Developer Blogs: How They're Changing the Game

Even a space monkey could see that the Internet has transformed the way our world works. He may not be able to see this from space, but he can see it in the way it?s changed the way we think and communicate, how we express ourselves and participate, and even how we consume. Blogs are a perfect example; they emulate journal entries, new articles and message boards all at once. Many people weren?t paying attention with blogging just started taking off; it?s own transformative power was underestimated. The blogging bandwagon was never truly empty though, and more and more people are jumping on everyday.

Around the same time, other developers were experimenting with web culture. Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear, hosts a Blog and podcast that offer an insider look at the games industry. He too had its share in the news spotlight, when his podcast reported that Kojima had played Super Smash Bros Brawl, and that he thought it was very close to being finished. He turned out to be right, since a couple weeks later a countdown appeared on The Smash Bros Dojo, the official Smash bros website. When the counter reached zero, the site launched a blog that served only to deliver Brawl news. Every weekday there is an update, revealing a new character or map or item. In a matter of weeks the blog had told us more than any trailer we?ve seen of the game, and the news outlets respond to this as well. The fact that Smash Bros Brawl would have a different control mode for every type of control scheme available on Wii (Wii remote+Nunchuk, Wii remote alone, Classic Controller, Gamecube controller), and that you could customize your controls was on news websites all over the Internet, as well as on dedicated forums.

It's clear that blogs are a good way of creating hype. Last month Sony launched an official blog, and last month Bethesda, the developer of Oblivion and the upcoming Fallout 3, launched their own blog. Unlike the Smash bros Dojo, the blog doesn?t showcase their upcoming game, but posts about things happening in the Bethesda community and the communities around their games. It shouldn't be doubted that there will be more and more Fallout 3 content on this blog as the release date gets closer, and with that in mind, what purpose would Bethesda have for revealing information to the press? They can show previews and information of Fallout 3 on their own blog instead. Blogs are popular and powerful because they let you publish yourself. If a blog lets a game developer publish their media themselves, what role do magazines and game websites have? As long as the consumer knows where to look, they can get all the information they want straight from the horse?s mouth.

This idea might seem attractive to the people in charge of marketing their games, since releasing information on a blog is remarkably cheap and easy. However, this is best left as a supplement to traditional game journalists. After all, the purpose for turning to journalists in any field is that they?re going to give an alternative perspective. Game Journalists provide a service to consumers that PR people just can?t: objectivity.

You cannot trust these blogs to be brutally honest about their own game because ultimately they?re using the blog to drive sales. This is something to keep in mind next time you visit a developer blog: journalists will strive for objectivity and sometimes succeed, but the game developers will be subjective each time without fail.

By Bob Forbes