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Games Journalism! Wainwright/Florence/Tomb Raider/Eurogamer/Libel Threats/Doritos

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S

Safe Bet

Banned
FStop7 said:
l25joelcomment_medium.jpg


"Now everybody shut up."

Hey, douche. Fuck off.
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That doesn't come across as incriminating or cabalistic at all.

Not at all..
 
E

EternalGamer

Banned
Another proposed idea [during internal meetings at Squaresoft] was sponsored evangelists / PR staff. Games writers and journalists in the industry who would be able to speak passionately about their products, speak as fans so editors would select them for reviewing Square Enix games. The outcome of these meetings has not been made public. What is known is that Square Enix hired MCV journalist Lauren Wainwright as a PR consultant. She has written a glowing review of Lara Croft Light on Incgamers.com She has written features about Square Enix games in The Sun newspaper including Hitman: Absolution. And on her personal blog she has showcased an animated fan film about Hitman: Absolution.
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Additionally, earlier this year Square Enix and Intent Media [publisher of MVC] forged a partnership to promote Hitman: Absolution in MCV, (the aforementioned magazine for the videogame industry.)The Hitman Sniper Challenge is a monthly competition started in July 2012 and will run until December 2012. Industry professionals are invited to download a Hitman minigame to see who will be "The UK games industry’s top assassin." It has featured every week in the magazine. The first winner in July was David Scammell who is Lauren Wainwright’s partner and whose tweets are regularly quoted in MCV
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However this week’s MCV features does feature three page feature on Hitman: Absolution - written by Lauren Wainwright where she comments "It’s a triumphant return for a much-loved series with impressive visuals and cinematic story."
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Those are some pretty huge "coincidences."
 
C

cameron

Member
Cerebral Assassin said:
Holy shit, now that's an article(& I believe as it's on a US based site US libel laws apply, right?). It's a bit odd that it isn't on Polygon I would have thought they would share stories such as this.
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From the header, it seems to be a forum post by a site user, and not an article published by The Verge. It's unlikely Intent Media would lawyer up for that.
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
That The Verge article needs its own thread I think. Though this thread is a fantastic resource (and one of my favorite developments on GAF, you guys have been magnificent) and long may it continue... It would be unfortunate for such a development, fascinating as it is, to be buried here.

The thread is becoming impenetrable, if it wasn't already.
 
I

Interficium

Banned
It seems like it's been a pretty bad year for the enthusiast press. I can't remember other incidents besides Polygon's documentary/launch escapades and Doritosgate?
 
N

NervousXtian

Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
Victrix said:
*applause*

That Halo 4 review event article is creepy. 'Little brother Master Chief, really?'

I only play Halo games coop with my buddies on the highest difficulty. A review written up based on playing solo (or even 2p coop) will never match with the experience I have at home.

Not a criticism of the reviews, just saying, their efforts to even hint at the 'preferred' Halo experience is bullshit.
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..and I've never played co-op.

Can't please them all.
 
J

JDSN

Banned
Another great article made by Stuart of Wings over Sealand.

INTENT MEDIA

Intent Media are the publishers of games trade weekly MCV, and the organisers of the GMA awards. (It also owns 18 other trade newspapers and runs many other events.)

STUART DINSEY

Dinsey is the founder, managing director and 67% controlling shareholder of Intent Media. He's been involved in the games industry trade press for over 20 years, and has carved himself out a very sizeable empire. A former editor of now-defunct trade paper CTW, he drove it out of business with MCV and cornered the market for himself. He's the only person at Intent Media with the ultimate authority to launch a potentially-expensive court case for libel.

MICHAEL FRENCH

French is the Editor-in-Chief at Intent's games-industry titles MCV and Develop. He tweeted that "there was no legal action by Intent" over the Wainwright affair, but despite numerous questions has, at the time of writing, refused to clarify whether any was threatened.
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Includes new player David Scammel Deputy News Editor of VideoGamer.com.
scammell21-460x348.jpg
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But why is games journalism now so focused on tightly-managed "news" released by marketing departments in a careful, slow drip? Lauren Wainwright, the new figurehead of the rotten ship of churnalism, has the answer again (click on the image for context):
buisiness-460x170.jpg
you're a website whose revenue is entirely based on pageviews and clicks, you need to spew out content round the clock to survive, and you can't produce that volume of copy just from interesting, informed features and time-consuming in-depth reviews. You need filler, and tons of it, and since you're not going to be able to afford to send staff out to source it for themselves, you need to have it spoon-fed directly from the horse's – well, "mouth" seems a bit too dignified for what we're shovelling here.
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Plus a picture of Lauren literally in bed with Square Enix Marketing Executive Korina Abbot. And article about how to get free games.
 
R

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
The videogame "journalist" scene, at this point, is built entirely on conflicts of interest. If it's ever removed, it will completely crumble.
 
