Originality is alive and well in Video Game Land:

The cries gamers have unleashed to encourage innovation in the video game industry are being drowned out by the sound of money draining into a vault, waterfall-style. I guess it’s not all tears, considering four of the seven unreleased games on that list are locks to become quality games. But who’s to blame? I would like to direct some of this blame on the producers who go out of their way to hype emerging franchises that can’t live up to their potential. Assassin’s Creed, anyone? Come on, Jade. You’re an absolute cutie, but looks don’t hide that your first assignment as a game producer wasn’t the industry-changing experience we were promised. Not even “Two million copies sold!” can blot out that sting.

The legacy of Assassin’s Creed says it all: if these high-risk products continue to gain the same hype as low-risk gaming mainstays, will you blame the consumer base for sticking with what works? This problem will have to be addressed if the gaming industry wants to keep that record-shattering revenue pumping in.

For those of you fighting the war against GameSpot:

After Jeff Gertsmann was fired for pissing off advertisers, and former co-workers followed his leave, thousands of nergins have gone on record to predict the game-reviewing juggernaut is going to crumble. It was inevitable the new age of American capitalism would blur the line between game and reviewer, and father company CNet was caught shit-faced in the process. And like a bar of soap, Gamespot’s web traffic sink into the dirty bathtub of obscurity.

Oops, look like that never happened. Don’t know if the line in that graph is going to continue turning north, but for the moment, looks like the call for “journalistic integrity in gaming” took a giant dump on you and your mother.

Obviously, I’m not defending CNet’s fumbling of the Gertsmann saga. But as a well-informed member of the gaming community, how do you expect to fight through this, and where do you draw the line? Use the latest slew of MetaCritic and GameRankings reviews to make your game purchase? It’s a damn shame CNet runs both of those as well. How about IGN or GameSpy? Will you take the chance the NewsCorp-owned answers to GameSpot are between “bacteria shit” and “amoeba piss” on Rupert Murdoch’s To-Corrupt radar? I guess that leaves you to 1UP, but when your best bet is “media parent with nine-figure revenue”, it’s safe to say capitalism has a problem beyond some petty fight over video game journalism.

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