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[Sword Of Doom]

I think we've established extremely well that there are significant, clear double standards at play here.

The real question is, why? Why is it so consistent that a Japanese system just 7 years ago was run through the mud for graphical issues on multi-plat games and now an American system is not?

I'm looking for anyone to discuss what they seriously think the reasons might be.

1) Irrational fanboy devotion to MS brand?
2) Racism?
3) Bribery?
4) MS PR is more aggressive about threatening with ad revenue and early access privileges?
5) MS hires more journalists who play ball for PR positions?

I know no one will believe it, but I have to think that given all the rest of the coverage we've gotten over these last 7 years, #2 is really my best guess.

Any other serious suggestions?

I don't think it's racism but I do think relationships are important in business and many of these guy being US based have more personal relationships with MS and it's employees. Sony being Japanese means that there is an inherent cultural wall and I believe this may be the reason. I don't think they are necessarily racist. I just think there's more of a relationship and understanding between MS and American games media

Edit: just an example, Garnett Lee said on his podcast that he has friends who work at MS and he can see in his 360 friends list that they are using the Xbox One. The relationship he has with MS employees he probably doesn't have with many who work at Sony. That can lead to bias even though he may not be doing it consciously

 

[GSG Flash]

Adam Sessler and every other American journalist that's peddling this "lower performance isn't a big deal" bullshit after slamming the PS3 for the past seven years have lost any little respect they had.

These journalists are no longer reputable in my books.

 

[Shmuely Bully]

Yesterday I saw Adam Sessler giggle like a twilight fangirl when that dirty foreigner Mikael Haveri was demoing that dirty foreign game resogun on that dirty foreign PS4 console while Anthony Carboni was stoking that dirty foreign controller like was paying for the room hourly.

I don't think it's racism or nationalism.

I just think Sessler and Co. just don't want to fan the flames. Some of us (maybe not me) have well measured criticisms of XB1 and a objective tempered view of the PS4 but a lot of the noise is fanboism and many many game press people don't want to feed the flames. The ones that do are rightly looked down upon.

If they're trying to not 'fan the flames' then they're not only defying both common sense and business sense, they're also going about it exactly backwards.

You don't avoid 'feeding the flames' by being continuously wrong and then attempting to condemn your audience for not ignoring the fact that you were wrong, or by stating things which are diametrically opposed to your previous positions and then getting upset when people call you out for it.

If what you say is true they're morons, plain and simple.

 

[vcc]

Link? Or it didn't happen,Adam is above dirty foreigner shooters!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvBwuzdatrc&feature=c4-overview&list=UUQXR8pItAoKDAJSbphFxbrg

 

[Portugeezer]

I think we've established extremely well that there are significant, clear double standards at play here.

The real question is, why? Why is it so consistent that a Japanese system just 7 years ago was run through the mud for graphical issues on multi-plat games and now an American system is not?

I'm looking for anyone to discuss what they seriously think the reasons might be.

1) Irrational fanboy devotion to MS brand?
2) Racism?
3) Bribery?
4) MS PR is more aggressive about threatening with ad revenue and early access privileges?
5) MS hires more journalists who play ball for PR positions?

I know no one will believe it, but I have to think that given all the rest of the coverage we've gotten over these last 7 years, #2 is really my best guess.

Any other serious suggestions?

I wouldn't think so. But if #2 had some truth it would be in the form of patriotism, not racism; that I could see.

We get comments about the Japanese market being like this too, that wouldn't make it right for the west to act that way.

 

[DBT85]

Damn.....

Here's the thing. I could understand if the roles were reversed. For example, if the PS4 were the $500 machine and the XBone the $400 machine, then the argument would make sense to an extent. "Is 1080p worth the extra $100 for you? Or is 720p enough when the game is basically the same otherwise?"

This is exactly what some of us have been saying. This really isn't specifically about the resolution. It's about the quality for the price of the unit, and it's about why those differences are there and what implications that is going to have long term.


Swap the prices over and GAF buys the PS4 and the Xbone wins the generation (maybe).

With prices as they are it's a set of questions that need asking. Maybe we should get the guy from Metro to do it, he apparently has large enough testicles to take the job on.

