BBC Gamesblog – What the hell? The BBC has just created a games weblog. Are they trying to make minisites on every subject? In any case, as much as I like the BBC, they will have to be crushed by GamesFilter when it comes online (probably at the beginning of March, to coincide with the launch of FreeFilter 0.2).
Adrian Hon
mssv 
As far as I can tell, the BBC Gamesblog and your proposed GamesFilter are on two separate topics. BBC Gamesblog tweaks my nipples for two reasons: firstly, they refer to games in general when they’re actually concentrating only on computer and video games; secondly, no RSS feed. Grr. You mention on Sunday in Middling that GamesFilter is set to regard “massively multiplayer online games”. I can’t really see significant overlap between the two – or, rather, I doubt that the BBC will be enlightened enough to try to bridge the gap.
Please might I try to sell you on an alternate vision? I have long wanted a good across-the-board gaming esoterica weblog: not just computer games, not just board games, not just RPGs, not just immersive games, but the important, interesting unusual things from all the game forms and new game forms which cross over between what already exists. Ideally I’d like ten sample consecutive articles to be as varied as:
* titbits from Kasparov vs. Deep Blue at chess
* mooted billion-dollar game show
* world rock-paper-scissors championship
* Blast Theory’s latest performance art game project
* the by-now-famous Rez + Trance Vibrator
* Chinese RPG translated into English to tremendous critical acclaim (hypothetical)
* new miniatures wargame based on current affairs in Iraq (hypothetical)
* radically new development in laser game technology (hypothetical)
* parlour game huge hit in NY society circles
* team behind the Beast revealed and hired for next generation game
I’m thinking of something a bit like Greg Costikyan’s weblog, only even more broadly based still – more esoteric, more unusual.
Does this sound interesting to you? Would you read this? Would you contribute to this? Would you be interested in helping out on this? 🙂
Hmm, I think you might be right. I’ve been worried that there just isn’t enough news to fill a massively multiplayer online weblog. Seeing as FreeFilter allows for posts to be made in categories, I don’t see why there couldn’t be categories such as:
Game Theory
Computer Games
Non-computer games
Massively Multiplayer Games (on and offline)
Other
or something like that. I’d like to read about all the more original game developments; not particularly interested in game reviews or anything like that (Avault and Gamespot do that well enough). Have to strike a good balance for the categories though; wouldn’t want more than five or six.