FAST-FIN-1 Finnish Institutions Research Papers

Writing Games
A Study of Finnish Video Game Journalism
Tuukka Taarluoto, Fall 2007 (US)
A FAST-FIN-1 (TRENAK1) Finnish Institutions Research Paper
FAST Area Studies Program
Department of Translation Studies, University of Tampere

In recent decades, video games1 have grown from the tinkerings of a small group of bedroom coders into a worldwide, multi-billion-dollar industry. Gaming has been transformed from a small-time kids' pastime into a mainstream form of entertainment for all ages. And as with any industry or hobby, people not only want to play video games, they also want to read about them. This is where video game journalism comes in.

But what exactly is video game journalism? What are its defining aspects? These are among the questions this paper will address. Finnish video game journalism in particular will be examined. How has the industry developed in Finland? Does Finnish video game journalism have any notable differences compared to English video game journalism, from which it originally developed?

The Current State of the Video Game Industry

But first a brief look at the video game industry of today. In 2006, worldwide video game software sales totaled USD 31.6 billion, a 14.3% increase from 2005 (MSN). By comparison, the film industry's worldwide box-office sales only amounted to USD 25.82 billion in 2006 (MPA), while the worldwide music industry only managed sales of USD 11.5 billion (RIIA). Forecasts say that by 2011 the worldwide video game industry will be worth USD 48.9 billion (MSN). In Finland the video game market was worth EUR 67.5 million in 2006, with over 2 million games sold (FIGMA). With these kinds of figures there can be no doubt that video games have established a permanent place in modern entertainment culture.

Currently the video game industry is at the beginning of the seventh generation of video game consoles. Three consoles, namely the Nintendo Wii, the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Sony Playstation 3 are competing for dominance, with Nintendo's latest console currently leading in worldwide hardware sales (Sanchanta). Previous generation consoles, especially Sony's Playstation 2, are also still selling well. Meanwhile the hand held console market is split between the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP (Playstation Portable), with the DS currently leading by a significant margin. The PC also still retains its position as a popular platform for gaming, especially in the field of network games.
The first-issue cover of Computer & Video Games. (click to enlarge)
Image source: gamesetwatch.com.

The Emergence of Video Game Journalism

Although video games have existed in one form or another since the 1960s, printed video game journalism is much more recent. Until the 1980s computer and video games were mainly covered in general computer magazines. However, in 1981 the industry had grown and become a big enough commercial success to warrant the publication of the first monthly commercial magazine devoted entirely to electronic gaming. The magazine in question was the UK-based Computer & Video Games, which ran from 1981 to 2004. Only two weeks after the publication of the first issue of CVG came the publication of Electronic Games Monthly, the first US-based video game magazine. Since then the industry has seen the rise and fall of countless magazines that have dealt with all aspect of the video game industry.

Computer & Video Games was a general video game magazine; in other words it covered all available gaming formats, including arcade games2. However as the industry continued to grow, new magazines started to focus on specific formats and fields. Today the spectrum of video game magazines is extremely varied, although not nearly as varied as it was in the 1990s. Magazines like the US Game Informer and the Finnish Pelit are examples of general gaming magazines; both cover all current video game formats. Other magazines, like the Official UK Playstation Magazine or the American PC Gamer, focus exclusively on one gaming format, or all formats of a specific manufacturer.

However, "the era of videogames magazines' dominance as the main source of information for consumers is well over," says Patrick Garratt, business development manager for Eurogamer Network (Garratt). Today the most important medium for video game journalism is, of course, the internet. Most surviving printed magazines have adapted by offering extensive web sites with additional articles, video clips and discussion forums.

But despite these attempts to survive in a changing market, video game magazine sales continue to dwindle worldwide. At the same time big commercial gaming web sites continue to grow in popularity, and have become the main source of video game journalism. The internet is also an effective medium for more specialized game journalism; web sites can cater to fans of a specific game genre, for example. Numerous blogs and fan-sites also offer an alternative to commercial web sites. Readers have embraced web-based video game journalism at a seemingly fast pace, which is not that surprising considering the fact that gaming is a very technologically-oriented hobby.

