Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Video games/Sources

See also: Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard

This talk page is for discussing the reliability of sources for use in video game articles. If you are wondering if a video game source is reliable enough to use on Wikipedia, this is the place to ask.

When posting a new topic, please add a link to the topic on the Video Game Sources Checklist after the entry for the site. If an entry for the site does not exist, create one for it and include the link to the topic afterward. Also, begin each topic by adding {{subst:find video game sources|...site name...|linksearch=...site URL...}} in order to provide other users with some easily accessible links to check up on the source.

Click here to start a new discussion thread

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ThisIsGame

I brought this website up here once, but after some more examination, I think this website is reliable to use. To recap what was said and what I found out about it:

ThisIsGame has official partnership with Game Developer (formerly Gamasutra), which is marked as reliable on the list, for more than 15 years. Both websites have translated and referred to each other's articles. The founder, Im Sanghun (AKA Simon Lim), was a journalist at Ilgan Sports and The Hankyoreh, both reputable sources in the country. He also has been presented at The Game Awards since 2019 as a judge. Another executive, Hyeon Namil, is an alumni of PC Power Zine, a gaming print magazine. The website generally frequents events (enough to feature its own section) and has done countless field reports and interviews with developers, domestic and foreign.

Per confirmable editorial experience and WP:UBO, I think this has merits to use in articles. Will add to the list if there is no objection. Emiya Mulzomdao (talk) 11:16, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

I second this proposal. ThisIsGame is a major game news outlet in South Korea. MilkyDefer 07:35, 16 December 2024 (UTC)

Movies Games and Tech

Find video game sources: "Movies Games and Tech" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR · free images · free news sources · TWL · NYT · WP reference · VG/RS · VG/RL · WPVG/Talk · LinkSearch · LinkTo

I've seen indie video review coverage for this site being used in a few cases to get across the line in terms of notability, such as for SpongeBob SquarePants: The Patrick Star Game, so it's important to evaluate if this is a reliable source as it turns up in Metacritic.

The site is a general review website for media and toys run by Andrew Edney, a Huffington Post and FHM writer who the About section described as having considerable published authorship and experience on Microsoft and Apple software. The rest of the section seems to have irrelevant non-journalistic minutiae on his IT career. Other contributors seem to have no other journalistic experience. There is no obvious editorial or review policy, only that the site discloses it receives games for review purposes but this does not affect the review.

My own thoughts are leaning unreliable, but I'd like to hear yours too.

ＶＲＸＣＥＳ (talk) 07:35, 27 November 2024 (UTC)

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/andrew-edney

Andrew Edney's Huffington Post were not for the staff, but contributor contents, which are unreliable per WP:HUFFPOCON Emiya Mulzomdao (talk) 04:01, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

GamesFAQs at RSN

There is a discussion about the reliability of GamesFAQs at the Reliable Sources Noticeboard, interested editors should see WP:RSN#GameFAQs. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 00:33, 1 December 2024 (UTC)

Rockman Corner

Is this fansite for the Mega Man series reliable? Normally, the answer would be no, but this website has been referred to by other reliable sources for an unusual number of times:

• Destructoid: [1] [2] [3] [4]
• Eurogamer: [5]
• Time Extension: [6]
• VentureBeat: [7]
• Video Games Chronicle: [8]
• Polygon: [9], [10]
• IGN: [11]

The website has made several exclusive reports that were also cited by other sources, such as an interview with Mega Man 11 Kazuhiro Tsuchiya (Destructoid) and the leak of the cancelled Mega Man Star Force 4 (Siliconera, Destructoid).

Per WP:USEBYOTHERS, this source would be reliable enough to be put on the reliable source list. And the editorial policy, it's really just the founder himself, Brian "Protodude" Austrin, who is an established figure as seen above and does the fact-checking generally professionally. I see no problem in directly citing this for Mega Man topics, although early articles (pre-2010) are not high quality and should be avoided. Emiya Mulzomdao (talk) 10:07, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

I can't think of a single franchise fansite like this that meets our criteria. For example, there's some seriously impressive Sonic or Mario ones...but they still are amateur enthusiast bloggers self-publishing onto the internet. I can't imagine this is different. Sergecross73 msg me 14:13, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

What is the information on this site that is not already applied or unattainable from the sites you mentioned? Not saying this can't be used or not, but is it essential if other content already covers the material? Andrzejbanas (talk) 17:42, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

This. When an unreliable source is carried by other reliable sources, which we trust to apply fact checking and editorial control over, we just use them instead. We're using them to vet the information from a source we'd otherwise not consider reliable. The site is still a self-published fan blog. -- ferret (talk) 17:45, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

There are Japan-exclusive official Mega Man media that rarely gets covered in English, which makes Rockman Corner necessary. Mobile i-mode games on List of Mega Man video games (and other similar pages) are almost completely unsourced and is unlikely to get sourced from major English media because they usually only cover things that get international release. For one example, Mega Man X (video game) article mentions an old mobile port, which currently only cites Japanese website that exists in archive. Using this Rockman Corner feature would makes it easier to describe what this port is.

