A review is not something to hold up as wonderful or great journalism, but it still contains the notion that the writer needs to explain and convey to the reader the importance of things. That's what reporting does too to the point of a cliche.
When Hobbes "writes the news" he's doing what a bot could do faster and better.
Let's take Hobbes story on Bungie:
Bungie, the developer behind the iconic series Halo and the now beloved franchise Destiny, is parting ways with their publisher Activision after almost a decade of partnership. Bungie made the announcement on their website and said that that the transition process is already in the early stages and that both companies are “committed to making sure the handoff is as seamless as possible.”
We have enjoyed a successful eight-year run and would like to thank Activision for their partnership on Destiny. Looking ahead, we’re excited to announce plans for Activision to transfer publishing rights for Destiny to Bungie. With our remarkable Destiny community, we are ready to publish on our own, while Activision will increase their focus on owned IP projects.
The news may be surprising to some, but for years it has been reported that Bungie and Activision’s relationship has been nothing but tense for both parties, with Activision saying that they were disappointed with Destiny 2 Forsaken sales in an earnings call in November.
This is the entire article.
Repeats a bunch of random information to me, like how Bungie did Halo. Links to a past post of similar construction. Does not anywhere explore the Bungie/Activision deal. Nor does it, as I pointed out on The Bire, realize that it's time for renegotiation of the deal. It doesn't provide the original deal the two signed for perusing. It doesn't even source many of its most important statements. "Nothing but tense" is not backed up at all. There's a source for that, it's Schrierer's piece on Destiny's development. Along with the fact that the original schedule called for four Destiny games by now and they're barely past 2. The context of Activision pretty much handing out Destiny 2 for free by this point is nowhere, even though it's great evidence for how Activision viewed the future of the franchise and why they would bail out. And also provides the other side for why Bungie would, as they don't see Activision supporting them properly.
It doesn't even do rudimentary "factchecking" of the PR statement by pointing out that Bungie always owned the Destiny IP. The "transferring of the publishing rights" is a PR slight of hand to make it look like Activision is granting something it couldn't actually grant.
TLDR: Hobbes should quit his "job" and become a political writer who tweets all day to Kirblar and others who are 99-th percentile readers.
