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[Loudninja]

What happened to Verendus ?

I dont think he really says much these days.

 

[EL CUCO]

Hello, all.

This is my first post on NeoGAF, and whilst I'm not generally one to deal in internet speculation, I have to put the record straight with regard to Pete Dodd's comments above.

Everything he has said with regard to myself and Driveclub is incorrect. It's also libellous.

As Putty (who is a personal friend of mine, and has been for about 25 years) suggests, I left Evo in February for personal reasons. The personal reasons being that my son, who is 4 years old, has been diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome, which is a potentially life threatening condition. I live 220 miles (4 hours drive) away from Evolution Studios, and was away from home 5.5 days a week. Given the circumstances, I could not continue to work there.

Driveclub is a great game, and the direction hasn't changed since my departure. This has been confirmed by SONY in various press releases over recent days.

I have no problem in dealing with very large projects, as I've been working in the games industry for the last 19 years, and have worked on some very prestigious titles, so there is genuinely no truth to anything posted by Mr Dodds at all. My departure (and indeed the setup of my 'indie' operation, BigRedSwitch) is 100% driven by family necessity, not some professional failing on my part.

I left SONY on very good terms. There is no animosity there, and I was absolutely nothing to do with the recent redundancies - in fact, the news of those redundancies was probably linked on here before I knew about them.

The games industry is a tough place at the moment. My circumstances with my son mean that I've had to leave secure work in order to try to make my own way in the world. This may entail getting another job. With people who obviously know nothing about the situation blackening my reputation for the sake of internet 'fame', this could be made much more difficult. It's nothing less than trolling.

I've contacted Mr. Dodd on his email address on his site. Due to the factual inaccuracy of his statements, I've informed him that he needs to remove the statements and apologise for the damage they have caused, as posting incorrect information and claiming it's true is quite simply libel.

I'm sure you can all appreciate just how difficult things are for myself and my family at the moment. I'd genuinely appreciate it if you can take my statements as word from the origin, and realise that there has been no big cover-up when it comes to my departure from SONY/Evo.

Thanks, all.


Col.

Thanks for clearing this up. <3

God bless, and Godspeed.

Look forward to your new project as well.

 

[Vizzeh]

What an eye opener some of this thread has been... I think what we have learned is that speculation can have a real life effect.

The math at times and connecting dots is also highly unnecessary, there are plenty of things we just do not know whats going on behind the scenes, alot normal development cycles of winding down before gearing back up again, other Studios just needing different direction or too much ego massages needed that are detrimental to the development/team atmosphere.

Sometimes be it be click bait or sensationalizing, Journalists and readers alike need to relax, accept that somethings are normal/required and drink a little less of the over-dramatic devils liqueur.

The Druckman stuff is a little distasteful at times, especially without proper rational proof/justification and reasoning.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Truly scummy shit, leveraging "insider" status to make personal claims about people to justify these departures.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

yikes

 

[Hexa]

what about thuway?

I think he's more choosy with the rumors he forward, and thus he's more accurate. But because of recent events I'm turned off from the 'insider gaining fame forwarding what he's heard'.

Legit employees hiding their identity or bust.
Though cboat was supposedly an ms employee so that may not be perfect either.

Who are they?

Wat?

 

[Dr.Schlomo]

Hello, all.

This is my first post on NeoGAF, and whilst I'm not generally one to deal in internet speculation, I have to put the record straight with regard to Pete Dodd's comments above.

Everything he has said with regard to myself and Driveclub is incorrect. It's also libellous.

As Putty (who is a personal friend of mine, and has been for about 25 years) suggests, I left Evo in February for personal reasons. The personal reasons being that my son, who is 4 years old, has been diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome, which is a potentially life threatening condition. I live 220 miles (4 hours drive) away from Evolution Studios, and was away from home 5.5 days a week. Given the circumstances, I could not continue to work there.

Driveclub is a great game, and the direction hasn't changed since my departure. This has been confirmed by SONY in various press releases over recent days.

I have no problem in dealing with very large projects, as I've been working in the games industry for the last 19 years, and have worked on some very prestigious titles, so there is genuinely no truth to anything posted by Mr Dodds at all. My departure (and indeed the setup of my 'indie' operation, BigRedSwitch) is 100% driven by family necessity, not some professional failing on my part.

I left SONY on very good terms. There is no animosity there, and I was absolutely nothing to do with the recent redundancies - in fact, the news of those redundancies was probably linked on here before I knew about them.