This website would be placed under lower priority than the other reliable sources, but it sometimes covers what other sources do not, with generally reliable quality, and citing it under limited condition seems like a net positive overall. Emiya Mulzomdao (talk) 11:24, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

I understand your perspective, but there are Japanese reliable sources that can be used instead. Cukie Gherkin (talk) 12:49, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

This. We don't have to use English sources, we can use reliable Japanese sources. Desire for an English source of that information does not add urgency for us to declare an unreliable SPS as reliable just to fill the hole. -- ferret (talk) 14:24, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Basically what was said above. This site might be great for finding the material you are looking for, but if its pointing in the direction of where to find it, then by all means, lets take it from the source in question. Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:22, 9 December 2024 (UTC)

Japanese sources on the information are generally few and scarce, and frankly less reliable, mostly web portals with anonymous writers. Emiya Mulzomdao (talk) 11:26, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

@Emiya Mulzomdao That still doesn't add urgency to declare a self-published blog as reliable just to fill the hole. The actual answer is, if no reliable sources, English or Japanese, are covering a topic, then there is little due weight to include that information. -- ferret (talk) 16:17, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Arcade Express, again

While I did not receive any response when I [Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Video games/Sources/Archive 33 first posted this], I'm bringing it up a second time as I'd like to get any sort of response.

I didn't find anything about this in the archive, but I figured I'd bring it up. Is Arcade Express a reliable source? I've mostly been using it for reviews of 1980s games. Its a newsletter, and per WP:RS/SPS, per "self-published sources are largely not acceptable. Self-published books and newsletters, personal pages on social networking sites, tweets, and posts on Internet forums are all examples of self-published media." That said, it appears to be a newsletter from Electronic Games magazine as a way to publish news faster than their magazine publication ("There is a vast amount of information crossing our desks everyday at Electronic Games magazine. Arcade Express will rush this information to you revery two weeks, to help you keep aware of what's happening in our favourite hobby." (see: [12]))

I've seen it cited in book such as Before the Crash (published by Wayne State University, here) Both The Minds Behind the Games and Ken Horowitz's The Sega Arcade Revolution (published by McFarland) here and here).

If anyone could validate this, it would be really helpful for me in trying to expand these older articles. Andrzejbanas (talk) 17:47, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

If it's a publication done by Electronic Games magazine, a reliable source, then I don't really view it as a separate source. It's just a different delivery mechanism for the same source. -- ferret (talk) 19:56, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

Seconded. Sergecross73 msg me 20:09, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

I think it's at least situational. It's possible that Electronic Games used it as a more unfiltered, unedited form of reporting. That would be my only concern. But it almost goes without saying – if something seems controversial or contradictory, we'd expect more/better sources. Shooterwalker (talk) 21:07, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

All fair. I'm not really interested in it to establish notability of work or anything, but for reviews which for some very early programs and works where its more difficult to find contemporary reviews. I'll try to find branded sources when possible. Thank you all for chiming in Ferret, Sergecross and Shooterwalker! Andrzejbanas (talk) 15:42, 9 December 2024 (UTC)

Sirus Gaming

Find video game sources: "Sirus Gaming" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR · free images · free news sources · TWL · NYT · WP reference · VG/RS · VG/RL · WPVG/Talk · LinkSearch · LinkTo

This one is pretty niche but it might be salvagable. They do have an editor in chief, and a means for reporting issues or corrections.[13] I realize it's nowhere near the same level as IGN. But with those big outlets moving more to user generated content and AI, with fewer actual journalists, I feel like we ought to hang onto what few journalists we can still find. Shooterwalker (talk) 16:09, 13 December 2024 (UTC)

DashFight

DashFight mostly contains coverage about fighting games in general. Here's their additional information on Muck Rack. Kazama16 (talk) 05:04, 14 December 2024 (UTC)

I can't find any information for the writers except being fighting game fans, and About Us is not helping. Its chief-in-editor is Elizbar Ramazashvili, and I couldn't find anything about him before DashFight. Emiya Mulzomdao (talk) 11:36, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Unreliable. No editorial policy, site is primarily a commercial endeavor around fighting game events and tournaments, not journalism. The "Our Services" page doesn't once mention journalism and is about marketing and consulting for esports industry. -- ferret (talk) 16:21, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

JeuxOnLine

Find video game sources: "JeuxOnline" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR · free images · free news sources · TWL · NYT · WP reference · VG/RS · VG/RL · WPVG/Talk · LinkSearch · LinkTo

JeuxOnLine (jv.jeuxonline.info) is a French website focusing on video games; though I've noticed some articles written in English. I was wondering if it could be considered reliable? Trying to figure this out is a bit difficult as I don't know any French. PanagiotisZois (talk) 12:43, 14 December 2024 (UTC)

creativebloq

Find video game sources: "creativebloq" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR · free images · free news sources · TWL · NYT · WP reference · VG/RS · VG/RL · WPVG/Talk · LinkSearch · LinkTo

Owned by Future plc. Seen it a few times while searching game engine articles. My assumption is that it is good. Surprisingly it doesn't seem to be listed anywhere.— Preceding unsigned comment added by J2UDY7r00CRjH (talk • contribs)

Goomba Stomp Magazine

https://goombastomp.com/

I dont see how it meets our standards for being a reliable source. Their About Us page says almost nothing about editorial policy, procedure, credentialed writers, etc. Sergecross73 msg me 23:06, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

I concur. I've seen them show up several times in my searches for things, but no indication that they're actually up to snuff as a reliable source.--Kung Fu Man (talk) 23:12, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

I imagine it'd be difficult to research individual writers credentials either, given their set up. For example, this writer's page doesn't say anything besides a first name of "David" (and the link itself puzzlingly enough says "Eugene" too now that I look at it - https://goombastomp.com/author/eugene/) Sergecross73 msg me 17:39, 25 December 2024 (UTC)

Clearly unreliable; it has the same issues as all the other Nintendo news sites mostly written by fans/amateurs. ~ Dissident93 ^(talk) 21:56, 25 December 2024 (UTC)

Unreliable. Surprised this wasn't listed there already. Nothing about them indicates reliability by any means. Magneton Considerer: Pokelego999 (Talk) (Contribs) 02:15, 27 December 2024 (UTC)