This is a post by Wiggymaster on the GoNintendo forums. See it here.
I don't necessarily agree with everything this guy says, but the analogy he's created here is nothing short of brilliant.
This relates to my comment posted here. Be warned; you may not comprehend the references that are to come unless you're well versed in Tolkien's universe. This will also shape up to be the longest post I've ever made here; even longer than the Malstrom one, so, yeah, if long reads aren't your thing, here you go.
What is IGN Nintendo becoming?
I've been visiting IGN longer than I've visited GoNintendo. Much longer. I am probably one of the few here who knows what the letters IGN stood for, as I was subscribed to Imagine Games Network's Hotmail service right after Hotmail was taken over by Microsoft. I was a regular visitor of N64.com even before Nintendo put the kibosh on the domain and forced a change to IGN64.com. In short, I have a long history of using them as a content provider, as they were one of the first providers of gaming news and information on the intertubes. I still believe them to be one of the best content providers in that regard. But they are, in my opinion, in danger of treading down a dark path which will change them irrevocably for the worse.
Many people now see them as nothing more than a front-end for the "anti-Wii" movement, and much like the anti-establishment anti-Obama Tea Party movement in American politics, this movement craves to use any opportunity it can to discredit, marginalize and ultimately defeat Nintendo. Nintendo's blue ocean strategy threatens these people personally, as pathetic as that sounds, in much the same way that "Obama's America" threatens the Tea Party folks - the demographic is changing, and they don't want it to change. In fact, they're hell bent on preventing it from changing, as they see it as the destruction of their relevance in future society, and while one might laugh at the notion of comparing the laws and direction of the most influential country in the world to the gaming industry, you really can't understand unless you understand gamers. I digress, however; IGN is a diverse community of gamers of all types, and the world of gamers is a world in constant turmoil.
I firmly believe that no one, not even sports-enthusiasts, are as passionate about their hobby than gamers. Many gamers' lives have been molded around the mythos of various classic video games, be it the land of Hyrule, the Year 20XX, the multiple worlds of the Final Fantasy universe or countless other examples. Some of us feel such a personal attachment to a game or series of games that they stay with us; our lives are changed by them, much in the same way "the great stories, the ones that really matter", according to Samwise Gamgee, teach you that there's some good in the world worth fighting for. Those gamers, while nowhere close to all-encompassing of the industry, are without question the most gushing over what they like, the most critical and venomous over what they don't like and the most outspoken and involved in the discussion of the industry. They - we - are the "core".
Now, what defines the core? Not the "hardcore" movement of FPS fans and those who slam anything which outputs to less than 1080p as inferior; no, that is merely one section of the core. The core is defined by those who play games regularly, and in that it be further broken up into various factions. To begin, there are those which are so utterly dedicated to Nintendo that they can't see value in anything Nintendo doesn't produce. They are the Nintendo fanboys. They were the first fanboys, and therefore the most die-hard and unable to be swayed, for good or ill. They're not as greedy or demanding as other forms of gamer-life, as their love for Nintendo often compells them to accept and cherish efforts which others wouldn't, and they pass off some of the more undesirable traits of Nintendo's games - quirkiness, childishness, lack of depth or detail - as examples of the genius of the Valar - their overlords at Nintendo. Many of them were born into the world during the age of the NES - an age of purity and innocence, of evergreen beauty and bountiful harvests. They are the Elves; immortal (yet hardly the wisest or fairest of all beings) in the sense that they will always exist as long as Nintendo exists, and they will always yearn for the beauty and splendor of the world as it was when it was first created - the 8 and 16 bit eras - and only seek the power to retain or reproduce sections of that world in what ways they can. 
Valinor? Well, not quite...
