So, Polygon is making a documentary about Polygon.

I don't care about Polygon simply because it won't be around for long, or not with its current crew. For one thing there's so many of them and all of them have already moved around quite a bit already. That's just what they do.

Jeff was at Gamespot for 11 years and had he not been fired i'd still probably be there with the same crew. That's what i like about GB, this sense of familiarity by virtue of them working together for over a decade under the same roof 'cause let's face it, the Gamespot crew was the GB crew of today and probably would still be for the most part had that thing in 07 not happen.

Just a bunch of random people that change website like they change underwear is just that, another place to get some news but which never creates any sense of attachment to the people behind the news.

Also Arthur Gies is there and fuck that idiot.

@Hailinel said:

@N7

@nrh79 said:

Andy McNamara, the editor of Game Informer (the former editor of Phil Kollar who switched to Polygon), seemed to find some negativity in the video.

Yeah and what's with all those fucking scumbags wearing "World's Greatest Dad" T-shirts? Isn't that kind of insulting to people who aren't the worlds greatest dad?

World's Greatest Dad T-shirts are not the same thing as a self-produced documentary declaring yourself nothing less than an industry savior before you've done anything to earn such accolades.

It's like not having impregnated anyone yet and claiming you are the world's greatest dad?

@Gamer_152 said:

I know I'm probably supposed to get really hyper-dismissive and throw the word "pretentious" around a lot now, because this is video games and something vaguely serious has entered our midst, but I think this looks good. This is a group of people who are doing what they love, trying to make a living, and aiming to assemble a team of the best in their profession to produce something people will care about. I think in almost any field and whatever the quality of the final product, when you've got this kind of set-up then there's potentially an interesting and worthwhile story to tell.

It's not that it's vaguely serious. There are already "serious" game news sites out there (ex: Gamasutra). The problem with these trailers is that they paint Polygon and its staff as this super-team that will single-handedly save games journalism.

It's all well and good if their intention is to found a site that takes game news seriously and crafts intelligent, thoughtful editorials meant to intellectually stimulate. However, the work that the Polygon staff has put out so far under The Verge has not been representative of that direction. And so long as the staff includes people like Brian Crecente, whom I consider one of the worst figures working in the games press as the bottom-feeding former Editori-in-Chief of Kotaku, one of the worst game "news" sites on the internet, I have little reason to believe that their stated intentions in these trailers are either at all earnest or capable of being followed upon. The trailers come off as pretentious for precisely this reason; they exude a level of self-importance that they have yet to earn. Accolades should only be lauded after the deeds have been done.

@Sergio said:

@Hailinel said:

@N7

@nrh79 said:

Andy McNamara, the editor of Game Informer (the former editor of Phil Kollar who switched to Polygon), seemed to find some negativity in the video.

Yeah and what's with all those fucking scumbags wearing "World's Greatest Dad" T-shirts? Isn't that kind of insulting to people who aren't the worlds greatest dad?

World's Greatest Dad T-shirts are not the same thing as a self-produced documentary declaring yourself nothing less than an industry savior before you've done anything to earn such accolades.

It's like not having impregnated anyone yet and claiming you are the world's greatest dad?

A World's Greatest Dad T-Shirt is little more than a trinket that few take seriously. It's, at best, a birthday or Father's Day gift from a son or daughter that is appreciative of their father. And in the eyes of children with loving, thoughtful parents, it can be difficult to fathom that anyone else's parents could possibly be better. It is not insulting to see a father wear such a T-shirt because it is quite possible that is how his children see him.

That is in no way equivalent to the staff of a website under construction telling the world that they're here to save the day from all of the lesser games websites out there.

@Hailinel said:

@Gamer_152 said:

I know I'm probably supposed to get really hyper-dismissive and throw the word "pretentious" around a lot now, because this is video games and something vaguely serious has entered our midst, but I think this looks good. This is a group of people who are doing what they love, trying to make a living, and aiming to assemble a team of the best in their profession to produce something people will care about. I think in almost any field and whatever the quality of the final product, when you've got this kind of set-up then there's potentially an interesting and worthwhile story to tell.

It's not that it's vaguely serious. There are already "serious" game news sites out there (ex: Gamasutra). The problem with these trailers is that they paint Polygon and its staff as this super-team that will single-handedly save games journalism.

