Comments Locked

26 Comments

Back to Article

  • jibberegg - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link

    Not sure how others feel, but I like these articles. Fits nicely into the Pipeline Stories theme of shorter but still informative little nuggets.
  • phoenix_rizzen - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link

    Where's the +1 button? :)
  • coolhardware - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link

    +1

    I also enjoy these articles :-)

    In my opinion, the more content on Anandtech the better!
  • noeldillabough - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link

    I agree, if it wasn't for these little stories I wouldn't hear about these events until after. Keep em comin'
  • Backedupdrive - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link

    R-Type instead of Type-R. Just a friendly heads up.
  • JarredWalton - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link

    Ouch! I'm getting old when I can't remember names properly. Heh.
  • Ikefu - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link

    I like these posts as pipeline stories. I appreciate game recommendations from communities I frequent as I tend to find I have a lot in common with the same people who write for them.

    Sometimes content is a little slow on the site so pipeline stories like this are a good fit to keep me checking in. I wouldn't mind seeing more like this on slow days as long as you hold off on them during blitzkrieg days (trade shows, conventions, device announcement days, etc).
  • Zandros - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link

    Since you asked…

    I have no issue with the articles as such, on the contrary. I do think they feel a bit strange, though, since gaming articles is not what I associate with the AnandTech brand (if you excuse my choice of words).

    For me, what makes a site useful is mainly well written articles, but also what kind of content I can reliably expect when I visit the site. If I want to read a review of the latest flagship phone, I'll come here. Newest GPU? Yup. Apple laptops? None better. And so on.

    If I feel like I want to read about the latest game (or other news, such as this)? I'm not sure AnandTech will be the first stop (in my case though, the RSS feed works in your favour), and when I eventually get here there's a big chance I've gotten useful information elsewhere.

    It's kind of like the Ars Technica pants review. It's tangentially related to the usual topics on the site, sure, but the low frequency of similar articles makes it seem peculiar.

    Obviously this is something than can be changed, so if it is your desire to write about games, I think the only thing that makes sense is to write more (if Anand'll let you)!
  • abrowne1993 - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link

    I certainly don't mind these articles, but I do tend to get most of my mainstream info like this from other sites. I'd appreciate more technically-focused gaming articles on Anandtech. There's plenty of GPU and performance coverage, but some articles that focus more on consoles or on the software side of things would be nice.
  • Hrel - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link

    I like them. But you guys really need segregated RSS feeds.

    Announcements RSS.

    Full Review RSS.

    The full reviews are what got me started on this site and I still think it's your bread and butter. But the announcements, things like this, or a driver update, or those conferences where Intel/AMD/Nvidia whoever just shows a bunch of marketing slides. All that stuff is considerably less interesting but takes significantly less time to read, or at least skim.

    I need to actually set aside some time to properly read through a full review, like an architexture breakdown on a new GPU/CPU or just a notebook review. So I don't want to open that article in RSS because then it will show that I've opened it. It's how I keep track of what I still need to read, since I read literally every single full review all the way through.

    TL:DR Short "announcement" posts need their own RSS. Get them out of the main anandtech RSS. Thanks!
  • BMNify - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link

    I like your humble bundle and other gaming related coverage in the pipeline section specially if some good deal on games is informed, please keep posting whenever possible.
  • aryonoco - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link

    I'm not a massive gamer, but perhaps because of that, and because of the fact that I don't frequent gaming websites, I actually appreciate these articles here.

    I play a game or two occasionally, but I won't go out of my way to go to a gaming site. But I already come to AT, I know you guys, I trust your reviews, so if you are to recommend a game or a bundle here, I'm much more likely to give it a try.

    Keep up the good work Jarred.
  • Communism - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link

    I think game recommendations/reviews work passably as capsule reviews/pipeline stories.

    I still don't think hardware that could be subject to very reproducible testing (like the capsule mouse reviews that are almost useless) really add much value.

