NNow Investigates: The Year of the Portables According to EGM

The State of the Portables According to EGM

A little over a month ago Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine published their February 2005 issue (#188) with the cover story “Year of the Portables”. “Year of the Portables” seemed to be a simple unbiased overview of the Sony PSP, Nintendo DS, Gizmondo, N-Gage, Tapwave, and Game Boy Advance portable game systems and some of their key upcoming software titles. But upon closer inspection one finds subtle instances of unfair journalism that begs the question: Has Electronic Gaming Monthly decided to join the ever growing ranks of the media outlets set on downplaying the Nintendo DS and heralding the Sony PSP?

Surely this is something the open-minded consumer has a right to know.

Click on the above image for an enlarged version.

One needs not even to open the magazine to discover the first humorous observation. On the cover of the magazine lies the glorious Sony PSP as the centerpiece. The reader gets a sense of wonderment while gazing at the grand detailed display of Sony’s handheld. The more watchful observer will then see what appears to be a pile of partially visible portables serving as a background for the cover. On the right side of the pile many informed gamers can make out what appears to be a portion of the bottom half of the Nintendo DS. For a brand new hot-selling system it sure gets a lot of love.

Now let’s step into the shoes of an average undecided gamer looking at the EGM magazine expecting an honest and fair presentation. The cover automatically tells him/her that the Sony PSP is the leading system because of its clear dominating placement over the other portables. The other portables look more like an afterthought. Anyone who knows a thing or two about advertising techniques could recognize the subconscious effect on consumers that this kind of product presentation and placement has. It’s the same concept automotive manufacturers use in commercials where their truck or car is shown driving ahead of their competitors’ vehicles. It’s number one.

Another element of the cover that influences the uninformed gamer is the screenshots EGM has in each portable’s screen. The PSP displays a screen from Metal Gear Ac!d, one of the best looking 3D games launching on the PSP. The gamer sees a good-looking 3D stealth action game (one can’t tell from the screen that it’s a card game) on the PSP. Meanwhile, in the DS corner one finds a screenshot of Castlevania, one of the few fully 2D GBA-like side-scrollers on the DS. Thus the average uninformed casual gamer can compare the two systems and assume that PSP has 3D graphics while the DS has GBA-esque 2D graphics.

Review of the thought process of the average gamer upon viewing the cover:

• Average Joe browses through newsstand and sees EGM.

• Notices the PSP presented as the main attraction with what looks like a gorgeous 3D action game.

• Notes the pile of portables in the background with an afterthought fade effect.

• Sees the Nintendo DS to the side with a 2D side-scroller game.

• Makes a decision subconsciously that the unreleased Sony PSP is both the leading console and the console for great looking 3D games, while the DS appears to be second fiddle and has archaic 2D graphics.
  

Which system is the gamer going to want?

Sony could not have designed a better cover themselves.

While exploring the contents of the magazine, one will quickly discover that whenever the portable game systems are mentioned the magazine insists on listing the Sony PSP first—another subtle psychological message of leadership.

In the opening of “Year of the Portable” readers are reminded that portable gaming is “growing up” and that Nintendo’s fifteen year dominance in the market “may finally be coming to an end.” The article goes on to say that it will outline the hottest titles on the various portables.

The Sony PSP Section

EGM kicks things off by declaring the Sony PSP “the clear favorite in the brewing portable brouhaha.” This is a laughable claim. Clear favorite? Says who? It certainly cannot be the gamers because the PSP has not even been released yet in the US and is behind the DS in overall sales in Japan. It must be the editors themselves. Certainly the editors are entitled to express their own personal preference in the opinion articles, but to declare to trusting gamers around the world in a report that the Sony PSP is the clear favorite is both inaccurate and misleading, and serves as a disservice to gamers.

The article goes on to describe the PSP as “aimed at the older, savvy PS2-owning crowd,” and how it’s not competing with “Nintendo’s kid-friendly Game Boy brand.”

Basically the magazine is implying that if readers want to be cool and savvy they will want to buy a PSP instead of Nintendo’s “kiddy” Game Boy Advance. The funny thing is, the one demographic that is renowned for buying products that they feel will make them seem “older and savvy” is the 12-18 children crowd—not surprisingly EGM magazine’s largest segment of readers.

Finally, the article makes an attempt to seem objective and fair by mentioning a negative aspect: “The PSP is a gamble: Sony’s reportedly taking a bath on the high-end hardware by pricing it below $200.”

EGM makes this statement as if the average gamer really cared or took into consideration the possibility that the company selling a system may take a loss by selling it when making a purchasing decision. Furthermore, EGM slips in another positive aspect in the midst of all of this by implying that gamers will be getting a great deal from Sony because the “high end” hardware would cost under $200 - considerably less than it would cost to produce the machine.

Another inaccuracy in the EGM feature was the price itself. EGM reported that the PSP would be priced below $200. While no one in the media knew for sure what the price would be at the time, it is interesting to note that Nintendo Now’s own analyst Observer was much more accurate when he mentioned the PSP’s pricing in a feature published several months prior to the EGM report. The Observer’s article stated:

“Well, the ‘Value Pack Bundle’ that includes Earphones, Carry Case, and the Memory Stick will cost an estimated $249 US.”

The DS Section

EGM opens the DS section with a negative statement: “[The DS] might not be able to push out the nearly PlayStation 2-quality visuals of Sony’s PSP, but it offers unique functionality that puts it in a bizarre, innovative class of its own.”

The grand introduction of the DS ends up simply being a reminder to gamers that the DS’s graphics are not as good as the PSP’s, but the bright side is…it’s bizarre! That’s right, based off of EGM’s fair report so far the PSP is the clear favorite, savvy portable and the DS is, well, bizarre.

And while the PSP section skimped on the objective questioning at the end and kept the positives going, the DS section fails to disappoint: “The Nintendo DS assuredly feels new and different but it remains to be seen whether gamers will warm up to its distinctive personality…”

That’s funny, because the world has already seen approximately three million DS’s purchased worldwide as of the end of 2004. It sounds like gamers have already done plenty of warming up to the DS this winter.

The unfair reporting unfortunately seeps into the games outlined in the DS section as well. While the article promised to “look at the hottest upcoming titles” for the portables, the DS lineup displayed oddly omits many promising upcoming hits and includes a few games that seem to be the last games EGM’s target demographic would want to buy. Games like Pokemon Dash, Super Princess Peach, Frogger, and Atari Classics made it on the list while better looking, true sure-fire hits that highlight the DS’s capabilities such as Rayman DS, Metroid Prime: Hunters, Dynasty Warriors, Another Code, and Super Mario Bros. DS were strangely absent. Just the simple ridiculous decision to place Super Princess Peach as one of the hottest upcoming DS titles instead of Super Mario Bros. DS sounds like an intentionally misleading act.

Final Word

Regardless of what the reasoning is behind the various inaccuracies and unfair portions of the issue, it all boils down to the fact that this type of journalism is very damaging to a product. The frightening thing is that this latest instance of unfair journalism in EGM is but a mere taste of what the majority of gaming magazines are feeding trusting gamers on a regular basis. There is, of course, no law that prohibits the blatant bias and bad journalism that runs rampant in today’s mainstream gaming media. But fortunately, where the law leaves off common sense often picks up for the knowledgeable consumer. Common sense clearly dictates that gamers looking for a media outlet that gives the DS a fair shake will not find one in magazines such as EGM.

For now, gamers looking for the truth about Nintendo products can count on dependable and objective online media outlets such as Nintendo Now, Planet GameCube, and N-Sider. Obviously you won’t find one in the magazine world…yet.