“Matt,” you might say after reading the video game section of the blog. “How is it you were able to find something interesting to link to day after day?”
The answer is simple, my hypothetical friend. With this daily rotation of gaming blogs and news sites, you too can be up to speed with the minute-by-minute happenings of the game industry.
Bored and at a computer? Refresh Kotaku. They’ve posted something, I promise.
Read everything on Kotaku and I promise that you’ll be not only entertained, but up to date on everything that’s important in video games, and quite a few things that aren’t important in video games.
As the big kahuna, Kotaku has legions of readers submitting news tips to the staff. To get the news any faster, you’d have to be reading hundreds of original sources yourself. For instance, do you really think you’d be reading The Tehran Times to find out that Iran is joining the ESRB?
There’s some filler in the piles of posts, though. Maybe someone out there really enjoys the staff letters, but it isn’t me.
The sheer volume of news might also make it difficult for a newbie to follow some of the narratives going on, like Konami’s lawsuit spree. Give it a week and you’ll be on top of everything, don’t worry.
DestructoidLike Avis, Destructoid may be #2, but it tries harder.
You’ll find a lot of overlap with Kotaku on Destructoid, one occasionally beating the other on a story by a mere matter of hours. You will, however, find the Destructiod versions generally sassier.
For the basic stuff like what’s coming out on Rock Band downloadable content this week, both sites will keep you covered. If you can’t stand to miss the smallest viral video, check both.
GamasutraWhile Destructoid and Kotaku are aimed at the video game consumer, you can get a different perspective from Gamasutra, aimed at the video game developer.
Here, you can find in-depth articles on game design tenets like the megatrends of game design or persuasive games. It may be over your head sometimes, especially when they get into the technical aspects, but it’s a fascinating view of the the process of making games.
The comments sections are worth reading too, with other developers occationally chiming in with extra insight.
Part of the same network of Gamasutra, GameSetWatch shares the art & design slant of its sister site. The essays on the site proper can sometimes be a tough slog to get through, but you’ll find gems in the link roundups that you won’t find anywhere else.
If Kotaku and Destructoid are the front-page headlines, GameSetWatch is the op-ed page.
The Independent Game SourceTIGSource completes our list with coverage of the underbelly of gaming, the independent scene. Indie games may not have the biggest budgets, but they’re the vital source that keeps gaming on its toes, as the recent hullabaloo over Braid shows.
This is where you’ll read about the weird, offbeat games coming out or in development, things like Dwarf Fortress or World of Goo. Along the way, you may just discover some low-budget fun for yourself.
TIGSource doesn’t update quite as frantically as some of the other sites listed, so you can check it every couple of days without much worry.
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