You probably noticed IGN, GameSpot, GameTrailers and many other big sites posted their Best of E3 2006 awards today. We were going to, but we decided to hold off a day or two to make sure we were comfortable with our decisions. It would’ve been nice to see those big sites do the same, because other than the people on their advertising staff, I don’t see how anyone at those outlets can sleep at night knowing just how much they’ve whored themselves out for The Almighty Dollar.
Look, I’d love to make DailyGame a full-time gig, as would everyone else who writes for the site, but the financial state of the world just won’t allow it. Apparently when you hit the big time, though, making games your full-time gig equates to pandering to every company, product and concept that might, just might, make you money down the road.
Case in point: GameSpot’s Best of E3 awards. Have you seen just how long those awards are? Seriously, have you looked? Their Best of E3 awards drone on for 28 pages. Twenty-eight! There’s an award for everything other than “Best Bathroom” and “Best Performance by a Blonde Who Didn’t Know Squat About the Game She Was Hawking.” What’s the purpose of that 28-page nonsense? It’s either to let GameSpot market itself on every piece of box art known to humanity, or to give them “leverage” when they approach those same manufacturers and publishers asking for a $10,000 ad buy.
GameTrailers’ awards make just as little sense–or just as much, depending on how you look at it. That outlet’s Best of Show went to Assassin’s Creed, a worthy game that’s one of our finalists on DailyGame, as well. Their Best PS3 Game award, though, went to Resistance: Fall of Man. Am I missing something? Last time I checked, Assassin’s Creed was a PS3-exclusive game (at least for now…Ubisoft’s remaining mum). How can a game that wins Best in Show not be good enough to win its own platform category? Oh, that’s right: they’re being developed and published by two different companies, which means the awards disparity allows GameTrailers to go after two different targets for ad revenue.
I fully realize that advertising dollars make the online world go round. It works that way in the print realm, too. But the big sites’ E3 2006 Awards fanfare is simply insane. Whether it’s 28 pages of “share the wealth” garbage or a smaller announcement that inexplicably recognizes different publishers, there’s never been a better time to resurrect Susan Powter and her “Stop the Insanity” mantra. You know why people TiVo the Academy Awards? Because they’re too long and self-serving, and consumers just want to see who won. If the big gaming Web sites don’t watch their collective back, they’re going to suffer the same fate. And Susan Powter, in all her buzzcut, peroxided glory, is going to be there to tell them “I told you so.” We all know the big sites live and die by the advertising dollar; let’s just stop the awards insanity and find more-subtle ways to drum it up, guys.
— Jonas Allen
