Ian you lucky devil. I've had nothing but sorrow from Sony Asia getting ANYTHING from them, even when I'm using the muscle of one of the bigger papers I write for *sorrow*

On the flip side, Popcap is great in Europe *thumbs up* Since I'm a freelancer and use gmail it's sometimes hard to get PR/devs to believe in me (I have to actually include a cc to my bosses with "proper" magazine emails) but Popcap never once disbelieved me.

James: There's a reason that PR is nicknamed "The Dark Side" you know ;)

Packing more information into a press release would be great (You have no idea how many press releases I've read contain absolutely NOTHING worth nothing, or only skim the surface on details). I understand PR is there to hype up the game alongside Marketing, but Christ above guys, I need SOMETHING to go on when I find something interesting to write a story on.

Some might see it as "manipulating the press to print what we(PR) want" which is true - a lecturer in one of my classes actually discussed this issue with my class in university. I tend to see it as aiding the journalist.

Unlike, say, a hard news story on the latest happenings in Iraq or covering a minister's event, games are pretty much set-in-stone in the sense that changes can occur, but more often than not most of the good stuff is already planned by the time a press release comes out. A preliminary press release might have nothing to go on - the devs truly might have absolutely nothing other than a cool name and an idea in their head - but getting ready to follow that up in the future would be more helpful than simply having the one release and praying journalists will jump on the story.

It doesn't always happen, because we're flooded with work and emails from other competing sources. If you can hook our interest (and yes, I know some call it manipulation) then that's what's important. If you can't hook MY interest, what makes you think it'll hook the interest of the reader?

Yes, a triple-A title like Halo: Reach probably doesn't need to do much work at all, but if you're working for something new and small, you need to work a little harder to reach us. ;)

Interesting topic.

I'm a long-time developer, primarily as a programmer, but have recently added publicity and promotion, and press relations. As it's far from my core strengths, it's been quite a learning experience.

I read about these SMRs a while back. At the time, my gut feeling was that this wasn't something that journalists asked for, but something PR guys thought was cool or trendy.

PR is a dirty word, though I guess the job of PR should be to make the job of the press easier. To send only relevant and newsworthy pitches and press releases, and to help them as much as possible to provide any information they need.

SMRs might be an attempt at the latter, but could easily be interpreted by the press as exercising more control over the complete story. However, if the press are used to traditional press releases, then they are no doubt extremely efficient in skimming through them. Any new kind of format is going to slow them down and make their job harder unless everyone switches to that format.

Perhaps the serious game journalists that are already bemoaning the fall of quality journalism are also more likely to be against making it easier for the copy-paste bloggers.

"I have absolutely no idea how much I'll hear back from a press release or a single tweet, perhaps I will try both and see which generates the most results!"

Emily: Yeah, that can be one of the most frustrating things... sending into a black hole. Rationally I know that the press get so many releases each day that if they were to return feedback they'd never get anything done, so far easier to just delete. Doesn't make the feeling any easier though.

Eric: You sound pretty jaded about the industry. Which aspects do you still enjoy? No offence intended. I agree that it doesn't seem like much PR work is required for basic coverage of major game titles (or anything from major publishers). The games tend to sell themselves. It becomes more difficult for the developers that are lesser known, or don't fit into the usual categories.

Eric, you do seem to be moaning a lot about what's wrong, with little discussion of how you'd put it right.

@Scott - Yea, I'm pretty jaded about it. Journalism hasn't progressed one tiny bit since I started reading what people were writing. As for what I like, I still love playing and talking about games, but journalism and what has gotten popular largely drove me away from writing. And for your last point, I suppose from the view of a journalist and seeing what PR puts out and having dealt with a wide variety of PR folks, I still don't see how it can even be hard for lesser known devs. Maybe they don't love what they're pitching or they don't know what circles their fanbase runs in or don't know how to pitch something to make it recognized. But as someone who posts on a number of boards and knows where people congregate and know how to communicate with gamers, it just doesn't strike me as a hard job. It's one of the reasons I've never pursued PR, I think I'd be bored. Though I'll admit, every time I see a genre and genre-descriptor leading a a release, something somewhere deep in my brain drives me to want to do PR just so I don't have to read "Sci-Fi FPS" or "casual sports-title" ever again. Examples of decent PR from lesser known devs (or at least arguably lesser known) include NISA and KOEI. As silly as the releases are sometimes, I always read them. Jarik's releases are always straight-up serious business and Nao's are always absolutely off the wall. It both works for their types of personalities. Though they both fall back on totally boring genre descriptors every once in a while. I suppose that's a big piece of advice I could give - Stop putting filler in your PR. No one cares.

@Lewis - Solving problems is for symposiums and people getting a paycheck. It's not my job to tell people how to fix their chosen profession. That's up to them to figure out. But I can say that given how much filler advertising-driven websites need, if they're not posting press releases, there's probably a good reason.

I am getting dangerously close to writing a list of 10 commandants thou shalt not break after reading some of the stuff on Gameleon though. But that would take effort (and time). Oh, here's one though - don't use ALLCAPS in your releases. Man, shit, that drives me nuts. STOP SCREAMING AT ME, MYSTERY EMAIL SALESPERSON.

Thanks everyone for keeping this going overnight. Lots of interesting new points to think about.

@ Lewis - cutting out the middleman

I'm all for it. I work for the developer, there's no publisher involved and we don't use a PR agency. You want to talk about our game you can come straight to me, and I'd prefer it that way. And thanks for that article you referred to as well. Very interesting. 

