Press VS Sales

It seems to me that a lot of people believe that online game reviews, reporting, press conferences (generally the gaming press) have a large impact on the sale of games and consoles to the point that exclusive content announcements for a game (ex. Batman: Arkham Asylum) or reviews will sway a large part of gamers one way or the other.This is all the more apparent during E3's. As much as I love the gaming press community I have the feeling that is has no significant impact on the final sales of these products (not that this is a bad thing). It seems to me that most people that buy games are largely uninformed and would never bother to involve themselves in finding out about exclusive content or hardware faults (red ring of death). By the way this is the same way that most people watch movies and listen to music, irrespective of reviews and general press.

Do you think gaming press has any significant impact on the industry? Do most games buy games/consoles after getting informed? I dont have a problem with any of this but i was just wondering what other people thought.

To close just a tiny story:

I was talking to a friend of a friend about which console he was about to buy. He said, this coming from an old time PS2 owner, and I quote: “I am getting a PS3 because I can connect it to the internet and it has Tony Hawk”. Yes...

It's been proven the game press (at least reviews) have little effect on sales. Although typically when a crappy game sells well, it sells to a demographic that probably doesn't follow the press that much. You could argue either side. Ultimately the press helps both of us, which is the only thing that matters. 

If a game is marketed at the casual market, then reviews dont matter diddly squat (see numerous nintendo wii titles for that). Whereas if the game is targetted at the hardcore, who do look at reviews, then the press will have an impact on its sales.

It's true that probably 80% of people who buy video games do it on impulse when they walk into a store. The cover catches their eye or it's about something they enjoy. Video Game Press has almost no control on these people.

The people they do have control over are that remaining 20% who read these sites religiously and take reviews to be the word of God. If a hyped game gets a bad review they will straight up not buy it.

I generally buy what looks interesting to me.  I know what I like.

I think video game press helps to satisfy the curiosity of gamers more than anything else. I don't believe that sales are affected to a noticeable extend. Mainly because the people who visit here on Giant Bomb and all the other gaming sites likely know what their taste in games is, and know how to avoid bad games themselves. For me at least, I don't have the money to go out and buy every game, so I like to read about the games that I am not playing. Video game journalism is all about the gamers, not game sales. At least in an ideal world.

It depends on what demographic you're making the game for, what the cost of production was, and how you're marketing it.

I'm not sure if people on this site are aware of it, but making connections with the video game press is part of how video games are marketed. Sure, GTA4 will have the ads during the sporting events, but smaller budget games will have a more grass-roots-scale marketing strategy. That'll involve things like guest appearances on podcasts, interviews, hands-on features, et cetera.

In reality, the video games press is part of the video games marketing machine.