Setting up a video game journalistic website; any tips?

Hey. 

I'm starting up a video game blog / website. With a group of friends / associates. I assume the people of the somewhat hidden forum of N4G might be relatively well versed on video game journalism, and therefore it seemed like a viable place to ask for opinions, and ask if there's any advice you guys could give. 

Here's my website. vgfury.com the name and layout for now are set in stone. I can't afford a new domain so it's not changing, and frankly I'm quite happy with. Fury is quite obscure I guess but I had difficulty finding a name that wasn't taken, and I wanted one that fits into a nice, memorable acronym, and who's name is memorable itself. Whilst keeping the title of the site itself relatively short. 

In the past I've done similar projects but they've never really worked out due to lack of content / lack of writers. At the moment this is showing promise and I'm certain if it's something I pursue, rather than bailing on when / if things go a little downhill. It's something I can make a success. 

A questions that come to mind are things like, how many people would you think of as a good number of writers / editors for a site like this? At the moment we have 6-8 writers / editors. I'm going to be looking for people to manage PR also. Other tips on how to make an impact in the scene would be useful also, at present I email indy devs and ask for playable builds of their games to review  / preview. So far doing that seems relatively worthwhile. Is it worth contacting larger publishers too? I assumed not at present. I'm also curious as to methods a site such as this can gain exposure. Obviously N4G is one such channel but do you have any other suggestions? 

Either way, any advice would be appreciated.  

Thanks. 

Joe

Wordpress site, weak.

Bad name and there are too many gaming websites already, what differentiates yours from others?

You've seen 1UP and some other well established sites go down recently, no?

1-3 pages maximum regardless of the size of articles.

Podcasts.

N4G Adventure Part 1 - screw it

  My only advice other than daily content like news and media (which no one will really look at as it's filler content) is to really work those writers beyond the lure of a free game for their efforts and if they won't do it. You have to. No use having so many writers who don't do jack **** other than when there's a free game. Exclusive content is key, but not any old crap, try and do some decent editorials/previews. Do not approach any major publishers until you are at least established and look like you won't bail after a year. If you're gamers, you'll buy your own games anyway, so review those for now. Indie publishers are more flexible and as you say, if you pimp reviews on N4G you might get some minor exposure for those. It's not easy thinking outside of the box, but try and not be the same as the million other blog websites out there. Have a unique angle and it might pay off. Also don't rip off other websites content, and if you duplicate a cool story make sure you credit the source properly. BIG TIP: Longevity and Patience.

write what you feel in your heart. Because i avoided sensationalism, i became the senior editor of the now failed website http://wiredcontroller.com


my last article: http://wiredcontroller.com/reviews/infamous-2-review


more than anything remember the reason you started the site, and let that passion fuel your words, leadership and mission statement

UnSelf


write what you feel in your heart. Because i avoided sensationalism, i became the senior editor of the now failed website http://wiredcontroller.com


my last article: http://wiredcontroller.com/reviews/infamous-2-review


more than anything remember the reason you started the site, and let that passion fuel your words, leadership and mission statement

looks pretty good to me ressurect that sh!t !  I suggest having mobile app version. 

If you make a top 10 list, then make sure every entry has its own page.
People love the suspense.

Seriously though, no, don't do that.

INehalemEXI

UnSelf


write what you feel in your heart. Because i avoided sensationalism, i became the senior editor of the now failed website http://wiredcontroller.com


my last article: http://wiredcontroller.com/reviews/infamous-2-review


more than anything remember the reason you started the site, and let that passion fuel your words, leadership and mission statement

looks pretty good to me ressurect that sh!t !  I suggest having mobile app version. 

its outta my hands man :/. the guy who owns the site wants nothing to do wit it anymore. I asked him if i can take over it but he says hes using the ip for something hes planning. that was like 6 months ago, i would really love to take over the site though....

UnSelf

INehalemEXI

UnSelf


write what you feel in your heart. Because i avoided sensationalism, i became the senior editor of the now failed website http://wiredcontroller.com


my last article: http://wiredcontroller.com/reviews/infamous-2-review


more than anything remember the reason you started the site, and let that passion fuel your words, leadership and mission statement

looks pretty good to me ressurect that sh!t !  I suggest having mobile app version. 

its outta my hands man :/. the guy who owns the site wants nothing to do wit it anymore. I asked him if i can take over it but he says hes using the ip for something hes planning. that was like 6 months ago, i would really love to take over the site though....

Interesting 

u got ps3 mang?

add me: UnselfHomicide

my FL is laced with anonymity 

TheMART at Xboxkings


Wordpress site, weak.