The second faction that makes up the core are the console gamers - those with no particular loyalty to a certain brand, but have an appreciation for the beauty that all consoles offer. They labor and toil in the bowels of the Earth seeking the true treasures of the industry, and while they are certainly more greedy and critical of what may come, they also offer the most praise when something of true splendor comes along. Going further into the Tolkien analogy, they are the Dwarves. They seek the riches - jewels of visual beauty, elegance of story and sophistication of game play - but are content to work for them, ever digging in their mountains, searching for anything of value that may be found and exploited. Thus, they spend far more resources such as money and time searching and as such, have come to learn not only to appreciate the kingly treasures they find but even those not-so-kingly, provided they at least have some value. They are the children of Aulë, the crafter, and progress from generation to generation with no real desire other than to harvest the greatness that each one brings. 
A kingly gift...
The third faction is one that has always existed but only recently become more unified - that of the "hardcore" gamer; the gamer that desires power. Without a doubt the most demanding and critical of what titles they perceive as "weak", they're always searching for some nameless artifact which could grant them what they desire to feel the most - the thrill of victory. They spend countless hours online in pursuit of dominating both those of their own kind and the other races, ever fighting, ever vying for their position. They are the race of Men; easily corrupted against what is good for the sake of what is strong, and limit their praise to only what they consider the top of the mountain in terms of content. Many of these gamers prefer the PC to consoles (most of whom would probably claim the PC to be their isle of Númenor), but still many more spend their time on the latest and greatest home consoles, arguing over which console is graphically superior or provides a more "awesome" experience. While corruptibility remains their weakness, there is courage and honor to be found in them as well. Their goal of ever expanding their horizons is noble in that it keeps the world of gaming fresh, and forever challenges those who craft it to seek new plateaus and benchmarks of accomplishment. A consequence is that the gaming industry evolves while retaining and incorporating the primal and basic human desire for conquest, and is, in my opinion, all the better for it; how boring would the industry be if it were a paradise? 
Prepare thyselves for pwnage!
Now, there is one final faction. It consists of a sad and dreadful group of creatures that were taken by the dark powers - tortured and mutilated into a ruined and terrible form of life. They are the servants of evil - the cynics, never satisfied, shunning the light and what all others consider good and decent. They are the orcs of the gaming industry, born of the conflicts between the gods (Nintendo vs. Sega, Sony vs. Microsoft vs. Nintendo, PC vs. Console), and bred through the resulting battles of the other races, failing to find their place in the world. They seek only to spread their misery to others in some hopeless attempt to drag others down to their level where they may either consume them or transform them into their own likeness. They are not merely fanboys but aggressive fanboys; their reward comes not from enjoying what their overlord produces, rather, from the conflict that arises with the servants of the other's. These are what both Elves and Men become when corrupted; festering, maggoty monsters who mindlessly thirst for blood and tears, and who thrive on conflict and malcontent. They are the enemy of happiness, and their only true loyalty, despite what they would have you believe, is to the concept of destruction and perpetual strife for the other factions of the core.
The Eye of Daemon
Daemon Hatfield happens to be a powerful leader of this group; not quite human but not quite mindless-orc, either. He's a Dark Lord of sorts - he injects poison into the core to help breed the conflicts, but does it because he seeks to shape the core in his image. When you start with him and go full circle, you end up with Sean Malstrom; in the same end of the spectrum and seeking the same goal but to a different end. Though they compete for followers and probably identify each other as sworn enemies, they are ironically on the same side in the grand scheme of things - neither one is content to enjoy what they enjoy and let others live their own lives, but insult and attack those who don't think like them, and discredit and try to bring down works of greatness which they know to be great, but don't serve their cause. They lay siege to the varying races in the hope of garnering attention to themselves and increasing the power of their own armies with no regard for what damage is done.
As it is, I've ranted enough about Malstrom in my other posts, so it's time to talk more in depth about Hatfield.