The games industry is a tough place at the moment. My circumstances with my son mean that I've had to leave secure work in order to try to make my own way in the world. This may entail getting another job. With people who obviously know nothing about the situation blackening my reputation for the sake of internet 'fame', this could be made much more difficult. It's nothing less than trolling.

I've contacted Mr. Dodd on his email address on his site. Due to the factual inaccuracy of his statements, I've informed him that he needs to remove the statements and apologise for the damage they have caused, as posting incorrect information and claiming it's true is quite simply libel.

I'm sure you can all appreciate just how difficult things are for myself and my family at the moment. I'd genuinely appreciate it if you can take my statements as word from the origin, and realise that there has been no big cover-up when it comes to my departure from SONY/Evo.

Thanks, all.

Col.

I've always said I could never work in the games industry. This is exactly why, it's full of people like Pete who don't care what the consequences of their actions are. As long as they get Internet points everything is ok.

I'm very sorry to hear about your son and I wish you the best of luck/thoughts/prayers. I honestly don't know how hard it is to start up an indie studio but I imagine it's quite difficult. I can't wait to see what games come out of your studio with your direction. I look forward to supporting your projects in anyway I can.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

What an eye opener some of this thread has been... I think what we have learned is that speculation can have a real life effect.

The math at times and connecting dots is also highly unnecessary, there are plenty of things we just do not know whats going on behind the scenes, alot normal development cycles of winding down before gearing back up again, other Studios just needing different direction or too much ego massages needed that are detrimental to the development/team atmosphere.

Sometimes be it be click bait or sensationalizing, Journalists and readers alike need to relax, accept that somethings are normal/required and drink a little less of the over-dramatic devils liqueur.

We should leave our jump to conclusion mats at home.

 

[Corto]

Col, if you're reading, first of all as a father, all the best wishes for your son and you will be on our prayers. Secondly, thanks for the unnecessary explanation. It burns me inside that you felt the need to disclose a personal catastrophic event like that to defend your professional status, just because we love to do some inside baseball with zero reliability on our drip feed sources. Godspeed and accept my apologies for my participation in this.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

What happened to Verendus ?

Just another 'insider' like Thuway. He has been wrong way more than he has been right.

DemonNite and Gopher are the only two people, who are in the capacity to post actual 'insider scoop'. Although, they don't do it for obvious reasons.

 

[MiamiWesker]

It's rare that the same director gets to make 3 sequels in a row. There's probably a reason for that. Sometimes the best way to shake things up and get a new perspective is to get a new director.

3 years into development?!

Come on. This stuff is not common. Especially with a person who established herself as one of the best directors in the business.

Everyone compares this to studios downsizing and closures. That is not what is happening here, the creative leads of a bunch of studios are leaving. All within the span of a month. That does not happen often.

Edit: and I just read Rodgers post, my heart goes out to you. I am not claiming that perhaps all these departures happening at the same time is not a coincidence. Maybe it is. I am just saying this month has not been common.

 

[The Strokes]

I wish you the best, Col. Hopefully you land a job soon that'll help you get through this situation.

And what's up with famousmortimer anyways? I'm not trying to provoke a witch hunt here, but I wanted to check his twitter just to see if he had clarified the situation but was unable to find him? Did he closed it?

 

[Orniletter]

I dont think he really says much these days.

Just another 'insider' like Thuway. He has been wrong way more than he has been right.

DemonNite and Gopher are the only two people, who are in the capacity to post actual 'insider scoop'. Although, they don't do it for obvious reasons.

I honestly had my doubts from the very beginning.

Thanks for the answers ...and I´ll stop my derailing.

 

[Gorillaz]

The time of GAF "insiders" is coming to an end

it might need to for awhile

it's gotten ridiculous, I think we are down to demonite and gopher

 

[Hexa]

I won't even call them insiders since they don't tell us anything .
Which is okay they join the forum to have fun discuss stuff just like everyone else .

They do some great teasing though. ie Gopher essentially leaked that Ready at Dawn was working on a PS4 title that would be revealed at E3, but no one picked up on it and made the connection till afterwards. Stuff like that is IMO cooler than just throwing crap out there. Companies should legit do that. Kind of like super mini args.

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

Thanks - hopefully it'll all work out.

Hope and wish the best with your family man, really hope things look up in terms of your son's health.

Weren't a bunch of people giving me shit about two weeks ago when I dared question these insiders? The 100m figure for Stig's project also sounds like a crazy exaggeration or even 75m.

