I am thinking about asking companies who make video game controllers to start sending me review units. If anyone has any ideas or experience on how to go about doing this please let me know. I am in the top four search engine listings for the word "joystick". I have some sample reviews that I have written and gotten good feedback on. Would the fact that this is a non-commercial venture hurt my chances of being taken seriously? I also have some pretty healthy reader growth to show them.
But I am bad at writing business documents aimed at marketing managers? If there are any marketing people who can offer me suggestions it would be groovy.
you review products to potential customers ... it never hurts to ask. not everyone will send you something, but somebody might. then, the more you review, the more you become known as a reviewer, the more companies will send you stuff. eventually you'll have companies throwing new stuff at you. "Jake, here's the new hush-hush playstation 4 ... try it out, let us know what you think!"
That is a great scam! I should review Assault rifles!
I think it's a great idea. Unfortunatly, in order to get review products, sometimes you need to promise good reviews. Sucks. Oh yeah, and I got a NES advantage and it kicks ass! Thanks for the review a while back!
I think offering well thought out, fair and interesting reviews is better than just parroting the marketing copy. It is true that slamming a product will potentional reduce your chances of getting more product from a company but I don't think they expect a photocopy of their press releases rewritten as reviews.
In the time that I've been reviewing games professionally, I have never once been explicitly asked to give a game a favorable review, nor have I gotten any heat for saying a game was crap. Actually, the first review that I ever sent Sega (to convince them I was legit so they'd send me games) was one in which I slammed 18 Wheeler, and they had no problem sending me stuff after that.