F

Freeza Under The Shower

Member
Jake Tower said:
l1coverexpandedb.jpg

Did GAF get a credit for that pic?
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Nope.

Although technically, they also don't really have to. Then again, it is odd that he would even use it, since the joke is lost on anyone who doesn't post in this particular thread. I guess 'we' are the intended audience for this forum post anyway.

edit: made corrections for it being a forum post. I already though it was weird that the writer referred to meetings without sources for it, but I failed to notice where it was posted. :\
 
I

inky

Member
Empty said:
oh it's actually just a forum post. i thought it was a news article on the verge.
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Wow, I couldn't even tell due to the page's format. This makes the content considerably less credible, but still pretty damning. (The part about Lauren and her significant other, and her writing about Hitman. Will still need some confirmation about the SE meetings and what was discussed there).
 
S

Safe Bet

Banned
Empty said:
wow at that quote. i wonder how he got talkative sources privvy to internal square marketing meetings.
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Just a guess, but... by being a writer?

Too bad other outlet's preciously prized industry connections aren't yielding similar fruit.

Edit:

this post relies on the credibility of the writer and source being verified
 
S

SatelliteOfLove

Member
Zissou said:
Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their fellow games journalist in the fire of twitter, who practices ethics or real criticism, doubts PR, or engages in witch hunts-
Dewteronomy 18:10
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Hah!

Sinatar said:
Every time I think this thread is finally dying down the rabbit hole gets deeper.

You cray cray games industry. God damn.
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I get the distinct feeling that this sorta thing will be a daily event for a while.
 
J

jschreier

Member
Just throwing this out there: I don't know anything about the allegations in that Verge forum post, but it's a forum post. When any forum poster says something about internal marketing meetings at a company, it seems worth taking with a hefty grain of salt.

This thread is much more interesting (and enjoyable) when it's about ethical issues, not conspiracy theories.
 
E

EternalGamer

Banned
jschreier said:
Just throwing this out there: I don't know anything about the allegations in that Verge forum post, but it's a forum post. When any forum poster says something about internal marketing meetings at a company, it seems worth taking with a hefty grain of salt.

This thread is much more interesting (and enjoyable) when it's about ethical issues, not conspiracy theories.
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Agreed. We should wait for confirmation by someone in the game's media since they are far more credible and are likely to have more journalistic integrity.
 
E

Empty

Member
Safe Bet said:
Just a guess, but... by being a writer?

Too bad other outlet's preciously prized industry connections aren't yielding similar fruit.
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i think most writers would struggle to get someone to leak internal marketing plans from this year. that's not something you just hand over if you value your job, it's no coincidence that recent interesting pieces about kaos and silicon knights are covering (basically) dead studios some time after the events.

there interesting stuff in there about hitman and mcv which goes back to the thin line between pr and journos but the juicy stuff about square in that piece depends on you trusting someone's sources as being true which is a lot harder with a random forum post than a professional from the verge who can get fired and blacklisted for bullshitting.
 
C

chickdigger802

Banned
jschreier said:
Just throwing this out there: I don't know anything about the allegations in that Verge forum post, but it's a forum post. When any forum poster says something about internal marketing meetings at a company, it seems worth taking with a hefty grain of salt.

This thread is much more interesting (and enjoyable) when it's about ethical issues, not conspiracy theories.
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True, but kotaku isn't innocent from posting anon tips/rumors either :)

Every fact from now on should be taken with a grain of salt, but the fact that most of it is crazy probable is the sad part.
 
K

King_Moc

Banned
King_Moc said:
MVC is the UK's industry trade magazine. So it's mainly intended for developers, journalists, publishers, that kind of thing. Wainwright works there. Can't see that she's posted a story since October 25th though.

http://www.mcvuk.com/
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EternalGamer said:
I don't know anything about Intent Media or MVC. Are they big in the U.K. scene?
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Amusingly, MVC just posted this: http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/have...n-legendary-and-get-a-free-trip-to-e3/0105637

Almost no one in the UK has American Express anyway. Not sure this is gonna change their minds.
 
I

inky

Member
jschreier said:
Just throwing this out there: I don't know anything about the allegations in that Verge forum post, but it's a forum post. When any forum poster says something about internal marketing meetings at a company, it seems worth taking with a hefty grain of salt.

This thread is much more interesting (and enjoyable) when it's about ethical issues, not conspiracy theories.
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I agree, but what Lauren and David said, did and wrote about is still true. That and the fact that she is still writing about SE for MCV after admitting to having done some "work" for them are not just theories.
 
R

RaffAO

Member
EternalGamer said:
I don't know anything about Intent Media or MVC. Are they big in the U.K. scene?
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MCV, the paper rag at least, is for retailers etc and as a result is incredibly insular. It will be business as usual for them, even if that means hilariously publishing this hitman gush piece from LW.
 
