Incoherent Effusive Praise - Insert Credit

Welcome to the first of what I hope will be many installments of "incoherent effusive praise," the place where I babble on about a web site, magazine, or cool piece of writing that I previously had not known about. Know something I should praise effusively? Tell me about it.



Today's praiseworthy target: Insert Credit



What makes it so great?: Insert Credit is less about games and more about the experience of playing games.



Well, actually, it's obviously, ostensibly about games. "The more obscure, the more Japanese, the better," seems to be the unofficial motto. This is not a site for the mainstream. It's a site by the hardcore gamer for the hardcore gamer. References to games both classic and contemporary are thrown out at such a clip that a non-gamer would have trouble keeping up. This is a good thing. Instead of appealing to the lowest-common-denominator casual gamers who know next-to-nothing about their new hobby, the staff of Insert Credit is not afraid to revel in their unabashed fandom. They're not afraid to make fun of gaming "pretenders" or otherr magazines (protip: GamePro) A reader gets the impression that they knowers and lovers of all things video games, and that they expect their readers to be too.



But I've gotten off my main point. The appeal of Insert Credit is that is is all about the experience of playing games. The reviews and features don't harp on the technical or stylistic choices a designer made. Instead, they embody the feeling of playing/experiencing/living/being a game in text form. The writings are full of nostalgic longing for the simple pleasures of games long past, but not so much so that they lose sight of the brilliant pleasures of many of today's games. Reviews on IC are not focused on frame rates or soundtrack quality (although those things do get mentioned). IC reviews hinge on how good a game is as an experience.



The features take the experience of the hardcore gamer and discuss how it extends into real life. From a review of a minibosses concert to a balanced discussion of DDR addiction, the features engender a feeling that video games are more than simple diversions to these people. The games are an important part of their lives, lives that don't seem to fit the reclusive, loner stereotypes that haunt gamers to this day. The subtle and effective writing is peppere with snippets of conversations that show a high level of socialization and integration into the gaming "scene," (if you'll pardon the expression). The staff at IC is connected to both the real world and the virtual world in a way that made this reader think about how games fit into the larger picture of his life.



By now you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. But I've just spent an hour poring through Insert Credit's massive archives, and I'm not even close to satisfied. This is a web site that I will be haunting through for a long time to come. It's an entirely fresh take on the tired and stale world of mainstream video game journalism, and for that it deserves praise. Give it a visit and you'll probably feel the same way.