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[dLMN8R]

http://chrishecker.com/Me_and_the_Wii

This is just depressing.

Small part:

Now, years later, a journalist interviewed me about my new game SpyParty, indie game development in general, and my misadventures with the press. I figured enough time had passed, so I talked openly about the mistakes I'd made in the Wii rant, the context in which it happened, and how I thought the journalists who covered it also made mistakes, especially in choosing inflammatory headlines to drive traffic that grossly misrepresented the subtlety of what I was actually trying to say.

We spoke about this topic for almost an hour. We talked about how misquotes and out-of-context quotes are why most game developers never talk openly with the press, and always stay on message, even though those pre-approved messages are almost always boring and content-free. We talked about the chilling effect this has on the free flow of information in our industry. We talked about how there is a responsibility on the parts of both developers and the press to make sure interesting and accurate information is conveyed to the fans. We talked about how the title of a piece should reflect its actual content.

The article for this interview was just published with the title Hecker: I stand by my Wii is s*** rant. It's as if the conversation about the importance of the choice of title for a subtle discussion about controversial subjects never happened. The quotes inside the article present some of the longer, more nuanced discussion, but as you can read in the comments, the damage is already done. Again. And then, of course, because the initial tone of this article is senselessly negative, this is carried across to the other articles regurgitating the interview, including Chris ‘Wii = Cubes duct taped together’ Hecker stands by his original comments, and the beyond-awesome Former Spore Dev Still Thinks the Wii is "a Piece of Sh*t".

Eurogamer - why the fuck would this developer or anyone else ever talk to you ever again after you pull this nonsense? Do you take pleasure in actively dissuading future interesting stories from ever being written?


This is awfully similar to the "CliffyB thinks Heavy Rain is for Women" bullshit from last week. Again, Eurogamer just being terrible.

Eurogamer: Cliffy B: Heavy Rain perfect for girls

Misses the entire point of the conversation on the podcast. The body of the article didn't do any better at explaining the context. As a result, the comments section is full of hate and vitriol directed at Cliff, even though there was absolutely nothing whatsoever in the actual context worth attacking him over.

Think he will be so eager to talk candidly ever again in the future? Maybe he will be, maybe not. But anyone else would probably be totally put off from that forever.


Sad, actually, that Kotaku did a much more commendable job at putting things in context. Just read the tone of Kotaku's article vs. the tone of Eurogamer's article, and the comments that follow each.

 

[thetrin]

Stage 11 of WAHP had a great segment on the horrifically sensationalist nature of gaming media in Japan, and it's no different here. They don't care about truth. They care about clicks.

 

[John Rabbit]

oh look its this thread again.
game journos are terrible, news at 11.
this is just how things are.
something something IGN.
giant bomb something something.


lock thread.

 

[riceandbeans]

Kotaku :lol

 

[ZealousD]

Sadly, I don't think this will ever improve.

Even the real media loves to take things out of context.

 

[I AM JOHN!]

oh look its this thread again.
game journos are terrible, news at 11.
this is just how things are.
something something IGN.
giant bomb something something.


lock thread.

All we need to do is throw in the requisite links to Great Job, Kotaku! and Game Journalists are Incompetent Fuckwits and we can officially call this thread a day.

 

[farnham]

so has chris hecker ever developed a game that is better then something like

say mario galaxy or metroid prime 3 ?

i mean those are shit games according to him right ?

i can say for sure that spore did not impress me all that much.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

How to combat bad game journalism as a consumer: know your sources, find your own truth, question everything. Just like everything else in life.

 

[Dennis]

Damn, Eurogamer really fucked him over. Shameful.

I wonder if it was the journalist or his editor that decided - "yeah, lets fuck this guy".

Because they knew what they were doing.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

so has chris hecker ever developed a game that is better then something like

say mario galaxy or metroid prime 3 ?

i mean those are shit games according to him right ?

i can say for sure that spore did not impress me all that much.

Farnham why would you post something so fucking terrible.

 

[farnham]

Farnham why would you post something so fucking terrible.

if a game developer criticises a system and,as a result, the games on it. he should at least have the resumee to back it up. he is not a kid on an internetforum but a developer that got paid by a publisher. he was representing someone there when he ranted.

i believe that chris hecker did a mistake and that he has to admit it.

he was the one that said to the public that the wii was a piece of shit. he should have known that as a developer on a high profile game his words would get a lot of attention.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

How to combat bad game journalism as a consumer: know your sources, find your own truth, question everything. Just like everything else in life.

or

don't listen to gaming journalists. Works like a charm.

