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Arthur Gies leaves Polygon, semi-retiring from Video games

big_z said:
It wasn't him playing doom. I can't remember exactly who it was but i believe it was proven to be an intern getting footage though capture kit with heavy delay. Some people will spin anything possible into ammo to shoot down those that don't felate their own prerogative.
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Lol the Polygon/Gies conspiracy theorists are out in full force today.
 
Phatcorns said:
Man. Being a public figure on the internet can be harsh. Would anyone say shit like "you won't be missed" to anyone in person? God damn.
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Meh, that's not how it goes for most people who move on from games journalism, but if you treat people with contempt, that usually will be reflected in how you're treated. The guy was as ass. No need to heave false praise on him because he's switching jobs.
 
Hey Arthur maybe now you can unlock me from Twitter. I have no idea why you blocked me but I'm sorry for whatever it was. Twitter: @neuromancergaf
 
The hype machine behind big games often mirrors the precarious Icarus myth - fly too close to the sun, promise too much, and you're just as likely to tumble out of the sky as deliver on your potential. Eidos Montreal have promised so much with Deus Ex: Human Revolution that it's hard to see how they could succeed, how they couldn't burn up in the harsh heat of audience expectation - of the potential assigned to a predecessor now more than a decade past. That heat already turned on one Deus Ex sequel, scourging it beyond all rhyme or reason. Playing the part of a better Daedalus, Eidos Montreal has given Human Revolution the wings to fly true - with just a few scorch marks to show for it.
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https://www.ign.com/articles/2011/08/24/deus-ex-human-revolution-review-2
 
I wanted to know what you folks were talking about, so I googled "Arthur Gies Doom". Clicked the first video on google and suddenly I'm listing to Vee(Sargon clone) joking about how the player is probably too busy checking their privilege.

I no longer care how proficient he is at aiming with controller.
 
big_z said:
It wasn't him playing doom. I can't remember exactly who it was but i believe it was proven to be an intern getting footage though capture kit with heavy delay. Some people will spin anything possible into ammo to shoot down those that don't felate their own prerogative.
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SamNW said:
Lol the Polygon/Gies conspiracy theorists are out in full force today.
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There's a tweet from Gies saying "it was me playing Doom in that video, I'm not MLG but I tried" or something like that so it's easy for people to get confused and not know which video it's referring to, since the tweet is out of context and there is only one infamous Polygon Doom video. Not everything is a conspiracy theory.
 
Arthur has that unique combination of narcissism and incompetence that should fit well within the art world, but had no place at a major gaming outlet. He could not have been more unqualified to be a reviews editor. He is a terrible writer and lacked anything approaching a sense of objectivity.

jack_package_200 said:
I remember people were pissed at Arthur for this piece where he only played a few missions of Star Fox Zero and then refused to actually finish it and review it
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This is a great example of what a coward Arthur could be. Here he uses the "how do I give Star Fox a bad review without damaging my relationship with Nintendo PR?" loophole. If the game was so bad he couldn't finish it, that's your review, dude. But god forbid you should actually let this impact the metacritic score.

Marcel said:
Pretentious? Nah. Read one of Tim Rogers' War and Peace-length articles on Kotaku for that. Gies is just a self-important blowhard. He'll fit in well with a graduate student art class with that temperament.
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Tim Rogers has the advantage of knowing what he's talking about and having insight and a sense of humor. Nothing Gies could reasonably claim.
 
I will finally go to Polygon for non-Samit or Owen articles. I use to like Arthur...but then he became intolerable to me on RebelFM, and I lost all of it when he assigned himself the review of Killzone: Shadowfall when he showed nothing but contempt for the game previous to the release including "Oh my god Please no Killzone" or something to that affect during the PS4 and game reveal.

If he's following his passion, good for him but I will not miss his work.
 
nynt9 said:
There's a tweet from Gies saying "it was me playing Doom in that video, I'm not MLG but I tried" or something like that so it's easy for people to get confused and not know which video it's referring to, since the tweet is out of context and there is only one infamous Polygon Doom video. Not everything is a conspiracy theory.
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Never seen anyone post that tweet but posting the video/gif is common enough. Is it still possible to get a link to it?
 
