August 6, 2008

Want to know what it takes to be a video-game journalist? GZ asks one for his opinion on the topic
By Michael Lafferty

GameZone’s Louis Bedigian weighs in on being a gamer and writer

As a gaming journalist, it is not uncommon – when the question is asked “what do you do for a living?” and you answer with the obligatory “I write about video games, I play them and write about them” – to receive stares of disbelief, quickly followed by the “how can I do a job like that?”

While GameZone does interviews with the people who make games, we thought it might be interesting to do an interview with one of our own, get his take on the profession, what he sees, how he got into it and what it takes, in his opinion, to be a game journalist.

And who better to talk to than our own rabid gamer, Louis Bedigian.

So, questions were asked and answered, and here is that interview:

How long have you been gaming?

Louis: I started in the late 80s when I was five. I remember playing the arcade version of Super Mario Bros. and loving it, and played it again days later at a friend's house. I also fell in love with the classic shooter 1943 and begged my parents to get an NES (which came with Mario) and that Capcom game. Almost immediately after I got my system, my friend's grandpa bought him the original Ninja Gaiden - another game we instantly fell in love with. Over the next couple years I snatched up every Mario title available, subscribed to some game mags and became enamored with the "next generation" - the SNES.

Believe it or not, however, there was a brief time when I lost interest in gaming: 1994. This was the in-between year when developers were either clueless or too busy getting ready for the new era - the PlayStation era - to release anything good. The following year was monumental: we saw the birth of a new empire (Sony), a near swan song from Sega, and for the first time, gamers didn't have to go to arcades to get an arcade experience. Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA, Tekken, Mortal Kombat 3 and Ridge Racer were finally playable at home. For gamers old enough to remember what arcades used to be like, there is nothing comparable to that transition. To see games shift so heavily, and advance to unimaginable levels on a console is something we may never see again.

What is your favorite system and why?

Louis: It varies by generation. NES ruled the late 80s/early 90s, SNES ruled after that, and PSone and PS2 took over the next 10 years. It's not a coincidence that the most successful platforms of those eras were also the most beloved - they had not only the most games but the best games. It wasn't hard to pick one system (if you had to pick just one, as many of us did back then). Nowadays gamers of all ages tend to have at least two of the current machines.

My favorite system of the current generation has yet to be decided, but if I had to pick one from the previous generations, it would be PlayStation 2. PSone gave birth to more innovation because everything was so new to developers, but the sequels and original franchises brought forth by PS2 have yet to be outdone.

What is your favorite type of game and why?

Louis: It isn't a specific genre so much as something that surprises me now and is fun to play later. Mortal Kombat fits into that list. The first Mario and Mario 64 fit into that list. Resident Evil, Pikmin, ICO are all games that really did something special and are still incredible several years later. There isn't enough of that in our industry. All forms of entertainment are guilty of this (for every great movie there are dozens that suck, and several that are fun to see only once).

If you're asking for a particular genre, I don't have one at this time. For many years fighting games surpassed all others because there was always something cool and different to play (from Street Fighter to Mortal Kombat to Virtua Fighter to Tekken, etc.). But we don't have that anymore, not with any genre. There's a leader, maybe a second-place contender, and a bunch of other guys that are trying to steal a piece of the pie.

How did you get into video-game journalism?

Louis: Fan sites and an AOL game publication called Antagonist, Inc. I was willing and eager to write for any site, at any time. Antagonist (ANT, as they often called it) allowed me to participate in weekly reviewing contests that really helped hone my skills. Some of the best advice I've ever received came from an ANT writer who said he liked my reviews best when they captured the essence of the game. He wanted me to focus more on the essence and less on covering every detail. Now in some cases every detail is necessary, and depending on who you work for, that may be what the publication wants. But in most cases, the essence -- good or bad -- is the most fun thing to read.

ANT is also where I began to appreciate the craft of writing comedy. ANT was big into the "my console is better than your console" argument. Their staff posted editorials (now they'd be called blogs) on each console page, praising one and bashing the other. After reading one from a writer known as ANT Stoic, I decided to do my own as ANT Stock. They liked the parody, published it on one of the pages, and gave me 15 minutes of chatroom fame. Strangers knew who I was, what I had written, and were complimenting my work. It was an incredible feeling. I was 14 or 15 at the time. From that moment on I knew this is what I wanted to do with my life. No matter what, I have to keep writing.

What do you think it takes to be a good video-game journalist?

Louis: Persistency, consistency, dedication, and a love of games and our industry as a whole. Journalism is different from other writing. You don't have to be a screenwriter to review any form of entertainment. But it's the journalists that find a way to entertain - with whatever skills or inherent talents they may have - that really impress. If you can turn a review into something clever and memorable (it's rare, but I've seen a few writers pull this off), then you've created art yourself.

What advice would you give someone who wanted to enter the gaming industry?

Louis: While refining your skills and the style you will eventually use as a journalist, make sure your work is being seen. Average Blog or No-Name Site may not seem like a real opportunity, but if they accept your work (even without pay), don't hesitate to deliver. The experience is invaluable - you don't become a better journalist by wanting to write, you become a better journalist by writing. Best of all, when the time comes for you to show your work to someone important (ex: a popular video-game publication), you'll have some review links to pass along. They may not recognize the site they came from, but if the publication is serious about acquiring new talent, they'll examine the article. Your writing will take care of the rest.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the industry moving forward?

Louis: Most developers would argue that the industry needs to take more risks, which is true. It needs to be willing to try new game concepts, because as we all know, a successful new concept is worth millions more than Rehash Shooter.

Most publishers would argue that the rising costs of game design makes taking risks harder, which is also true. You shouldn't have to spend $30 million on an experiment.

But the biggest challenge revolves around the changes that may take place in the next 10 or 20 years. Many publishers, analysts and so-called industry experts insist that we have to move to a download-only or online-only world, where we either download games to a hard drive or play (stream) them off a server. Do they not see the potential problems this could cause? Beyond the technical issues (hard drive storage, servers crashing, etc.), take a good look at what happened to the music industry when it made the leap to streaming and downloading. I don't want to see the Napster plague hit gaming.

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