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[Curufinwe]

Yeah he came off as a complete idiot during that.

Was that a while ago? I don't remember it at all.

 

[Gestahl]

Was that a while ago? I don't remember it at all.

I barely remember it, some reviewer said something REALLY stupid, probably as a defense of something really stupid, everyone who isn't a weirdo sycophant about z-list internet celebrities laughed at him, then Klepeck came in and made things about 10 times worse than they would have been.

 

[LiK]

This and the reaction to Phil Fish's comment about Japanese games has made me think the opposite recently. There's a pile-on mob mentality that gets real vicious real quick over small issues. It's a firestorm of hate that blows something out of proportion and no one but the target will remember it after a week. Valid criticism is usually overrun by hundreds of other people chiming in just to talk shit, which is pretty ugly, in my opinion.

you're next! compiling mah notes!

 

[SouthernDragon]

See, Jason, that's all we wanted! <3

 

[scy]

While I think Jason was wrong to get so defensive/antagonistic, he was in a tough position. It's difficult to "prove" these listings because the publishers will just ignore, say "no comment" or deny them even if they're true. If he didn't post it and it was true, then he would have failed to do his job by not reporting it. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

GAF needs to chill the eff out.

I'm no journalist so maybe there's a line in their contracts about this shit but I'd have just played it safe and played up the uncertainty of it all; just make it more clear that it's shaky evidence at best. Remember, it's not so much that the rumors were false, it's that the leak never happened which was the source of the "oh those silly journalists" comments. They didn't question the leak, they questioned whether the games revealed by it were true.

...though, yeah, probably in need of a healthy dose of settling the fuck down would help too :x

 

[Oxx]

The real question now is: Who needs a secret, invite-only forum?

Unless you're sharing porn.

Or NPD numbers.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

That LUEshi ascii is pretty cool. And easily the most interesting bit of GameFAQS history.

 

[Tajin]

Hi everyone,

I’ve updated the story and run a new item on Kotaku clarifying that the original image was fake. I regret falling for that one, which is thankfully not something that’s happened to me many times with the thousands of stories I’ve reported. I’ve always welcomed criticism but apologize for some of my tone in addressing critics. I do not and have not mass-banned people for criticizing the piece. But I have been casual enough about the criticism here that it’s allowed some to think that I don’t value accuracy and reader feedback. I do.

For my part in making this situation uglier and about something other than the accuracy of one report, I’m sorry. I’m sure you can imagine it’s no fun to have your reputation dragged through the mud and have even conversations you thought were private brought into the public domain.

I hope that this one unfortunate incident won't mar all of the work I have been doing and will continue to do at Kotaku, and I invite you all to e-mail me if you have further thoughts, concerns, or critiques.

-Jason

Unban NoBullet from Kotaku and I will forgive you.

 

[Azih]

Or NPD numbers.

Is such a thing even possible?

 

[erpg]

It's always nice to see people apologize instead of being bull-headed about something. Good on you, Jason.

 

[StingX2]

Didn't Klepick defend the guy who said game journalists shouldn't have to finish the games they review and insulted several other posters?

This just sickens me

 

[Flachmatuch]

Well making mistakes and behaving pettily afterwards happens with everyone, and it's just games marketing anyway, so who cares? It's not like what appears on that site means anything anyway, no one really thinks people working there need actual journalistic integrity. Mentally adolescent manchildren with oversized egos are the perfect fit for the job and the mistakes they make are easy to foresee and mostly meaningless. And really, don't forget that people on GAF had 17 pages of fun. It's all good.

 

[Foxtastical]

This just sickens me

Sickens you? Christ, calm down.

The people that say you have to finish a game in order to "review" it use hyperbolic language quite often.

 

[scy]

Sickens you? Christ, calm down.

The people that say you have to finish a game in order to "review" it use hyperbolic language quite often.

It'd be nice to finish the game before reviewing it. At least "making decent progress" into it.

Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to define what is "enough" so eh ... As long as they're transparent about the playtime, I can't get too upset.

 

[RedNumberFive]

It'd be nice to finish the game before reviewing it. At least "making decent progress" into it.

Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to define what is "enough" so eh ... As long as they're transparent about the playtime, I can't get too upset.