Bad name and there are too many gaming websites already, what differentiates yours from others?

You've seen 1UP and some other well established sites go down recently, no?

This isn't for money, it's passion for journalism and video games. 1up didn't go down, it merged with IGN. There's no reason for these sites to fail unless they're a large commercial entity. I'm not expecting this to pay my bills. It's my hobby, but of course I still want that to be successful.

I feel the name is memorable. It's not bad. It's incredibly difficult to get a half-decent 6 character name, and this fits a very convenient / memorable acronym. It was crafted with SEO best practice in mind. 


--- 

I'm hoping what differentiates it will be it's clean / sleek presentation (something I want to improve with time). Similar publications like Edge, but much more impartial. That is my intent. It's not particularly original, no but what journalistic site is? Only the obscure like the escapist, really. 

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with wordpress. Websites like the BBC, and even developers like Irrational use wordpress for their websites. What there is something wrong with, is the generic wordpress layout - which my blog could do with getting rid of. Once things get going I'll look into making such adjustments in order to give the website more personality and functionality. 

Make sure to keep a steady flow of content and keep in contact with the staff. I used to write for consolxp.com and that slowly fall apart as more (incompetent) writers were brought in and people who actually wrote well stopped contacting each other and got sick of the drivel the new guys wrote. Needless to say, no one updates it anymore and the owner won't answer my emails about possibly reviving it. So just make sure your writers can actually form a coherent sentence and are willing to do more than one review and one article a month. Also, try not to do generic tops 10s and "Why I think...." articles.

Avoid doing something like this . . .

vgfury.com

ChronoJoe


Hey. 

I'm starting up a video game blog / website. With a group of friends / associates. I assume the people of the somewhat hidden forum of N4G might be relatively well versed on video game journalism, and therefore it seemed like a viable place to ask for opinions, and ask if there's any advice you guys could give. 

Here's my website. vgfury.com the name and layout for now are set in stone. I can't afford a new domain so it's not changing, and frankly I'm quite happy with. Fury is quite obscure I guess but I had difficulty finding a name that wasn't taken, and I wanted one that fits into a nice, memorable acronym, and who's name is memorable itself. Whilst keeping the title of the site itself relatively short. 

In the past I've done similar projects but they've never really worked out due to lack of content / lack of writers. At the moment this is showing promise and I'm certain if it's something I pursue, rather than bailing on when / if things go a little downhill. It's something I can make a success. 

A questions that come to mind are things like, how many people would you think of as a good number of writers / editors for a site like this? At the moment we have 6-8 writers / editors. I'm going to be looking for people to manage PR also. Other tips on how to make an impact in the scene would be useful also, at present I email indy devs and ask for playable builds of their games to review  / preview. So far doing that seems relatively worthwhile. Is it worth contacting larger publishers too? I assumed not at present. I'm also curious as to methods a site such as this can gain exposure. Obviously N4G is one such channel but do you have any other suggestions? 

Either way, any advice would be appreciated.  

Thanks. 

Joe

Hello Chrono Joe, I wish you good luck with your website. I myself had one few years now, It did well enough, Considering I was fumbling around in the dark learning new things. But that said... In the first year my site had received 2 million hits total... Which is not huge but in 2004 I would have never thought a site I made would receive that amount of hits...


 I had a lot of help to My wife is an english major so she checked everything for me... and I had 5 other volunteers that helped out with writing...
Once the site was established for a month or so ... I sent out at the time Snail Mail with information to our website our goals and so forth and contact information...

It went well before having to find news and so forth was a pain... after those letters... I gained accesses to a lot of developers and publishers PR sites....

News,Information, Movies, Screen shots, promotions and so forth all came to me it was great... was able to get 6 to 8 stories up every day just from that...

I received free copies of games to review... Nintendo PR was one of the better ones... all their games were loans but they shipped games back and forth too me so I could play them and review them.  They even shipped me a GameCube that was region locked to Japan so I could play the japanese release of wind waker almost 6 months before it came to NA...

It was a lot of fun....

I hope you have fun as well.  It is awesome to watch it grow and see what it be comes....


As for me... I had to stop my site.. not long after...I had become ill to the point where I was needing help or in and out of the hospital... 


That said... Cheers and good luck... nice clean and sleek looking site...

Here's my tip: Don't do it. Games Journalism is oversaturated, and almost every kid has a "games website" today, so unless you have an amazing idea for a website that sets it apart from other websites in an obvious and easy to convey manner you're wasting your time and money.

"I dont need to read Sonys technical crap, its for the fanboys who believe 6 year old tech is still some super computer lol. "


^^
Front-pagers are funny

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