    Reviewing a game is pretty subjective from the start, so I see no problem with this current setup.
  • PhoenixEnigma - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link

    I'm OK with them as pipeline stories as well - they keep me visiting/reading, they generally seem to be up to Anandtech's fairly high standards for writing quality, and I don't see them doing any harm. One thing that would be nice to see and in keeping with Anandtech's general focus would be to touch at least lightly on performance - what do I need to run this well, is this a laptop-with-HD-Graphics game or a need-a-Titan game, almost like a reverse benchmark. There's a nod in that direction here, and it's something I think could add some additional value to these articles.
  • JarredWalton - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link

    Yeah, the problem with performance testing is that it turns a one hour article into ten hours of testing on several systems, and I have to download all of the games to even try that. I only downloaded JA:BIA and Sine Mora today when I purchased the bundle, and I doubt I'll ever try SkyDrift or Tropico as they're just not interesting to me... but I might give Anna a look at some point.
  • KonradK - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link

    I can always skip such articles. Right.
    But I always like to have something to read, not something to skip.
    If you ask.
  • Klimax - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link

    Anna: EE is significantly better and quite bit harder. It now measures sanity... (And some events are brutal)
  • Wreckage - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link

    It's hard not to like the Humble Bundles. Donate money and get a bunch of games. Seems win win. Hopefully Anandtech does more of these articles promoting it and describing the games.
  • Pfffman - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link

    Other people seem to enjoy the article so why not keep posting it?

    I personally read other game sites and often get emailed about these sort of deals so it isn't much "news".

    Anandtech to me is a lot more about in-depth analysis of hardware and very core software (like OSes). If these detract a lot of time away from laptop reviews and other content you work, I'd prefer the other content. The HDD article before was cool :D
  • asliarun - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link

    Thank you, thank you!
    I'm a very occasional gamer, but what really floats my boat is strategy games like Master Of Orion, Heroes Of Might and Magic, the older SimCities, and Civ 5 of course. I never knew about Tropico, and hence the thanks.
  • danjw - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link

    Yes, I like that you do this. It supports charity and we find some good deals. What isn't to like about that?
  • Peanutsrevenge - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link

    I like the snippets when it's indie stuff.
    I prefer my general gaming info from sites that are more gaming oriented as that's what they focus on, just like hardware reviews here take priority over all others.
  • kovosz - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link

    Sine Mora's voiceovers are in Hungarian, due to the fact that developer Digital Reality are a Hungarian company, the same team responsible for Imperium Galactica 1 & 2 and some other titles as well. Though english speakers will probably not appreciate this, but the voiceovers are actually done quite decently and differ only slightly from the subs (there's a lot more swearing in the voiceovers).
  • Bob Todd - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link

    I find these posts useful. I got the Humble email about the bundle, but at first glance nothing looked interesting and I forgot all about it. Then I saw what you posted about Sine Mora and looked up the game...freakin' sweet! I still have fond memories of playing 1942 as a kid. Bought the bundle mostly for that one game. And I wouldn't be opposed to a new category for stuff like this, but I hope you guys always keep an "all" RSS feed. There's not so much content here that I personally want stuff broken up, I'd rather just go through it all in one feed.
  • smitty123 - Saturday, September 28, 2013 - link

    to answer the question at start: "who out there feels stuff like this is worthy of our/my coverage, and who thinks I should give it a rest?"

    i like it, it gives the site an air of fun and not too stuffy with just electronics reviews.

    Games are fun and let's face it, if you're on this site odds are you're an enthusiast and you're only interested in high end rigs (ie:gaming).

    So reviewing bundle packs and games is another side of what we like.

    i say go for it !
  • swhite237 - Saturday, September 28, 2013 - link

    I really like coverage of indie games, especially the Humble Bundle games. I know I'm in the minority here, but I rarely play triple A titles, and once I play through the Humble Bundle I rarely have time for some of the other indie gems that pop up on my radar.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now