The Typical Video Game Magazine

While the formats and games covered can vary tremendously between publications, the actual structure of most video game magazines has remained quite constant over the years. Typically a video game magazine will have a fairly small editorial staff, with most of the writing being done by contributing writers on a freelance basis. Magazines get most of their material, including copies of up-and-coming video games, directly from game publishers. Advertising is the main source of financing, although some magazines are also, at least partly, funded by console manufacturers.

The three main parts of a video game magazine are news, previews and reviews, which form a linear cycle. In the news section, magazines will generally report on announcements made by publishers about new games in production, among other industry developments. During a game's development magazines will write previews about the game, and after the game is ready for release, publishers send out review copies to magazines, which rate the game in a review. Various special articles about industry events and phenomena, hardware tests, sales charts and release schedules are also common video game magazine content.

Previews usually form the biggest part of a video game magazine, and as mentioned deal with new games in development. Previews are generally based on press releases by publishers, developer interviews or press trips. A typical preview will describe the details and features of a new game, and also feature numerous screenshots and concept artwork. It's not unusual, especially for high-profile games, to get multiple previews in the same magazine throughout the game's development. Previews are usually positive in nature, and rarely point out any flaws (Hall).

Reviews are generally the second most important part of a video game magazine, although depending on the magazine they can also be the most important one. Publishers usually send out special review copies of games to magazines before the game in question is released, and magazines then review the game based on various criteria. Games are usually rated on a scale of 0-100, which has traditionally been the unofficial industry standard. However, nowadays many other grading scales are also used. Positive ratings are often utilized in advertising, or even in a game's packaging (McKenna).

Many magazines, especially ones devoted to a single format, often also have a cover disc, nowadays usually a DVD, bundled with the magazine. Cover discs usually contain videos and playable game demos of various new games. Nowadays such "freebies" have started to lose significance, however, since most video game trailers and other videos are readily available over the internet. All the seventh generation consoles also feature their own online stores and communities, which offer numerous freely downloadable video clips and demos.

The Typical Video Game Web Site

A typical journalistic gaming web site is more difficult to define than a typical magazine. While most magazines tend to be fairly similar, the internet is filled with hundreds of different web sites, both commercial and non-profit, dedicated to all the various aspects of gaming. It would simply be impossible to study the whole range of video game journalism available on the internet. Therefore the following section will deal only with the biggest commercial gaming web sites of today, which actually are all rather similar.

The two most popular gaming web sites today are ign.com and gamespot.com (Alexa). Both sites are filled with enormous amounts of information on all gaming formats and games, including news, previews, reviews, special articles, game guides and video clips. Both also have a similar layout; content is split between sections devoted to each format, and further into smaller sections for news, previews, reviews and so on. Both of these sites are based in the US, although gamespot also offers a UK version of its site.

In practice, commercial gaming web sites operate in much the same manner as magazines do. Just as with printed magazines, the editorial staff of most sites is fairly small, and most of the content is written by contributing freelance writers. The actual articles and writing are also much the same; the news-previews-reviews cycle forms the core of most sites, with special articles, interviews, and all the other types of articles familiar from magazines offering additional content. Like magazines, gaming web sites are mainly funded through advertising. Almost all content is free for all users, although most web sites also offer a paid subscription service with additional benefits, such as HD-quality video clips and advertisement-free browsing.

The advantages of the internet over printed magazines are, of course, the same in video game journalism as they are in any other field. News about industry developments in particular can be reported on as it happens, and with greater detail, without the constraints of specific page counts. Articles can be integrated with expansive, high-resolution screenshot and game artwork galleries, as well as video clips and other media. Previews and reviews can also be better coordinated to coincide with a game's release schedule. A possible downside is the enormous flood of information; it can take days to plow through all the articles, screenshots and videos provided for a single game.

