Edge 258 - The Bear and Badger

Yossarian

regmcfly wrote:

Ellie Gibson is also an absolute force, her reviews are insanely cutting. She has gone more part time now she's a mum, but I always anticipate one of her reviews with glee. Can't remember what it was but she tore apart a particularly misogynistic film earlier this year (and also did a good Tomb Raider review)

Ellie Gibson is my cousin.

Yossarian

And, the editor of Eurogamer, Oli Welsh, has just married a good friend of mine.

They're nice people.

Dark Soldier

Contacts all up in the place there, Yoss.

regmcfly

Yossarian wrote:

regmcfly wrote:

Ellie Gibson is also an absolute force, her reviews are insanely cutting. She has gone more part time now she's a mum, but I always anticipate one of her reviews with glee. Can't remember what it was but she tore apart a particularly misogynistic film earlier this year (and also did a good Tomb Raider review)

Ellie Gibson is my cousin.

Tell her she has a big fan in ol reg

Vela

I have a lot more time for Retro Gamer's writers than in any other publication. I used to read Games TM, still read Edge and Eurogamer which are pretty interesting. But Retro Gamer to me are the one source that still captures enthusiasm for the medium.

Games writing about modern trends, new releases, ludology, that business about 'what games are' etc and this new wave of independent narrative driven but not really gamey games etc. I guess it's nice that exists; it suggests a diversification. But then turn the page and someone is complaining about pixel counts or calling readers entitled twats or declaring which console you should buy.

The difference to me is that Retro Gamer still convey a genuine passion. They aren't any more or less opposed to Spectrum or Gamecube or Vectrex games. They reviewed a new Dreamcast game this month. They have absolutely no reason for pressure from publishers or distributors or platform holders not to discuss bad decisions or give out 10s for skyrim on PS3.

Everywhere else is a little too tetchy for me right now, and has been for a few years.

Yossarian

Will do.

Edit: Reg.

hylian_elf

Vela wrote:

I have a lot more time for Retro Gamer's writers than in any other publication.

They're ok. Make a lot of mistakes though. Example, apparently Capcom were behind King of Fighters according to their recent Flashback issue. Plus not much insight into the games in certain articles. I mentioned elsewhere that Streets of Rage 2 was voted best MD game by their readers, and they failed to make it sound any good in their article.

[Deleted User]

Frosty wrote:

I enjoy Matt Lees video reviews of things as he is pretty hilarious and usually makes some pertinent points that I've missed. I'm currently working through the Pants Man streams of him playing through Dark Souls for Videogamer.com and having a great time time playing alongside them. Edge can fuck off basically, I've literally no interest in anything they write or score at this point. It's time to drop the anonymity from their reviews as I'd like to know who's opinion I'm reading so I can decide how much weight I'm going to give it based on the stuff I know they're into. I do tend to look at reviews after I buy games though. I'm a 27 year old man, I know what I like and I'm deep enough into the the industry culture that I hear/see if something is shite or good months before it's out so don't need to rely on reviews.

matt lees and videogamertv are awesome.

JonB

I'm mostly not bothered about games journalism now, but I still glance across at the Edge site when I want a review of something. Never really clicked with Eurogamer (their reviews always seemed unnecessarily long, full of padding) or anyone else. Edge reviews still have a certain knack of pinpointing the important aspects of a game succinctly, even though they're not quite what they once were. And the numbers have never been as important as they or others claim.

Skondo

Picked up this issue today. Choice of two covers in Whsmith in Southampton - Little Big Planet or Prince of Persia, so I went for Little Big Planet. Would have liked the Uncharted 2 cover or perhaps the Half Life one.

regmcfly

I got sent the Ridge Racer cover. It's nice, but I wanted Mario Galaxy or Fez.

Sasukekun

I love the final fantasy cover

Paul the sparky

Yeah, the FF cover is gorgeous, but the Half Life one is my fave.

Fuck knows how Fez got one.

adkm1979

And why, like so many of them, it's just a bit shit.

mistercrayon

Just had a close look at the DX cover, is that concept art from a new DX game? (it's a new generation version of Bob Page!)