I always liked the review method on Cheap Ass Gamer of all places, where the total play time and trophy/achievement count is listed at the bottom of the review. I'm also a fan of their rating a game based on "recommend purchase price".

 

[scy]

I always liked the review method on Cheap Ass Gamer of all places, where the total play time and trophy/achievement count is listed at the bottom of the review. I'm also a fan of their rating a game based on "recommend purchase price".

Yeah, that is a nice method for it. In general, just some transparency towards the "how" to the playing behind the review. I'd imagine that would shed a lot of light into the mentality behind the review and to figure out "where they're coming from", so to speak.

 

[Darklord]

Hi everyone,

I&#8217;ve updated the story and run a new item on Kotaku clarifying that the original image was fake. I regret falling for that one, which is thankfully not something that&#8217;s happened to me many times with the thousands of stories I&#8217;ve reported. I&#8217;ve always welcomed criticism but apologize for some of my tone in addressing critics. I do not and have not mass-banned people for criticizing the piece. But I have been casual enough about the criticism here that it&#8217;s allowed some to think that I don&#8217;t value accuracy and reader feedback. I do.

For my part in making this situation uglier and about something other than the accuracy of one report, I&#8217;m sorry. I&#8217;m sure you can imagine it&#8217;s no fun to have your reputation dragged through the mud and have even conversations you thought were private brought into the public domain.

I hope that this one unfortunate incident won't mar all of the work I have been doing and will continue to do at Kotaku, and I invite you all to e-mail me if you have further thoughts, concerns, or critiques.

-Jason

Just be a bit more journalistic next time and check the facts. That's all.

 

[Broder Salsa]

This and the reaction to Phil Fish's comment about Japanese games has made me think the opposite recently. There's a pile-on mob mentality that gets real vicious real quick over small issues.

Someone demanded an apology from Brad Shoemaker in the giantbomb thread when he forgot about holding on to collesus in SoTC. Another giantbomb thread someone compared seeing Ryan Davis and Patrick Klepek play Chrono Trigger to rape.

 

[Mr. Enigma]

Okay. Frank Anderson (@videosta), your turn.

EDIT: According to his Twitter, he's backtracking and saying he was just kidding. Clearly.

 

[Az]

Just read this whole thread. Funny stuff.

Now Frank, I want to pinch your sides for that comment. Yea, take that.

 

[Zane]

Didn't Klepick defend the guy who said game journalists shouldn't have to finish the games they review and insulted several other posters?

but you *don't* have to finish a game in order to review it

 

[Fixed1979]

This and the reaction to Phil Fish's comment about Japanese games has made me think the opposite recently. There's a pile-on mob mentality that gets real vicious real quick over small issues. It's a firestorm of hate that blows something out of proportion and no one but the target will remember it after a week. Valid criticism is usually overrun by hundreds of other people chiming in just to talk shit, which is pretty ugly, in my opinion.

Good post sums up my thoughts as well. Lots of "Video Game Journalism lol" threads end up becoming "Video Game Fans lol".

 

[War Peaceman]

Nice one on the apology . So much easier this way

 

[Opus Angelorum]

EDIT: According to his Twitter, he's backtracking and saying he was just kidding. Clearly.

 

[SouthernDragon]

I'm just kidding! I was only kidding when I called you guys a hive of wretched scum.

I meant a hive of wretched scum and villainy!

 

[Riggs]

Apology works but we all know nothing will change with these sites.

 

[Cerebral Assassin]

but you *don't* have to finish a game in order to review it

But you should mention that in the review.

 

[Deadbeat]

I'm just kidding! I was only kidding when I called you guys a hive of wretched scum.

I meant a hive of wretched scum and villainy!

Neogaf is Mos Eisley spaceport Confirmed.

 

[SouthernDragon]

Neogaf is Mos Eisley spaceport Confirmed.

Who is our Jabba?

 

[Syph Medwes]

Who is our Jabba?

EDIT: nevermind disregard this post

 

[Deadbeat]

Who is our Jabba?

Who is our Boba Fett?