Web communities are also a major part of most commercial gaming web sites. Users can often comment directly on specific articles, as well as use expansive discussion forums to express their own opinions. Many sites also offer users the chance to contribute to the site themselves in the form of writing their own reviews or game guides. Although the size of these web communities is often on a whole different scale, they can be viewed simply as an evolution (or "devolution," as some might argue) of the "letters from readers" pages, which formed an important part of many video game magazines in the past.

The Challenge of Journalistic Integrity in Video Game Journalism

The biggest challenges facing video game journalism are the same as with any other form of journalism, namely maintaining journalistic integrity. "The biggest problem facing this industry...is the lack of original thought. We're far too obsessed with catering to our PR contacts instead of supplying our readers...with refreshing editorial," says Chris Buffa from GameDaily.com (Opinion: Why). Many magazines and web sites simply relay information from game publishers' PR departments to the readers, and as a result are nothing more than elaborate commercials. It is also difficult to imagine how "official" magazines, like the Official UK Playstation Magazine, can be objective in their views when their financing and success as a magazine is directly linked to the success of the manufacturer's gaming consoles, which they exclusively cover. As Luke Smith, editor of the gaming web site 1up.com puts it: "more often than not it seems like we're looked at as just another part of a PR plan" (in Zenke).

In his article "The Ethics of Video Game Journalism," Justin Hall sheds some light on the inner workings of the industry. "Game publications and Web sites still mostly employ low-paid hobbyists who are easy targets of lavish marketing events that encourage inappropriate ties between game makers and game critics," he says. Critics are often treated to lavish press parties and trips by game publishers, and regularly receive various free game-related merchandise. Publishers also often make magazines and web sites compete with each other for exclusive coverage on certain high profile games. The cost of such exclusive coverage is often no less than journalistic integrity; the publisher dictates what can and cannot be written about the game in question, how many pages the game must get in the magazine or web site, and which screenshots (which are often "photoshopped" to look better than a game actually looks) can be used. Even review scores are sometimes decided beforehand between publishers and critics.

A perfect example of how publishers attempt to bribe critics is the September 2007 release of Halo 3, the third part of the acclaimed Halo trilogy for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console. Although the game, being the third installment of a phenomenally successful video game series and the Xbox 360's flagship title for 2007, would have undoubtedly been a huge success in any case, Microsoft nevertheless sent out press kits to various publications and critics around the world. In this case the kit contained over USD 800 worth of Halo 3 themed merchandise, including an Xbox 360 Elite console, a special limited edition copy of the game, extra controllers and a headset for voice communication over the internet. Although typical press kits are much less extravagant, this example clearly demonstrates to what lengths video game companies are willing to go to boost sales nowadays (Takahashi).

The role of the video game journalist is also a topic of some debate. The popular notion is that "the main purpose of a games journalist in life is, when you boil it all down, to tell people what games they should buy and play and why" (McKenna). Similar opinions can usually be found in almost every video game magazine and web site. However, Niko Nirvi, games editor in the Finnish Pelit magazine, takes a different approach. According to Nirvi, the games journalist is supposed to be on the side of the developers, not the gaming public or publishers. He also criticizes the typical 0-100 reviewing scale, which often makes reviews look like scientific analysis. Nirvi maintains that all review scores are ultimately just the opinions of a single reviewer (Arvostelua).

Video Game Journalism in Finland

Just as in the UK and the US, video game journalism in Finland was originally confined to small sections inside general computer magazines. The earliest Finnish computer game reviews appeared in the computer magazine Mikrobitti, first published in 1984 by Helsinki Media Company. Games were also featured prominently in C=lehti, a computer magazine established in 1987, and devoted entirely to the then-popular Commodore brand of computers, namely the Commodore 64, and later the Amiga 500.

From 1987 on, the game reviews of both Mikrobitti and C=lehti were annually collected in Tietokonepelien vuosikirja ("Computer games yearbook"). The magazine featured all the video game reviews published in the two magazines during the previous year, as well as completely new material, including various articles and columns about the computer games industry. Game walkthroughs and cheats3 also formed a big part of the magazine. In 1992, Tietokonepelien vuosikirja and C=lehti were merged to create Pelit, the first Finnish magazine devoted entirely to computer games (Linden).