It's all well and good if their intention is to found a site that takes game news seriously and crafts intelligent, thoughtful editorials meant to intellectually stimulate. However, the work that the Polygon staff has put out so far under The Verge has not been representative of that direction. And so long as the staff includes people like Brian Crecente, whom I consider one of the worst figures working in the games press as the bottom-feeding former Editori-in-Chief of Kotaku, one of the worst game "news" sites on the internet, I have little reason to believe that their stated intentions in these trailers are either at all earnest or capable of being followed upon. The trailers come off as pretentious for precisely this reason; they exude a level of self-importance that they have yet to earn. Accolades should only be lauded after the deeds have been done.

That's a pretty good point. I've been reading a ton of stuff over there since they took over the gaming section of the Verge and all of it is your average review/interview/news that you can find on a ton of other serious and quality gaming website. Nothing out there screams genius or garbage. It's a good place to get news, just like many others. Are they purposefully holding back all the truly amazing stuff? I doubt it. A shiny new website won't change the quality of the work the people behind it produces.

@Hailinel: You missed what I was going for. :)

@Sergio said:

@Hailinel: You missed what I was going for. :)

Apparently so.

@SoothsayerGB said:

It's an ad. Nothing more.

I will check out the site when it launches, maybe. If I ever hear aboot it again. Gaming journalism, in general, is dead to me. So with all the hipster laced through out that ad, Giant Bomb has some real competition. Well... maybe not? Since they are full-blown hipsters and Giant Bombers aren't self-aware hipsters. Hmm. I don't know.

Did you guys see the hot girl? Man, I bet she has some super interesting opinions on the video games we all like!

If you wrapped up Giant Bomb in a nice neat little three minute package with nice music and artsy architecture shots. Would if be just as bullshitty?

The difference is the GB crew wouldn't do it.

@Gulroth said:

@JasonR86 said:

@brainboy77 said:

I get the feeling that the video is targeted towards people outside the video game world, that it's to show people who know nothing about this shit about this world. The thing is, for those of us who are in the loop can see this is full of bullshit. The question that I ask, then, is how much of other documentaries are complete bullshit? And are the only people who know that it's full of crap are the people living the lives portrayed in those docs?

Who outside of people like us even knows that this documentary even exists?

I don't know. Maybe people that read The Verge?

Perhaps the trailer was intended solely for us, but I wouldn't be surprised if something that's "Presented By IE" shows up in other areas of the world. People generally don't put this much money into a project just to show an audience that's already been developed more about the company. If that was their plan, then the budget would be similar to "How To Build A Bomb". I could be wrong but then this entire project would be fucking stupid on every level.

@BrockNRolla said:

I see a lot of people talking about how, "People shouldn't be mad," or "Internet people will find any reason to get mad!"

Who is mad about this? It seems totally ridiculous, but in a laugh at it kind of way, not a rage at it kind of way. Why are people debating about whether or not people should be mad? Of course no one should be mad, but there's nothing wrong with pointing out how ridiculous the whole video series seems.

Simple, because people want to be mad about other people being mad over a minor thing, not realizing the irony. haha

@JasonR86 said:

What a bunch of pretentious nonsense.

Couldn't put it better myself.

@Hailinel said:

@Gamer_152 said:

I know I'm probably supposed to get really hyper-dismissive and throw the word "pretentious" around a lot now, because this is video games and something vaguely serious has entered our midst, but I think this looks good. This is a group of people who are doing what they love, trying to make a living, and aiming to assemble a team of the best in their profession to produce something people will care about. I think in almost any field and whatever the quality of the final product, when you've got this kind of set-up then there's potentially an interesting and worthwhile story to tell.

It's not that it's vaguely serious. There are already "serious" game news sites out there (ex: Gamasutra). The problem with these trailers is that they paint Polygon and its staff as this super-team that will single-handedly save games journalism.

It's all well and good if their intention is to found a site that takes game news seriously and crafts intelligent, thoughtful editorials meant to intellectually stimulate. However, the work that the Polygon staff has put out so far under The Verge has not been representative of that direction. And so long as the staff includes people like Brian Crecente, whom I consider one of the worst figures working in the games press as the bottom-feeding former Editori-in-Chief of Kotaku, one of the worst game "news" sites on the internet, I have little reason to believe that their stated intentions in these trailers are either at all earnest or capable of being followed upon. The trailers come off as pretentious for precisely this reason; they exude a level of self-importance that they have yet to earn. Accolades should only be lauded after the deeds have been done.