Brad Grenz said:
Arthur has that unique combination of narcissism and incompetence that should fit well within the art world, but had no place at a major gaming outlet. He could not have been more unqualified to be a reviews editor. He is a terrible writer and lacked anything approaching a sense of objectivity.
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The fact that he was an asshat to people didn't help matters for him either.
 
KnightAttack said:
I will finally go to Polygon for non-Samit or Owen articles. I use to like Arthur...but then he became intolerable to me on RebelFM, and I lost all of it when he assigned himself the review of Killzone: Shadowfall when he showed nothing but contempt for the game previous to the release including "Oh my god Please no Killzone" or something to that affect during the PS4 and game reveal.

If he's following his passion, good for him but I will not miss his work.
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He did the same thing with GoW: Ascension. Expressed annoyance for it even existing and then deciding to review it himself.
 
Brad Grenz said:
Arthur has that unique combination of narcissism and incompetence that should fit well within the art world, but had no place at a major gaming outlet. He could not have been more unqualified to be a reviews editor. He is a terrible writer and lacked anything approaching a sense of objectivity.
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I can't speak to the latter, but calling him a terrible writer? Lol. I was gonna ask how has this blown up to 12 pages now. Shit like this explains it.
 
Not a fan.

I'm not surprised to read about this guy "retiring from" games and going to fine art. Fine art is a respectable thing for people who consider themselves intelligent to have the right opinions about.

As an industry, games journalists seem to have become ashamed of being adults who enjoy playing games for simple fun in the early-mid 00's when they started incessently writing naval gazing "are games art?" "Why games are art" articles and deriding arcadey games for being too short, kiddie or shallow.
 
Partious said:
Not a fan.

I'm not surprised to read about this guy "retiring from" games and going to fine art. Fine art is a respectable thing for people who consider themselves intelligent to have the right opinions about.

As an industry, games journalists seem to have become ashamed of being adults who enjoy playing games for simple fun in the early-mid 00's when they started incessently writing naval gazing "are games art?" "Why games are art" articles and deriding arcadey games for being too short, kiddie or shallow.
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Wheres the Yakuza 0 gif of the guy reviewing it that covered his eyes during the gravure videos. Shit like that is funny as hell.
 
cackhyena said:
I can't speak to the latter, but calling him a terrible writer? Lol. I was gonna ask how has this blown up to 12 pages now. Shit like this explains it.
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I'm sure he's better than average for someone with a fine arts degree, but for a professional critic his writing skills were laughably bad.
 
Weltall Zero said:
I mean, savor that for a moment. Let it sink in. Three quarters of a million, donated by one of the corporations they are supposed to report fairly on, to make a documentary about a website. A website so far its own ass it decided such a documentary was of such value to the world as to invest $750000. A website reportedly created with the god given purpose of elevating games journalism to the next level, yet saw absolutely nothing wrong, no conflict of interest, in accepting a $750000 donation from Microsoft. A website that then proceeded to unanimously defend decisions so universally popular as the XBone's original used game policy, and regularly shit on Sony and Nintendo.

It's such a perfect web of fully interconnected bullshit, if you saw it in fiction you would think it hilariously cartoony.
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The money was from Microsoft's IE division and it's an open joke how much Microsoft's various divisions hate each other, so outside the fevered dreams of fanboys, there's no evidence of any sort of payoff. I mean, when it's part of a widely shared comic (http://www.businessinsider.com/big-tech-org-charts-2011-6?op=1), it's a bit of a stereotype.

Plus, frankly, even though I only have a PS4, I rather enjoyed that there was a games writer who didn't immediately kneel at the feet of Platinum, From Software, and Naughty Dog.
 