However, Pelit was not the first regular gaming magazine to be published in Finnish. From 1990 to 1994 the Finnish comic publisher Semic published Nintendo-lehti ("Nintendo Magazine"), Nintendo's official magazine in Finland. The magazine was later merged with Super Power, an independent magazine which had originally covered only Nintendo consoles, but was later expanded to other manufacturers as well. However, it should be noted that although these two magazines were published in Finnish, all content was taken and translated from Nintendo-magazinet, Nintendo's official Nordic magazine, and from the Swedish version of Super Power. Neither Nintendo-lehti nor Super Power had any Finnish writers, hence they cannot really be considered Finnish video game magazines. Similar attempts at publishing popular English magazines, like Gamesmaster and The Official UK Playstation Magazine, translated into Finnish have also been made over the years, with little or no success.

In Finland most magazines can be bought from regular supermarkets and other stores, or by subscription. Usually subscribing to a magazine offers some special benefits; in the case of computer and video game magazines these usually include access to online archives of past issues and other extra material. Subscribing is, of course, also cheaper than buying issues individually.

Pelit: the First Finnish Gaming Magazine

The December 2007 cover of Pelit.
Image source: pelit.fi.

By 1992 the popularity of Commodore's computers, especially the Amiga brand, had begun to decrease significantly. Because of this, Helsinki Media decided to merge C=lehti with Tietokonepelien vuosikirja, and as a result the staff of Tietokonepelien vuosikirja created Pelit ("Games"), Finland's first monthly magazine devoted entirely to computer games. The magazine was an immediate success, and has been best selling and biggest video game publication in Finland ever since. The magazine was originally published 10 times a year, but the number has since been increased to 11. Nowadays the magazine can also be bought from the Pelit web site in purely digital form.

Although today the situation has begun to change, video games have traditionally been thought of as a very male-dominant hobby. Therefore it is very unusual that of the three founders of Pelit, namely editor-in-chief Tuija Linden, sub-editor Sari Alho and games-editor Niko Nirvi, two (Linden and Alho) were women. Linden maintains that being perhaps the only female video game magazine editor in the world has proved to be an advantage in the industry; in expos and other industry events, she naturally stands out and is remembered by publishers (Linden 46).

Initially Pelit covered all the prevalent computer formats of the time, namely the PC, the Commodore Amiga, the Atari ST, and the Commodore 64. These formats were also mentioned on the cover. However by 1996 the other computer formats had almost completely died out, leaving the PC as the dominant "brand" of computers in the world. Following these developments Pelit became a purely PC-focused gaming magazine. Although Tietokonepelien vuosikirja had also featured console game reviews from Mikrobitti, video game consoles were not initially featured in Pelit at all, save for occasional articles and columns that sometimes touched upon the subject.

In June 1998, Helsinki Media introduced Peliasema ("Playstation"), the first Finnish console gaming magazine, and sister-magazine to Pelit. As the name implies, the magazine mainly covered Sony's Playstation console, which had become the worldwide leading brand in the console gaming market, and later its successor, the Playstation 2. Stylistically very similar to its parent magazine, Peliasema also shared many of its writers and reporters with Pelit, including Tuija Linden, who was the editor for both magazines.

In October 2001, as a result of the growth of the console gaming market and the weakening of the PC as a gaming platform, Pelit and Peliasema were merged, creating the Pelit known today. From then on Pelit has been a general gaming magazine, focusing on all the leading consoles as well as the PC. However, Pelit is still the only Finnish gaming magazine that handles PC games. Currently the magazine has a monthly circulation of 34,662, with 155,000 readers (Sanoma).

Pelit was originally modeled after British video game magazines, which were the most influential source of video game journalism in Europe4 during the 1980s and 1990s. However, right from the start Pelit had some notable differences compared to English magazines. One was the introduction of personal columns, which have since started to appear in British and American magazines as well. Another was, and still is, the distinct lack of huge multi-page previews; the previews in Pelit are typically between one half and one page long, with some more significant titles sometimes getting two pages. The biggest reason for this is that the staff believes huge previews, exclusive interviews with developers and the like are fundamentally just useless extra material with no real journalistic value (Nirvi, Paatosta).