 

[JABEE]

Will Kotaku's procedure of submitting articles change after this incident Jason? Are there going to be any new checks in place by the entire editorial team to prevent you and other reporters from publishing an article before you've investigated the source completely and received word back from the source of a leak? Is Kotaku going to continue to disregard honest reporting in favor of a rumor that drives page views? That is what an admission of a mistake would be. An overturn of Kotaku's entire editorial pipeline.

 

[Riggs]

Will Kotaku's procedure of submitting articles change after this incident Jason? Are there going to be any new checks in place by the entire editorial team to prevent you and other reporters from publishing an article before you've investigated the source completely and received word back from the source of a leak? Is Kotaku going to continue to disregard honest reporting in favor of a rumor that drives page views? That is what an admission of a mistake would be. An overturn of Kotaku's entire editorial pipeline.

Short answer, no. This goes for Dtoid also I bet.

 

[Father_Brain]

So ... since the Monster Hunter one was pulled, does this mean the dream is dead?

It doesn't prove that MHP3 Vita doesn't exist, but it does at least strongly suggest that the Play.com listing was completely speculative and not based on any actual knowledge on their part of its existence.

 

[Hot Coldman]

It'd be nice to finish the game before reviewing it. At least "making decent progress" into it.

Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to define what is "enough" so eh ... As long as they're transparent about the playtime, I can't get too upset.

That instance barely even revolved around the matter of how much is enough played when reviewing a game- it was solely because the Joystiq reviewer bailed out just because he got outwitted by a fishing game or some shit. Also, it was Nier, so obviously GAF were going to jump on him. It was dumb all around, but, um, you get what you expect from them I guess

Now, if EDGE had done it, there would have been cause for debate

 

[scy]

It doesn't prove that MHP3 Vita doesn't exist, but it does at least strongly suggest that the Play.com listing was completely speculative and not based on any actual knowledge on their part of its existence.

Makes me curious what prompted it. I mean, was it just some MH fan in charge of updating? lol

That instance barely even revolved around the matter of how much is enough played when reviewing a game- it was solely because the Joystiq reviewer bailed out just because he got outwitted by a fishing game or some shit. Also, it was Nier, so obviously GAF were going to jump on him. It was dumb all around, but, um, you get what you expect from them I guess

Now, if EDGE had done it, there would have been cause for debate

I wasn't even aware this was about the Nier debacle. Meh. That was a pretty dumb thing to get tripped up on, honestly. But, it's not like there really was an entire review. Which is a shame as Nier is a pretty interesting title, fishing quests be damned.

 

[legacyzero]

Kotaku is still a shit sandwich.

This didn't help it's situation at all.

 

[FStop7]

Who is our Boba Fett?

I want to be Salacious Crumb.

 

[fernoca]

Makes me curious what prompted it. I mean, was it just some MH fan in charge of updating? lol

For that, you dont' even need to go further than Sony themselves.
As noted on another thread.
An official retail pamphlet (in the US) made the rounds because of the "revelations" that Final Fantasy X and Monster Hunter Portable 3; were listed as upcoming titles.

Some others like Lord of Apocalypse is also in there. From a retail pamphlet apparently.

What was the problem? That on the page that lists those games; there also some mistakes:
-There's no Monster Hunter Portable in the US; so listing it as "Portable 3" wouldn't make sense.
-The wrong logo of Blazblue was used at the top
-Rayman Origins, which logo appears at the top; is not listed under its publisher; unlike the other games
-Ridge Racer Unbounded hasn't been announced or even mentioned to be in development for the Vita, yet it was listed under Namco...but the actual Ridge Racer game that was released (of which the logo was at the top) wasn't listed.

Mixed with how earlier than that, on a press conference Sony used a fake Mortal Kombat Vitality logo during one of the clips.

Though it wouldn't surprise me if the list was just made based on "what was shown in the conferences". Which explains not only the "untitled" Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, Call of Duty games, but the whole MH Portable 3 (instead of Freedom 3) and Final Fantasy X without nay kind of subtitle (since only the title/logo was shown...Square-Enix is probably going to add some "remastered edition" subtitle).

Kinda reminds me of the Mortal Kombat "Vita game".
Game was announced to be coming, but nothing else. Then the rumored name was "Vitality", then a supposedly fake logo appeared online which was blue and even using the MK Mythologies font.