 

[Shinta]

I don't think it's racism but I do think relationships are important in business and many of these guy being US based have more personal relationships with MS and it's employees. Sony being Japanese means that there is an inherent cultural wall and I believe this may be the reason. I don't think they are necessarily racist. I just think there's more of a relationship and understanding between MS and American games media

Good post. Definitely a possibility.

I wouldn't think so. But if #2 had some truth it would be in the form of patriotism, not racism; that I could see.

We get comments about the Japanese market being like this too, that wouldn't make it right for the west to act that way.

True, it goes both ways at times. And I agree, it doesn't really justify it.

 

[KimonoNoNo]

Games central? ........... What channel on teletext?


Digitiser was "the" teletext read and that was Channel 4.

Digitiser ran from 1993 until 2003 when Games Central took over until the teletext shutdown in 2009.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitiser
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameCentral

And yes Digitiser/GameCentral was required reading as far as I was concerned.

 

[Mugatu]

I think we've established extremely well that there are significant, clear double standards at play here.

The real question is, why? Why is it so consistent that a Japanese system just 7 years ago was run through the mud for graphical issues on multi-plat games and now an American system is not?

I'm looking for anyone to discuss what they seriously think the reasons might be.

1) Irrational fanboy devotion to MS brand?
2) Racism?
3) Bribery?
4) MS PR is more aggressive about threatening with ad revenue and early access privileges?
5) MS hires more journalists who play ball for PR positions?

I know no one will believe it, but I have to think that given all the rest of the coverage we've gotten over these last 7 years, #2 is really my best guess.

Any other serious suggestions?

I'm already cynical enough without forcing myself to guess at his reasons, no point in working myself up over this. I think the most important thing is that it's been clearly established that something rotten is going on.

I don't know why, but at least knowing it gives me a chance to guard against it.

 

[NinjamicWZ]

people should tweet Adam Sandler with ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Give DIRETIDE

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

There was so much drama about cod ghosts but even the PC version looks like crap and that is supposed to have the best textures =/

 

[vpance]

Yesterday I saw Adam Sessler giggle like a twilight fangirl when that dirty foreigner Mikael Haveri was demoing that dirty foreign game resogun on that dirty foreign PS4 console while Anthony Carboni was stoking that dirty foreign controller like was paying for the room hourly.

I don't think it's racism or nationalism.

That's why I said it's latent

Seriously I think it's just latent or unspoken bias for the Xbox brand though. Why else would hardware review and benchmarking sites come out with said embarrassing "it's barely noticeable" articles?

 

[vcc]

I don't think it's racism but I do think relationships are important in business and many of these guy being US based have more personal relationships with MS and it's employees. Sony being Japanese means that there is an inherent cultural wall and I believe this may be the reason. I don't think they are necessarily racist. I just think there's more of a relationship and understanding between MS and American games media

Edit: just an example, Garnett Lee said on his podcast that he has friends who work at MS and he can see in his 360 friends list that they are using the Xbox One. The relationship he has with MS employees he probably doesn't have with many who work at Sony. That can lead to bias even though he may not be doing it consciously

I think people underestimate how simple human factors can influence a whole bunch of things. A fair portion of corporate and government corruption stems from the same sort of human relationship factors where you might help a friend out to help a friend; not necessarily for kick backs.

It's not inconceivable that the press isn't being vitriolic about the lies MS has been peddling because they know the liar and see they've been given the job of pushing bullshit up hill.

 

[Pie and Beans]

I think we've established extremely well that there are significant, clear double standards at play here.

The real question is, why? Why is it so consistent that a Japanese system just 7 years ago was run through the mud for graphical issues on multi-plat games and now an American system is not?

I'm looking for anyone to discuss what they seriously think the reasons might be.

1) Irrational fanboy devotion to MS brand?
2) Racism?
3) Bribery?
4) MS PR is more aggressive about threatening with ad revenue and early access privileges?
5) MS hires more journalists who play ball for PR positions?

I know no one will believe it, but I have to think that given all the rest of the coverage we've gotten over these last 7 years, #2 is really my best guess.

Any other serious suggestions?

You're almost there, but its more mild xenophobia than racism. Its a complicated topic that reaches back 20 years of videogame journalism, and I want to write about in depth at some point but not at 1am.

