Sunsetting the fontgeek forum

Combo of Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin in Chrome seem to have always worked fine for me (and still do)

Stealth Destiny post

I agree that it's weird, and maybe something that I don't want to read (though I subscribe to other journalism outlets, even if I'm not interested in absolutely everything they put out).

But I don't really know what people actually want to see on the EG front page. They never visit it, hate the reviews, hate the news articles, hate the features, hate the video content, hate everything except maybe Digital Foundry.

Is there some mythical past when people liked what was on the EG front page? Like when, say, John Walker was around? Because he rambled too. And although I think the quality of a Walker detour was better, it wasn't *that* much different to what you're seeing now.

I'm not saying this to have a go, I just don't remember there ever being a time that people here didn't hate the EG front page.

I think the problem is that a while ago they transitioned from thoughtful, irreverent bants articles and reviews and then removed the bants part. Partially forced because they did lose some pretty big talents which left voids that are hard to fill but the editorial direction was pretty clear and its an editorial direction that middle aged men dont seem to like.

And I suspect a lot of the articles that people always moan about are them trying to find a niche or a unique voice because standard reviews and press release commentary is, basically, dead.

I think its probably time to admit that the population of this forum belong on EG as much as they belong in an Urban Outfitters.

I largely mirror this, for me the rot started to set in when everything was about Destiny. I don't hate the site, I still have a fondness for it but it's quality has dipped massively to the point where it gets a massive amount of its articles off Reddit, something trending on twitter or something they got off Kotaku. I think it's lacking in an identity these days and struggle to think of a good reason why you would spend time on the site other than to read stuff from Digital Foundry.

For me it felt like they became the "I didn't do it" Kid once they gained a lot of notoriety for giving one of the Halo games 8/10. An awful lot of games around that time period started dropping in at 8/10 but the way their reviews worked towards that score felt forced, like they were just the delivery method for continuing their meme.

After that died a death they seemed to want to become Edge Lite, which for me didn't really work with their move into events.

I actually think they've got it sort of framed right as an events company now. Light, fluffier more welcoming stuff goes hand in hand with it. But the content could be so much better. What they need to do is stop acting like they are minor celebrities who have been given a column in some gossip mag when they are actually closer to being Des Kaye off Little Britain. They just need some better direction, really.

I use this place for news now, everyone has pretty similar tastes on here so when I see a thread getting bumped a lot it piques my interest.

Recent example is Hot wheels and I absolutely love the game.

I think for me it was when they weren't afraid to take a political stand as well that I liked them...
I've seen some commenters specifically point that out as a bad thing, but that's what I liked...

Except then the Rob Florence thing happened and they didn't stick by their principles...
That just removed credibility. They took too long on commenting on the whole situation as well and it really felt like "the bad guys won"...

Then the booth babes thing happened at the first EGX again stripping credibility and all that was left was the humour...

Then The Matulef, Wesley (I distinctly remember there being multiple errors in his news articles the first month at least), the "We'll review one app a day, because mobile gaming is teh futurr!" thing that lasted two weeks, Ellie leaving, removal of "latest forum posts" from the front page ensuring even fewer people bothered coming in...

And now the premium stuff and a new news writer who'll pick up the slack as the other writers are shifted to the next premium article about their favourite colour socks or something...

It seems that in general they're quick to embrace new features of the site and just as quick to abandon them. Groups, user reviews, EG fight, the aforementioned app reviews...
I guess they've stuck to the "someone should make a game about" because it's probably popular...

But yeah, anyone can copy-paste press releases, so there's nothing that gives them a unique voice anymore...

Seeing as everyone on here is very down on EG at the moment, I thought I'd stick up for them a little bit.

I still like EG, but then I do tend to be quite loyal if something takes my fancy at the right moment. I started reading them over 15 years ago, back when I worked at CITV. It was quite a lax office and we'd all be blowing off steam online in between writing or editing something, and I fell in love with EG and the EG forum. The height of this was probably around 2007-10, the peak Xbox 360 years, when I was active on a lot of sites and also being sent a lot of free games swag because I worked for a TV channel.

I always loved their humour and irreverence, and the fact that they were a distinctly British voice online, whereas other big sites all seemed to be American. Despite the fact that they weren't part of Future, they seemed to carry over the sensibilities of PC Gamer, which I'd only recently stopped reading. So I think all that has just made me absorb them into my bloodstream.

Anyway, I still think they're funny, they still have a British streak, even if it's not so pronounced. I do like the off-beat articles - Make a Game About... can be good, depending on what they're talking about. I really like the Double-A Team, although I wonder if they're running out of ideas for that. Their video content is good, although I don't really watch a lot of video content anywhere TBH. I used to love the podcast when it was Bratterz and Donlan. I liked the "video cast" thing they did during lockdown, although really that would have been better audio-only. And they still seem to be a positive progressive force, which is good, although I guess people's mileage may vary on that one. I like the previews/features they do, and the more esoteric articles. I like that they give focus to indie games, like that weird one with the spider-train that's on the front page now. I like that they got rid of scores, although if it was up to me I'd get rid of the badges too.

What they have lost is a bit of the edge and irreverency. They're not as silly. I guess their reviews and news could be sharper, but - weirdly - I never come for that. I get most of my news from Twitter, I guess. I think it's all just become a bit more sensible and professional, which is a shame as I always liked the rough edges and personality. I take people's points about the more click-friendly stuff they've been doing; it's not for me, but I just ignore it.

I don't know how I feel about the subscription. I'd like to, but outside of the podcast I'm not sure how much content there is, and it's quite pricey. I kinda wish there was a £20 option that literally just removed ads. And I'm still very pissed off about the forum, despite it being great here.

Anyway this was really long and turned into a rather pointless stream-of-consciousness word vomit. TL;DR: I still like EG, despite a bunch of shit.

Blimey... Just had a look at EG on my PC. That's a bit of a kick in the nuts.

Still no ads showing thanks to Diversion if I turn off uBlock origin mind you, so I won't throw my toys out of the pram just yet... Like I said above I'm already questioning why I visit it, so this is just another nudge away from it.

/edit good should for Privacy Badger from gamingdave above 

For me the best days were Ellie, Tom et al. What drew me in was the fact the reviews were excellent reading and they weren't afraid to call a spade a spade when a AAA game was underwhelming. It felt like there was a period where the mainstream sites gave all AAA games at least 90% lest the publisher hold them hostage over access to pre-release media; EG was above all that and dare I say it they seem to have helped enact a cultural change there.

The layout was clear, the ads were unintrusive and the community didn't take itself seriously at all.

Also Ellie reporting on press releases with the irreverence and impatience that they deserved was a breath of fresh air. It was very British, in a good way.

I still have the odd browse on the front page and follow them on twitter, they still get the odd decent leak which they used to be really good at.

I actually really like VGC now for multi platform stuff, they're UK based and have a lot of decent stuff on there with people that have been in the industry for years.

Ah Dorkfail I remember fondly!