T w e n t y S i d e d

Building on my earlier post about how I like individual blogs better than monolithic gaming sites, I have another axe to grind with these guys: So-called exclusive screenshots.

How the game works is this: The publisher of some up-and-coming game will take a selection of screenshots and release them to the gaming press. Major sites – you know, the kind which are a vast plane of advertisements riven by a slender column of actual content down the middle – will get their hands on these screenshots. Much in the same way that a prostitute might tell each of her customers that he is her personal favorite, each of these gaming sites walks away from the deal with the impression that they somehow have an exclusive on their hands. If they had any common sense or a memory span of more than a few months they would know better.

Then, as a way to protect their sceenshots from poachers, they stamp their site logo in the corner. They do this blindly, reflexively, with any image they throw up on the site. You could send them a picture of the Kennedy assasination and they would put their logo in the corner before posting it, lest readers doubt their ownership and authorship of the image. You’ll see their logo on images taken from wallpapers, loading screens, box art, and the slideshow that plays while you’re installing the demo. You can go to the official site for the game and they have the original, unadorned images available for public download, and then you’ll find the exact same image on some gaming site with their logo in the corner as if it was something special.

Eurogamer

IGN

XGP. Who?

Gamespy

It’s been years since this sort of business first showed up, but gaming sites are still falling for it and making fools of themselves. Note to big gaming sites: Get over yourselves already.

Idiots.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.