ship worldwide due to sexism issues
When picking the major stories I went for articles that most affected the games industry as a whole as well as big game releases. This is mainly because the games industry has evolved so much in recent years and changes so drastically with different genres and being affected by issues that do not usually affect the general public in the same way.
The exception to these are week 1, 7 and 9. These are mainly due to the fact that there was very little going on in the games industry that week and those particular stories related to the world in a much larger sense. In these situations I found these stories dwarfed those of the games industry and therefore should be included instead.
In terms of how the stories link together the majority of gaming related stories are fairly isolated from each other, as the industry has such a large spectrum of content and categories.
I believe week 2 and 3 link together well as they both are covered in a more traditional sense when compared to the usual conceptualised idea of games journalism. These are both stories where games are being taken more seriously by the general public and more accepted in general society, being both in a legal framework and public television. Being portrayed in a more mature setting and being treated more seriously than has been in the past, were prior there has often been a very clear lack of understanding from those reporting it (especially in the case of BBC). This shows how the media is beginning to treat the games industry as an industry and less of a gimmick for stories about people the general public don’t particularly understand.
Week 1, 7 and 9 all link as they combine these hyper alertness people have after the refugee crisis and previous ISIS attacks. There was already cases (such as in week 1) before the Paris bombings where people were mistreated based on their race. The Paris bombings having severely damaged race relations with many people in Western society. Week 7 ties in due to this idea of animosity and using this as an excuse to do what they wish. However, primarily I have linked these as I think they were stories that affected the country quite a bit more than the gaming news in those particular weeks and show strained relationships between people. The media clearly picked up on these stories due to all showing strained relations with groups of anonymous people and also has this underlying political feel – the march being heavily attended by those upset with the government, the outcry over the boy questions due to be Muslim and using the world eco terrorist and finally the government of various countries reactions to the Paris bombings.
The rest of the stories are more isolated stories that shaped the industry or were a big change for the industry and shows a marked change. Such as Nintendo announcing the development of mobile games. Each time the media pick up on a gaming related story it does not necessarily have to be a big story. Often they will write about any game that has been released or any small part of the industry. Often there are large gaps in news where there is little going on and therefore there is always this constant flow of almost filler news content (often discussion pieces or feature articles) that plays off previous bigger news stories.
Games journalism is something I am very interested in and so follow it regularly, however often all the big news stories will occur around the same time. Such as announcements at big conventions like E3.
For the majority of games journalism outlets (especially the ones I have sourced my stories from) have all had the main purpose of either directly informing the viewer with no really agenda, entertainment purposes or making a statement about the industry as a whole. Often the latter is one persons opinion but is usually backed up by solid logic and a clear understanding of the intricacies of the industry itself.
scottbanksjournalism 