[gekko]

He seemed to think all gaming journalists are teenage boys trying to score an early copy of their favorite game. While far too many are, questioning the journalistic integrity of someone who isn't really a journalist is pretty foolish. Fan sites are just that, fan sites. The point of getting pre-release games is so they can deliver a review in a timely manner. Corporations can afford to spend a few hundred bucks a month to buy the games (or simply rent them) if they were not provided.

While a fan site will do anything to get on a PR persons "list", once again, corporations shouldn't be in the same conversation. Could EA decide to pull advertising off IGN? Absolutely. Will they? No. IGN is the biggest gaming site on the internet, to not advertise on it would be foolish. Publishers choosing to blacklist a site like that would hurt them, so there's no reason the journalists can't stand their ground.

I think one of the biggest issues with gaming journalism is the lack of formal training. Too many people don't actually have a journalism degree and never really understand what their responsibility is to society (in general, videos games not so much).