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[RichyDevil]

This is certainly one way to say goodbye to a former employer.

Buried in the middle of the third paragraph of a seemingly run-of-the-mill review of a run-of-the-mill game sits this little tidbit:

"Namco Bandai haven't changed too much of the winning formula, and why should they? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Everything that we grew to love in the original iterations is still present; the classic sound effects, the musical stings, and even ghosts. Speaking of ghosts, did you know that Brash Games deliberately ghosted themselves from Metacritic, GameRankings, and OpenCritic (marking themselves as ”out of business on Meta and GR, which is an outrageous and egregious lie – it's here right now) to avoid having any sort of public record of reviews available which would have attributed work to the proper authors? It's true! In fact, when reviewers leave, work gets automatically attributed to ”Brash Games", which is solely operated by Paul Ryan, thus making it seem like he did all the work. OpenCritic are doing an investigation into the behaviour of the site and everything. But what truly deserves investigation is the new alterations added to the game in order to freshen up the format; this is very much a case of teaching an old dog new tricks."

A few paragraphs later:

"Complementing the brilliant reimagined gameplay is a fantastic soundtrack. Namco Bandai shy away from the sound of silence, which is, at the time of writing, exactly what I received when I announced my resignation to the editor Paul Ryan and clarified I would leave Brash as soon as possible. No email, no apology, no ”I wish you the best in your future endeavours", nothing. Pure radio silence; the only acknowledgement I received was that my name was pulled from the contributors list quietly. Some might call that cowardly – I'll leave it to your interpretation. Rather, the game exploits low-key techno beats to gracefully update the beloved musical stings and background tracks. And (I promise this is the last time I utilise this painful segue) speaking of exploitation, Brash Games took advantage of naïve young writers, offering them no money, but exposure, which is useless when you essentially pretend your writers did not exist later on down the line."

And the coup de grace here:

I thought this game was great, but I'm going to – on behalf of Brash Games – award it a 1 out of 10. I do this safe in the knowledge that the editor will change it later without me knowing to fit the score HE would prefer. This is not an exaggeration: review scores selected by authors were changed by the editor without warning, explanation, or consideration, and several alumni of Brash Games corroborate this. As such, I would not want to begrudge my former editor another opportunity to do this.

Read the entire review here while you still can: http://www.brashgames.co.uk/2017/04/08/pac-man-256-review/

I'm sure it will be gone at some point. But it's still there, right at the top of the Brash Games site.

Trash me in the third paragraph if old.

 

[JaseC]

Here's a snapshot of the page.

 

[BronsonLee]

Annnnd now I know they don't proofread anything.

 

[Weetrick]

Incredible. This is likely to be removed soon, somebody should archive it for the morning crowd to read tomorrow.

Edit: JaseC on top of it!

 

[gigantor21]

solely operated by Paul Ryan

First Trumpcare, and now this huh?

OT: Talk about not giving a fuck.

 

[Magikoopa24]

I don't know what's funnier, the fact no one on the web caught this, or the fact that the editors on the site didn't either. Hopefully they found better work.

 

[BennyBlanco]

brash AF

 

[Fat4all]

Ben McCurry writes about games. His favourite of all time is Crazy Taxi, and Fahrenheit, by his admission, was "not that bad".

ya know what



fair enough

 

[RunWhiteBoyRun]

Gave it a 1 out of 10 because he could, then gives his opinions truthfully. Funny stuff. Curious to know more about Brash games.

 

[Vibranium]

Well if you've go nothing to lose, why not? I wonder how long it will stay up hahaha. I hope the guy is able to find a better employer out of this.

 

[Htown]

The idea of Pac-Man 256 is derived from what happens in the original Pac-Man when you clear 256 levels; on level 257, the game becomes a garbled mess that becomes unplayable. A good example of a garbled mess is Brash Games; this very website that strips authors of their writing credits when they leave the site, later attributing them to the sole owner and editor, Paul Ryan, making your work completely pointless, just as Pac-Man is completely pointless after level 256.

lol, this is great

 

[Cerium]

That's pretty great.

 

[Tain]

Having writers work "for exposure" is BS already, and then their credit gets removed later? Sounds like a garbage site.

 

[Sabas]

Saw this Twitter thread shared by Mike Diver of Waypoint UK by another writer who formerly wrote at Brash Games

 

[Living Proof]

I believe I've heard that site pop up from time to time, but that's no way to build a good website-- multiple examples of things that can permanently damage exposure and reputation.

I feel for those writers who believed they were getting into the industry, only to be fucked around with. Who knows how many people this asshole has taken advantage of.