Basically, MS is down the road, journos have made good friends and contacts, Sony and Nintendo may have western arms but theres always the perception of the mothership being Japan only and having to have translators with you and vying against things like Famitsu and all that bother has created a sort of mental pushback in most western media's subconscious that they're probably not all that aware of. Its also why Apple Utopia had such ease in washing over the entire same media set.

 

[VanWinkle]

There was so much drama about cod ghosts but even the PC version looks like crap and that is supposed to have the best textures =/

Okay, yeah, the game is not great looking in the first place, but what does that have to do with wanting the best looking version possible for the price?

 

[Shaddy]

Adam Sessler and every other American journalist that's peddling this "lower performance isn't a big deal" bullshit after slamming the PS3 for the past seven years have lost any little respect they had.

These journalists are no longer reputable in my books.

My thoughts exactly!

 

[kaching]

Any other serious suggestions?

Let's put aside the racism/nationalism theories, because there's really no evidence there.

Bear in mind that Sony had been at the top of console market for two generations, a decade, and had absolutely dominated all competition in particular during the PS2 segment. Success breeds contempt and I think there was a good amount of bad will that had built up towards Sony. That might account for why there was a more swift and unilateral response to Sony's mistakes with the PS3 launch.

Xbox has yet to really establish it's own console dynasty, the 360 gen being the closest it came, so there's probably still the innate urge to cheer on an underdog at work for them, as irrational as that may seem.

Also, when the PS3 launched the 360 was a well-known commodity whose first year was largely unscathed by any problems and had built a lot of goodwill for the Xbox brand. This time around, they're launching side by side and both won't be fully known commodities for awhile so there's the escape route of playing up hypothetical scenarios that might improve one console's chances over the other that won't fully collapse into reality for at least several more months.

 

[vcc]

That's why I said it's latent

Seriously I think it's just latent or unspoken bias for the Xbox brand though. Why else would hardware review and benchmarking sites come out with said embarrassing "it's barely noticeable" articles?

I can see the bias in many outlets. I just don't think it's racism. I think it's a more subtle bias and it's mostly giving people the benefit of the doubt despite those people not deserving it.

 

[thepotatoman]

I think we've established extremely well that there are significant, clear double standards at play here.

The real question is, why? Why is it so consistent that a Japanese system just 7 years ago was run through the mud for graphical issues on multi-plat games and now an American system is not?

I'm looking for anyone to discuss what they seriously think the reasons might be.

1) Irrational fanboy devotion to MS brand?
2) Racism?
3) Bribery?
4) MS PR is more aggressive about threatening with ad revenue?
5) MS hires more journalists who play ball for PR positions?

I know no one will believe it, but I have to think that given all the rest of the coverage we've gotten over these last 7 years, #2 is really my best guess.

Any other serious suggestions?

I think all those are way more explicit than what is actually going on here. It could be as simple as they know and like the people who work at microsoft when they meet at industry parties, which gives them a subconscious preference for the product that those people make, compounded by herd mentality and us vs them mentality.

Advertising usually works on the subconscious, not the conscious. When there's a girl on the beach in a bikini refreshing herself with a Coke-a-Cola, they're not informing you of a product every last person already knows about and they're not hoping you create a conscious plan to use a Coke to get a date with a hot girl, they are just using that image make to make you feel good and then try and associate that image with Coke, over and over and over again. So next time you are looking at either a Coke or Pepsi, the thought Coke just makes you feel good.

If Microsoft sends them better gifts or has PR that is fun to be around and easy to work with, they are going to build up a feel good feeling toward Microsoft and it will effect the way they judge them. Then when a piece of bad news about Microsoft comes out, the feel good feeling overrides the feel bad feeling the bad news should bring, which leads them to not care, which makes them ask why they don't care, and then they come up with dumb ass reasons for it because they can't imagine they'd ever be biased. They probably do have a neutral base feeling for playstation, so when confronted with good or bad news for playstation, they reported exactly as such.

Personally I admit the Playstation brand has that feel good hold on me, when I see a piece of news like "PS+ required for multiplayer" or "MP3s and remote streaming isn't available" my first reaction is to say I don't care, but because I can realize my bias I force myself to back up and think about it rationally and force me to care about it.

