There’s no two ways about it – print, broadcast and online videogame journalism is largely crap bought and paid for by the publishers. Enter The Escapist. If you can get past their retarded ‘we think we’re a print magazine’ website design and its 6pt type (which you don’t dare enlarge since it completely destroys their layout if you do) you’ll find an absolutely superb webzine that regularly updates its content (1 major and one minor update a week) and is written for an adult demographic by adults who aren’t posing as adolescents. A sample from this week’s issue to whet your curiosity, from a piece on the impact of videogames becoming a mainstream medium:

From a cultural analyst’s perspective, it’s almost painful to watch a unique, complex subculture get swallowed up in America’s hegemonic mainstream. Something may be gained, but something will definitely be lost.

Check it out for more. You can sign up via marketing free email, and if you’re so inclined you can download each issue as a pdf instead of reading it on their site.

(And yes, I’m painfully aware of what’s being lost as the transition to mainstream medium has been taking place. I’d say something snarky like ‘all we need to do is destroy EA and their endless sea of sequels,’ but they’re a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself).