Recently, Sony announced a new online magazine entitled Qore, available on the PlayStation Network (PSN). To quote them:

Qore will feature exclusive news, developer interviews, in-depth game previews and behind-the-scenes looks at PlayStation games and special access to game demos, special beta invitations, game add-ons and other downloadable game-related content.

Qore will run $2.99 an “issue,” and $24.99 for a yearlong subscription of thirteen issues. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Well, not if you’re in the gaming press. The press has always had a rather prevalent anti-Sony bias, and the reporting on the Qore announcement has been no different. Kotaku claimed that it’s a “pay demo” service, the UGO Games Blog calls it a “pay to play” service, and many have drawn parallels to Xbox Live Gold, jumping to conclusions that soon PSN itself will be a paid service.

All of these claims are utterly preposterous, and don’t even begin to describe the double standards at work here. Let’s see, since there’s demos and content exclusively available to paid subscribers, the press is lambasting it. Well, how come they’re not calling out and attacking the Official Xbox Magazine for being a “pay demo” or “pay to play” service? OXM offers exclusive demos and content, and you need to pay a yearly subscription fee to receive it. It’s the same thing, just in print form. Why do they get a free pass, while Sony gets attacked? As for claiming PSN’s going to end up as a paid service like Xbox Live Gold…that’s tinfoil hat material. PSN is still completely free to use, regardless of one’s Qore subscriber status. Nothing Sony’s doing with Qore affects the operation of PSN for non-subscribers! It’s really not a difficult concept to grasp. Fanboys just tend to go overboard.

It all boils down to the complete lack of objectivity that the press has when dealing with anything and everything Sony. Look, we all know Sony’s done their share of shady dealings like any other company. The difference is that whenever they announce anything, even the good stuff, the press jumps down their throats, while Microsoft and Nintendo take potshots and get a free pass. It’s sickening, and casts a serious shadow of doubt over gaming journalism as a whole. I mean, the Kotaku statements aren’t altogether unexpected; they’re not big Sony fans over there, and just this past week, Microsoft was a top sponsor of their site, with logos plastered everywhere. We all know about payoffs and whatnot, but could you at least make it a bit less blatant? But it’s not just Kotaku; it’s a majority of the press. I’m not saying that they should glorify Sony, but they should at least try to be objective. Apparently, even that’s too much to ask.