 

[Palocca]

3 years into development?!

Come on. This stuff is not common. Especially with a person who established herself as one of the best directors in the business.

Everyone compares this to studios downsizing and closures. That is not what is happening here, the creative leads of a bunch of studios are leaving. All within the span of a month. That does not happen often.

People leave for different reasons. After what just happened a few pages ago, I think it'd be best to leave it at that.

 

[Col_Rodgers]

Corto: Everything is a balance, isn't it? Unfortunately, despite my need to look after my boy, I can't do that without my career, hence the reason I've had to declare all and put the record straight. Tough times.

If any of you are interested in seeing what I do as an indie, I've set up a BigRedSwitch page on Facebook which I'll eventually use to show off my work. Wether anything comes of it, it's too early to say, but as a game designer/programmer, I can never really stop making games.

 

[Enjay]

Has NeoGAF gotten big enough that it's actually hurting people working?

 

[Interficium]

Hello, all.

Wow.

Should be the death knell for Mort on NeoGaf. Pretty shameful.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

3 years into development?!

Come on. This stuff is not common. Especially with a person who established herself as one of the best directors in the business.

Everyone compares this to studios downsizing and closures. That is not what is happening here, the creative leads of a bunch of studios are leaving. All within the span of a month. That does not happen often.

Are you talking about UC4 cause there is no way that was in development for 3 years .
UC3 came out in November 2011 .

it might need to for awhile

it's gotten ridiculous, I think we are down to demonite and gopher

There also Matt but he never says anything about games and was active before the hardware came out .

 

[MiamiWesker]

People leave for different reasons. After what just happened a few pages ago, I think it'd be best to leave it at that.

Edited my post

 

[LookAtMeGo]

Corto: Everything is a balance, isn't it? Unfortunately, despite my need to look after my boy, I can't do that without my career, hence the reason I've had to declare all and put the record straight. Tough times.

If any of you are interested in seeing what I do as an indie, I've set up a BigRedSwitch page on Facebook which I'll eventually use to show off my work. Wether anything comes of it, it's too early to say, but as a game designer/programmer, I can never really stop making games.

Will check it out

 

[eddfromtheriver]

Corto: Everything is a balance, isn't it? Unfortunately, despite my need to look after my boy, I can't do that without my career, hence the reason I've had to declare all and put the record straight. Tough times.

If any of you are interested in seeing what I do as an indie, I've set up a BigRedSwitch page on Facebook which I'll eventually use to show off my work. Wether anything comes of it, it's too early to say, but as a game designer/programmer, I can never really stop making games.

Looking forward to your future works, hope they land on a Sony platform.

 

[GameAddict411]

Has NeoGAF gotten big enough that it's actually hurting people working?

big enough for people outside our forums to discuss what we say here.

 

[Interfectum]

Corto: Everything is a balance, isn't it? Unfortunately, despite my need to look after my boy, I can't do that without my career, hence the reason I've had to declare all and put the record straight. Tough times.

If any of you are interested in seeing what I do as an indie, I've set up a BigRedSwitch page on Facebook which I'll eventually use to show off my work. Wether anything comes of it, it's too early to say, but as a game designer/programmer, I can never really stop making games.

Good luck to you. Maybe the upside to Morts post is I'm now more likely to pay attention to "BigRedSwitch" than I would had you never been forced to make that post. Silver lining?

 

[msdstc]

WOW, mortimer deservers something for this... where is the apology? Pretty sure at the moment he has every right to sue your ass.

Seriously Col_Rodgers best of luck, sounds like a shitty situation .

 

[nomis]

Mortimer finds sudden internet cachet, and proceeds to abuse it? I for one am shocked that he'd desperately want to elevate himself, considering that he's as much of a nobody as the rest of us, except he made a hashtag once and records a podcast with no guests. Truly the hero we deserve.

We need a better kind of Insider, one who doesn't spread fictitious rumors and won't stray to the side of tabloid journalism with libelous claims. Luckily I've been working on an Indiegogo campaign for this very reason.

What an eye opener some of this thread has been... I think what we have learned is that speculation can have a real life effect.

How certain individuals couldn't have just figured this out with common sense ahead of time is a little baffling.

 

[Palocca]

If any of you are interested in seeing what I do as an indie, I've set up a BigRedSwitch page on Facebook which I'll eventually use to show off my work. Wether anything comes of it, it's too early to say, but as a game designer/programmer, I can never really stop making games.

