When is a news story not a news story...

The answer: ...When it's actualy an opinion piece.



For example, take the recent Gamers.com article entitled At What Price Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles? This article, which was posted in the news section and showed up under "latest headlines" on the Monday it was posted, details the cost of playing the four-player version of the upcoming Gamecube game, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles (FF:CC). The multiplayer version requires each player to have a Game Boy Advance and GBA-GC link cable. "If you do the math, averaging the cost of an original Game Boy Advance and the Game Boy Advance SP, the total price of the game, four handhelds, and four $13 link cables works out to around $400," the article states.



The "news" story continues by giving suggestions for other ways to spend your $400, such as a digital camera, a limited-edition PS2 or "just over 30 boxes of Okamoto Golgo 13 condoms."



Let me start by saying that I thought this was a very funny article that took an interesting look at the price-gouging often caused by Nintendo's endless peripherals. It was a well-written piece with a nice layout and a good flow.



But it wasn't news



There is nothing in this story that is remotely newsworthy. The information that FF:CC required four GBA's for multiplayer is months old. The price of the Game Boy Advance and link cables are similarly well known. No sources, written or spoken, are quoted in the article. There are no new facts being conveyed in the article. There is nothing at all that puts it in the realm of news.



Not only does the article contain no facts pushing it towards the news section, but it actually contains many opinions that should push it away from th news section. Calling the price of FF:CC "a fair bit" and "a significant expenditure" may seem innocuous, but it actually makes a large value judgement about what the author is willing to pay for the game. This is the kind ofthing that belongs in a preview or a review, not a news story. The suggestion of other things to do with the money only reinforces the fact that the author doesn't think FF:CC is worth the $400. Again, a fine point to make, but not in an objective news story. The article ends with a slight jab at the N-Gage, saying that FF:CC is "almost certainly the superior choice." Good point. Still not news.



Even the selection of this topic for an article is weighted with subjectivity. Why was there no similar article decrying the thousands of dollars it takes to buy four XBoxes, 16 controllers, and networking hardware for those who wish to play Halo "in the optimum... multiplayer configuartion." No news story about Dance Dance Revolution would decry the cost of an "optimum" $500 pad as a detriment to the gameplay. You can pick and choose what's worth the money all you want in the reviews section, but you can't do that kind of stuff in the news section!



The only explanation I can think of for this story ending up in news: Someone at Gamers.com had a brainstorm and realized that FF:CC will actually cost a lot for four people to play. They wanted to comment on this fact, but did not have a suitable reason to do so (It's way too early for a preview, and the article is too light for a feature). But news can be short and it gets posted every day. plus it gets lots of attention on the site. Why not post it in the news section? Great, done. Time for lunch.



Most visitors to the site will barely notice, I'm sure, as video game news is often just a petty excuse to spew opinions about the industry (see Spong.com, among others) But there has to be a standard. There has to be something that sets news apart from opinion, some objectivity and new information that seperates it from the subjective opinion-mongering that surrounds it. It's about time people started paying attention to this.