I think everyone's a little bit biased. You have to be just from 8 years of fun times you've probably had on which ever system you chose to play multiplatform games on. The thing is, it's probably really scary to admit a bias to yourself when you're in the game journalism industry, because it's important to your job to not be biased, and you probably get unfairly hounded about bias on both sides from people that are probably way more biased then you, but really the only way to be truly unbiased is to admit your biases and work through them.

 

[The Omega Man]

In a way, I think people are more alert about racism against Africans and African Americans. It of course still exists, but people are a lot more aware of it.

Racism against Asians kind of flies under the radar a lot of the time, and it allows racist beliefs to fester even in people who may not harbor any real malice, and may not even be aware they are being unfair with their beliefs.

There are a lot of people who think all Japanese games are inferior, and are made with inferior technology. Who think that all Japanese gamers are pseudo-pedophiles with body pillows. And who have a weird "now it's our turn!" mentality about the west triumphing over the east in gaming dominance.

Now that we are talking about this particular subject, I've been always bothered by the way some American podcasters always mock and try to imitate the accent of whatever country the game or the developer they are talking about, curious enough, this never happens on podcasts with Japanese games/developers, but the minute someone talks about Sweeden they enter into "Swedish Cheff" mode, German developer? Expect a lot of Ja Ja Ja, french developer? Insert a thich accent saying "thiz game has a je ne sais quoi" even UK is not safe for the mocking, I could name 3 famous gaming podcasts that do this, like I said only Asian countries have earned the respect of no imitation or mockin accents on podcast, am I crazy here has anyone else notice this?

 

[Curufinwe]

Americans think they don't have accents, but mocking Asian accents is racist so they stick to mocking how other white people talk.

 

[rawd]

Adam needs to ignore all the haters, crack open a beer and shillax

 

[Pristine_Condition]

Now that we are talking about this particular subject, I've been always bothered by the way some American podcasters always mock and try to imitate the accent of whatever country the game or the developer they are talking about, curious enough, this never happens on podcasts with Japanese games/developers, but the minute someone talks about Sweeden they enter into "Swedish Cheff" mode, German developer? Expect a lot of Ja Ja Ja, french developer? Insert a thich accent saying "thiz game has a je ne sais quoi" even UK is not safe for the mocking, I could name 3 famous gaming podcasts that do this, like I said only Asian countries have earned the respect of no imitation or mockin accents on podcast, am I crazy here has anyone else notice this?

Isn't that mostly white guys imitating other white guys though? There's a big difference between that and actual racism.

 

[boredandlazy]

I don't think Racism has anything to do with this situation at all. The face of Sony's gaming division has become more and more westernised since the PS3 came out so I feel the fact Sony is a Japanese company is hardly an issue.

 

[UrbanRats]

I blame it all on latent racism or nationalism. It's the only thing that makes sense. They probably don't even know why they're doing this on a conscious level...

Let's not go through the looking glass here.

These are the kind of posts that get taken out of a whole thread, as an excuse to dismiss the whole thing as "NeoGAF irrational cry babies".

 

[OmahaG8]

Americans think they don't have accents, but mocking Asian accents is racist so they stick to mocking how other white people talk.

Living in Nebraska, I can confirm I do not have an accent.

Spoiler

jk

 

[LifEndz]

I think we've established extremely well that there are significant, clear double standards at play here.

The real question is, why? Why is it so consistent that a Japanese system just 7 years ago was run through the mud for graphical issues on multi-plat games and now an American system is not?

I'm looking for anyone to discuss what they seriously think the reasons might be.

1) Irrational fanboy devotion to MS brand?
2) Racism?
3) Bribery?
4) MS PR is more aggressive about threatening with ad revenue and early access privileges?
5) MS hires more journalists who play ball for PR positions?

I know no one will believe it, but I have to think that given all the rest of the coverage we've gotten over these last 7 years, #2 is really my best guess.

Any other serious suggestions?

All I can think is that if MS' willingness to spend in order to secure exclusive content is any indication of things, I wouldn't put it past them to do the equivilant in terms of currying favor amongst the games media. Maybe a catered lunch here, xbox live codes...who knows.

