The Style and Format


Getting your hook is half the battle, but the war is not yet won. Your press release must be professional and well written. You need to stay focused. Pick your hook and stick with it. You can always send out another press release with another hook. Richard Aihoshi, editor-in-chief of IGN Vault Network finds that simple, straightforward writing that gets to the point and doesn't try to do too much makes for a good press release. "The press releases I consider best are short and contain only one central message, which means they don't risk diluting the central message by trying to convey secondary ones at the same time," says Aihoshi.

Gamespot PC Platform's editor, Andrew Park, wants to know a game's developer, publisher, release date, plus a brief summary of what the game is about, including any distinguishing features such as noteworthy licenses or brands, "as well as some sort of brand new or updated information on the product itself." What he doesn't want is "repeated bombardment" of press releases that simply reiterate what has already been revealed in a previous press release. "The best press releases have a good deal of information and don't necessarily have to come out every week," says Park. "Some of the worst ones have barely any new information and come out every week, or even worse, multiple times a week. These should be avoided at all cost."

The Top-Down Approach

So, you have your hook and it's fresh. Now, it's time to put finger to keyboard and start putting it together. As you're doing this, you need to remember to work "top down." That is, place the bulk of your facts in the first couple of paragraphs of the release and then use the remainder of your release to elaborate. Don't make the news editor search for the facts and the story. A press release should be written in such a manner that a publication could remove everything but the first couple of paragraphs and still have a complete story.

The 400-Word Rule

Be clear and concise in your writing. Your press release should be in the 400-word range. You should be able to hit the high points of your story and include a short "bio" on your company and still be comfortably in that range. The 400-word range certainly isn't a hard-and-fast rule, but it's a good one to follow. If you ultimately distribute your press release via services such as PRNewswire or Businesswire, you will typically find that their fees increase when the press release exceeds 400 words.

Quotes

As you tell your story, make sure it reads like a story. Take a look at a business article in your morning paper. You'll probably see at least one quote from a relevant party. Put a quote or two in your press release. Who at your company would be appropriate to comment on the subject of your story? Quote that person saying something interesting about the game or the event. At the risk of widespread disillusionment, most quotes in press releases are fabrications of the PR people. Just make certain the person you're quoting approves the quote.

Simplicity

Be sure to simplify the technical language in your press release. Keep in mind that the person reading the press release is most likely not a programmer. Yes, you might have a completely new way of compressing bounding volume data for arbitrary polygon meshes, dramatically reducing memory footprint compared with traditional bounding volume approaches without sacrificing any runtime performance, and enabling you to create worlds of a greater size and scope than was previously possible. However, unless you're press release is for hyper technical journals, you're going to only succeed in putting the news editors to sleep.

There is no need to write in a condescending manner; just keep it smartly simple and always entertaining. Rather than expounding on the technical minutiae, focus on the ultimate point: the technical advances incorporated in your game make its worlds more detailed and robust than any other game on the market. Leave the dramatically reduced memory footprint and compressed bounding volume data for "water cooler" chatter and GDC or E3 sessions.

Finally, as you wrap up your release, be sure to include a short "About Your Company" paragraph. Spend some time creating a two to three sentence summary of your company, including who you are and what you do. You can use this brief bio at the end of every press release.

Proofread. Proofread. Proofread.

Now that you've written your release, it's time to proofread. And then proofread again. And then have someone else proofread. Yes, even simple grammatical errors are noticed. While some of these gamer sites are run by kids just trying to get free games, most are run by professionals, and sloppy press releases connote sloppy, unprofessional people. No one wants to follow up with a sloppy, unprofessional person. Although good grammar and proper spelling seem to have become a lost art, and even though you and your buddies communicate just fine, the news editors might have gone to school when proper grammar still meant something. They might be well aware of the difference between "your" and "you're," possessives and plurals, and, whether it makes any sense or not, "tough" is not spelled "tuff."

Make Sure You've Written for Your Audience.

Additionally, as you're proofreading, keep your audience in mind. Does the press release appeal to your audience? While your ultimate audience is the person reading the news, your first audience is the gaming press. Who are these people? Well, they're males—mostly. When asked about the male/female ratio of game reviewers at Gamespot, Andrew Park noted that, "currently it's infinity, which is what you get when you divide by zero." While the age range of the gaming press is typically viewed as very young, Park reports the average age of Gamespot reviewers as mid-20s to early 30s. Aishoshi of IGN sees an age range of 16 to mid-50s. He also notes the male to female ratio as "about five males to one female over the course of our existence." Take a glance down the editor photos in a PC Gamer and you'll see a row of seven white, male faces and, at least at the time this article was written, one female face.

So, what does all that mean in terms of your press release? Not to say that these guys aren't in touch with their feminine side, but your best bet will be to focus on the "dude!" elements of your story. How many levels? How many Mechs? How many weapons? Any intense bands on the soundtrack? While the number of female gamers appears to be growing, like it or not, until more women join the ranks of the gaming media, you should probably focus on the guy-appealing aspects of your game.

Accompanying Materials

Gaming news editors also want to see screenshots—lots of them. Make sure you take plenty of screenshots and make them high resolution while you're at it. You can always compress them later for e-mailing purposes. If you're sending out a press release, send out a new round of screenshots as well. They also like demos and trailers. Keep in mind that they need you as much as you need them. They need content that will attract an audience.




Secrets of the Game Business
Secrets of the Game Business (Game Development Series)
ISBN: 1584502827
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 275

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