 

[dLMN8R]

if a game developer criticises a system and,as a result, the games on it. he should at least have the resumee to back it up. he is not a kid on an internetforum but a developer that got paid by a publisher. he was representing someone there when he ranted.

i believe that chris hecker did a mistake and that he has to admit it.

he was the one that said to the public that the wii was a piece of shit. he should have known that as a developer on a high profile game his words would get a lot of attention.

Had you actually read what he wrote, you'd understand why your post is terrible.

I mean, your posts basically could not be more perfect representations of the idiocy that ensues when people write sensationalist headlines that take things drastically out of context.


Please tell me you're some sort of meta-joke?

 

[DaBuddaDa]

or

don't listen to gaming journalists. Works like a charm.

If you don't listen to journalists, then your only source of videogame anything would be from the publishers. So no, don't do that.

 

[GhaleonQ]

The disparity between Eurogamer's news section (which is never fact-checked and often silly) and their reviews (the best traditional ones in the industry) amazes me.

 

[dLMN8R]

or

don't listen to gaming journalists. Works like a charm.

The problem here is that it's not me who has to stop listening to gaming "journalists".

The problem is that this shit that Eurogamer (and countless other sites) pull makes it less likely that any developer will ever want to give a candid interview again.

Because regardless of the interviewer he might be speaking with, there's always the chance that some asshole at a high-profile site that should know better will just fuck it up for everyone else.

 

[John Rabbit]

so has chris hecker ever developed a game that is better then something like

say mario galaxy or metroid prime 3 ?

i mean those are shit games according to him right ?

i can say for sure that spore did not impress me all that much.

what does any of this have to do with anything in this topic?

 

[dLMN8R]

what does any of this have to do with anything in this topic?

In a way, it has everything wrong to do with the topic actually :lol

 

[Y2Kev]

so has chris hecker ever developed a game that is better then something like

say mario galaxy or metroid prime 3 ?

i mean those are shit games according to him right ?

i can say for sure that spore did not impress me all that much.

omg hilarious post!!!

post of the year

 

[Stumpokapow]

oh look its this thread again.
game journos are terrible, news at 11.
this is just how things are.
something something IGN.
giant bomb something something.


lock thread.

Well, you're the moderator, go ahead and lock the thread. Oh wait, you're not, so stop thread whining and if you're not going to contribute to this forum, the door is over there. Seriously.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

If you don't listen to journalists, then your only source of videogame anything would be from the publishers. So no, don't do that.

Uh, no.

I don't listen to publishers or journalists, and I rarely if ever make a poor purchase because of it. I know what I want, and if a game doesn't provide it, I don't buy.

I couldn't care less about what Milky or Major Nelson or Cliffy B or Shigeru Miyamoto thinks about the games they make or write/talk about, or the games that their peers make. If I like what they're selling, I buy it. If I don't, great. Eventually if I buy enough titles from one publisher/developer and grow a relationship with them. I know whether or not I will be interested in future titles. Simple.

As for this idiot, his main problem was that he seriously thought people gave a fuck about his opinion outside of his 15 minutes of fame 3 years ago. Of course the author of that article referred to the incident; does he seriously think his name or the title he was working on was going to draw any clicks?

The problem here is that it's not me who has to stop listening to gaming "journalists".

The problem is that this shit that Eurogamer (and countless other sites) pull makes it less likely that any developer will ever want to give a candid interview again.

Because regardless of the interviewer he might be speaking with, there's always the chance that some asshole at a high-profile site that should know better will just fuck it up for everyone else.

That's already happening. Hasn't stopped the flow of interviews yet.

Publishers want to advertise their game. Journos want a story and clicks. As long as this handshake agreement exists there will always be a mouth willing to open.

 

[theBishop]

Yeah, the games press sucks, but in any other context I would be horrified by this line of argument.

 

[farnham]

If you don't listen to journalists, then your only source of videogame anything would be from the publishers. So no, don't do that.

well considering the fact that journalists often just copy and paste the press release with a snarky remark or a supposedly clerver comment

i dont see the big difference.

That's already happening. Hasn't stopped the flow of interviews yet.

Publishers want to advertise their game. Journos want a story and clicks. As long as this handshake agreement exists there will always be a mouth willing to open.

or publishers go the iwata asks route (laughs)

Honestly, Ninty could have just as easily released a re-badged game-cube as a wii and no one would be the wiser.

isnt that exactly what they did ?

 

[MidgarBlowedUp]

I'm too good to read the op but, I did glance over it enough to comment. The Wii brings NOTHING to the hardware front this generation other than waggle. The hardware does nothing to advance gaming other than waggle control. Honestly, Ninty could have just as easily released a re-badged game-cube as a wii and no one would be the wiser.