 

[Puppet Shadow]

I think we've established extremely well that there are significant, clear double standards at play here.

The real question is, why? Why is it so consistent that a Japanese system just 7 years ago was run through the mud for graphical issues on multi-plat games and now an American system is not?

I'm looking for anyone to discuss what they seriously think the reasons might be.

1) Irrational fanboy devotion to MS brand?
2) Racism?
3) Bribery?
4) MS PR is more aggressive about threatening with ad revenue and early access privileges?
5) MS hires more journalists who play ball for PR positions?

I know no one will believe it, but I have to think that given all the rest of the coverage we've gotten over these last 7 years, #2 is really my best guess.

Any other serious suggestions?

Have you noticed over the last few years how the NPD threads are a shell of their former selves? Two reasons for this:

1: NPD cut back on the numbers, so there was less to discuss.
2: Every month was the same. Xbox always sold the most, PS3 always came second.

That second reason imo had a bigger impact because there was no drama like there used to be. If who sold the most consoles became predictable, it became boring. If you already know what the best version of a game to pick up is, why visit gaming web sites to find out?

This is the last thing they want.

 

[Owzers]

My personal belief is that some people are seriously pissed off that gamers are positive about the PS4 and negative about the xbox one.

Okay gamers, all dancin around naked because you think Sony isn't going down the same DRM path as Microsoft? Well guess what, they are.

Okay gamers, all dancin around naked hugging copies of Legend of Dragoon thinkin Sony isn't going down the same drm path as Microsoft because they announced it at e3? Well guess what, they lyin'! Just you wait!

......Microsoft reversed their drm plans because you were dancin around naked holding your ps4 pre-order slips, but it's at your loss idiots, the future was going to be glorious.

 

[OmahaG8]

My personal belief is that some people are seriously pissed off that gamers are positive about the PS4 and negative about the xbox one.

Okay gamers, all dancin around naked because you think Sony isn't going down the same DRM path as Microsoft? Well guess what, they are.

Okay gamers, all dancin around naked hugging copies of Legend of Dragoon thinkin Sony isn't going down the same drm path as Microsoft because they announced it at e3? Well guess what, they lyin'! Just you wait!

......Microsoft reversed their drm plans because you were dancin around naked holding your ps4 pre-order slips, but it's at your loss idiots, the future was going to be glorious.

You really wanna see some naked people.

 

[Psykoboy2]

Not that it means anything really, but dude has tweeted all of two times today.

 

[LowEndTorque]

I think we've established extremely well that there are significant, clear double standards at play here.

The real question is, why? Why is it so consistent that a Japanese system just 7 years ago was run through the mud for graphical issues on multi-plat games and now an American system is not?

I'm looking for anyone to discuss what they seriously think the reasons might be.

1) Irrational fanboy devotion to MS brand?
2) Racism?
3) Bribery?
4) MS PR is more aggressive about threatening with ad revenue and early access privileges?
5) MS hires more journalists who play ball for PR positions?

I know no one will believe it, but I have to think that given all the rest of the coverage we've gotten over these last 7 years, #2 is really my best guess.

Any other serious suggestions?

We've already seen how common #1 is within forums, gaming sites, twitter and throughout the entire internet. It's not that much of a stretch to think that a handful of journalists share the same views as those already held by thousands of gamers. In fact, Gies is a great example.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

You're almost there, but its more mild xenophobia than racism. Its a complicated topic that reaches back 20 years of videogame journalism, and I want to write about in depth at some point but not at 1am.

Basically, MS is down the road, journos have made good friends and contacts, Sony and Nintendo may have western arms but theres always the perception of the mothership being Japan only and having to have translators with you and vying against things like Famitsu and all that bother has created a sort of mental pushback in most western media's subconscious that they're probably not all that aware of. Its also why Apple Utopia had such ease in washing over the entire same media set.

I've always joked there was some Men In Black mindwipe thingie swept over the gaming world circa 2006 which few escaped, and a strange flip in behavior and tastes from media is definately one of them and definately a factor with some in this brewhaha.

If they're trying to not 'fan the flames' then they're not only defying both common sense and business sense, they're also going about it exactly backwards.

