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Latest News “The Mirror On Amusement! (Part 2.) – Coverage of AOU’08” (#628)
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| “The Mirror On Amusement! (Part 2.) – Coverage of AOU’08” (#628) |
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| Written by Stinger Report | |
| Tuesday, 15 April 2008 | |
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Stinger REPORT Skinny! (25/02/08) The Stinger runs the second of a series of features that look at the actual None-Trade Coverage of the amusement scene that these events generate – This report covers the All Nippon Amusement Machine Operators (AOU) exhibition, and the clamber for coverage that ran the consumer and fan based inter-web. In particular the professional level of fan site reporting that surpassed alternative trade media coverage.
Main REPORT: Continuing this exclusive look into the coverage of the amusement scene that is coming from non-trade media, we see an explosion of reporting from the 22nd All Nippon Amusement Machine Operator’s Union event (AOU’08).Continuing this exclusive look at the coverage of the amusement scene it is generating from the non-trade media and we see an explosion of coverage for the 22nd All Nippon Amusement Machine Operator’s Union event (AOU’08). The show had the first appearance of a number of eagerly awaited franchises – the player base mobbed the show, and the game media followed – no matter how reluctantly. - Web Coverage The web has surpassed the conventional trade media for talking directly to popular culture – the player base demanded coverage of the new franchise launches and no matter conventional media’s claimed reticence they got what they wanted. Arcade Heroes: A popular site, and friends of TSR, broke all records with their professional AOU reporting, and links and appraisals of other sites coverage. The site, run by both fans and operators in the amusement scene, looked at the issues from the show, but also gave detailed reviews of what it meant for the international scene. Capcom Unity: The company supported an online community portal, a dedicated source for Capcom fans; one of the site’s compilers made the trip to the show and supplied a wide selection of video and images. As an aside, they also caught images of players that dressed up in business suits to gain admittance to the event. AM-net: The first group to run images and report from the show floor, the hardcore amusement fan website based in Japan fixated on the latest titles revealed and on the timescale for their appearance in Japanese amusement venues. Arcadiamagazine: The website for the leading consumer amusement magazine in Japan was able to run its usual professional breakdown of what was on display at AOU, but also to gather player statistics on popularity; vital analysis of the mood of the players to the new games, and a vital tool for operators. Akihabara News: One of the leading Asian gadget, hi-fi, and technology web services covered the AOU show, and in particularly the new developments shown at the event using cutting-edge technology. Neo-Arcade: The European amusement fan site offered a detailed selection of information gathered from their AOU coverage with observations on the key factors and scans of many of the game flyers. Fighter Front Line: In reporting from AOU we have to remember the strength of the Japanese language amusement scene – a vast number of fan based Japanese sites covered the same images and video. This particular site collected them as a central hub, but there are many, many more out there. Amusement may have declined in America and Europe, but is definitely growing in Japan. Beyond those sites that focus on amusement fan-dom there are the Multi-Format sites. IGN: One of the few major consumer game sites to report from the show – though the coverage was tainted with a lot of consumer game bias and resentment (“…Both should make for wonderful Wii ports …”). IGN is a strong service, but it is not totally enamored with the amusement scene – the Japanese report team doing an excellent job in covering AOU – whereas their UK team ignored ATEI. 1UP: Not to be left out, the web site portal supporting the magazine Electronic Games Monthly ran a series of AOPU videos fixated on the launch of Street Fighter IV from Game Video’s web coverage. GameSpot UK: The editorially troubled multi-platform game portal reported in-depth on the launch of Street Fighter IV at AOU. There was a surprising amount of detail encouraged by the need to keep up with players’ demands for coverage – rather than what they would want to comment on. The site claimed to now be running an arcade section!!!? Kotaku: The multi-format consumer site has started to increase amusement coverage as a means to keep its fan base. The site went overboard covering Street Fighter and King of Fighter at the event – again charting important public opinion. SPONG: What seems to be the only coverage of amusement events in the public sector from a trade source -- the site was to run an appraisal of the AOU event written by TSR owners KWP. Though not breaking anything new, (the report did give lie to media’s claims for the death of amusement) coverage did throw up for derision the media claims over the death of amusement. And the Rest… The remainder of the consumer multi-format web media first ignored and then scrabbled to catch-up on AOU. The appearance of Street Fighter, King of Fighter, Tekken, and a new Virtual Fighter, all at one show warranted much more (if any) coverage than many of the sites were prepared to give. The decline in viewing of once popular game sites, following confessions of altered reviews, has forced them to reconsider how to capture ‘new’ audiences. The situation with AOU was not helped that one of the most popular product launches did nothing to mention the platform or date for its consumer release adding salt to the wound. The situation at AOU was not helped by the fact that one of the most eagerly awaited product launches had no mention of either the platform or the date for consumer release. In an interesting aside, it was unusual and a possible sign of the times that the professional web sites, rather than having their finger on the pulse of player wants, had to depend on traffic at their site’s forums to wake them up to what they should cover. How much of this blinkered attitude was adopted following the ‘spun’ reporting of the closure of amusement offices in Japan? Many consumer sites that had written off amusement had to suddenly ‘un-write’ it! The 'Blogosphere' is the area where real fans, players and observers can vent their opinion freely through special Blog pages; the truest source of the fans’ and players’ feelings without corporate pressure. Arcade Renaissance: Comprehensive coverage of major amusement events has become the norm at AR. The excellent site gives a clear and detailed overview of AOU'08 coverage, images and videos from the show with reports on games released. Akihabara Channel: Not to be confused with the News channel of the same name, the site is a personal view of the Asian gaming scene. The Blog contained an extremely detailed hands-on rundown on the fighting games at the AOU event, with some interesting observations on how the companies have changed their products to suite the players. WIRED Blog Network: Though the publication would do its utmost to avoid amusement – the Blog based on the magazine was full of coverage of some of the important appearances at AOU. Guardian: The Blog linked to the leading UK newspaper took time to cover the unique Konami machines shown at AOU and the attempts to take on the control of the Wii. The ‘forums’, sites that offer social network live interchange, and that also represents the largest part of amusement player loyalty is in the fighting game genre. Many of the forums called 2008 ‘The Year of the Fighter’ with a large number of premium brand brawlers receiving their latest outing. NeoGAF: Hardcore Street Fighter and King of Fighter fans broke the majority of the news and YouTubes on the event and started a lively debate about members on the coin-op scene. INSOMNIA: Detailed appraisal of the event as would be expected from the hardcore gamer’s forum. The debates followed a similar line, as a growing ground-swell to real amusement coverage was formed. Shoryuken: Deep interest in the KoF XII, the debate on whether the video of the new KoF could derail Capcom's aspirations saw heated discussion. SNK-Capcom Forum: The hardcore forum for the best of fighting from both companies (and others) nearly exploded with player comments on the video and image coverage from the show. It was sites such as this that forced a number of media sites to reverse opinions on arcade coverage. MMCafe: The land of forum banter for the hard core and casual gamer -- a proven track-record of charting players trends. The site crystallized the view that professional media coverage of any amusement new release was outdated and at worst blinkered. |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 April 2008 ) |
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