Malik
(11/5/04)
Some people say
that no news is good news...and I usually say these same people can
go f%$# themselves. However, for the 5th or 6th week in a row, there
is still no real news coming out. It's making me feel more reassured
about my decision to postpone a Malik's Bitchings column this week
in favor of working on my video and image ideas...especially since
it's really hard to bitch about things when NOT A DAMNED THING is
happening. As you can see, I didn't completely eliminate Malik's
Bitchings for the week, but I came pretty damned close.
No News or No
Effort
I mean, the
closest to news would be that LotR:The Third Age has shipped or that
Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal has shipped...big freakin' deal.
I mean this is a time of year when everything is shipping.
Meanwhile, instead of having actual news, all we see are
celebrations at the usual geek news (or pseudo-news/entertainment)
outlets about each big release.
For example, we
had the most mindless day worth of programming on G4-Tech TV last
Tuesday for the release of GTA:SA. I figured that I needed something
stupid and pointless to watch as I ate some food between playing
GTA:SA...seriously, anyone who was hyped enough to watch a full day
worth of programming dedicated to a single game that came out the
night before would already be playing the game. Anyway, this was the
most pointless TV I have watched in a long time as I saw the same
damned trailer for SA (not even the most recent trailers, but one
from about a month earlier) on every single show. Is this good
programming or scheduling for even a 100+ cable network? I think
not. Plus, some of the shows were obviously forced to talk about a
series (GTA) in which the show's hosts knew nothing about (like with
Unscrewed...one of the only decent shows on G4-Tech TV). Now they
are going to do it again in less than a week for Halo 2.
It's not like
G4-Tech TV is the only group doing this type of crap. It's even seen
at the more news based of organizations (like Gamespot). It's not
like they are actually pandering to the same type of stupidity as G4
is doing. Rather, Gamespot is stuck with a complete lack of news to
print, so they manage to write a whole news story of how a game is
going gold. Then, a week and a half later, they write another full
story worth of how that same damned game was shipped. Then, a few
days after that, they will print another full story about how that
same game is now on store shelves. Then, finally, after a week, they
will say how that game is selling reasonably well. That would be 4
or more news stories for a game like Fable, GTA:SA, Ratchet and
Clank 3, Halo 2, etc. Ummm...in this season of only the biggest
named games coming out, I think we all know the release dates by
heart, we all know that a game will ship about 1.5 to 2 weeks after
going gold, and we all know that Fable, Half-Life 2, Halo 2, GTA:SA,
etc, blah, blah, will see like mad. Do we honestly need 4 pages of
common sense being pounded into our heads. If there is no news, then
simply say so...or don't say so (if there's nothing to say, then
there's no harm in shutting the f$#% up).
Plus, while it is
mainly the case that most of the news out there is focused on new
releases, I still feel there something deeper that should be looked
into. What it is, I don't know. I think, however, with so many new
games filling the news pages on geek sites, that maybe the reporters
and journalists (or whatever they want to call themselves) should
try to look for the hard to find news stories. I mean if, in so many
ways, it's a quiet time for news, then it means it should be less
constricting to send out a few extra reporters to find something new
and under the surface.
Solution
The first solution
is simple. If you are in charge of a news site/show/whatever and you
don't have news handed to you directly, then get off your ass, send
out some reporters, and try to find some news. Reporting the same
sad attempt at a news story four times in a 2-3 week period is sad
and a little too half-assed (a good level of half-assing something
requires not being so obvious about your slacker ways). And when
this is done with about 10 news stories at a time, it only shows
your lack of professionalism. The easiest solution for a lack of
something to report about is to simply shut up. If you have nothing
to say, then don't say shit.
As for the Halo 2
Day and the GTA:SA Day ideas at G4...ok, those need to stop.
Especially with the GTA:SA day, which took place the day following
the release of GTA:SA (true, it was on the 26th of October, and that
was the official release date, but 95% of the stores that were
getting a first day shipment of SA were selling by 7 PM, or ealier,
on the 25th). For one thing, anyone who cared about GTA:SA was
already playing the game. For another, if you weren't playing the
game, odds are you were not interested in it, and a whole day of
programming based on the game you're not interested in would only
turn you off from said network. Thirdly, the programming selection
was a pretty lame attempt at showing a month old trailer over, and
over, and over, and...I only watched a total of about 1 hour of that
channel on the 26th (when I ate lunch, and I like Unscrewed and
X-Play), but I managed to see that same trailer for SA about 8 times
on G4 that day...EIGHT FREAKIN' TIMES. At the least, couldn't they
have shown either of the two more recent videos? Could they have
added some variation to their programming? Could they have not
forced the hosts of shows who knew nothing of GTA from talking about
this game which they cared not for? Apparently common sense is a
little out of the grasps of G4.
Conclusion
I'm pissed off
about my PC being crashed by some damned ass who thought that
sending out 5 or so malwares at once would be cool...so, I'm keeping
it short and sweet. Anyway,
feel free to write
me or put it on the forums,
if you think you've got something to add.
Malik
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