Brad Grenz said:
I'm sure he's better than average for someone with a fine arts degree, but for a professional critic his writing skills were laughably bad.
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I don't read many reviews nowadays, admittedly. I can remember reading a handful of his and thinking they were extremely well written, though. Im struggling to see what could possibly be so bad about his writing skills. We don't have to get into it though. I'm half asleep. I just wanted to put that out there. I get other criticisms. * shrug*
 
cackhyena said:
I don't read many reviews nowadays, admittedly. I can remember reading a handful of his and thinking they were extremely well written, though. Im struggling to see what could possibly be so bad about his writing skills. We don't have to get into it though. I'm half asleep. I just wanted to put that out there. I get other criticisms. * shrug*
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i haven't read any in a while myself, but my understanding is that he has improved a lot over time
 
I have to think that someone as abrasive and standoffish as Gies will have a difficult time in the art world. As a part of the games press, he was a big fish in a small pond who was able to amplify his voice and influence by being employed by a huge media corporation.....he was one of probably less than 1000-2000 people that can draw a regular salary by doing game commentary. As an artist he's going to be thrown in with hundreds of thousands of competitors looking to make their craft a regular gig, and won't be able to rely on the broad reach of his employer.

I hope that he finds the experience humbling, and that he can enjoy himself more as an artist. It seemed abundantly clear that he kinda hated the gaming space.
 
Good lord, this thread. I have listened to Rebel
FM since episode 1, and watched Arthur's rise up in the ranks like the rest of you. I might not always agree with him but he's not a malicious guy. He's passionate. He's a bit of a curmudgeon. He argues a lot (his heated back and forths with Matt on Rebel FM are hilarious sometimes - Matt usually just moves on because he stops giving a shit and Arthur always gets the last word). But he's not a bad dude.

Reading this thread makes it pretty clear why he's leaving the industry. I don't know why anyone would enjoy putting up with this shit every day.

Arthur, I sincerely hope you are not reading this far into this thread, but if you are - good luck man!
 
I knew what this thread was going to be before I clicked it, but it's still worse than I expected.

Just wanted to say I've been listening to Rebel FM for like 9 years and it's the only gaming podcast I still subscribe to. Arthur's never bothered me. Not going to defend anything he's said or written because I don't really know or care about most of it. Glad to hear he's perusing his passion and happier still the podcast is continuing. Best of luck.
 
the_darkness said:
Your little vendetta in this thread is fucking embarassing.
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Must have hit a nerve. :)

Yearsoflurking said:
Lol this post is embarrassing. If Microsoft paid 750k for bias ratings they should get their money back
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I agree, I mean, even Kuchera's (actually embarrassing, unlike you two's unoriginal appeal to ridicule) defense didn't prevent Microsoft from having to backpedal on the Xbone DRM, and that destroyed any semblance of impartiality or credibility Polygon had, so it was pretty much for nothing. Not that they will stop trying, of course.

JesseEwiak said:
The money was from Microsoft's IE division and it's an open joke how much Microsoft's various divisions hate each other, so outside the fevered dreams of fanboys, there's no evidence of any sort of payoff. I mean, when it's part of a widely shared comic (http://www.businessinsider.com/big-tech-org-charts-2011-6?op=1), it's a bit of a stereotype.
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What do the internal strifes of Microsoft have to do with this? You really think accepting money from one of the very companies you're supposed to impartially review products from, is an acceptable situation in any shape, way or form? When people are often up in arms for (and conscietous reporters routinely decline) infinitely more innocent stuff like paid trips to preview conferences?

JesseEwiak said:
Plus, frankly, even though I only have a PS4, I rather enjoyed that there was a games writer who didn't immediately kneel at the feet of Platinum, From Software, and Naughty Dog.
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You don't need Gies for that, just program a bot with "if it's popular, I dislike it".
 
Lingitiz said:
Are we really rooting for people to lose their jobs now?

Polygon isn't a great site all around, but there are a good chunk of people there that create some great content, both on the journalistic side and entertainment end.
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that's fine, gies & kuchera aren't some of those good content creators, so i don't have to reign concern with what they eat - especially when the one in question here left of his own volition, so i'm even less sure of what you're on about here
 
poodaddy said:
This. He's literally been attacking anyone who has anything remotely positive to say about the guy or his work. Disliking his output is fine, hell I disliked it, but being a dick to others for enjoying it or lamenting it's end is just fucking childish.
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Yet you didn't reply to me, or even to a reply to a post of me attacking anyone in this thread. In fact it's you who's singling me out and attacking me because I disagree with you. The only person I've "attacked" is shawnbuddy and it wasn't for defending Gies but for mansplaining, cherry picking my posts, and this pearl who wasn't even addressed at me. If you have no arguments and all you can think of is clumsily trying to discredit me, at least put together something that a quick glance to the thread doesn't immediately disprove. Unless, of course, you think "disagreeing" and "attacking" are synonyms, in which case do carry on.

