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Although we're certain you're more than copacetic here at Complex VG, we have a few suggestions of some other great sites you should be following. We know we love to visit them for their various strengths, so take a look at some of the top tier video game coverage sites that are on our radar.
Of course, this isn't the be all and end all of lists. We had quite a few sites on our...sights (G4, Gamespy, Ars Technica, MTV Multiplayer to name just a few), but we're confident these will help you on the road to not missing a beat when it comes to the video game industry.
VGChartz
When it comes to raw sales data for the video game industry, this place takes the cake. From monthly hardware figures to title-by-title breakdowns, the data collected by VGChartz is presented in easily digested formats. On top of that, it's almost always accurate, despite many game companies' desire to keep such information private. The other sites under the VGChartz umbrella—gamrFeed, gamrReview, gamrTV and gamrConnect—are all worth checking out in their own rights, as well.
Touch Arcade
"Keeping you in touch with the latest in iPhone gaming"
While there no doubt exists a portion of gamers who continue to view mobile gaming with misplaced, righteous disdain, those people are silly and we want nothing to do with them. The rest of you can get all the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and i-Whatever-Else gaming news you can handle from Touch Arcade. Sure, there are dozens of sites that attempt to cover the same topics, but Touch Arcade is the most consistent of the bunch. If it's on an Apple product and it's worth playing, they're covering it at Touch Arcade.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
"PC gaming since 1873"
In this day and age, it's become almost rare to meet a PC gamer. After all, the heyday of computer gaming is over—at least, that's what most people would probably tell you. Rock, Paper, Shotgun is proof otherwise, though. The blog is run by only four contributors, but their coverage of PC gaming is extensive and in-depth. Their partnership with Eurogamer doesn't hurt, either.
Kotaku
"The Gamer's Guide"
Although their editorial team is rather small, Kotaku is one of the most popular gaming blogs around. The site's unique voices cover whatever they feel like covering, be that the latest blockbuster or Japan's obsession with giant, bouncing breasts. The content is never-ending, and as part of Gawker's substantial blog empire, they've got the scratch to hit every industry event, despite the small team.
Kill Screen
Kill Screen was created in 2010 to combat what many see as the death of print media; co-founder Chris Dahlen wants the high-quality, quarterly magazine to fill a niche in hardcore gamers' lives like vinyl records do for audiophiles. Each issue covers a different theme and comes packed with original artwork and articles, and the 'zine's web counterpart covers everything from indie gems to original gaming comics. They're funny, too.
Joystiq
There's not a whole lot to say about Joystiq, which is not to say we don't recommend it. It's just that the site has had a rather tepid history. No shakeups, no controversies—just steady growth since its inception in 2004, solid content and an able cast of editors and contributors. The blog's main page can be further divided by gaming platform, and the Joystiq podcast is worth a listen, too.
Industry Gamers
"Informing the games industry"
While most gaming news sites focus on the games, Industry Gamers prefers to cover the industry itself. The site's categories include financial news, updates on interactive entertainment laws, and news specific to each current platform—including social games. For those looking to keep up on the business side of the gaming industry, there's no better tool…(except, perhaps, for VGChartz, which you'll also see in this list.)
IGN
IGN is a behemoth of video games journalism. There's no modest blog format or small team of editors here. This site is all business, which is why they get the big scoops and the big numbers. What that means for readers is exclusive content and consistently high-quality writing and video segments. IGN began in 1996 as the Imagine Games Network (in case you were wondering about the acronym), and in 2011 the Guinness Book of World Records crowned them the most-visited video games website. Seriously, that's impressive.
Giant Bomb
Giant Bomb is to video games what Wikipedia is to real life, which is to say it's an incredibly useful reference tool. But it's also a bustling community of like-minded gamers, a source for original content and fresh news, and more. It was founded in 2008 by industry mainstays Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis, and Time Magazine recently deemed it one of the top 50 sites of the year. Well done, boys.
GameSpot
Launched in 1996, GameSpot is one of the oldest gaming sites around, and it's truly a pillar of the industry. Like its rivals, GameSpot is an all-inclusive smorgasbord of gaming goodness. Plus, the site's forums are shared by sister-CNET-site GameFAQs, a resource that's probably single-handedly responsible for the death of the strategy guide. Even though strategy guides still exist. Who the hell is buying those, anyway?
Gamesradar
Gamesradar is yet another heavy-hitting blog in the video games industry, and they've got all the usual bells and whistles to back up their big numbers: videos, reviews, editorials, you name it. Like many of their contemporaries, they were launched in the mid 2000s. Apparently this was a good time to start a video game website, what with the new generation of consoles on the cusp of launching. Too bad I was still chewing the backs of pens off in high school. Sigh.
Gamers with Jobs
Gamers with Jobs appeals to an important, albeit narrow, subset of video game fandom (wait for it): those with jobs. It's "a safe haven for all the girls and guys who grew up with games and have families to feed and bills to pay," according to their User Guide. It's also home to original editorial content, a great podcast and an impressive cast of contributors. And don't worry—you can still join even if you're unemployed like the rest of us.
GamePro
GamePro is another example of a magazine that's somehow managed to survive through the last decade—and in the US, no less. The print version and the website underwent massive overhauls in 2009, the results of which left the brand poised to thrive for years to come, despite a slew of recent leadership changes. Considering the magazine was first published in 1989, the fact they're still kicking ass today is more than impressive in an industry as fickle as ours.