You don't avoid 'feeding the flames' by being continuously wrong and then attempting to condemn your audience for not ignoring the fact that you were wrong, or by stating things which are diametrically opposed to your previous positions and then getting upset when people call you out for it.

If what you say is true they're morons, plain and simple.

I think all those are way more explicit than what is actually going on here. It could be as simple as they know and like the people who work at microsoft when they meet at industry parties, which gives them a subconscious preference for the product that those people make, compounded by herd mentality and us vs them mentality.

Advertising usually works on the subconscious, not the conscious. When there's a girl on the beach in a bikini refreshing herself with a Coke-a-Cola, they're not informing you of a product every last person already knows about and they're not hoping you create a conscious plan to use a Coke to get a date with a hot girl, they are just using that image make to make you feel good and then try and associate that image with Coke, over and over and over again. So next time you are looking at either a Coke or Pepsi, the thought Coke just makes you feel good.

If Microsoft sends them better gifts or has PR that is fun to be around and easy to work with, they are going to build up a feel good feeling toward Microsoft and it will effect the way they judge them. Then when a piece of bad news about Microsoft comes out, the feel good feeling overrides the feel bad feeling the bad news should bring, which leads them to not care, which makes them ask why they don't care, and then they come up with dumb ass reasons for it because they can't imagine they'd ever be biased. They probably do have a neutral base feeling for playstation, so when confronted with good or bad news for playstation, they reported exactly as such.

Personally I admit the Playstation brand has that feel good hold on me, when I see a piece of news like "PS+ required for multiplayer" or "MP3s and remote streaming isn't available" my first reaction is to say I don't care, but because I can realize my bias I force myself to back up and think about it rationally and force me to care about it.

I think everyone's a little bit biased. You have to be just from 8 years of fun times you've probably had on which ever system you chose to play multiplatform games on. The thing is, it's probably really scary to admit a bias to yourself when you're in the game journalism industry, because it's important to your job to not be biased, and you probably get unfairly hounded about bias on both sides from people that are probably way more biased then you, but really the only way to be truly unbiased is to admit your biases and work through them.

This could be the answer for that odd behavior I've been searching for. Thank you.

 

[weekend_warrior]

I think we've established extremely well that there are significant, clear double standards at play here.

The real question is, why? Why is it so consistent that a Japanese system just 7 years ago was run through the mud for graphical issues on multi-plat games and now an American system is not?

I'm looking for anyone to discuss what they seriously think the reasons might be.

1) Irrational fanboy devotion to MS brand?
2) Racism?
3) Bribery?
4) MS PR is more aggressive about threatening with ad revenue and early access privileges?
5) MS hires more journalists who play ball for PR positions?

I know no one will believe it, but I have to think that given all the rest of the coverage we've gotten over these last 7 years, #2 is really my best guess.

Any other serious suggestions?

To maintain status-quo. It's better for business ("journalism" business) if you maintain the facade of equilibrium rather then let one company seemingly run away. Have you ever heard the saying, 'You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar'? Tell the story that people want to hear and you'll get more people to follow you, and there are a lot of people that don't want to hear the MS has lost huge ground in the "power struggle". So sites that strive to get as large a following as possible are not willing to be upfront and honest.

I think all those are way more explicit than what is actually going on here. It could be as simple as they know and like the people who work at microsoft when they meet at industry parties, which gives them a subconscious preference for the product that those people make, compounded by herd mentality and us vs them mentality.

Advertising usually works on the subconscious, not the conscious. When there's a girl on the beach in a bikini refreshing herself with a Coke-a-Cola, they're not informing you of a product every last person already knows about and they're not hoping you create a conscious plan to use a Coke to get a date with a hot girl, they are just using that image make to make you feel good and then try and associate that image with Coke, over and over and over again. So next time you are looking at either a Coke or Pepsi, the thought Coke just makes you feel good.

If Microsoft sends them better gifts or has PR that is fun to be around and easy to work with, they are going to build up a feel good feeling toward Microsoft and it will effect the way they judge them. Then when a piece of bad news about Microsoft comes out, the feel good feeling overrides the feel bad feeling the bad news should bring, which leads them to not care, which makes them ask why they don't care, and then they come up with dumb ass reasons for it because they can't imagine they'd ever be biased. They probably do have a neutral base feeling for playstation, so when confronted with good or bad news for playstation, they reported exactly as such.