Reviews are equally short (by page count at least); most games get one or two page reviews, although some bigger titles, like the recent Xbox 360 game Halo 3, get up to four pages (Honkala). Pelit scores games on a range of 0-100, but the whole range is not used; a score of 70 is considered average. The reason for this, according to Nirvi, is the Finnish school system5 (Arvostelua).

The staff of Pelit pride themselves on the fact that they will not accept any kinds of deals with publishers that would restrict or dictate their writing. The content of each magazine, especially review scores, is secret until the magazine goes to press (Nirvi, Paatosta).

Pelaaja: the Contender

The cover of Pelaaja, issue 63, December 2007.
Image source: pelaajalehti.com.

For ten years Pelit remained the only serious Finnish gaming magazine. However, in the fall of 2002 the Finnish magazine publisher H-Town introduced a new gaming magazine titled Pelaaja ("Gamer") to the Finnish market. Before founding the magazine, editor Thomas Puha and reporter Miika Huttunen had hosted gaming shows on the short-lived independent cable TV channel MoonTV (Pelaaja-lehti).

Pelaaja started out as a general gaming magazine, covering all console and computer games just like Pelit. However, in 2005 the magazine was split in two; Pelaaja became a pure console magazine, while a new magazine, titled PCPelaaja, focused on computer gaming. However in 2007 PCPelaaja was discontinued for lack of success, and Pelaaja remained devoted entirely to consoles (Pelaaja-lehti). The magazine is currently published 12 times a year. H-Town does not reveal the circulation of the magazine, but states that each issue has a print of 10,000-12,000 copies (Media).

Compared to Pelit, Pelaaja is much closer to traditional British gaming magazines; the influence of Edge in particular is evident in both overall structure and articles. The focus is clearly on previews, although the scale is somewhat smaller than the ten page spectacles often seen in English magazines, especially "official" ones. Reviews are generally shorter (by word count) than in Pelit, and the emphasis is more on screenshots and the visual aesthetics of the magazine rather than in the text. Pelaaja originally scored games on a scale of 0-5, with half points also used. The scale was later changed to 0-10 to eliminate the use of half points.

Tilt: the Electronic Alternative

Dating back to 1997, Tilt.tv (originally spelled without the ".tv"), produced by Intervisio OY, is currently Finland's only regular TV show dedicated to gaming, and also the most popular gaming web site in Finland (TNS). The 25 minute weekly show, shown on the Finnish commercial MTV3 and SubTV channels6, is composed mainly of reviews, although gaming news and previews are also shown. The show is currently hosted by Kristiina Wheeler, although the show is perhaps better known for its original host Jaana Pelkonen, who also co-hosted the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki.

Although originally not much more than a review archive for the tv show, the Tilt.tv web site has grown to become the most popular gaming web site in Finland (TNS). This is mainly thanks to the comprehensive discussion forums, which have hundreds of active users. The web site also features videos, a mobile phone game shop, and preview and review archives for the tv show. In contrast to big international gaming web sites, the Tilt web site is clearly aimed at a much younger audience.

Despite their popularity, the Tilt.tv show and web site have very little journalistic value. Both previews and reviews are extremely short compared to similar English sites, and much of the show consists of commercials promoting the web site. Special articles and other content are also practically non-existent. As a whole the show and web site are also extremely commercial; many parts of the web site are only available to paying subscribers, with registration being done by text message, which costs EUR 0.95. Discussion forum users are also encouraged to use Tilt's own forum avatars, which cost actual money to customize. Although these fees could be viewed as innovative ways to finance the site, they offer no real value to customers, unlike international sites like gamespot and ign do with their subscription services.

In 2004, Yhtyneet Kuvalehdet OY also started to publish a video game magazine under the same Tilt brand, simply titled Tilt-lehti. However, the magazine failed to attract sufficient readership, and was discontinued the following year. Intervisio OY has since also established a chain of Tilt video game stores in Finland.