Heavy Rain was so slow and boring that I could not stand the demo for 10 minutes. I honestly would not play through the game unless someone paid me.

All that said, I don't think I've read one review of a game since about 2006 when I finally realized this generation of games are pretty terrible compared to the last two generations yet the reviews try to force you to believe otherwise. Yes game journalism and reviewing do need help.. badly but, at least they provide something.

 

[dLMN8R]

That's already happening. Hasn't stopped the flow of interviews yet.

Publishers want to advertise their game. Journos want a story and clicks. As long as this handshake agreement exists there will always be a mouth willing to open.

Actually, no. The flow of interviews is almost pathetically low. Cliff's interview on Irrational Interviews was 100x more interesting than most anything similar I've listened to in a very long time. Chris Hecker's interview could have been interesting, but well, it wasn't at all, because Eurogamer squandered the opportunity in favor of cheap clicks. In the future, they'll have even less opportunity.


As for the rest of your post, you seem to be taking a "who the fuck cares about you" approach to the whole thing. You personally don't care about anyone's opinions, so fuck everyone else and their ability to hear interesting things.

Well, to that, I say "good day sir" and I wish you well along your way (out of this thread that is apparently irrelevant to you in the first place)

 

[DaBuddaDa]

Uh, no.

I don't listen to publishers or journalists, and I rarely if ever make a poor purchase because of it. I know what I want, and if a game doesn't provide it, I don't buy.

I couldn't care less about what Milky or Maojr Nelson or Cliffy B or Shigeru Miyamoto thinks about the games they make, or the games that their peers make. If I like what they're selling, I buy it. If I don't, great. Eventually if I buy enough titles from one publisher/developer and grow a relationship with them. I know whether or not I will be interested in future titles. Simple.

Where do you learn about video game releases? Where do you see screenshots and trailers? Who makes those trailers? Who provides them to you? Do you read magazines? Do you read websites? Do you read GAF? All of that is from either journalists or publishers. That's what media is. That's what I'm getting at, I'd rather have Giantbomb tell me about a game than Activision if given the choice.

 

[dLMN8R]

I'm too good to read the op

Unfortunately for you, perhaps you should. Because the rest of your post is literally irrelevant to the entire thread - OP, interview that the OP linked to, and everything else in between.

 

[Anasui Kishibe]

Eurogamer berks being berks again, that was unexpected

 

[Aquavelvaman]

I'm too good to read the op but, I did glance over it enough to comment. The Wii brings NOTHING to the hardware front this generation other than waggle. The hardware does nothing to advance gaming other than waggle control. Honestly, Ninty could have just as easily released a re-badged game-cube as a wii and no one would be the wiser.

Heavy Rain was so slow and boring that I could not stand the demo for 10 minutes. I honestly would not play through the game unless someone paid me.

All that said, I don't think I've read one review of a game since about 2006 when I finally realized this generation of games are pretty terrible compared to the last two generations yet the reviews try to force you to believe otherwise. Yes game journalism and reviewing do need help.. badly but, at least they provide something.

Not sure if serious

 

[Fersis]

so has chris hecker ever developed a game that is better then something like

say mario galaxy or metroid prime 3 ?

i mean those are shit games according to him right ?

i can say for sure that spore did not impress me all that much.

The article its not about SMG Vs Spore.
Check it out when you have time.

I'm too good to read the op but, I did glance over it enough to comment. The Wii brings NOTHING to the hardware front this generation other than waggle. The hardware does nothing to advance gaming other than waggle control. Honestly, Ninty could have just as easily released a re-badged game-cube as a wii and no one would be the wiser.

Heavy Rain was so slow and boring that I could not stand the demo for 10 minutes. I honestly would not play through the game unless someone paid me.

All that said, I don't think I've read one review of a game since about 2006 when I finally realized this generation of games are pretty terrible compared to the last two generations yet the reviews try to force you to believe otherwise. Yes game journalism and reviewing do need help.. badly but, at least they provide something.

Ok i give up.

 

[farnham]

Actually, no. The flow of interviews is almost pathetically low. Cliff's interview on Irrational Interviews was 100x more interesting than most anything similar I've listened to in a very long time. Chris Hecker's interview could have been interesting, but well, it wasn't at all, because Eurogamer squandered the opportunity in favor of cheap clicks. In the future, they'll have even less opportunity.


As for the rest of your post, you seem to be taking a "who the fuck cares about you" approach to the whole thing. You personally don't care about anyone's opinions, so fuck everyone else and their ability to hear interesting things.