In any case this is my last post for the night.
 
Weltall Zero said:
I agree, I mean, even Kuchera's (actually embarrassing, unlike you two's unoriginal appeal to ridicule) defense didn't prevent Microsoft from having to backpedal on the Xbone DRM, and that destroyed any semblance of impartiality or credibility Polygon had, so it was pretty much for nothing. Not that they will stop trying, of course.
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Kuchera's a hack but he wasn't even working at Polygon in 2013, he was at Penny Arcade.

I'm not a fan of Polygon at all but the "Microsoft paid them off" rubbish has always come off more like a conspiracy theory than a legitimate complaint. All it does is make you and your argument seem less credible.
 
Ace Harding said:
Reading this thread makes it pretty clear why he's leaving the industry. I don't know why anyone would enjoy putting up with this shit every day.

Arthur, I sincerely hope you are not reading this far into this thread, but if you are - good luck man!
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A lot of people put up with worse shit and don't even get a paycheck for their trouble.

I'm sure he can take care of himself.
 
LiquidSolid said:
Kuchera's a hack but he wasn't even working at Polygon in 2013, he was at Penny Arcade.

I'm not a fan of Polygon at all but the "Microsoft paid them off" rubbish has always come off more like a conspiracy theory than a legitimate complaint. All it does is make you and your argument seem less credible.
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He's a hack that doubled down on anti consumer bullshit to back Microsoft's Xbox one always online reveal. A stance so egregious that Penny arcade shitcanned their entire games/review section and let Fart in the wind Kachura go. Polygon with Gies immediately picked him (kuchura) up for Polygon.
 
LiquidSolid said:
Kuchera's a hack but he wasn't even working at Polygon in 2013, he was at Penny Arcade.

I'm not a fan of Polygon at all but the "Microsoft paid them off" rubbish has always come off more like a conspiracy theory than a legitimate complaint. All it does is make you and your argument seem less credible.
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Let us stop with conspiracy theory because few are suggesting it. What people are saying that it simply DOES NOT look good if you care about perceived impartiality.
 
LiquidSolid said:
Kuchera's a hack but he wasn't even working at Polygon in 2013, he was at Penny Arcade.

I'm not a fan of Polygon at all but the "Microsoft paid them off" rubbish has always come off more like a conspiracy theory than a legitimate complaint. All it does is make you and your argument seem less credible.
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As someone who doesn't go to polygon taking a million dollars from Microsoft to start games site #374 is shady as fuck looking. Even if the alleged bias isn't real, it made it clear to me that they don't care if they look corrupt or incredibly stupid. (Aka why I've never been to their site).
 
IrishNinja said:
that's fine, gies & kuchera aren't some of those good content creators, so i don't have to reign concern with what they eat - especially when the one in question here left of his own volition, so i'm even less sure of what you're on about here
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The post you quoted is literally asking/hoping for Polygon to be shutdown.

I didn't like Gies. But Polygon does play home to some decent stuff. I'm not sitting here crossing my fingers hoping a place gets canned because of one or two shitheads (let's be real, every place has at least a few.)
 
I know he's a bit of a GAF punching bag, but I've never had a problem with him. Thought he was the best part of RebelFM when I was listening to that. Best of luck to him his future path.
 
Ace Harding said:
Good lord, this thread. I have listened to Rebel
FM since episode 1, and watched Arthur's rise up in the ranks like the rest of you. I might not always agree with him but he's not a malicious guy. He's passionate. He's a bit of a curmudgeon. He argues a lot (his heated back and forths with Matt on Rebel FM are hilarious sometimes - Matt usually just moves on because he stops giving a shit and Arthur always gets the last word). But he's not a bad dude.

Reading this thread makes it pretty clear why he's leaving the industry. I don't know why anyone would enjoy putting up with this shit every day.

Arthur, I sincerely hope you are not reading this far into this thread, but if you are - good luck man!
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He just sounds distressed with his current job on FM lately. I hate projecting that you can tell who a person is by listening to them on something like a podcasts but I'm happy for him that he's leaving. Dude has a heck of a history and seems to be looking for more a more normal life. I.e. not living with his cats and Twitter all day.