Other Notable Gaming Publications in Finland

With over 20,000 visitors weekly (TNS), Konsolifin.net is Finland's second biggest gaming web site. Originally established in 2000 as PS2Fin, the site originally only covered Sony's Playstation 2 console, but has since grown to encompass all current consoles. The site features news, previews and reviews, as well as release calendars, blogs and an active discussion forum. What sets Konsolifin apart from Tilt and other gaming sites is the fact that it is a non-profit site; all content is created by volunteers, and users are also welcome to write reviews and other articles. Because of this Konsolifin is a fairly small-scale site, but still a significant contender in the fairly small Finnish market.

In Finland the growing popularity of video games can also be seen in the fact that nowadays video game reviews are not confined only to video game and computer magazines. More mainstream magazines, for example the popular weekly gossip magazine 7 päivää ("7 days"), have also begun to regularly feature short video game reviews. Even the biggest Finnish newspapers like Helsingin Sanomat and Etelä Suomen Sanomat have started to publish occasional video game articles and reviews.

In addition to Finnish video game magazines, most supermarkets, even those in smaller municipalities, stock many English language video game magazines as well. The UK versions of "official" magazines for all current formats are readily available, in addition to general gaming magazines like Edge. However, these magazines can take anywhere from two weeks up to a month to reach Finnish shelves after their initial publications, which inevitably makes their Finnish counterparts appear more up-to-date by comparison.

A Comparison of Finnish and English Video Game Journalism

As mentioned before, British video game journalism has traditionally been the most influential form of video game journalism in Europe, and also the biggest influence on the birth of Finnish video game journalism. Today, as a result of globalization and the internet, American games journalism has also opened its doors to the European audience. But are there any real differences between modern Finnish video game journalism and its English counterparts? The simple answer is "yes." The following section reveals some of the most notable differences, and the possible reasons for them.

One rather obvious difference is scale. English general gaming magazines like Edge, GamesMaster and Game Informer are much bigger than their Finnish counterparts Pelit and Pelaaja. The size difference can be seen in all parts of the magazines: English magazines usually have more pages, the articles themselves are longer, and more screenshots are used. Gamesmaster in particular is also known for additional "freebies," such as cheat booklets that are bundled with the magazine. With Finnish magazines such extras are extremely rare. This is understandable of course: the market for both video games and video game journalism in both the US and the UK is much bigger than it could ever be in a country the size of Finland. For this same reason English magazines are also generally printed on better quality paper.

Two British and two Finnish one-page examples of a typical magazine review.
All four reviews are of the Playstation 3 game Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction. (Click for bigger versions)
(Top left) PSM3 (British). The whole review is 10 pages long. Image source: PSM3 November 2007 issue.
(Top right) Pelit (Finnish). The whole review is two pages long. Image source: Pelit issue 11/2007.
(Lower left) Pelaaja (Finnish). The whole review is two pages long. Image source: Pelaaja Issue 62, November 2007.
(Lower right) Edge (British). The whole review is two pages long. Image source: Edge December 2007 issue.

A more interesting difference can be seen in the actual writing. Both Pelit and Pelaaja feature numerous columns where writers express their own opinions about various industry phenomena. While there are differences between magazines, such columns are usually rare in English magazines. Similarly in previews and reviews English publications tend to downplay the significance of individual opinions. While both Finnish and English previews and reviews are mostly written in the passive voice, Finnish critics will often write some parts of an article in first person as well. This almost never happens in English magazines and web sites. However, expressions written in first person plural are common in English publications, even when the article is written by a single writer. As a result English video game magazines and web sites tend to feel more passive than Finnish ones. This difference is very interesting considering that the Finnish language generally uses the passive voice much more than English does.

