Instead of Screenshotting Games Like Everyone On The Entire Planet, The New York Times Inexplicably Photographs TVs

Video game journalists catch a lot of mostly unearned flack nowadays – says a member of that very same cabal, sure, but we have plenty of examples of how games journalism used to be so much worse. The readers who miss the “good old days” of video game coverage will perhaps be very happy to learn that the New York Times is doing a great job at replicating many of the dumbest mistakes of the past.

Patrick Klepek, one of the new and presumably evil game journos of today has spotted a very particular aspect of NYT's coverage of Elden Ring. That piece is already getting a lot of crap for claiming that the game is only enjoying massive critical and commercial success because of the pandemic – that thing that made common folk so much richer and more capable of buying expensive games, so let's quit that so that we can focus on giving it crap for a different reason. Klepek noticed that their coverage doesn't feature screenshots of the actual game, but rather photos snapped at a TV running the game. 

That's a look even the Iron Fist Alexander NPC would consider jarring, and Alexander is an actual jar. Are they afraid of some legal repercussions? Are they trying to look retro? Some retro stuff used to be much better than anything we can replicate nowadays, but that doesn't apply to everything. Taking pictures of TV screens is what gaming magazines resorted to back in the old days, but that's because they didn't have a better alternative.

If only we were talking about a game that didn't feature a brilliant photo mode and even a few unofficial extra tools that allow people to create breathtaking photos...

Most baffling of all is how the NYT actually replied to Klepek telling him that the choice is indeed a style one. Man, they should have just whatabouted themselves out of this one by saying that at least they're not IGN India mistaking obvious spoof pieces for reputable news sources.

Top Image: FromSoftware, xam3lpt