Edit: no he shows up at the end of HR. lame.

optimark_prime

I quite like Game Central reviews, David Jenkins has written for Edge in the past.

Vela

hylian_elf wrote:

Vela wrote:

I have a lot more time for Retro Gamer's writers than in any other publication.

They're ok. Make a lot of mistakes though. Example, apparently Capcom were behind King of Fighters according to their recent Flashback issue. Plus not much insight into the games in certain articles. I mentioned elsewhere that Streets of Rage 2 was voted best MD game by their readers, and they failed to make it sound any good in their article.

I subscribe to them, and I have that issue nearby. Must have completely missed the KoF incident.

hylian_elf

I buy it when there's something that gets my retro nostalgia juices flowing. Like Flashback in that issue, and Castlevania in latest issue. It's the only other gaming mag after Edge that I read, so that's saying something.

RedDave2

I never "trusted" edges reviews over any others to be honest. Not saying they are wrong and I am right but we just have different tastes. Zelda and Gran Turismo would never get tens from me in terms of what I like but I can appreciate why they got those tens. I found some of the more recent tens made less and less sense. There's not been a ten that I've played which is outright a bad game but some of them have been puzzling as hell.

What I did like about Edge, and I feel is missing, is the quality of the writing. I've a few old issues and I still browse and enjoy re-reading them every now and again. The writing is confident, knowledgeable and has just a little bit of bite. It's not terrible now by any stretch but it lacks the personality and swagger that got me reading Edge every month for 4 years straight.

Must buy this issue cause its been a while since I've read an issue. Maybe things have improved. I felt the push towards "industry" articles has hampered them so I'll be hoping thats toned down and I remember for a while a lot of their articles didnt really have a point.

From a design point of view, Issue 100 to 144 or so remain the high point. Clean, consistent and appealing. The re-designs since have all moved from that. (imo)

Vela

I miss Biffovision/Red Eye/Nagoshi articles circa 2002-05, even though I only came in to reading Edge towards the end year of their tenure. I also quite enjoyed the column from Tim Rogers in Games TM. It occasionally made sense, but was genuinely interesting most times.

I can't say the current era (2008-present) columnists have ever really appealed to me, and a few of them have genuinely irritated me.

Dogfingers

optimark_prime wrote:

I quite like Game Central reviews, David Jenkins has written for Edge in the past.

I trust GC more than anyone, the only reviews I gove a hoot about are Edge, Eurogamer and Gamecental. Though the last few years I've started to take Edge and EG with a pinch of salt.

David Jenkins is the best critic around and hits the nail on the head 99% of the time.

Yossarian

I just went into two WHSmiths ready to buy a copy of this with the Halo cover. Neither had it so I've purchased nothing.

JMW

I must be the only one who thinks most of the covers look crap, and none of them are great. And I never used to moan about them in the old days when that was all the rage.

EvilRedEye

Got home today, had a flick through. Shame they've decided to 'celebrate' their 20th anniversary with this shark-jumping rubbish.

JMW

Ah, perhaps that Drop7 nonsense is just a piss-take then, I hadn't thought of that.

adkm1979

JMW wrote:

I must be the only one who thinks most of the covers look crap, and none of them are great. And I never used to moan about them in the old days when that was all the rage.

Nine posts earlier:

adkm1979 wrote:

And why, like so many of them (the covers), it's just a bit shit.

EvilRedEye

Better than pretty much all post-revamp ones, to be fair.

EvilRedEye

I wonder if in the heady days of October 1993 the creators of Edge could ever have guessed that in 20 years time they'd be opening their anniversary copies of Edge to find a giant pair of cartoon tits where the opening editorial should be.

Vela

It's kind of jarring to think that in the past, scores were once considered so distracting they removed them for one issue and caused an uproar. Now they are going back and retconning them again.

regmcfly

Talking of old Ellie Gibson, she's got a new review up
AND SHE DIDN'T HATE IT

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-09-03-castle-of-illusion-starring-mickey-mouse-review

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