I need to put together a list of blogs and news sites for gamers, but I have scant knowledge of the field. I know a lot of my friends are into that scene, though, so I’m asking for your help. I’d like to gather as diverse a list as possible, so I’m looking not just for the major gaming sites and blogs, but the individual or group blogs about games and gaming that you love. I’m also definitely looking for sites that focus on gamers of color or female gamers. This is for work, so sites that cover exclusively console stuff won’t be useful, but basically anything else you can think of to suggest, please add to the comments.
Thanks!
Update: Because of my spam and moderation settings, long lists of links are putting comments in moderation, even from those who’ve been approved previously. Don’t worry, I am on it! I’ll fish you out as I have the chance.
Someone mentioned the Iris Network, but I’d like to specifically point to Cerise Magazine, a gaming magazine for women.
I second While!Finished blog. Good site.
I’ve had a really hard time finding game news sites that aren’t actively offensive. Very few seem to have any interest in hiring other than white boys and it shows.
I’m currently tracking adventuregamers.com and cubed3.com. Also a fan of the games at http://www.pastelportal.com/stories/
My favorite EVE gaming sites — many in-game people I know actually play Eve on laptops as well, so that’s useful for you :-)
http://www.eveonline.com/
http://www.eve-wiki.net/index.php?title=Main_Page
http://eve.battleclinic.com/
Game Set Watch ( http://www.gamesetwatch.com/ ) has a nice indie perspective, summarizes the more technical, developer-focused site Gamasutra, and includes a lot of interesting regular columns.
Auntie Pixelante ( http://www.auntiepixelante.com/ ) describes herself as a “SPACE INVADER, GAME CREATRIX, PIXELBITCH, DOT-MATRIX DOMINATRIX, ‘ARTDYKE'”, and she is awesome. She regularly makes independent games. Note that her blog may be considered NSFW for some, as she’s recently been investigating BDSM images in pixel art.
http://community.livejournal.com/gamers_of_color/
http://bankuei.wordpress.com/
http://tokenminorities.wordpress.com/
http://www.stone-baby.com/
http://www.fairgame-rpgs.com/
There’s The Iris Network http://theirisnetwork.org/ – their directory is here: http://directory.theirisnetwork.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
Along with that, it’s probably also worth it to mention Cerise, even if it’s not going currently: http://cerise.theirisnetwork.org/
Most of my other favs have been covered, but I figure Brainy Gamer is worth checking out too.
http://www.brainygamer.com/
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/
My favourite videogaming blogs (those not mentioned already, that is!) are Sexy Videogameland and Heroine Sheik. :)
Both are written by women, with a special focus on representations of sex, gender, and race in videogames and videogame culture.
I have to disagree that Sexy Videogameland focuses at all on race. Leigh Alexander doesn’t really write about race. From what I’ve seen, she focuses more on sex and gender, and more often than not, her writing is a little problematic. For instance, she thought that RapeLay was more or less just fine.
Heroine Sheik focuses specifically on sex, gender, and sex and gaming, but I’ve rarely seen Bonnie Ruberg write about race. Having said that, she did write at least one post that commented about the racist imagery in Resident Evil 5.
http://www.gaymer.org/
A Gay and Gay friendly webspace for gamers to come together and get their video game on. :)
Big games sites/bloggers that are *generally* not problematic in their coverage:
http://www.crispygamer.com/
http://fidgit.com/
http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/ngai-croal
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/
A blog about race and games:
http://tokenminorities.wordpress.com/
Blogs by feminist gamers and/or bloggers who are feminist-friendly:
http://whilenotfinished.theirisnetwork.org/
http://ensmartened.blogspot.com/
http://pensiveharpy.blogspot.com/
http://www.deirdrakiai.com/
http://www.lake-desire.com/newgameplus/
http://corvus.zakelro.com/
http://vorpalbunnyranch.blogspot.com/
http://wonderlandblog.com/
http://www.acidforblood.net/ (my blog; I am a WOC)
http://www.girlgamer.com/
http://gaygamer.net/
http://lesbiangamers.com/
funny about the names….
oh and:
http://www.racialicious.com/category/video-games/
You’re going to want at least these:
* Wonderland Blog: http://www.wonderlandblog.com/
Gay Gamer: http://gaygamer.net/
Level Up (on Newsweek):
Anything by N’Gai Croal: http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/ngai-croal
Game Critics, particularly the stuff by Alex Raymond: http://www.gamecritics.com/blog/alex-raymond
*Sorry if some of this is weird, I can’t see the left edge of the inpit box because the tag cloud is covering it up.)
Alex Raymond has her own blog: http://whilenotfinished.theirisnetwork.org/ and I’d recommend that over Game Critics, simply because she posts more on the blog than on Game Critics.
GameSpot, IGN, and 1Up are kind of the big ones for reviews and such. GameFAQs is walkthroughs and guides — probably gets a lot of traffic. Iris Gaming Network is for women, by women — not a promo site, though, just a discussion forum.
I don’t know anything about PC gaming sites, note; all of the above focus on consoles and PC games alike.
Hi! I put this on Twitter, but I run GamingAngels.com, the premier online community where women go for all things geek. We have a volunteer staff of 12 wonderful women and are entirely female run. We cover video games, tech, anime, comics, books, and pop culture. We also do work in the community to encourage women to think of careers in tech and gaming industries and sponsor groups like She’s Geeky, Girls In Tech, IGDA Women In Games and other events.
Thank you and I hope you enjoy GA!
Trina