No, I think part of the problem is that it's doing something serious, I've heard people say as much. The issue for some isn't that they're trying to build a somewhat serious site (although I'm sure it won't be that straight-faced with the McElroys among others there), it's that the trailer is trying to make games journalism look too serious. I'm hearing all this stuff about Polygon being unproven, but I don't understand why because we doubt the eventual quality of Polygon, the people working there are supposed to lie and pretend they don't think the people they've hired are that good or that they can't make a movie about at least trying to build a great video game website. Not only are they not lauding accolades but it's literally impossible for them laud accolades they haven't yet received, they're just saying they have very high hopes for the site. Do you think other games journalists or big developers begin their projects with the idea that they won't be all that good? I also don't understand your line of reasoning where you believe all the people at Polygon are lying to you because they hired a writer you don't like but they do.

@Gamer_152 said:

@Hailinel said:

@Gamer_152 said:

I know I'm probably supposed to get really hyper-dismissive and throw the word "pretentious" around a lot now, because this is video games and something vaguely serious has entered our midst, but I think this looks good. This is a group of people who are doing what they love, trying to make a living, and aiming to assemble a team of the best in their profession to produce something people will care about. I think in almost any field and whatever the quality of the final product, when you've got this kind of set-up then there's potentially an interesting and worthwhile story to tell.

It's not that it's vaguely serious. There are already "serious" game news sites out there (ex: Gamasutra). The problem with these trailers is that they paint Polygon and its staff as this super-team that will single-handedly save games journalism.

It's all well and good if their intention is to found a site that takes game news seriously and crafts intelligent, thoughtful editorials meant to intellectually stimulate. However, the work that the Polygon staff has put out so far under The Verge has not been representative of that direction. And so long as the staff includes people like Brian Crecente, whom I consider one of the worst figures working in the games press as the bottom-feeding former Editori-in-Chief of Kotaku, one of the worst game "news" sites on the internet, I have little reason to believe that their stated intentions in these trailers are either at all earnest or capable of being followed upon. The trailers come off as pretentious for precisely this reason; they exude a level of self-importance that they have yet to earn. Accolades should only be lauded after the deeds have been done.

No, I think part of the problem is that it's doing something serious, I've heard people say as much. The issue for some isn't that they're trying to build a somewhat serious site (although I'm sure it won't be that straight-faced with the McElroys among others there), it's that the trailer is trying to make games journalism look too serious. I'm hearing all this stuff about Polygon being unproven, but I don't understand why because we doubt the eventual quality of Polygon, the people working there are supposed to lie and pretend they don't think the people they've hired are that good or that they can't make a movie about at least trying to build a great video game website. Not only are they not lauding accolades but it's literally impossible for them laud accolades they haven't yet received, they're just saying they have very high hopes for the site. Do you think other games journalists or big developers begin their projects with the idea that they won't be all that good? I also don't understand your line of reasoning where you believe all the people at Polygon are lying to you because they hired a writer you don't like but they do.

I'm going to go ahead and agree with you here. As over-the-top the video struck me, you can't not see their enthusiasm. These guys are stoked. They've got all kinds of hype and interest(Microsoft funding their video for instance is a huge deal. Microsoft is loaded!).

What's annoying, Gamer, is what you've already pointed out: It's the McElroy brothers. Two of them anyway. Those two goofballs are a party of their own. With them on board, who can believe that they are going to do the most straight-faced "my eyes are burning with intense fury" article writing the internet has seen? That's not what they are saying at all. They are doing something serious. Not "OH MY GOD YOU GUYS STOP BEING FUNNY THIS IS VIDYA GAEMS", they mean "We've got a dedicated crew and a lot of talent, we're putting everything we have into this job in hopes that it pays off". Serious as in: we're no longer sitting at home blogging on the internet, we're going to get real and mature our craft and actually put ourselves into our work more than we've ever done before. Which is obvious for the fact that one of the dudes there actually relocated his family on the whim that this thing will work. It's a big deal to these guys.

