Why we do what we do

There’s an argument that the reviewing of games, the regurgitation of press releases and news, and the writing of features, is shallow and not worthy of the title ‘journalism’. That it is opinion pushing, click bait, corrupt, narrow-minded, and free advertising for games. We don’t believe that. We believe there are objective reviews, important and relevant news posts, and informative and explorative features. We believe there is journalism in what we do, in what other sites do.

But we can do better. We should do better. We must strive to do better, because our audience demands it from us, from all of us. Whether it’s a small blog or a huge organisation. Whether it’s multi-format or system specific. We can all provide better content and we don’t just mean more entertaining content, we also mean more cerebral content, more investigative content; asking more searching questions about these products and the industry we love. And we do see this across the internet and in print publications. There are games journalists with integrity, passion, talent, and a voice out there doing exceptional work. Sure, it’s not all good, some of it is downright bad, but there are journalists covering this medium that earn the right to call themselves such.

The reviewing of games isn’t just a purchasing guide; it’s the exploration of an art form.

The reporting of news and press releases isn’t just advertising and entertainment gossip; it’s contextualising events and passing on relevant information.

Features aren’t about hits on a webpage; they’re about making you think about a subject within the industry.

Videogames are an entertainment product, but like film and literature we consider them to be something else as well. We believe them to be something powerful, effecting, and artistic. And as the industry matures, grows, changes and advances, we want to be there to see it all, and report to you precisely what we see. We know our friends want to do the same.

Critiquing is an important part of the entertainment industry; it celebrates successes and condemns failures and missteps. We won’t try to hide our own opinions but we will try to convey those that oppose our own, because we mean to paint a bigger picture of the video game industry. As such we’re changing things here at THUMBSTiX. We’re becoming a multiplatform site, beginning with our continued coverage of Xbox and our first foray into PlayStation. Nintendo and PC will follow. We hope you’ll join us on this journey.

Contact information

Whether you’re a developer or publisher looking to promote your game, a budding writer looking for a new outlet, or an advertiser looking for ad space, please contact us on: info@thisisxbox.com

The boring bits

This is Xbox Limited is an independent company not associated with Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo. We intend to critique games, report news, and create informative and entertaining content about the video games, regardless of platform. The views of our writers do not necessarily represent those of the company.