 

[Spukc]

Never shit your own bed

 

[L Thammy]

Haven't heard of Brash Games before, but they're on my radar now. Wow.

 

[Neptonic]

This is GOLD
What a way to go out.

 

[Volimar]

Don't fuck with your writers. They're creative enough to make you pay for it.

 

[F0rneus]

Holy shit. Nothing else to add. Balls of steel on the reviewer, and honestly the review is proof that the website doesn't proofread shite. Good for him!

 

[Volimar]

Anyone else suddenly really want to play that Pac Man game?

 

[Nanashrew]

10/10 read.

 

[alt27]

Haha, great way to go out . Will know to avoid brash games trash site

 

[pa22word]

.

 

[Tempy]

I'm betting they won't notice until Monday

 

[Dvidus]

I feel the guy's anger. After working as a journalist and game reviewer for 4 years at a not further specified website, I took it directly to one of the people in charge and got kicked from as a journalist. This website was also mostly for exposure, some reviewgames and one or two releaseparties.

With this website, the problem wasn't your work going into the void; it was that after an editor switch, all the reviewgames were going to the editors and his friends who did nothing besides review their favorite games. No newsposting or special articles.

Also, I've introduced a million things to progress the site further and it all got shut down. The behind the scenes of that website was a mess and I was considering doing the same; writing a review and hiding these tidbits.

I didn't have the balls, but I'm glad this guy did. People shouldn't be treated like this. Taking it up to the editor itself only gets you kicked from his garbled castle.

 

[NateDrake]

As I said in the Yooka-Laylee review thread, the site management is a complete joke. I contributed to them just one time and it was several yrs ago, but the site is terrible. Props to this guy for throwing some shade at them and for going out in style.

 

[Bgamer90]

Goodness. Terrible situation all around. Love the way he went out.

 

[fernoca]

Amazing! XD

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

So good!

 

[Mattenth]

I'm the investigator at OpenCritic, and our report is indeed out Monday. Brash Games requested to be removed after learning about our investigation, which launched in March. We made a promise when we launched that we would conduct and publish investigations when we get evidence of wrongdoing, so that's what we're going to do.

Ahead of that, I just want to say that I strongly urge the gaming community to use this opportunity to practice compassion, understanding, and forgiveness. This seems to be a case of a hobbyist who got in a bit over his head. (The hobbyists being Brash Games staff...)

This article is immature and ultimately self-defeating. It's simply unprofessional and goes against civility. Does the author think that moves like this help his odds of getting hired? Does this really help make serious amends? Does it help motivate Brash Games to restore content rights or fix their issues? In general, I simply want to dissuade mob justice here, which articles like this can sometimes spark. OpenCritic was explicitly mentioned in Ben's article, and I don't want anyone to read that as an endorsement.



Last edit:

It was a mistake for me to post this so late at night. To be honest, running with this investigation has been personally taxing; in finalizing the report, I've been worried about the dark portions of the gaming community and what they might do as a result (DOXing, harassment, etc.). It might sound silly and possibly arrogant, but it's been something that's been keeping me up at night. I've heard so many stories from colleagues in the industry about death threats, harassment, etc.

When I saw the blurb about the OpenCritic report, I felt partially responsible for what I perceive as vandalism. The thought of "what if I just sparked something terrible?" is personally unnerving.

My intent in posting here was to dissuade mob justice. My comments were improper and for that I apologize. It was an amateur gut reaction.



Here is the report: http://c.opencritic.com/releases/BrashGames.pdf

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

That's pretty damn good.

 

[Recall]

Goodness. Terrible situation all around. Love the way he went out.

It's the same in so many places, around so many other hobbies and popular interest websites. The internet has all this knowledge available yet the masses are willfully ignorant of so many practices that do nothing more than exploit and fuck over people.

 

[Kurtofan]

why is it on the website???

 

[Mixolydian]

I'm the investigator at OpenCritic, and our report is indeed out Monday. Brash Games requested to be removed after learning about our investigation, which launched in March.

I just want to say that I strongly urge the gaming community to use this opportunity to practice compassion, understanding, and forgiveness.

This seems to be a case of a hobbyist who got in a bit over his head.

This article is immature and ultimately self-defeating. Brash has shown significant steps towards making amends, which will be detailed in the report.

Interesting..

 

[Recall]

This seems to be a case of a hobbyist who got in a bit over his head.

This article is immature and ultimately self-defeating. Brash has shown significant steps towards making amends, which will be detailed in the report.

And the bellend has already won.

This is why nothing will ever change.