It's depressing that it's being written off as "THEY ARE TRYING TO ACT BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE!" when everyone knows they aren't saying that in any way whatsoever. That's what the people freaking out about it are saying.

It's no different from what the crew at Giant Bomb here does. They take their job seriously. They don't go home and go "HEY GUYS CHECK THIS DOPE TRAILER I FOUND ON YOUTUBE", in fact, they don't even cover as much as other websites. And it pays off for quality over quantity.

Sure, I, too, don't understand HOW they are changing journalism or whatever their message is supposed to be, I don't get that. But, according to everyone there, they've been working incredibly hard to get their site up and running so we'll see eventually. I literally understand nothing about why people are getting so bent out of shape about a trailer hyping a new website.

To be fair, Polygon didn't invent nor have they cornered the market on pretentiousness in the field of so-called games journalism. As ridiculous as this trailer is (and it is quite ridiculous) it's not much more self serving than stuff by any other gaming site. Including this one.

@Gamer_152 said:

@Hailinel said:

@Gamer_152 said:

I know I'm probably supposed to get really hyper-dismissive and throw the word "pretentious" around a lot now, because this is video games and something vaguely serious has entered our midst, but I think this looks good. This is a group of people who are doing what they love, trying to make a living, and aiming to assemble a team of the best in their profession to produce something people will care about. I think in almost any field and whatever the quality of the final product, when you've got this kind of set-up then there's potentially an interesting and worthwhile story to tell.

It's not that it's vaguely serious. There are already "serious" game news sites out there (ex: Gamasutra). The problem with these trailers is that they paint Polygon and its staff as this super-team that will single-handedly save games journalism.

It's all well and good if their intention is to found a site that takes game news seriously and crafts intelligent, thoughtful editorials meant to intellectually stimulate. However, the work that the Polygon staff has put out so far under The Verge has not been representative of that direction. And so long as the staff includes people like Brian Crecente, whom I consider one of the worst figures working in the games press as the bottom-feeding former Editori-in-Chief of Kotaku, one of the worst game "news" sites on the internet, I have little reason to believe that their stated intentions in these trailers are either at all earnest or capable of being followed upon. The trailers come off as pretentious for precisely this reason; they exude a level of self-importance that they have yet to earn. Accolades should only be lauded after the deeds have been done.

No, I think part of the problem is that it's doing something serious, I've heard people say as much. The issue for some isn't that they're trying to build a somewhat serious site (although I'm sure it won't be that straight-faced with the McElroys among others there), it's that the trailer is trying to make games journalism look too serious. I'm hearing all this stuff about Polygon being unproven, but I don't understand why because we doubt the eventual quality of Polygon, the people working there are supposed to lie and pretend they don't think the people they've hired are that good or that they can't make a movie about at least trying to build a great video game website. Not only are they not lauding accolades but it's literally impossible for them laud accolades they haven't yet received, they're just saying they have very high hopes for the site. Do you think other games journalists or big developers begin their projects with the idea that they won't be all that good? I also don't understand your line of reasoning where you believe all the people at Polygon are lying to you because they hired a writer you don't like but they do.

They're not lying, necessarily. But they did demonstrate a level of arrogance and lack of humility. However, I'd again argue that any games journalism website that claims a desire to reach for the stars and yet has the likes of Crecente on their staff shall not succeed. He built Kotaku into an internet frat house without a shred of journalistic integrity or editorial standards. It's the video game equivalent of a supermarket tabloid. And now that he's working on a website that's supposed to be "serious," I should have no problem believing him? He already established that he hasn't changed his ways from his bungling of the Jason Rubin interview.

I'm sure other journalists/developers have had similar thoughts when they started on their own projects, but how many of them actually succeeded, or at the very least, made that save-the-world mentality public? There's such a thing as good PR, and what Polygon have shown us thus far most certainly isn't.

I have absolutely no idea who anyone was in that video, but they way they say things like they are the best, and they are bringing a revolution to the internet that no other website could dream of makes me grimace -- especially watching it on giantbomb.com. I'm not a huge fan of the whole game journalism scene, I enjoy knowing about games, the gaming community and personalities that I've come to respect. This is why I'm at Giant Bomb, I enjoy the community, I enjoy the staff and they have a good system of letting me know what games are coming out. They also have an awesome wiki.