Then, said logo was "remade" by a site; talking about the possibility of it been fake:

Then said "remade logo" appeared at a Sony press conference in Europe:

Now, the game and name are all but nearly confirmed, but is not the first time that random information and unofficial info is used in official press materials.

That MK logo was indeed (look at 2:38) shown at a London event.

So it seems they did indeed used (at least as a base) that logo...

Would be quite lame and sad if that was the final logo afterall. XD

But again, seems that the list is made of many mistakes and nothing is confirmed yet.

Though, at least in this cases, there was a source for the assumptions. (i.e. an emulated version Monster Hunter Portable 3 was demoed running on Vita, to show how it looked and the option to use the second analog stick; Mortal Kombat was expected to be announced at any moment back then so one of the rumored names was "Vitality".)

It seems that not even official material from official sources is without this kind of...mistakes.

 

[scy]

For that, you dont' even need to go further than Sony themselves.
As noted on another thread.
An official retail pamphlet (in the US) made the rounds because of the "revelations" that Final Fantasy X and Monster Hunter Portable 3; were listed as upcoming titles.

Oh, right, I forgot about MH being in that. Haha, oh man. Fun times, Sony, fun times.

 

[EloquentM]

This and the reaction to Phil Fish's comment about Japanese games has made me think the opposite recently. There's a pile-on mob mentality that gets real vicious real quick over small issues. It's a firestorm of hate that blows something out of proportion and no one but the target will remember it after a week. Valid criticism is usually overrun by hundreds of other people chiming in just to talk shit, which is pretty ugly, in my opinion.

Welcome to humanity where we burn everyone at the stake, not just witches.

 

[Jeff-DSA]

Welcome to humanity where we burn everyone at the stake, not just witches.

We shouldn't have made so many stakes. Now it just feels wrong not to use them.

 

[Wyndstryker]

We shouldn't have made so many stakes. Now it just feels wrong not to use them.

Unfortunately someone got confused when we asked for steak.

 

[Glass Joe]

IMO Eurogamer is at fault and other than that Jason guy acting dumb afterwords, he didn't really do anything wrong. The way the internet works (unfortunately) is that once a "reputable" source runs a story, every other website in the industry picks it up almost copy-and-paste style. It's all about speed and google hits for them. At least Kotaku's article specifically said Eurogamer was the source (unless there was an edit later on I'm not aware of). An argument could be made that the rumor wasn't newsworthy, but the story (unless edited) clearly stated that it was a rumor from Eurogamer.

As someone who'd done some blogging in a different industry, it's frustrating when my original content gets "picked up" on major sites. Once the big guns get the story, my hits turn to crap because search engines favor them over me. And it's surprising that often I won't even get a credit link. So at least Kotaku linked to Eurogamer instead of passing it off as their own research.

Jason shoulda just said "update - sorry bad rumor from Eurogamer" and otherwise kept quiet, instead of getting defensive.

 

[Jeff-DSA]

Remember when Brian Crecente lashed out at CheapAssGamer when he posted false news he sourced from the CAG forums?

http://stupidgamer.com/2008/09/26/this-is-why-kotaku-sucks-hint-its-brian-crecente/

The craziest part is Brian's quote:

UPDATE: It appears that this rumor story could be CAG throwing their credibility out the window as part of a contest. Kotaku's decision to run rumors is always based on the credibility of the site and the information contained within it. In the past CAG has proven to be a reliable site, having broken a number of stories through apt reporting. It appears that may no longer be the case.

I just remembered this. Maybe Jason was following the site's protocol. That doesn't excuse the lashing out, but it might explain the decision to post the story.

 

[insert_username_here]

OMG guys somebody contact kotaku, Mass Effect might be coming to vita

 

[IrishNinja]

looks legit!

anyway, props/respect to Jason, i'm not in the industry but apparently it's hard to bite down one's pride and own something like that, so it was good to see. good on him.

And that's why you check your primary sources.

okay, that almost made the whole thing worth it. quality AD references make me feel that way about anything where no one dies, to be fair.

 

[mysteriousmage09]

Just got done reading the updates in the op, LMFAO Kotaku is such garbage.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

I love this thread so much... <3

 

[RPGamer92]

So this is what I've gotten from this thread: Vita=Serious Business