 

[Phox]

Absolutely love it ahhaha

 

[XP_version2]

I'm the investigator at OpenCritic, and our report is indeed out Monday. Brash Games requested to be removed after learning about our investigation, which launched in March.

I just want to say that I strongly urge the gaming community to use this opportunity to practice compassion, understanding, and forgiveness.

This seems to be a case of a hobbyist who got in a bit over his head.

This article is immature and ultimately self-defeating. Brash has shown significant steps towards making amends, which will be detailed in the report.

Yes, the rampant spree of journalist blocking they've been on these past few days definitely speaks towards a company making amends.

Spoiler

/s

 

[Corpekata]

This seems like one of many sites that seem to have an audience of like 0. Seem like they are designed to simply either eeek out very minor ad revenue or for the free games. I'm amazed they were ever ON metarcitic and whatnot to even need to take themselves off.

Like the top "popular post" has 2 comments on it.

 

[Pancakes R Us]

I'm the investigator at OpenCritic, and our report is indeed out Monday. Brash Games requested to be removed after learning about our investigation, which launched in March.

I just want to say that I strongly urge the gaming community to use this opportunity to practice compassion, understanding, and forgiveness.

This seems to be a case of a hobbyist who got in a bit over his head.

This article is immature and ultimately self-defeating. Brash has shown significant steps towards making amends, which will be detailed in the report.

What a joke. what did Brash Games request to be removed from?

Edit: never heard of this awful site until today.

 

[tim.mbp]

I'm the investigator at OpenCritic, and our report is indeed out Monday. Brash Games requested to be removed after learning about our investigation, which launched in March.

I just want to say that I strongly urge the gaming community to use this opportunity to practice compassion, understanding, and forgiveness.

This seems to be a case of a hobbyist who got in a bit over his head.

This article is immature and ultimately self-defeating. Brash has shown significant steps towards making amends, which will be detailed in the report.

Do you get a badge with your job?

 

[painey]

I'm the investigator at OpenCritic, and our report is indeed out Monday. Brash Games requested to be removed after learning about our investigation, which launched in March.

I just want to say that I strongly urge the gaming community to use this opportunity to practice compassion, understanding, and forgiveness.

This seems to be a case of a hobbyist who got in a bit over his head.

This article is immature and ultimately self-defeating. Brash has shown significant steps towards making amends, which will be detailed in the report.

Paul Ryan, is that you?

 

[Mattenth]

Yes, the rampant spree of journalist blocking they've been on these past few days definitely speaks towards a company making amends.

Spoiler

/s

I think Paul Ryan is in a really emotionally tough spot and is trying to manage. This is a 6+ year project for him and his team, and I bet he feels like his world is crashing down.

I've seen Brash re-attribute multiple reviews. One author had her full content rights restored as a gesture of goodwill.

This whole thing could quickly turn into a witch hunt, doxing, or other bad places.

The framing here is that Brash Games was some significant player, which I think is a bad frame. I believe this is a group of hobbyists on a small website that scaled up a small operation without fully preparing, resulting in some major lapses in integrity.

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

I've seen Brash re-attribute multiple reviews. One author had her full content rights restored as a gesture of goodwill.

Gesture of good will...to give proper credit? What?

Something stinks here. Are you friends with Paul or something?

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

It's kinda difficult to sympathize with anyone that depends on easily-exploitable free labor.

 

[VendettaRed07]

Oh my

 

[Leona Lewis]

I can't think of a more thankless job than working in games journalism.

Godspeed to the lad.

 

[Mattenth]

Gesture of good will...to give proper credit? What?

No, as in she regained ownership a review that was meaningful to her. Her other reviews were properly re-attributed but were still owned by Brash Games.

Something stinks here. Are you friends with Paul or something?

I'd say no. This is what I see when I go to the URL above: http://c.opencritic.com/images/blog/banned.PNG

Had to use one of the archives :-\

Which was tougher, because Brash Games removed themselves from the Wayback Machine to try delete a lot of our evidence.

 

[NoFaceNico]

And the bellend has already won.

This is why nothing will ever change.

Exactly. There should be a zero tolerance policy on this shit. It's absolutely shameful if these allegations are true. But with the wording from the 'investigator' it already sounds like they're leaning towards doing nothing. Great job.

 

[Decider]

I'm struggling to see why so many people would line up to write for a site that nobody has really heard of and just seems like a very basic WordPress installation, which any young writer could set up themselves. It's not like Brash Games could even offer much in the way of exposure, even if they offer review codes. I feel like budding writers would've been better off saving their work for their own sites and building a portfolio instead.