@Hailinel: Again though, whatever the quality of the site, that's not the exact same issue as the nature and quality of this documentary, I'll just say that I think Crecente's articles at The Verve so far have been of a fair quality, and that I see no reason to assume the people at Polygon are trying to built a website more serious than any of the other video game sites out there. None of these people are saying "Fuck all the other video game websites out there", "We're saving the world" or that they don't respect the work that's done in the rest of the industry, they're saying they want to do something new, something people will really enjoy, and that they think they're capable of doing so. Honestly, when Justin McElroy talked about how he worried he was living a trivial existence or when he asked people to come to the website, I did think there was a good deal of humility there.

We can't complain that Polygon isn't earnest enough, but then try to jump on them and attack them when they're open about their philosophy and beliefs when it comes to their future. I don't want a situation where those making and writing about video games can't openly display their ambition and confidence without being ripped to shreds. I think what they're doing is harmless and those who are confident and ambitious are often the people who get results. There's such a thing as too much confidence, but I don't think these are going to be the people to come off as complete dicks. Honestly, I don't care if this is good PR, because what's PR? It's telling people whatever you think they need to hear to use your product or service. I care about whether this is a good video series.

@Gamer_152 said:

@Hailinel: Again though, whatever the quality of the site, that's not the exact same issue as the nature and quality of this documentary, I'll just say that I think Crecente's articles at The Verve so far have been of a fair quality, and that I see no reason to assume the people at Polygon are trying to built a website more serious than any of the other video game sites out there. None of these people are saying "Fuck all the other video game websites out there", "We're saving the world" or that they don't respect the work that's done in the rest of the industry, they're saying they want to do something new, something people will really enjoy, and that they think they're capable of doing so. Honestly, when Justin McElroy talked about how he worried he was living a trivial existence or when he asked people to come to the website, I did think there was a good deal of humility there.

We can't complain that Polygon isn't earnest enough, but then try to jump on them and attack them when they're open about their philosophy and beliefs when it comes to their future. I don't want a situation where those making and writing about video games can't openly display their ambition and confidence without being ripped to shreds. I think what they're doing is harmless and those who are confident and ambitious are often the people who get results. There's such a thing as too much confidence, but I don't think these are going to be the people to come off as complete dicks. Honestly, I don't care if this is good PR, because what's PR? It's telling people whatever you think they need to hear to use your product or service. I care about whether this is a good video series.

If they want to present their earnest side, the least they could do is present it in a way that isn't so pompous that even their industry peers are giving them questioning looks.

@Hailinel said:

@Gamer_152 said:

@Hailinel: Again though, whatever the quality of the site, that's not the exact same issue as the nature and quality of this documentary, I'll just say that I think Crecente's articles at The Verve so far have been of a fair quality, and that I see no reason to assume the people at Polygon are trying to built a website more serious than any of the other video game sites out there. None of these people are saying "Fuck all the other video game websites out there", "We're saving the world" or that they don't respect the work that's done in the rest of the industry, they're saying they want to do something new, something people will really enjoy, and that they think they're capable of doing so. Honestly, when Justin McElroy talked about how he worried he was living a trivial existence or when he asked people to come to the website, I did think there was a good deal of humility there.

We can't complain that Polygon isn't earnest enough, but then try to jump on them and attack them when they're open about their philosophy and beliefs when it comes to their future. I don't want a situation where those making and writing about video games can't openly display their ambition and confidence without being ripped to shreds. I think what they're doing is harmless and those who are confident and ambitious are often the people who get results. There's such a thing as too much confidence, but I don't think these are going to be the people to come off as complete dicks. Honestly, I don't care if this is good PR, because what's PR? It's telling people whatever you think they need to hear to use your product or service. I care about whether this is a good video series.

If they want to present their earnest side, the least they could do is present it in a way that isn't so pompous that even their industry peers are giving them questioning looks.

I think you are confusing pomposity (I can't believe that's a word) with nervous ambition. There is no doubt that these guys are damn good video game journalists, and that trailer shows that they want to do something new, and they are willing to risk their livelyhoods for that opportunity. It's not like they are saying they are going to blow everything away and be the gods of video games, they just want video game journalism to be taken seriously and they are tying to put their money where their mouth is.