1) I'm sure Driveclub will be spectacular thanks to your efforts once it releases. Hopefully soon?

2) I'll be looking forward to your future projects. I'll keep my eye out!

 

[Doc Holliday]

Wow.

Should be the death knell for Mort on NeoGaf. Pretty shameful.

Why? To me it sound like Mortimer was just speculating about what could have happened? I read the post like he was giving possible reasons for people leaving instead of the crazy conspiracy shit that was going around.

I feel bad Col. Rogers situation but not sure Mortimer should be banned for speculating. Unless he's something as fact, if he was then I stand corrected.

EDIT: read the post again, he sounded damn sure about what he wrote lol.

 

[Nightengale]

People leave for different reasons. After what just happened a few pages ago, I think it'd be best to leave it at that.

Pretty much.

If there's anything to be read between the lines on these, it's that not everything is as black/white as some people may want to paint things out to be. And that when it comes to what other people can say about someone else, it's a dangerous treadmill to walk on, regardless of whether or not there is some validity to the words, or not.

 

[Dr.Schlomo]

Corto: Everything is a balance, isn't it? Unfortunately, despite my need to look after my boy, I can't do that without my career, hence the reason I've had to declare all and put the record straight. Tough times.

If any of you are interested in seeing what I do as an indie, I've set up a BigRedSwitch page on Facebook which I'll eventually use to show off my work. Wether anything comes of it, it's too early to say, but as a game designer/programmer, I can never really stop making games.

Hey Col, I'm a professional web developer and would love to help you out with a website. As far as the price it would be nothing more than working within a time frame that suits both of us as far time lines go. If you are interested in talking some more shoot me a pm and I'll get you my personal info.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

Corto: Everything is a balance, isn't it? Unfortunately, despite my need to look after my boy, I can't do that without my career, hence the reason I've had to declare all and put the record straight. Tough times.

If any of you are interested in seeing what I do as an indie, I've set up a BigRedSwitch page on Facebook which I'll eventually use to show off my work. Wether anything comes of it, it's too early to say, but as a game designer/programmer, I can never really stop making games.

Can you PM me the Driveclub release date? I promise i won't tell anyone....

 

[kurbaan]

Hello, all.

This is my first post on NeoGAF, and whilst I'm not generally one to deal in internet speculation, I have to put the record straight with regard to Pete Dodd's comments above.

Everything he has said with regard to myself and Driveclub is incorrect. It's also libellous.

As Putty (who is a personal friend of mine, and has been for about 25 years) suggests, I left Evo in February for personal reasons. The personal reasons being that my son, who is 4 years old, has been diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome, which is a potentially life threatening condition. I live 220 miles (4 hours drive) away from Evolution Studios, and was away from home 5.5 days a week. Given the circumstances, I could not continue to work there.

Driveclub is a great game, and the direction hasn't changed since my departure. This has been confirmed by SONY in various press releases over recent days.

I have no problem in dealing with very large projects, as I've been working in the games industry for the last 19 years, and have worked on some very prestigious titles, so there is genuinely no truth to anything posted by Mr Dodds at all. My departure (and indeed the setup of my 'indie' operation, BigRedSwitch) is 100% driven by family necessity, not some professional failing on my part.

I left SONY on very good terms. There is no animosity there, and I was absolutely nothing to do with the recent redundancies - in fact, the news of those redundancies was probably linked on here before I knew about them.

The games industry is a tough place at the moment. My circumstances with my son mean that I've had to leave secure work in order to try to make my own way in the world. This may entail getting another job. With people who obviously know nothing about the situation blackening my reputation for the sake of internet 'fame', this could be made much more difficult. It's nothing less than trolling.

I've contacted Mr. Dodd on his email address on his site. Due to the factual inaccuracy of his statements, I've informed him that he needs to remove the statements and apologise for the damage they have caused, as posting incorrect information and claiming it's true is quite simply libel.

I'm sure you can all appreciate just how difficult things are for myself and my family at the moment. I'd genuinely appreciate it if you can take my statements as word from the origin, and realise that there has been no big cover-up when it comes to my departure from SONY/Evo.

Thanks, all.

Col.

 

[dripdripsplash]

All Sony first party developers are disbanding and the workers are heading to Riot.

Sony will crash and Microsoft will buy the PlayStation brand and control the whole market.

 

[Yiazmat]

We need a better kind of Insider, one who doesn't spread fictitious rumors and won't stray to the side of tabloid journalism with libelous claims. Luckily I've been working on an Indiegogo campaign for this very reason.