His Tumblr is a good idea of how his art background is and hope he enjoys whatever he does.
 
His writings and opinions we're always interesting. Sucks to lose a polarizing voice in games media. Hopefully he produces some great drawings.
 
Bastables said:
He's a hack that doubled down on anti consumer bullshit to back Microsoft's Xbox one always online reveal. A stance so egregious that Penny arcade shitcanned their entire games/review section and let Fart in the wind Kachura go. Polygon with Gies immediately picked him (kuchura) up for Polygon.
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It's a bit of a leap to say PA shitcanned that section just because of that but as for the rest, yeah I know. Did you take what I said as a defence or something? I just think Weltall Zero should've gotten his facts straight.

massoluk said:
Let us stop with conspiracy theory because few are suggesting it. What people are saying that it simply DOES NOT look good if you care about perceived impartiality.
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Sure, I agree. It's just when someone goes from that to "omg they were paid off!" that I start rolling my eyes.

It also didn't help that the series it helped fund was self-indulgent wankery.
 
LiquidSolid said:
I'll give it a go:
- Super Xbox fanboy. Once claimed that the 360 won last gen because Japan doesn't count.
- Accused Notch of hiring attractive women to appear at a Mojang party. Turns out that was bullshit.
- Even after the above was proven to be bullshit, he retweeted someone who said it was Notch's fault that anyone thought he'd hired attractive women.
- Ran to the defence of Microsoft in the midst of their Always Online DRM extravaganza in 2013, attacking the people who were against it.
- Ran to the defence of SimCity, attacking people who argued against the Always Online DRM because it "needed" to connect to EA's servers to work properly. The DRM was later patched out of the game.
- Tried to discredit the reports that stated SimCity barely even did anything online.

I listened to Rebel FM after 1UP was basically killed, knowing he was a big Xbox and Halo fan (Rebel FM was literally hosted on Arthur's old Halo fansite at first) but willing to give him a chance. That lasted a few months before he drove me away. Dude is obnoxious as hell and has said a lot of stupid shit over the years but when called out, almost never owns up to it, he instead either doubles down or tucks tail and runs. Oh and then there's the fanboy bullshit.

Regardless, I wish him well in his future endeavours. I may think he's a dick but giving up everything he's done for years to do something he's passionate about is admirable. That plus he could've been worse, he could've been Colin Moriarty.
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Yeah, never liked him i went in an a debate with him on twitter a few years ago telling him there is a big difference between an MMO like WoW and Simcity a singleplayer game, he couldn't take it because he was working himself in a corner he could not get out because i was right and he was flat wrong, throwing miss information out there and you call yourself a journalist.

In the end he blocked me because he just does not like it when you are right.
 
at least we all agree kuchera is basura

Lingitiz said:
The post you quoted is literally asking/hoping for Polygon to be shutdown.

I didn't like Gies. But Polygon does play home to some decent stuff. I'm not sitting here crossing my fingers hoping a place gets canned because of one or two shitheads (let's be real, every place has at least a few.)
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sure sure
im saying if polygon was gone tomorrow i don't think a lot of value would be lost, it's fine you disagree - as you said, im sure there's some quality contributors there (not sure if mcwhertor is about? mcelroy can go kick rocks) that i hope would bounce back but i don't have to pretend i'd lose sleep over it happening either, there's a metric ton of like-places i imagine would quickly fill that void
 
Ninja Dom said:
Arthur Gies has a GAF account. He used to post quite regularly a few years ago.

Is he banned from here or just missing?
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He got permed by Evilore himself for spreading lies and bullshit.

Amazing how his defenders forget to mention that in their defense of him.
 
LiquidSolid said:
It's a bit of a leap to say PA shitcanned that section just because of that but as for the rest, yeah I know. Did you take what I said as a defence or something? I just think Weltall Zero should've gotten his facts straight.



Sure, I agree. It's just when someone goes from that to "omg they were paid off!" that I start rolling my eyes.

It also didn't help that the series it helped fund was self-indulgent wankery.
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How is it a leap, the time line of Kachura going full on DRM always online defence force and his entire department being shut down tracks.
 
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