I think the documentary is a bit much, but I honestly think it comes from a place of excitement and hope, and not arrogance and absolute confidence.

@Hailinel said:

@Gamer_152 said:

@Hailinel: Again though, whatever the quality of the site, that's not the exact same issue as the nature and quality of this documentary, I'll just say that I think Crecente's articles at The Verve so far have been of a fair quality, and that I see no reason to assume the people at Polygon are trying to built a website more serious than any of the other video game sites out there. None of these people are saying "Fuck all the other video game websites out there", "We're saving the world" or that they don't respect the work that's done in the rest of the industry, they're saying they want to do something new, something people will really enjoy, and that they think they're capable of doing so. Honestly, when Justin McElroy talked about how he worried he was living a trivial existence or when he asked people to come to the website, I did think there was a good deal of humility there.

We can't complain that Polygon isn't earnest enough, but then try to jump on them and attack them when they're open about their philosophy and beliefs when it comes to their future. I don't want a situation where those making and writing about video games can't openly display their ambition and confidence without being ripped to shreds. I think what they're doing is harmless and those who are confident and ambitious are often the people who get results. There's such a thing as too much confidence, but I don't think these are going to be the people to come off as complete dicks. Honestly, I don't care if this is good PR, because what's PR? It's telling people whatever you think they need to hear to use your product or service. I care about whether this is a good video series.

If they want to present their earnest side, the least they could do is present it in a way that isn't so pompous that even their industry peers are giving them questioning looks.

When don't gaming journos snipe at each other? Seriously this happens all the time. Do what's good for you guys and fuck everyone else.

@kishinfoulux said:

@Hailinel said:

@Gamer_152 said:

@Hailinel: Again though, whatever the quality of the site, that's not the exact same issue as the nature and quality of this documentary, I'll just say that I think Crecente's articles at The Verve so far have been of a fair quality, and that I see no reason to assume the people at Polygon are trying to built a website more serious than any of the other video game sites out there. None of these people are saying "Fuck all the other video game websites out there", "We're saving the world" or that they don't respect the work that's done in the rest of the industry, they're saying they want to do something new, something people will really enjoy, and that they think they're capable of doing so. Honestly, when Justin McElroy talked about how he worried he was living a trivial existence or when he asked people to come to the website, I did think there was a good deal of humility there.

We can't complain that Polygon isn't earnest enough, but then try to jump on them and attack them when they're open about their philosophy and beliefs when it comes to their future. I don't want a situation where those making and writing about video games can't openly display their ambition and confidence without being ripped to shreds. I think what they're doing is harmless and those who are confident and ambitious are often the people who get results. There's such a thing as too much confidence, but I don't think these are going to be the people to come off as complete dicks. Honestly, I don't care if this is good PR, because what's PR? It's telling people whatever you think they need to hear to use your product or service. I care about whether this is a good video series.

If they want to present their earnest side, the least they could do is present it in a way that isn't so pompous that even their industry peers are giving them questioning looks.

When don't gaming journos snipe at each other? Seriously this happens all the time. Do what's good for you guys and fuck everyone else.

I don't see gaming journalists going after each other often. I got the impression that most journalists are good with one another. Do you have any examples besides this whole nonsense?

Its kinda difficult to believe the quality of the site is going to great and amazing if they manage to create hatred for a product that has not been released yet unintentionally. I mean if someone can look at that trailer and say yep this cant backfire at all in any way that puts doubts on the quality of everyone involved.

@ViciousReiven said:

Either way I still can't wait for the site, their hub on The Verge has had some of the best articles I've read all year, do yourself a favor and check out the Arkane Studios article:
http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/6/27/3115822/arkane-dishonored-bethesda-origin-crossing-deus-ex-arx-fatalis

Thanks for bringing my attention to that article. I've read some stuff on that piece of shit temporary website since it was plugged on "Worth Reading" and didn't find anything particularly useful or interesting so far. But a lot of that is my unwillingness to put up with the horrific layout. This article however has some good stuff and represents a piece where I can finally see some promise concerning Polygon's future. That still doesn't redeem a teaser that does just about everything wrong if it had the intent of getting me hyped for some documentary or gaming website or alleviate my fears concerning the mediocre talent involved in the staff. It doesn't afford the new website a status anywhere near the level that GB or RPS (thinking about the long form written content here) already has in my book. But if I can expect that kind of decent quality more often on whatever site they might eventually have I'll be sure to check that out every once in a while and give it a serious shot.

