Investigative journalism

[Doomtrooper]

I'm working on a article about internet journalism...the reason is simple from the NV30 rendered pictures, NV30 dates being posted as fact off forums, Quack, Kyle Benett and Matrox to the ED Stroglio rants to the Dentonator drivers showing up on the 8500 launch yet not available to the public.

The internet has become 'dirty' with every Joe putting up some lame rant on every corner of the web, mysterious drivers used against competing products (8500 anyone).
Its not journalism its..'I'm a fan of this company rant time'...so I'll do mine.

 

[Username]

*yawn*

Thank you for saving us Doomtrooper. I dont know where the world would be without you to protect us from the obvious.

 

[DemoCoder]

Well, if you are going to pretend to be a journalist, you better present the full story. If your story is about how only NVDA preannounces products, leaks rumors, drivers, cheats on benchmarks, or misrepresents competitor products, it won't exactly be pulitzer prize winner. After all, we are all familar with the "hack job" journalistic reporting designed to make one particular party look better, whether it's politics, ALAR in apples, how Microsoft is represented in the press, etc.

If you're not interested in actively digging deep and showing how the industry works in general, you'll just be another *boy axe grinding story about NVDA that we've read 100 times over. I mean, where's the outrage over Trident's claims, or the BitBoys PR!?

 

[Sabastian]

IMHO Doomtrooper is entitled to his take on things. I am sure that their are more then a few that will agree with many of his findings/conclusion. There are plenty of matters that seem to get swep under the carpet so to speak. Go ahead Doom write your piece I for one will read it.

 

[3dcgi]

I'd say you can generate hits and satisfy most people with three articles. The first two articles will generate the most hits, but the third article can help your site retain the most dedicated readers.

The preview article will be pretty much like the CineFX article. It presents the charts and information from the company, but you refute comparisions you don't agree with. In this case getting answers from ATi about the R300's feature set before publishing the article would have satisfied some people.

The second article is the initial review. Due to time this article will likely include benchmarks and minimal analysis. The type of benchmarks run should be determined by the site's audience. Remember though, if you're writing for a general audience, not everyone plays first person games. Benchmark an RPG, racing game, etc.

The third article is the in depth review. This article should be written after you've used the card for a while and after a few driver releases. Include technical analysis from yourself or that you've gathered from various places. This article should be targeted at people who want to know the technical details. Also, include some more benchmarks, including ones from a low end pc to see how much driver overhead there is. And it never hurts to sum up each article with your impressions of the product.

On another note I'm impressed with the ability of Nvidia's marketing to generate so much buzz before they've even officially announced a product. I'm sure they're causing some people to hold off on purchasing a new card even though NV30 is still at least 3 or 4 months away.

 

[Doomtrooper]

*yawn*

Thank you for saving us Doomtrooper. I dont know where the world would be without you to protect us from the obvious.

Np anytime....

Funny how peoples feathers get ruffled over a simple comment...and unlike some people I really don't care what people think of me...as long as it has some truth.
There is the virtual world and the Real world, I tend to spend alot of time in the the real one...PC's are a hobby not a life for me.

 

[3dcgi]

The problem with posting large feature charts from NVIDIA is that not everyone is going to actually READ the article. Some will just skim through it, see the charts and be like, "Oh, that is how it must be. R300 sucks." If you don't believe something to be true at all, don't post the charts. Comment on it, but posting the charts is bad IMO.

It is interesting that you comment on Matrox's FAA. Nobody has really covered it at all. Why? A large reason is that matrox won't even spill the beans (even a little), but frankly I'm surprised on the stunning lack of info on even some of the basics behind the algorithm (not to pat my own back, but to show how sad the coverage is, an article I wrote over a year ago has more info on it than anything I've read to date). Could a review work at it and try to figure out what they are doing? Yup. it takes time and research, but it is possible to come up some good theories on it. <Plug myself time> If you subscribe to InovaPC, watch for such an article in the next few months.</Plug myself time>

Alright Dave. You intrigued me enough that I signed up for a free trial issue. Also what article of yours are you refering to. I'm curious how an article you wrote a year ago is even close since FAA hasn't been around that long.

 

[DemoCoder]

Then why do you post so much? Your BB profile says alot.

 

[Doomtrooper]

I have been posting alot lately because of a back injury..laid up so I've had alot more time as of late.

 

[Ty]

I for one am interested in whatever you write DT though admittedly because I'm curious to see if you live up to the standards you constantly preach here. I understand (or think I do anyhow) your 'beef' that this site and/or Reverend seem to be heavily biased towards nVidia which is illustrated by the lack of articles dealing with other companies such as ATI (well, ok imo mostly ATI ). With that said however, since you seem to be ignoring Reverend's constant comment on how he can't get much attention from other companies and how you've said you can, why don't you try to help him instead of just taking potshots from left field?

It's fine that you say you don't care what other people think but if so, then why bother posting if no one else matters but yourself?

 

[noko]

I think Reverends article layed the smack down in what Nvidia wanted to show. It was very clear to me the source of the information Reverend based his article on and I automatically took that perspective. I am not clear how these features will enhance my experience if at all. I see how the more advance features could enhance cinematic type programming which would be useless for me now and in the next year. Even if Nvidia could do some specilized effect that no other card can do, if it ain't used in the programs I used or games I play it really becomes meaningless.

