My Paper Challenge: Video Games

So I'm about two weeks away from the end of my paper challenge. If you missed the original post, here it is. Anyway, as part of the project, I said I would give updates on how things were going.

One of the biggest paper contributors in this challenge thus far has been the video game companies that send me their games to review. That picture on the right is no joke. That is my mail nearly every day. Inside each of the 6-8 packages is a bunch of stapled press releases that mean absolutely nothing to me. It's breakdowns of what makes the game so "fun" and a "must review" kind of title. As if that is really going to sway me. About 85% of the time, I can tell upon opening the package whether its a game I am going to review or not.

Not that I am a dick about what I review. But when I get six games a day, and only review three a week, the math is against me and the game companies at every turn. Seeing all this worthless paper included in the packages just doesn't make any sense. If other reviewers are persuaded by this stuff, then I don't know what to tell you. The amount of paper these companies could save by skipping these included press sheets is staggering. Plus, you must remember that I get all the EXACT same info through the companies, whose reps e-mail me nonstop, which makes more sense than printing it all out.

Besides griping about it here, I have started making inquiries to the PR reps about not including the paper in mailings anymore. We'll see what comes of it. Maybe it's the start of getting changes made.