Game Politics
"Where Politics and Video Games Collide"
Game Politics covers a unique but important niche in video game journalism: the politics of playing games. This includes changing tides within the industry, of course, but it doesn't stop there. Video games have plenty of detractors, and Game Politics keeps readers updated on everything they're doing to try to stop people from enjoying games—from unconstitutional legislation to harmful media coverage of the industry. And there's always a lively discussion in the comments. It's no wonder the Entertainment Consumers Association (a non-profit dedicated to defending gamers) acquired the site in 2006.
Gamasutra
"The Art & Business of Making Games"
As another site dedicated to the business of the gaming industry, Gamasutra stands out in a few ways. For one, their jobs(http://www.gamasutra.com/jobs/) section is extensive and frequently updated. Anyone seriously looking to get a job in game development had better be checking it regularly. The site's geared toward developers, and they tend to flock there, making it an important resource no matter what side of the industry you're currently on.
Eurogamer
It's unfortunate that our friends across the Atlantic often get shafted when it comes to release dates, but at least they have Eurogamer to help ease the pain. The site is one of the UK's biggest sources of game journalism content, and they also happen to have hosted the Eurogamer Expo—"the UK's biggest dedicated video games event"—every year since in 2008. Last year's expo was attended by more than 20,000, and this year's is set to be held Sept. 22-25.
The Escapist
The Escapist is probably most famous for Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw's irreverent "Zero Punctuation" video reviews, although the site's got plenty more to offer. A new set of similarly-themed articles is published online every Tuesday, and the writing is always top-notch. In 2008, The Escapist won both a Webby Award and People's Voice Award, and they hold an annual series of polls (known as "March Mayhem") to determine the most popular developer in the industry (Minecraft developer Mojang AB won for 2011). They accept submissions from basically anyone, too, making them a great resource for struggling games writers. I would know.
Edge
Edge is one of the most successful print gaming publications in existence, and it stands alone as one of the few magazines that seems to remain completely unaffected by the decline in print media that's supposed to have occurred over the last decade or so. In fact, they recently started using higher quality paper and hiked up their prices. Maybe Brits just appreciate physical magazines more than US readers. That said, Edge is just about as good as games journalism gets.
Destructoid
Destructoid is another site that offers up high-quality original content in an easily-digested blog format. The community around the site is booming, and each member has space to sound off in their own personal blogs hosted on the site. "Destructoid is a video game lover's sanctuary," as they put it, and they've got the numbers to back that up—as they're more than happy to share.
Computer and Video Games
UK-based CVG is the kind of site you want to check at the very end of the day; their news coverage of the industry is positively exhaustive, and you'll drive yourself crazy trying to read every headline they publish. That's definitely not a bad thing. To top it off, they're not the type of publication to shy away from bias, and they tend to inject their own peculiarly British brand of snarkiness into almost every post. Headlines like "Kinect is a bit f***ed, isn't it?" are pretty eye-catching, after all.
Cheap Ass Gamer
Video games are expensive, and there's a cheap ass gamer in all of us. This aptly named site tracks deals on games, hardware and everything in between with the help of dedicated editors and community members, and they've even got a podcast to go along with it. They dedicate entire posts to new releases, organizing every possible way to save money on each title into convenient bites. For gamers on a budget (and who among us isn't?), there's no greater resource.
Casual Gameplay
Indie games are gaining more and more steam as the industry focus shifts away from big, expensive blockbusters. Unfortunately, that means it'll only be a matter of time before "indie" just becomes another marketing buzz word, like it has in the music industry. That's why Casual Gameplay is important; its coverage of indie and casual games is unmatched. The site also hosts regular-ish flash game design competitions, the results of which are usually worth checking out. It doesn't get much more indie than that.
Bitmob
"Where Community Meets the Press"
Bitmob is unique in that much of their content is written by their dedicated and talented community of amateur contributors. Anyone at all can submit a story to the site's "mobfeed," and the best ones are handpicked by Bitmob editors and featured on the front page. Co-founders Demian Linn and Dan Hsu (fresh off his lengthy stint as editor-in-chief of Electronic Gaming Monthly) wanted to do something unique when they launched the site in 2009, and the loyal and impressive following they've already amassed is proof enough that if you build it, they will come.
Andriasang
The video game industry originated in Japan, and some of its most important elements remain there today. That's part of the reason Andriasang is a site every gaming enthusiast should be reading. The blog covers the Japanese game industry in great detail and, more importantly, in English. Developer interviews are translated, Japanese sales figures are analyzed, and games that American players would never hear of otherwise are previewed, reviewed and dissected. Andriasang is a constant source of headlines for other English language sites, and there's good reason for that.
1UP
"Where gamers call home"
1UP is the online companion to Electronic Gaming Monthly, one of the greatest print gaming magazines ever. Despite a rocky history (EGM was shut down for most of 2009, and a huge chunk of the site's staff was laid off the same year), 1UP continues to be a source of exclusive and original content. Their unique online cover stories are often released one article at a time, whetting readers' appetites for more and keeping us coming back like trained dogs. It's a strategy, and it totally works.