J

jschreier

Member
inky said:
I agree, but what Lauren and David said, did and wrote about is still true. That and the fact that she is still writing about SE for MCV after admitting to having done some "work" for them are not just theories.
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It is unfortunate. As a reader, I certainly would not be happy seeing that sort of thing.
 
J

jschreier

Member
More Fun To Compute said:
How would you feel if as a writer she got you fired by pulling strings with your boss?
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I'm sure I would be infuriated, as I'm sure Rab Florence is infuriated. John Walker put it very well in his recent RPS piece: "Silencing journalists is a terrible practice."

I don't want to voice my opinion on the specifics without knowing the specifics, though. I have no idea what went on behind the scenes. I also don't know what Stephen has learned while reporting this story, but I, like you guys, am excited to see what he writes.
 
O

Oxx

Member
Yeah, it would help if the one part of the post that doesn't have citations wasn't the most inflammatory part.

Still, there are even a few examples of Wainwright's cosy relationship with Square Enix that he didn't mention.
 
Z

Zissou

Member
Seems the thread has lost a bit of momentum- in part as a result of the flow of big scandals slowing down, in part because it's become a difficult-to-digest megathread, and in part because we're waiting to see the responses from more outlets to measure what kind of impact recent events have had so far.

I have little doubt that if we keep looking(probably not even looking particularly hard), we could find fresh dirt on PR/game journos/etc. frequently enough that this thread would rarely be off of the front page, but the thread has become unfocused. Hopefully someone will come up with a constuctive way to refocus the thread or create a productive new one. We may have to wait until some specific impetus arrives though for everyone to use as new (re-)starting point.
 
R

RaidenZR

Member
I have a question for Jason, Stephen, or any other writer that's still listening at this point:

If you're subjected to some ridiculous PR shenanigans in order to get access to a game (to a point where it really bothered you), can't you then bring that opinion to the developer/publisher who has a relationship with said PR company in order to give them that feedback? Have you ever done this? Maybe some of the publishers/developers would want to know and aren't really getting that kind of communication from press people. Maybe they'd rather work with PR companies that the press actually enjoys interfacing with and just aren't aware there is sometimes an opposite sentiment.
 
V

Victrix

*beard*
Given that most devs slave upon the Wheel of Pain at the whim of their publisher dollars, I kind of doubt they have that influence. Plus, it's kind of in their best interests to get their game the most and best possible exposure they can since, you know, they kind of want to eat and go home to a roof at night.

etkVm.jpg
 
C

Corto

Member
Jason if you please give my kudos to Tina Amini on her "How It Feels To Review Halo 4 On Microsoft’s Turf?" article. Very topical. Very informative.
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Glix said:
This is all so disgusting.

I bet Jeff G has a LOT of interesting stories.
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Yeah, but he wouldn't share them for obvious reasons.

RaidenZR said:
If you're subjected to some ridiculous PR shenanigans in order to get access to a game (to a point where it really bothered you), can't you then bring that opinion to the developer/publisher who has a relationship with said PR company in order to give them that feedback? Have you ever done this?
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That's actually... a good question.
 
I

IdreamofHIME

Member
That verge article is horrible, Wainwright is so close to everything squeenix has touched over the past year or so, and to then have the balls to try and silence it the way she did and think it wouldn't get out.
She's the Ryan Giggs of videogames.
 
R

RaidenZR

Member
Victrix said:
Given that most devs slave upon the Wheel of Pain at the whim of their publisher dollars, I kind of doubt they have that influence. Plus, it's kind of in their best interests to get their game the most and best possible exposure they can since, you know, they kind of want to eat and go home to a roof at night.
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I understand the relationships here, and I'm aware most developers themselves aren't the ones holding big review events or creating circus acts surrounding their titles, but it doesn't mean the feedback can't be given and it doesn't mean that a publisher wouldn't be receptive to said feedback if the reaction from the press was the opposite of what they expected.
 
M

McBradders

NeoGAF: my new HOME
RaidenZR said:
I understand the relationships here, and I'm aware most developers themselves aren't the ones holding big review events or creating circus acts surrounding their titles, but it doesn't mean the feedback can't be given and it doesn't mean that the a publisher wouldn't be receptive to it if the reaction from the press was the opposite of what they expected.
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It's cute you think developers have any say in the matter or even any meaningful contact with PR.
 
R

RaidenZR

Member
McBradders said:
It's cute you think developers have any say in the matter or even any meaningful contact with PR.
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Okay, this is not the main focus of my question. Publishers then.

I just worded it that way because I'm sure there's a few small cases where a developer self-published but may have been included in a big event, tour, or what have you- that was sponsored by a larger group. That's all.
 
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