I can't

 

[Vibranium]

Props to Col for responding to famousmortimer. I honestly think the mods should look at banning him for a least a while. If Derrick got perma'd by repeatedly stirring up threads then there's precedent for applying the same to others.

Anyways, I've played all the Uncharteds on a friend's PS3, I am still excited for 4. I hope Justin enjoys his time at Riot, I don't think we should try to dig into conflicts Naughty Dog is handling themselves. I am sure they have a lot of good talent who would love to step into bigger roles. And of course Lord Druckman (can't wait to play TLoU on PS4).

 

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

Always doubt 'insiders' if they post repeatedly in a thread.

 

[poodpick]

Why? To me it sound like Mortimer was just speculating about what could have happened? I read the post like he was giving possible reasons for people leaving instead of the crazy conspiracy shit that was going around.

I feel bad Col. Rogers situation but not sure Mortimer should be banned for speculating. Unless he's something as fact, if he was then I stand corrected.

I don't know. That $100 million budget claim seems very odd to me.

 

[Loudninja]

I think people her need to stop making ridiculous statements as well whenever a dev leaves as well.

I seen this in each and everyone of these topics.

 

[Vizzeh]

Why? To me it sound like Mortimer was just speculating about what could have happened? I read the post like he was giving possible reasons for people leaving instead of the crazy conspiracy shit that was going around.

I feel bad Col. Rogers situation but not sure Mortimer should be banned for speculating. Unless he's something as fact, if he was then I stand corrected.

Mort is a nice guy, alot of his post is fair and good calming information in a thread that looked like it required it, however as much as I respect mort, he probably should have stopped at personal speculation. Hopefully this is merely a learning experience for him.

Sad to read about Col's personal situation, hope all works out and Big Red Switch is a success... I will be following closely, just checked it out on facebook, they seem to have great appetite and I wish them all the best!

 

[Capella]

Why? To me it sound like Mortimer was just speculating about what could have happened? I read the post like he was giving possible reasons for people leaving instead of the crazy conspiracy shit that was going around.

I feel bad Col. Rogers situation but not sure Mortimer should be banned for speculating. Unless he's something as fact, if he was then I stand corrected.

Maybe I misread his post but I don't see where he was differentiating between fact and speculation.

 

[nomis]

Why? To me it sound like Mortimer was just speculating about what could have happened? I read the post like he was giving possible reasons for people leaving instead of the crazy conspiracy shit that was going around.

I feel bad Col. Rogers situation but not sure Mortimer should be banned for speculating. Unless he's something as fact, if he was then I stand corrected.

The problem is that he never clearly labelled it as speculation. He started off by being condescending to people who were trying to find an overarching conspiracy for the departures, and instead presented "Col is just incompetent and Sony canned him". Average Gaffer sees him say this and thinks "Hey! It's that famousmortimer guy who created #nops4drm! He probably plays racquetball with all kinds of industry insiders these days, and he speaks with such innate authority, I bet he's dropping #truthbombs!".

 

[Cardon]

Hello, all.

This is my first post on NeoGAF, and whilst I'm not generally one to deal in internet speculation, I have to put the record straight with regard to Pete Dodd's comments above.

Everything he has said with regard to myself and Driveclub is incorrect. It's also libellous.

As Putty (who is a personal friend of mine, and has been for about 25 years) suggests, I left Evo in February for personal reasons. The personal reasons being that my son, who is 4 years old, has been diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome, which is a potentially life threatening condition. I live 220 miles (4 hours drive) away from Evolution Studios, and was away from home 5.5 days a week. Given the circumstances, I could not continue to work there.

Driveclub is a great game, and the direction hasn't changed since my departure. This has been confirmed by SONY in various press releases over recent days.

I have no problem in dealing with very large projects, as I've been working in the games industry for the last 19 years, and have worked on some very prestigious titles, so there is genuinely no truth to anything posted by Mr Dodds at all. My departure (and indeed the setup of my 'indie' operation, BigRedSwitch) is 100% driven by family necessity, not some professional failing on my part.

I left SONY on very good terms. There is no animosity there, and I was absolutely nothing to do with the recent redundancies - in fact, the news of those redundancies was probably linked on here before I knew about them.

The games industry is a tough place at the moment. My circumstances with my son mean that I've had to leave secure work in order to try to make my own way in the world. This may entail getting another job. With people who obviously know nothing about the situation blackening my reputation for the sake of internet 'fame', this could be made much more difficult. It's nothing less than trolling.