But it confuses me even more when I inevitably think about that trashy fucking teaser again. Can an otherwise reasonably clever person be that fucking stupid and try to push that lowest common denominator angle? Are they trying to appeal to fucking tools and hope to dazzle them with interesting, hard-hitting, in-depth stories about video games afterwards? We'll see, I suppose. I hope for the best since I'd love to see another website stepping up their game and giving me another unique and fascinating perspective on the games I play so damn much but I'll have to remain quite skeptical on this one for now.

It's an overblown trailer, no doubt, but if Giant Bomb can make a cheesy mini-documentary about their website in that last "How to Build a Bomb" video, why can't Polygon make a lengthy, probably too-polished documentary to introduce people to their website? I can see why people made a big deal about it initially--it seems Oscar baity, and it's not even something people are gonna see in a theater. But let's just take it for what it is: an introduction to a site that's gonna open soon. People should really stop thinking much more than that; learn about school or something instead.

@Hailinel: I like Andy, but I'm not afraid to say that maybe he's in a wrong mindset here. Them changing the industry is a stupid thing to say and emphasize, and of course they'll highlight that in the trailer, but I just get that they're excited about their website coming soon. I can't see this being a detriment whatsoever. The fact that it seems pompous doesn't mean anything more than some aesthetic that should be overlooked.

Someone do me a favour and let me know what the song is in that Twisted Pixel trailer, I can't seem to find it.

@BrockNRolla said:

Someone let me know when "Polygon.com" becomes a real site and not just a subsection of the the Verge and a "Coming Soon" image.

Then maybe I'll give a shit.

QFT, this pretty much sums up every thing about Polygon.

@YI_Orange said:

What baffles me is that people lost so much of their shit at a trailer. They wanna do it, they're doing it, no one is being hurt, get over it. Or at the very least wait until you see the finished product until you start being ass. (You is being used generally, not directed at the OP).

Why I don't get is why you comment about how that baffles you. Get over it.

Ok sorry, seriously now, everyone is entitled to voice their opinion. You can't deny the fact that those guys have been making some incredibly egotistical comments since they started announcing the website. It's as if they were the second coming of jesus. Their articles and video coverage has been average at best, not bad, nothing extraordinary. Now they are making a documentary about them? Fuck that. I shouldn't care about the person behind the articles. I want their articles to speak for themselves. They are trying too hard. It's sad. I respect the McElroy brothers as much as anyone from the GB crew but this isn't like them.

Pretentious bullshit.sitesnit even up for:7 fu ks sake

I like documentaries, I like most the people behind polygon, I like the aesthetic they have shown to be aiming for with the site and it's goals. I am sad that the site doesn't exist right now.

They released a teaser, for a trailer, for a documentary, for a videogame website that still does not exist. You read that right; a teaser for a full trailer for their documentary. That in itself is ridiculous, and I'm not even touching the pretentious bullshit content of the teaser. You can already see the spin. First they lashed out via twitter and in comments on their own site, now they're making jokes about documentary videos on twitter and blaming it on the video production arm of the company. Way to burn some bridges..

The way Arthur handled himself on twitter on top of the other shit i have 0 interest in the site.

First episode is up.

Not much to say since not a ton happened in 8 minutes. It was fine, but it was a little weird seeing Arthur Gies being interviewed while getting a tattoo. I like Arthur, but it looked weird. Maybe it wasn't his idea, I dunno.

No Timebelt in the documentary? No thank you.

But seriously between Crecente's horrible, horrible work and the 'Presented by Internet Explorer' stuff this doesn't really do anything to raise my confidence. I like J Mc though.

This documentary is like the Lebron press conference.

Also, Arthur Gies is no longer in my book.

@Deusx said:

I respect the McElroy brothers as much as anyone from the GB crew but this isn't like them.

Which is why I'm looking forward to the next E3 podcast so that Ryan can make fun of Justin for it.

@MiniPato said:

@Deusx said:

I respect the McElroy brothers as much as anyone from the GB crew but this isn't like them.

Which is why I'm looking forward to the next E3 podcast so that Ryan can make fun of Justin for it.