Personally I admit the Playstation brand has that feel good hold on me, when I see a piece of news like "PS+ required for multiplayer" or "MP3s and remote streaming isn't available" my first reaction is to say I don't care, but because I can realize my bias I force myself to back up and think about it rationally and force me to care about it.

I think everyone's a little bit biased. You have to be just from 8 years of fun times you've probably had on which ever system you chose to play multiplatform games on. The thing is, it's probably really scary to admit a bias to yourself when you're in the game journalism industry, because it's important to your job to not be biased, and you probably get unfairly hounded about bias on both sides from people that are probably way more biased then you, but really the only way to be truly unbiased is to admit your biases and work through them.

Also a really good answer.

 

[3rdamention]

Did this get posted? I hope the site is ok.......

Gamers attack Adam Sessler over controversial PS4,, Xbox One Comments.


"Gamers later pointed to this speech from Sessler at the 2013 Screw Attack Convention, where – while arguing in favor of more original and unique next-gen gaming experiences – he notes that 1080p and 60fps should be standard from the next-gen consoles, but that shouldn't be the only thing they bring to the table. "


He says 1080p should be standard, later, Xbox One versions of 2 multiplats are lower res than PS4, then he says resolution isn't a big deal.

 

[Shinta]

Did this get posted? I hope the site is ok.......

Gamers attack Adam Sessler over controversial PS4,, Xbox One Comments.


"Gamers later pointed to this speech from Sessler at the 2013 Screw Attack Convention, where – while arguing in favor of more original and unique next-gen gaming experiences – he notes that 1080p and 60fps should be standard from the next-gen consoles, but that shouldn't be the only thing they bring to the table. "


He says 1080p should be standard, later, Xbox One versions of 2 multiplats are lower res than PS4, then he says resolution isn't a big deal.

Good summary article. And the other video is pretty damning.

 

[Cth]

I think we've established extremely well that there are significant, clear double standards at play here.

The real question is, why? Why is it so consistent that a Japanese system just 7 years ago was run through the mud for graphical issues on multi-plat games and now an American system is not?

I'm looking for anyone to discuss what they seriously think the reasons might be.

Maybe it's naive to think, but after hearing it was a big deal for years only for it not to have been in the end, maybe the new gen is causing that to be re-evaluated?

Kind of like how last gen PSN and XBLA were ignored for exclusives but now are essential selling points.

Or maybe at the start of last gen, graphics were essentially the thing to differentiate from the previous gen (until motion controls) so a new gen needs a new criteria to stand out from the previous one.

 

[Shinta]

It's inevitable that, of the two systems, we'll eventually come to a conclusion as to which is more powerful in terms of raw performance. Sure, each console will have their relative strengths and weaknesses, but after a while the world will eventually crown an overall winner in this regard.

But does this matter?

You know what, though, even if they were, now's a good time to remember there's more to a console than specs! Examples:

I prefer the Xbox 360 to the PlayStation 3. Why? Because I prefer the controller. That's got nothing to do with framerate or resolution

This was probably posted already ... Luke Plunkett of Kotaku. This article sucks.

Embarrassing ...

 

[Kaako]

I'm proud and glad that we have places like Neogaf that call out bullshit like regardless of who the person is. You guys done good in my book.

 

[Shmuely Bully]

*snip*This was probably posted already ... Luke Plunkett of Kotaku. This article sucks.[/URL]

Embarrassing ...

The best way to stop it is to not give them hits. If their traffic drops 20-30% or more it might force change.

Simply put I'd recommend not going to any gaming site that dramatically exaggerates or misleads in favor or against any given console. I'd like to see what jschreier has to say about it though.

 

[Peter Bazooka]

Now that specs and resolution apparently don't matter anymore digitalfoundry might as well close down.

 

[PBY]

This thread is just madness. What is even being discussed anymore?

