Recommended news websites for gadgets and games?
June 9, 2010 8:25 PM Subscribe
Any recommended brief, straight-to-the-point websites for news on gadgets and games?
For the past year or so, I've been following Gizmodo for my gadget news and Kotaku for my game news. However I'm coming to the realization that both sites (and the rest of Gawker's blogs) are sort of like TMZ for their respective news categories (lol). So much fluff and little meat! Definitely makes for many interesting reads (and also many duds). But after spending some 20-30 minutes on each site per day, I feel like I don't come away with too much actual solid news. Time is a precious commodity!
Thus, I'm looking for some new news sites for gadget news and video game news. Preferably something that would keep me pretty up-to-date with news, and maybe have an occasional interesting non-news related article, something that would take more along the lines of 5-10 minutes a day for each site. An example I guess I could refer to is TechMeme for my tech news. Although there is a lot of opinion pieces there in addition to the news links, they're usually pretty easy to spot and you can usually tell if it would be worth a read for you just by glancing at it (whereas Gawker sites tend to try to pull you in with interesting titles or summaries which often lead to completely meaningless articles). I probably average 6-12 minutes a day on TechMeme and it gives me what I want: up-to-date news on tech stuff and an occasional interesting non-news piece.
So... any recommendations?
For the past year or so, I've been following Gizmodo for my gadget news and Kotaku for my game news. However I'm coming to the realization that both sites (and the rest of Gawker's blogs) are sort of like TMZ for their respective news categories (lol). So much fluff and little meat! Definitely makes for many interesting reads (and also many duds). But after spending some 20-30 minutes on each site per day, I feel like I don't come away with too much actual solid news. Time is a precious commodity!
Thus, I'm looking for some new news sites for gadget news and video game news. Preferably something that would keep me pretty up-to-date with news, and maybe have an occasional interesting non-news related article, something that would take more along the lines of 5-10 minutes a day for each site. An example I guess I could refer to is TechMeme for my tech news. Although there is a lot of opinion pieces there in addition to the news links, they're usually pretty easy to spot and you can usually tell if it would be worth a read for you just by glancing at it (whereas Gawker sites tend to try to pull you in with interesting titles or summaries which often lead to completely meaningless articles). I probably average 6-12 minutes a day on TechMeme and it gives me what I want: up-to-date news on tech stuff and an occasional interesting non-news piece.
So... any recommendations?
Ars Technica's game reviews are pretty solid, usually amounting to 2-4 meaty pages for major titles (for instance: Alan Wake, Fallout 3). The big reviews are published maybe once a month or so, but if you subscribe to their "Opposable Thumbs" section you can get all those in addition to shorter reviews, weekly round-ups of web games, and more regular gaming news items.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:02 PM on June 9, 2010
posted by Rhaomi at 9:02 PM on June 9, 2010
Ars Technica.
The problem with Engadget and Gizmodo and the like is that it takes way more than 5-10 minutes a day to keep up with the feeds.
posted by lakerk at 9:20 PM on June 9, 2010
The problem with Engadget and Gizmodo and the like is that it takes way more than 5-10 minutes a day to keep up with the feeds.
posted by lakerk at 9:20 PM on June 9, 2010
Also recommend Engadget since I gave up Gizmodo for the same reason you've described.
You mention being "on" the sites. If that's the case I'd recommend an rss feed reader and subscribe to all of the sites mentioned. It saves a lot of time getting all your news in one place, and at least with the Google reader you can quickly jump from one entry to the next by hitting 'J'.
posted by FreezBoy at 6:09 AM on June 10, 2010
You mention being "on" the sites. If that's the case I'd recommend an rss feed reader and subscribe to all of the sites mentioned. It saves a lot of time getting all your news in one place, and at least with the Google reader you can quickly jump from one entry to the next by hitting 'J'.
posted by FreezBoy at 6:09 AM on June 10, 2010
For gaming, I prefer VG247 for news/rumors and Eurogamer for previews/reviews.
If you're only concerned with PC stuff, I'd probably just stick with Rock Paper Shotgun and be done with it.
VG247 has the annoying habit of running an interview then spinning out separate posts discussing individual money quotes from said interview, but they seem to get exclusives and news/rumors earlier (which isn't really important if you follow more than one site as the content makes its way around eventually, but it's just something I've noticed because I follow more than one site).
posted by juv3nal at 11:39 AM on June 10, 2010
If you're only concerned with PC stuff, I'd probably just stick with Rock Paper Shotgun and be done with it.
VG247 has the annoying habit of running an interview then spinning out separate posts discussing individual money quotes from said interview, but they seem to get exclusives and news/rumors earlier (which isn't really important if you follow more than one site as the content makes its way around eventually, but it's just something I've noticed because I follow more than one site).
posted by juv3nal at 11:39 AM on June 10, 2010
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posted by tehdiplomat at 8:42 PM on June 9, 2010