Hatfield, as evidenced in his latest editorial and countless other drivel he has both written and stated, hates the Wii. More than that, he hates the Wii gamer. He shares traits with Men in that he views strength as the greatest value, but he takes it one step further; to him, it's the only value, and he wishes to belittle those who don't share his views. He asserts that the Wii is not only inferior to the other current generation consoles in terms of power, but that it is incapable of providing a worthwhile gaming experience - it is a "gimp system" in his own words, and could never stand up to the strength of the other systems. He gathers like minded people to him in hopes of challenging the notion that Nintendo is succeeding; that instead they're merely painting the illusion of success through sales numbers and catering to the lowest common denominator. While there is some truth to that, in my opinion, at least in that Nintendo has not been releasing as many truly great games as they have historically, the way he puts it leaves no room for any credit to be given to Nintendo for any of their games this generation. In reading his article, one gets the idea that New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a bad game, and the only reason anyone enjoys it is because they are "blinded by Mario" and, essentially, by Nintendo. This is an open rallying call to anyone who hates Nintendo, and a glove-slap to anyone who thought NSMBWii was a good game, let alone a great game.
Unfortunately, the firestorm that is sure to follow may be too much for even Hatfield to endure.
Remember, Daemon, Sauron lost...
IGN itself is a very diverse world, and while it consists mostly of Men, there are many Elves and Dwarves among it. That said, even among the Men there are those who are reacting to Hatfield's article with utter scorn. Even they acknowledge that NSMBWii was a great game, and for Hatfield to paint it in such a demeaning manner for the obvious sake of furthering his own anti-Nintendo agenda is causing IGN to lose credibility. Casamassina's and Harris's love and respect for Nintendo is legendary, and while most Nintendo fans (while not most Nintendo fanboys) can accept their criticisms as valid, Hatfield's are not only baseless but vulgar. Both Matt and Craig's articles were well articulated with reasoning and were altruistic in nature. Hatfield's was just an outright slam, and the irony is that while Matt and Craig both penned articles which, in my opinion, strengthened the argument against Nintendo, Hatfield merely gave fuel to those who say IGN is a biased sham of a website with no credibility regarding Nintendo criticism.
Now, one doesn't have to look far into the history of IGN to see how different Daemon Hatfield is from Casamassina and Harris. In fact, just look at their current positions. Casamassina was a founding father of sorts in that he worked on the original N64.com; he is now a multi-platform editor (yet still has strong ties to IGN Nintendo) who rose from the ranks of IGN Nintendo's Editor in Chief, and Harris took his old job. Hatfield either left or was pushed out of IGN Nintendo. Now he's an editor for "downloadable games". He has made remarks such as "the Wii is stupid", "Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be another great game that should be controlled with dual analog sticks", and "even when they make a great game like Mario Galaxy I don't want to hold the Wii remote. It's stupid." While Matt and Craig both like Nintendo, and want to see great things happen on the Wii, Hatfield just wants the Wii to go away, and he makes no attempt to disguise this wish. Therefore, allowing him to write articles for IGN Nintendo is not only ridiculous, it's destructive - it's the equivalent of a king allowing a host of orcs to lay siege to his own city.
For IGN Nintendo, it's the eleventh hour. If they want to retain any credibility, they need to take action fast. The solutions are to either ban Hatfield from writing another Nintendo-related article while having someone write a counter-editorial, or to get Peer to fire Hatfield altogether. I'd be all for the latter. He is beyond "not good" for IGN, he is outright bad for them, and destructive for them. Regardless of what benefits may be wrought by his article in terms of traffic generated through controversy, it's pissing off the Elves and Dwarves alike, as well as free-minded Men who have yet to be corrupted. In the end, it's going to cause less people to visit the site for news, and perhaps even Nintendo themselves to take IGN less seriously. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a great game, and for him of all people to be allowed to take a dump on it through a main article like this is wrong. It makes IGN as a whole look bad to allow their readers to be subjected to this kind of crap, and it needs to stop.
The hearts of Men are easily corrupted, and IGN is full of them. Will they resist the corruption or will they succumb to it? Only time will tell.
See the original post on the GoNintendo forum here.
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Pixel Art can be fun.