Oh that is going to be hilarious.

@Deusx said:

@MiniPato said:

@Deusx said:

I respect the McElroy brothers as much as anyone from the GB crew but this isn't like them.

Which is why I'm looking forward to the next E3 podcast so that Ryan can make fun of Justin for it.

Oh that is going to be hilarious.

Hopefully he remembers. Ryan took a nice jab at the Verge during the Olympic games Olympiad. Specifically, about them blowing things out of proportion.

So Polygon automatically adjusts depending on available screen area. Welcome to HTML 5. The revolution has begun. Those polygon guys are amazing. I'm sold. Must have took them all of about 2 days to code that. For fucks sake, tested.com does this. I hope this isn't their main selling point.

Throw in your extended looks at new video games with an ironic name like ooh i dunno "quick look" and you have a modern video games website.

Good luck to em.

@paulwade1984 said:

So Polygon automatically adjusts depending on available screen area. Welcome to HTML 5. The revolution has begun. Those polygon guys are amazing. I'm sold. Must have took them all of about 2 days to code that. For fucks sake, tested.com does this. I hope this isn't their main selling point.

Throw in your extended looks at new video games with an ironic name like ooh i dunno "quick look" and you have a modern video games website.

Good luck to em.

Wow, wow, wow. Wow. Easy killer.

It does sound kind of pretentious but I don't really care.

I really enjoy the content they've published so far. Nearly everything has been educational and fascinating to read. It's up there with Giant Bomb as a site I visit for the quality of the content rather than just the latest breaking news/trailers that anyone can throw up on a website.

They do have a quality editorial team. I don't know what makes it the "best" but they've proven to me that the praise from the rest of the journalistic community back when they just opened wasn't for nothing.

I really liked the 1st episode.

Has anyone seen any of the episodes? They must be on their 5th episode by now, right?

@Coafi said:

Has anyone seen any of the episodes? They must be on their 5th episode by now, right?

The episode they are on right now has them working with KISS to save Santa and it's pretty goddamn wild. I didn't know Justin could play bongo drums so well.

@Coafi said:

Has anyone seen any of the episodes? They must be on their 5th episode by now, right?

I've seen two. All pretentiousness aside, it's pretty cool. I'll watch the McElroys in whatever I can get anyways.

I've watched all the episodes so far, and it's not really that pretentious. Mostly they're talking about how you build a website. It's pretty interesting, actually.

They've apparently received $750k from Microsoft to make this happen:

@FluxWaveZ: $750 grand for a self-congratulating documentary series?

What the fuck?

Wait, what? It's not that interesting, right? Am I missing something?

I mean, okay I guess. Pretty self-indulgent maybe, especially considering how that website already seems to love itself a bit. Perhaps that part is just in my head, but this is definitely strange. Like you're setting up a website. Lots of people do it. You're not that awesome that you warrant yourselves a documentary.

I do like reading stuff on The Verge's gaming section, and go there with some frequency, but what? I mean how much do these guys have to love themselves? How awesome do they think they are? It's a website. Prove yourself first, then people may ask for a documentary, but truthfully no one would probably ever do or understand such a project because getting a userbase that interested is a remarkably hard and commendable achievement. Like, if Giant Bomb hadn't humbly yet thoroughly documented its birth and growth up until today as an organic part of itself, and for some reason were as beloved as they are today, it would probably warrant a documentary. Giant Bomb is a glowing, awesome exception, and it got to where it is also in large part due to its humility.

I'm sort of selective about the video game websites I regularly check, maybe because there are so many out there to chose from that following too many of them becomes, to an extent, sort of redundant (this is one of the reasons why I appreciate Patrick's "Worth Reading", since it selects content that's often great from websites I don't regularly check), yet their section on the Verge captivated me a bit, and that kind of makes it conflicting to think "screw these pretentious, portentous twats".

EDIT: The more I learn about this, the more I feel like this is ridiculous, and making me lose respect and credibility in these people.

EDIT AGAIN: Okay, fuck it, they don't even deserve the tepidness and euphemisms I employed there. To call yourselves the "best editorial team" is just straight up arrogant. This isn't a product you're selling, you don't have to talk like a marketing campaign, you should try to write well and get people to check your site because of that.