One possible reason for the aforementioned difference in writing might, again, be the size of the video game journalism market; the fact that there are far fewer video game journalists in Finland means that these few are better known by readers, and as a result their personal views are considered worth listening to. Conversely in the UK and the US there there are hundreds of magazines and web sites with thousands of writers, and as a result it is much harder for an individual critic to stand out. Using first person plural gives the impression that the views expressed in a review, for example, are not just those of the individual writer, but instead the official views of the whole publication, and therefore more authoritative. The British Edge magazine takes this approach to the extreme: while all the magazine's writers are listed in the staff section, none of the articles in the magazine, save personal columns, are attributed to any single author, but instead to the magazine as a whole.

The Future of Finnish Video Game Journalism

Despite the increasing popularity of its subject matter and a fairly recent shift into a new medium, at its core mainstream video game journalism is still much the same as it has been since the very first video game magazines. At best video game journalism is an invaluable tool for both the novice and hardcore gamer, giving insight on what games are worth purchasing and why. Reviews also provide a convenient way for game developers to get more or less professional and honest feedback on their hard work. At worst video game journalism is nothing more than hollow PR talk, full of empty promises and ungrounded hype. In the end, as with any other form of journalism, it falls to the reader to evaluate the credibility of each information source. When dealing with a global multi-billion dollar industry like video games, media literacy is paramount.

In Finland the transition from print to the internet, while still evident, has been considerably slower than in the US and the UK. Pelit, and to a lesser extent Pelaaja, have both established a firm following, and Pelit nowadays actually has a wider circulation than many British magazines. Finnish magazines have managed to maintain their positions against online resources mostly because of the lack of competition; there just isn't a high-quality Finnish alternative on the internet. Both magazines also offer relatively comprehensive web sites of their own. However, the situation is bound to change sooner or later.

Stylistically, Finnish video game journalism has changed significantly from its British roots. While in 1992, when Pelit was originally established, Finnish video game journalism could have been considered simply as Finnish writing set into the British video game journalism "mold"; today Finnish video game journalism has its own unique style and way of writing. One could say that "video game journalism in Finland" has been transformed into "Finnish video game journalism."

In the end it is remarkable how well Finnish video game journalism, or perhaps more accurately Pelit, has succeeded in a market the size of Finland. The fact that such a high-quality, independent video game magazine written in Finnish, by Finnish writers for a Finnish audience, even exists in a country of only 5 million people is certainly a noteworthy achievement. It will no doubt be interesting to see if Finnish video game journalism can continue to maintain its strong position in today's rapidly changing market.

Notes

  1. For the purpose of this paper I use the term "video game" to refer to both computer and console games. Other terms frequently used for gaming as a whole include "digital games" and "electronic games."
  2. An arcade game is a coin-operated mechanical or video game, typically found in video arcades, amusement parks and bars. Pinball machines are a well-known type of arcade game.
  3. In video games, "cheating" is a process that alters normal gameplay, usually making the game easier in some way. "Cheats" appear in many different forms, for example as secret codes that the player can input at specific points of the game (a pause screen for instance), or as special features that are unlocked by fulfilling certain tasks in the game. Most cheats grant an unfair advantage to the player, for example by making the player character invulnerable, or skipping you straight to the end of the game.
  4. American video game journalism has traditionally had very little or no significance in the European market. The reason for this is the fact that games were, and still are, often published at different times and by different publishers in Europe and the US. Games developed in the US or Asia also have to go through localization for all the main European languages before publication. In console games matters are further complicated by the fact that Europe and the US use different, incompatible TV technologies. As a result game release dates can vary tremendously, even by years in some cases, between the US, Asia and Europe, and thus magazines published in the US would not be up-to-date for European readers.
  5. Finnish primary and upper secondary schools grade students on a grade of 4-10, with 10 being the highest score and 4 meaning the student has failed the course or exam. Therefore Finns are "programmed" since childhood to think of 7 as being average, as Nirvi puts it (Arvostelua).
  6. Finland has five main freely available TV channels. YLE TV1 and YLE TV2 are non-commercial channels operated by Yleisradio, Finland's national broadcasting company. MTV3, Nelonen and SubTV are commercial channels; MTV3 and SubTV are owned by the Swedish Bonnier and Proventus companies, while Nelonen is owned by the Finnish SanomaWSOY.

Works Cited

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Last Updated 23 April 2010