Journo Wars

[Dog Pants]

Something interesting is happening in the world of games journalism. It stemmed from some journos at an awards event tweeting a game in order to win a PS3. Robert Florence, who writes Cardboard Children for RPS (and who I think is a pretentious gobshite) saw this as promoting a game for personal gain and likened it to a form of corruption, writing an article on journalistic integrity on Eurogamer and throwing the world of gaming journalism into civil war. I've seen journos I respect and follow on Twitter repeating that Rab and those supporting him are being attacked by former colleagues and friends over this. In fact, the article has been altered under threat of being sued by Lauren Wainwright because it suggested that her covering her Twitter page with Tomb Raider imagery, while listing publisher Square Enix as an employee, compromises her journalistic integrity. It seems many journalists don't see the issue with receiving goods from the publishers of the games they are reviewing, so much so that rather than taking stock of their situation they will attack one of their number who suggest there is a conflict of interests. I'm watching this with interest to see who falls on which side of the fence. Most RPS writers have been supporting Rab, but I've spotted one ex-PCG writer protesting that he's over-reacting (although in discussion rather than by attacking him).

[spoodie]

(and who I think is a pretentious gobshite)

Indeed he is. I was a big fan of Consolevania, etc. but I didn't take any notice of his recommended games, they could also be pretentious.

I've not read too much into it, but my opinion would be it's corruption. Small corruption, but still corruption. It happens in many places, starts small and then once people have accepted it, it quietly grows. US politics.

[HereComesPete]

...but my opinion would be it's corruption...

This.

After reading loads of related articles linked in the one DP posted, I can't see why she's threatened legal action instead of issuing a rebuttal of some kind. It does seem as though she's liked Lara croft for ages and as such probably doesn't see any conflict of interest in working for the company who makes the games whilst gushing over how awesome it will be. Which in my opinion is bloody stupid.

The idea that some journo's see nothing wrong in advertising a game for free stuff is terrible. And worse than that is those who lash out with things like 'get off your high horse'. Journalistic integrity has taken a bashing the last few years, for these people to state there's nothing wrong shows at best a painful lack of foresight and a separation from public opinion. That same public opinion that created their fan base and their respectability. And if they are wilfully collecting freebies to advertise then it truly is corruption and thankfully there are a few writers who will stand up to it.

Unfortunately it's not the first time that this kind of furore has appeared. Was there not a thing a few years ago where there was quite the mass resignation of people from that game review site/mag I can't remember because the high ups where accepting money for falsely inflated scores and went bat shit with an employee who butchered a crappy game instead of lying about it.

[Dog Pants]

Unfortunately it's not the first time that this kind of furore has appeared. Was there not a thing a few years ago where there was quite the mass resignation of people from that game review site/mag I can't remember because the high ups where accepting money for falsely inflated scores and went bat shit with an employee who butchered a crappy game instead of lying about it.

I remember that and I can't quite remember who it was, but it was a big gaming site like Eurogamer (but might not have actually been Eurogamer).

[spoodie]

There was the thing at Gamespot with Kane and Lynch - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Gerst ... _-_2008.29

I didn't realise until reading the page that it involved Jeff Gerstmann of Giantbomb, a site which I visit almost everyday for the videos. It was rumoured at the time that he was sacked for giving a bad review for the game, which Gamespot was heavily advertising. Also his dismissal caused the other people of Giantbomb leave. So if it hadn't been for that incident my favourite gaming website (bar this one of course) wouldn't have been created. And as of March this year the rumour was revealed to be pretty much accurate.

[deject]

I think you're referring to Gerstmann Gate and the whole Gamespot/Kane & Lynch fiasco that led Jeff Gerstmann to start Giant Bomb, the best/dumbest video game website of all time. Jeff gave Kane & Lynch a 6/10 while the Gamespot homepage looked like this:



The management team fired him pretty soon after that, and a large portion of the editorial staff (many of whom joined Jeff at Giant Bomb) quit in solidarity.

[Dog Pants]

That's the one. Although you can spot them a mile off when a shit game gets an inexplicably high mark. I wonder what explains the distinctly average SWTOR getting 94% in PCG.

[HereComesPete]

That's the bunny. Guess it turned out for the best, I do like giantbomb whereas gamespot does not show on my radar at all.