 

[kaching]

Now that we are talking about this particular subject, I've been always bothered by the way some American podcasters always mock and try to imitate the accent of whatever country the game or the developer they are talking about,

Americans are pretty equal opportunity on that front. We don't just mock accents of other countries, we mock our own regional accents. No one is safe, if that makes you feel any better.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Nintendo must have a total boner right now.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

I've already brought this up before, but I don't know if "racism" or "xenophobia" is the reason for the MS bias. It may have a little to do with the fact that since many of these "journalists" are American and are good friends with Xbox affiliated employees, which gives them more of a reason to be kinder to them. However, even that is not what I think it is.

I think it has to do with the American obsession with "the underdog". American culture loves backing the little guy, and in the beginning of gen 7, the Xbox 360 was clearly the underdog. Journalists used every metric in the book to paint the 360 in a positive light compared to the powerful Sony console. However, despite all the hooting and hollering, MS still came in dead last for gen 7. So here we are once again, MS is inexplicably still the underdog, even after all the media backing last generation, so the media (mostly the American gaming media) will try to talk the Xbox One up, and downplay the weaknesses as much as possible.

 

[GTP_Daverytimes]

Adam needs to ignore all the haters, crack open a beer and shillax

I see what you did there.

 

[Cth]

I've already brought this up before, but I don't know if "racism" or "xenophobia" is the reason for the MS bias. It may have a little to do with the fact that since many of these "journalists" are American and are good friends with Xbox affiliated employees, which gives them more of a reason to be kinder to them. However, even that is not what I think it is.

I think it has to do with the American obsession with "the underdog". American culture loves backing the little guy, and in the beginning of gen 7, the Xbox 360 was clearly the underdog. Journalists used every metric in the book to paint the 360 in a positive light compared to the powerful Sony console. However, despite all the hooting and hollering, MS still came in dead last for gen 7. So here we are once again, MS is inexplicably still the underdog, even after all the media backing last generation, so the media (mostly the American gaming media) will try to talk the Xbox One up, and downplay the weaknesses as much as possible.

Interesting and good point.

 

[Puppet Shadow]

This thread is just madness. What is even being discussed anymore?

It's always been about members of the gaming press playing down the differences between the PS4 and the XBox One. Look up a few posts, someone posted yet another example.

Read the comments after that article, Kotaku readers are just as pissed about this. And of course, inevitably, kotaku readers pointing out that this same writer bitched in another article about how pathetic it was that a game came out in only 720p.

I've already brought this up before, but I don't know if "racism" or "xenophobia" is the reason for the MS bias. It may have a little to do with the fact that since many of these "journalists" are American and are good friends with Xbox affiliated employees, which gives them more of a reason to be kinder to them. However, even that is not what I think it is.

I think it has to do with the American obsession with "the underdog". American culture loves backing the little guy, and in the beginning of gen 7, the Xbox 360 was clearly the underdog. Journalists used every metric in the book to paint the 360 in a positive light compared to the powerful Sony console. However, despite all the hooting and hollering, MS still came in dead last for gen 7. So here we are once again, MS is inexplicably still the underdog, even after all the media backing last generation, so the media (mostly the American gaming media) will try to talk the Xbox One up, and downplay the weaknesses as much as possible.

Vita and WiiU say hi.

 

[Mononoke]

I can understand the argument that, first party titles, gameplay, AI advancement etc. are more important to someone than resolution. I don't even have a problem with a journalist holding this opinion. But to say it flat out does not matter, is beyond stupid. It obviously does matter to some consumers. And those buying either system should be aware of these limitations before investing in either console. It's something I would want to know, seeing as I have a 50 inch 1080p HDTV.

So on the one hand, I don't have an issue with Sessler's personal opinion on this matter (even though as you guys point out, it's been flip flopping). But I think at a certain point, when you are informing your audience of news, acting like it's not a big deal calls into question your credibility to report the news, or report WHY it could be an issue for some. But if it's just an opinion piece (I'm speaking in a larger sense here now), I don't care if a journalists expresses that it's not a big deal to them personally.

 

[Cirekiller]

Nintendo must have a total boner right now.

Why? Because the media is completely ignoring the WiiU now instead of just making apathetic comments about it?

But seriously, the next 18 days will be like the opening of Saving Private Ryan with the amount of chaos going on. Especially now that the games media is more under the microscope now than they've been for nearly a decade (since last systems launched) and every word that is said by any of them will be torn to shred by both sides.