JULY
Dialogue
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Rage against the machine
As a 19-year-old whose last physical magazine subscription was to Doctor Who Adventures, I am ecstatic to have found Edge. As someone whose concerns shifted to my undergrad and filmmaking, I have been swayed back into the gaming industry. It has been fascinating to read about indie games, industry personalities, and about the dire state of the industry for its hard-working developers. Reading well-written pieces on gaming has been refreshing, especially after the hours spent on clickbait articles and unfounded videos.
Which leads me on to my concern. It seems that so much of the discourse surrounding the gaming industry has morphed into a Pretty Hype Machine. Gaming companies, publications, celebrities and social-media pundits have dedicated themselves to clickbait titles and teasers surrounding new hardware or games. That’s not to say that reviews and honestto-goodness reporting are dead, and there are plenty of Twitter profiles run by indie devs and genuine enthusiasts. But these places pale in comparison to the torrent of speculation surrounding Grand Theft Auto VI or Nintendo’s next console, to name just two. Speculation with the sole purpose to excite us, to the dismay of our bank accounts.
I blame the
industry’s leaders for creating such a tense and stressful climate”