Nice article, and I suppose we can all accept that it's true.

What are the alternatives though? How else can gaming companies with cash restrictions, development costs and financial goals reach us and hold our attention with their products?

How many hundreds of millions have game companies made off spin, although the games were poorly reviewed?

MMORPG.com alone has several Preview articles on games, and when these games are released and reviewed the scores often vary greatly from the accolades lauded upon the title in the Previews.

So what is the answer for dealing with the Gamer if not through gratuitous press releases?

Originally posted by CoffeeGrunt

although i think it was a bit exaggerated at some points, its a very good article . keep it commin Sanya

Wat!!! how can it be exaggerated at any point man!!!
 

Actually its under rated... cos the interview is dated in future where as the stuff happens today in the same manner... perhaps even more hype than shown in the artical

They pay people to write this type of column?  This website must be loaded with lots of cash to throw around.

Way to put that drama degree to work.

Originally posted by SBE1

They pay people to write this type of column?  This website must be loaded with lots of cash to throw around.

Way to put that drama degree to work.

Either you did not read the article at all or just skimmed it and made a rash judgement without realizing you did not understand it.  Either way,  your post highlights how naive readers can be.

Have never in my life read an mmo press release.  Would rather spend the time playing.

Press releases are a marketing tool, aimed at getting exposure and generating awareness across the internet, in magazines and other media.

They are not a way of communicating with the player. If you follow any game, especially MMOs, you will have noticed that when they send out a press release they will announce the same information on their own site, in plain English.

If I wrote a press release and didn't put hype in it, no website or magazine out there would print it, they'd think it wasn't interesting and not likely to draw people to their site or be of interest to their readers. A little spin and suddenly its a massive story and I get exactly what I want, a headline slot on their site / magazine.

And any half-competent copy writer will make sure there are no actual lies within the press release, just embellishments of the truth.

I thought it was a good read/article....very funny....glad she made the distinction between companies with money who are able to pay for some kind of spin release like this and little indie guys like ourselves who have to meet, butt our heads together with about 5-10 team members and designate someone to write down the ideas for a release. :D

Gotta love public relations:

Its not what you say; its what they HEAR that matters :)

Ken

A good article, I fould myself chuckling several times!

Man! The *generic MMO Genre* is really heating up! I just read a press relesease the other day for SuperMega Relms of Fun and they are promising Flying Bagles at launch, and a Kruller to anyone who pre orders!

Nice work! Keep it coming...

/bravo

Got to say I don't think all the praise is due. It's not the first time I've read someone take apart something corporate and throw in words like bitch and douchebag/douchehound. It's a very bitter outlook with very little actual satirical content. But it's just like the people who scream and jump when a rock band says where they live.

When is World of Champhammer going to be released?

Originally posted by Caldicot

When is World of Champhammer going to be released?

Its Worldquest of Champhammer and its already out and has hit 1million with its new innovative features :P.

Sarcasm aside great article.

Originally posted by Sanya

Yeah. I keep the horns filed, though.

 

Edit to add: What I mean is that I wrote press releases in my first two post-college jobs, and my experience in the game industry proved that there was nothing new under the sun. I do think it's funny when people take press releases literally.

A very good read and a nice reminder to not believe everything we hear, see, or read on the interwebz.  Sadly gaming press and advertisement don't have any real standards set that they have to follow.  At least with general advertising I'm not going to see bayer asprin stating that their pill cures erectile disfunction, hemroids, and oh by the way it also makes my **ck and *ss quit hurting because I have a 24 hour boner and I can't get off the crapper.  Game companies have no reprisals if they say the game will do X and then it doesn't actually do X. 

P.S.  I'm a cynical ***hole.

Originally posted by Caldicot

When is World of Champhammer going to be released?

LOL!

The recent press release said,

"We're very excited about the progress we're making on World of Champhammer.  Currently our developers are working hard to ensure that all of the new and innovative features work and that bugs are being eliminated from the game.  We anticipate the first round of beta invites to begin sometime in the fall of Q4 in 2010.  We will then aggressively work with our beta testers to polish the game and to listen to their feedback so that we can release an amazing and new experience for our fans.  World of ChampHammer should see a release in the first quarter of 2050 and we couldn't be more excited!"

Nice read, Sanya! I enjoyed your column, as always. 

You forgot one thing imho and it's this:

"With a prominent profile in Europe"

Which actually means:

"We hired some random company with cheap server clusters in Europe, so we don't have to bother with 'em"

You know, every time a publisher announces to treat European customers equally, a little kitty dies painfully...