I've contacted Mr. Dodd on his email address on his site. Due to the factual inaccuracy of his statements, I've informed him that he needs to remove the statements and apologise for the damage they have caused, as posting incorrect information and claiming it's true is quite simply libel.

I'm sure you can all appreciate just how difficult things are for myself and my family at the moment. I'd genuinely appreciate it if you can take my statements as word from the origin, and realise that there has been no big cover-up when it comes to my departure from SONY/Evo.

Thanks, all.

Col.

As a recent father and a longtime fan of your work, I hope for nothing but the best for you and your family moving forward. Definitely sucks that you had to disclose private info just to clear up some rather absurd rumors that were pranced around.

And echoing the sentiments others have said thus far, I do agree that there ought to be some sort of punishment/time-out for Mort on GAF unless he sheds some info on how he came about with the statement concerning Col, DriveClub, and Evo unless it was just another talesfromyourass moment.

 

[Vibranium]

I think people her need to stop making ridiculous statements as well whenever a dev leaves as well.

I seen this in each and everyone of these topics.

Yep. Some people over-analyze "the chart" of Sony studios who have made big personnel changes, when they should leave it alone. Let the studios sort things out.

 

[Nightengale]

I think people her need to stop making ridiculous statements as well whenever a dev leaves as well.

I seen this in each and everyone of these topics.

Truth here.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

I think people her need to stop making ridiculous statements as well whenever a dev leaves as well.

I seen this in each and everyone of these topics.

We can't really stop them from doing it. The same happens when people leave other studio, it is just overreacted when it comes to anything from Sony.

The reason this thread exploded was because of how we heard about the news of layoffs/departures in rapid succession, it started feeling like things were bleak at Sony, when the reality is the exact opposite.

 

[Nightengale]

Maybe I misread his post but I don't see where he was differentiating between fact and speculation.

Mort treads a very thin line between rumour, speculation and fact in his regular post. Especially when he gets lengthy.

It's a bad habit of his.

 

[viveks86]

Whoa! I wish you all the best, Col. Thanks for taking the time to clear this up. It sucks that you need to be the one doing it in such difficult times. Shame on us and these "insiders" for such wild baseless speculation. You are absolutely right in demanding an apology.

 

[FranXico]

Hello, all.

This is my first post on NeoGAF, and whilst I'm not generally one to deal in internet speculation, I have to put the record straight with regard to Pete Dodd's comments above.

Everything he has said with regard to myself and Driveclub is incorrect. It's also libellous.

As Putty (who is a personal friend of mine, and has been for about 25 years) suggests, I left Evo in February for personal reasons. The personal reasons being that my son, who is 4 years old, has been diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome, which is a potentially life threatening condition. I live 220 miles (4 hours drive) away from Evolution Studios, and was away from home 5.5 days a week. Given the circumstances, I could not continue to work there.

Driveclub is a great game, and the direction hasn't changed since my departure. This has been confirmed by SONY in various press releases over recent days.

I have no problem in dealing with very large projects, as I've been working in the games industry for the last 19 years, and have worked on some very prestigious titles, so there is genuinely no truth to anything posted by Mr Dodds at all. My departure (and indeed the setup of my 'indie' operation, BigRedSwitch) is 100% driven by family necessity, not some professional failing on my part.

I left SONY on very good terms. There is no animosity there, and I was absolutely nothing to do with the recent redundancies - in fact, the news of those redundancies was probably linked on here before I knew about them.

The games industry is a tough place at the moment. My circumstances with my son mean that I've had to leave secure work in order to try to make my own way in the world. This may entail getting another job. With people who obviously know nothing about the situation blackening my reputation for the sake of internet 'fame', this could be made much more difficult. It's nothing less than trolling.

I've contacted Mr. Dodd on his email address on his site. Due to the factual inaccuracy of his statements, I've informed him that he needs to remove the statements and apologise for the damage they have caused, as posting incorrect information and claiming it's true is quite simply libel.

I'm sure you can all appreciate just how difficult things are for myself and my family at the moment. I'd genuinely appreciate it if you can take my statements as word from the origin, and realise that there has been no big cover-up when it comes to my departure from SONY/Evo.

Thanks, all.

Col.

I am very sorry to hear about your son. I have just recently become a father and can say that I can at least imagine how those news must feel.

Do your best and put love into everything you do, and everything else will work out.

You can count on my support in the future.