@ Eric - good games speak for themselves

This is only true to an extent. A great game does make it easier, but it's certainly no guarantee. The proof is in the article or forum thread you'll find on many gaming sites that reads, "The greatest games you've never heard of" or similar. There are many examples of critically acclaimed games failing to sell well. That stories like that exist is the failure of both marketing and PR (which I'm glad you distinguish between). 

@ everyone - PR being an easy job

Well of course it is, but being an adequate PR person is no harder than being an adequate games writer, agreed?   Just as you likely joined this site with the aim of becoming a better games journalist, so I'm interested in becoming a better games marketer. Who was it who said, "Nothing worth doing is easy"?

@ Eric - coverage on NeoGaf or Kotaku

Overrated in terms of influence in my opinion. Those sites you bemoan, whose only editorial policy is a set number of updates per hour don't give me anything I need as a marketer. A good example is a recent press release of ours that got picked up by a German blog on Friday and by Monday it was 34 pages down from their home page.  

@ Emily and Scott - when you're the little guy

Yes, I agree with you that it's harder when you're the little guy. When you work for an unknown developer, as I do, making their first game, which also happens to be a new IP, then it is hard to get coverage from some of the more respected sites. And as for those news churning sites, well, it is frustrating when they choose to write about a Mario birthday cake rather than the game you've spent years working on, but for that very reason you shouldn't worry about them.

@ Eric - NISA press releases

Thanks for pointing those out. I liked the style and compared to what you see on Games Press everyday they really stand out. That's what I was getting at with my original post. As I learn about PR it seems that some things are done a certain way because that's just the way they've always been done. The NISA press releases do something different and are all the better for it.

Phew, that will do for now. To end, I'd also like to cast a vote for a "preview before publishing" button please.

Just a little note to inform you all we are working on this

@James - They aren't overrated. You seem to have forgotten that if something is posted anywhere on the internet, it shows up in the forums where it belongs within minutes. My website is piddly shit compared to some of the big players out there but when I post a scathing interview or review or any sort of exclusive information on anything, within 2 hours, it's EVERYWHERE. People search out and find what they want and then they go and tell all the fans of such a thing via forums and such as soon as their little fingers will let them. Kotaku and NeoGAF are great ways to reach the masses, even if the sites are total unreadable trash. On niche titles, your best chance is to find your fans. The toughest road you have ahead of you is that you have to market Another Sci-Fi FPS. Sure, it has a hook, but what game doesn't these days. A hook is neither here nor there though if the multiplayer isn't awesome, and if it isn't awesome, word will spread like a brushfire no matter how awesome you are at getting eyes on your PR. In other words, you're entering a market where despite the quality of YOUR work, people either will or won't care. Also, no bullshots.

Oh, here we go, right here on Gamelon: http://www.gameleon.net/listing.php?user=Chaloner&listing_id=9

Under the knife:

Kalypso Media have today announced the release of Tropico 3 for Microsoft®'s Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®. In what was previously a PC exclusive title (We know it's a gaming system! Who do you think is going to publicize this? National Geographic? Shit, I'm sure they know too!) This release will see Kalypso Media enter the next-generation console market where they will be concentrating exclusively on Microsoft platforms.

The Xbox 360 release of Tropico 3 will be developed by Haemimont Games in Bulgaria who are also responsible for the development of the PC version for Kalypso Media.

Tropico 3 will be released on Xbox 360 and PC this September. For more information please visit the game website www.tropico3.com

Stefan Marcinek, Global Managing Director Kalypso Media Group said “The Tropico 3 release on the Xbox 360 is a first for Kalypso and marks the beginning of an exciting entry into the console market. Throughout 2010 Kalypso Media have plans to release four titles in tandem on both the Xbox 360 and PC. Through this we will be able to demonstrate our strong PC Line up with new multiplatform games and this gives us some great opportunities for the year ahead.” (Nobody cares. I mean NOBODY.)

-

In short, if you're going to write a crappy, boring, plain-jane Press Release - at least be concise. I'm dead serious when I say no one gives a shit what that guy said. People might post it, but readers could NOT care less what the Global Managing Director Kalypso Group Media (wtf?) said.

I've actually set up a site in the last 8 hours (it's amazing what you can do when you don't need sleep) where I'm dumping PR straight from my mailbox and leaving all the typos and fuckups in tact. I'm half-tempted to actually butcher each one to make a point. But then, that would take work.

Edit: Full disclosure - I'm absolutely, totally hyped for Tropico 3. But that doesn't save PR from a red pen.

Well clearly you are allowed an opinion but you should know your subject matter before you start ripping press releases apart.

All press release for either Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft systems have to go through approval with them before being released into the public domain.

Microsoft actually insist that the line about the "video game and entertainment system" is included in the press release so you can't really blame the author for that one can you?

I guess I can't for that line! But now I know who to blame. That said, it's not their fault, but it's Microsoft's. Obviously the fault had to lie somewhere, and in this case I'm glad it's not with the developer.

Edit: Just went through a handful of press releases, and yea, it seems to be their answer to Sony's "computer entertainment system" bit. Man, the big three need to not dictate unnecessarily wordy shit be added to PR that gamers will totally gloss over. It just makes things seem more boring than they already are.

Are there any other examples of companies doing this or is it just something that has to trail console specific release news once per release?