So in other words how useful is this technology and to whom would have been more useful to me. The Radeon 300 could have superior MSAA and better aniostropic filtering making the the beyond DX9 features of the NV30 pointless if they will not be used during the life of my ownership of the card.

I enjoyed the article and finally understand that CG can bring out the use of the NV30 hardware quicker then what we have seen in the past with previous new technology. Also RenderMonkey can do this as well.

Good article Reverend.

 

[Dave]

Alright Dave. You intrigued me enough that I signed up for a free trial issue. Also what article of yours are you refering to. I'm curious how an article you wrote a year ago is even close since FAA hasn't been around that long.

It was on over at Firing Squad. It actually just talked briefly about using coverage masks in anti-aliasing as that wasn't the focus of it. It wasn't anything really in-depth, but it talked about it.

As for this article, it will probably be just about fragment level algorithms. Not just Matrox's, but their algorithm will be discussed greatly. It won't be in the first issue because I'm still in the planning stages on that article, but it is coming. The first issue will have some good graphics stuff too. Nothing overly techy (probably nothing you don't already know), but it will have some tech articles (more like intro articles for those wanting to learn about graphics.. not too basic, but not too advanced).

 

[Username]

How ironic, here is Doom, spreading FUD against a "competitors" currently released (article) product, in an attempt to draw attention to his vaporware (article) product. Maybe you could start that ethical argument by first examining yourself.

 

[Doomtrooper]

You guys crack me up.

 

[jjayb]

I've now seen those charts on more than a few messageboards. They don't include Rev's disclaimers though. That is the problem with putting the charts up knowing that the information in them is wrong. But I guess Rev can't be responsible for what other people do with those charts though.

 

[RussSchultz]

Those charts were from some presentation, as the Rev's article wasn't the first time I had seen them.

 

[Sabastian]

How ironic, here is Doom, spreading FUD against a "competitors" currently released (article) product, in an attempt to draw attention to his vaporware (article) product. Maybe you could start that ethical argument by first examining yourself.

Username.... Doomtrooper has brought up many plausible arguments over the time that I have seen him post. (I have read quite a few of them.) For the most part several of his antagonists are predisposed towards nvidia. Shocked? I'm not. At any rate sure he is partial......but not any more then some here who claim that they aren’t though.(Chalnoth, Democoder, Reverend to name a few. God knows I will pay for this.) Time and time again I have seen him dismissed as a "f@nboy" in spite of the merits of the points he makes. Yet again, I for one am eager to read what his conclusions will be. Mayhap they will shed some light on some real issues that are disregarded simply because the subject is nvidia and their workings. We all recognize that nvidia can do no wrong ..... right? I think it is time that nvidia was "brought down to size" IMO. Nvidia is not that great of a company that ATI ought to be trodden the way it has over the last couple of years. The propaganda surrounding nvidia on that note ought to be burst as well. Doom is doing something (Hopefully.) that IMHO is long past due. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Reverend]

Guys, I'd appreciate more comments on the subject matter of this thread.

If DT wants to write his piece, let him.

NOTE : I don't consider myself a "journalist". I have a keyboard. I have an Internet connection. I know HTML. But I am not a "journalist" at the moment. Maybe I might decide to become a "journalist" or come to be recognized properly as one. That is the purpose for my starting this thread.

 

[Sabastian]

Guys, I'd appreciate more comments on the subject matter of this thread.

If DT wants to write his piece, let him.

Oh ... sorry about that Reverend. I thought that the thread said "Investigative journalism" not "regurgitative journalism"..... sorry bout that, my bad.

EDIT: How nice of you to allow DT to "write his piece".

 

[Username]

Username.... Doomtrooper has brought up many plausible arguments over the time that I have seen him post. (I have read quite a few of them.) For the most part several of his antagonists are predisposed towards nvidia. Shocked? I'm not. At any rate sure he is partial......but not any more then some here who claim that they aren’t though.(Chalnoth, Democoder, Reverend to name a few. God knows I will pay for this.) Time and time again I have seen him dismissed as a "f@nboy" in spite of the merits of the points he makes. Yet again, I for one am eager to read what his conclusions will be. Mayhap they will shed some light on some real issues that are disregarded simply because the subject is nvidia and their workings. We all recognize that nvidia can do no wrong ..... right? I think it is time that nvidia was "brought down to size" IMO. Nvidia is not that great of a company that ATI ought to be trodden the way it has over the last couple of years. The propaganda surrounding nvidia on that note ought to be burst as well. Doom is doing something (Hopefully.) that IMHO is long past due. Just my 2 cents.

Not quite sure what your point is, what I get from reading this is those damn Nvidia fanboys have had thier say, now you want DT to write something to tear down Nvidia because they suck anyway. Did I get that right?

Anyway, the point is how does someone take the moral high road on issues, then engage in the same practices he's rallying against? This is akin to a priest going to see a prostitute right after giving a sermon on the evils of fornication.

I dont have an issue with him writing anything at all, I do have an issue with him using the tactics he supposedly is railing against to detract from other people who have done the work.