Well, to that, I say "good day sir" and I wish you well along your way (out of this thread that is apparently irrelevant to you in the first place)

you are expecting gaming journalists to be like professional journalists

yet they are just people that love to play games and make money for it.

there is no established standard at games journalism at all. its just people doing their hobbies.

so you have the brightside that they would publish stuff like podcasts that dont make any money and be really enthusiastic about it

at the same time they lack professionalism.

of course there are exceptions to the rule. but generally its like that.

 

[theBishop]

The article its not about SMG Vs Spore.

Even if it was, his comment would be ... inspiring.

 

[luka]

Kotaku :lol

 

[Fersis]

Even if it was, his comment would be ... inspiring.

Hecker already apologized for those comments.

 

[I AM JOHN!]

nm

 

[theBishop]

Hecker already apologized for those comments.

:lol I was talking about Farnham.

 

[dLMN8R]

you are expecting gaming journalists to be like professional journalists

yet they are just people that love to play games and make money for it.

there is no established standard at games journalism at all. its just people doing their hobbies.

so you have the brightside that they would publish stuff like podcasts that dont make any money and be really enthusiastic about it

at the same time they lack professionalism.

of course there are exceptions to the rule. but generally its like that.

Well, that's why I'm asking them to not be so terrible. Because right now, they're terrible.

 

[The Technomancer]

you are expecting gaming journalists to be like professional journalists

yet they are just people that love to play games and make money for it.

there is no established standard at games journalism at all. its just people doing their hobbies.

so you have the brightside that they would publish stuff like podcasts that dont make any money and be really enthusiastic about it

at the same time they lack professionalism.

of course there are exceptions to the rule. but generally its like that.

Yes. Yes we are. That's what separates them from every random member of GAF. If this is games journalism, then what qualifies them to make money more then me?

The problem is and always has been that investigative journalism is almost impossible in this kind of situation. You can't ask interesting questions, you have to ask PR questions, because interesting stuff doesn't get answered, or at least that's the perception.

That recent interview that candidly talked about how lackluster FF XIV is shaping up to be is a rare breath of fresh air. And the most insight we seem to actually get into game design and the stories behind the games come from Iwata asks, internally published interviews. Where are the journalists who care more about how much the latest preview/review of game A rocks/sucks? The Escapist and Gamasutra are the only two places I can think of that are any good at doing this, Escapist for interesting opinion pieces, Gamasutra for some actual design stuff.

EDIT: Firestorm, interesting point. I should clarify that when I say I expect them to act like real journalists its in the spirit of "good ol' fashioned real journalism"

 

[Firestorm]

Yeah, the games press sucks, but in any other context I would be horrified by this line of argument.

Then be horrified. This is exactly how "real" journalism works. Interviewers go into an interview hoping to get a soundbyte that will give them the headline they want. You have to stay VERY on-topic and try not to give in if youo're being interviewed. At the end, the journalist - if they haven't got what they wanted - will usually ask a question phrased in a way to get what they need.

We were talking in one of my classes about a prof in the school who was interviewed about the role of Facebook in a gang rape of a teenager that happened around here. Of course, the angle that they wanted to take was "Social Media is corrupting our youth" which wasn't the root of the problem at all. They were trying their damndest to get him to say something that would support their angle at some point of the interview so they could use that line.

you are expecting gaming journalists to be like professional journalists

yet they are just people that love to play games and make money for it.

there is no established standard at games journalism at all. its just people doing their hobbies.

so you have the brightside that they would publish stuff like podcasts that dont make any money and be really enthusiastic about it

at the same time they lack professionalism.

of course there are exceptions to the rule. but generally its like that.

Maybe they lack professionalism because their userbase is made up of drones like you. I'm surprised you're trying to engage in this discussion at all after your shitacular first two posts.

That said, these gaming journalists are acting like professional journalists. That's the problem. Professional commercial journalism sucks.

EDIT: Firestorm, interesting point. I should clarify that when I say I expect them to act like real journalists its in the spirit of "good ol' fashioned real journalism"

Ah yes, what we wish journalists would be. One day maybe! You'd think with so many independant choices in the games field we'd see some of that

I agree on the Gamasutra and Escapist points. Both been making great articles for years and years now. Although I did prefer The Escapist in its more magazine format. I visit less often than I should.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

Where do you learn about video game releases? Where do you see screenshots and trailers? Who makes those trailers? Who provides them to you? Do you read magazines? Do you read websites? Do you read GAF? All of that is from either journalists or publishers. That's what media is. That's what I'm getting at, I'd rather have Giantbomb tell me about a game than Activision if given the choice.

You're giving me two separate arguments here.

Releasing screenshots is not an opinion. Keeping that in mind, you cannot on one side say

your only source of videogame anything would be from the publishers. So no, don't do that.

Unless you seriously mean to infer that I should not form an opinion on what the publisher is trying to sell me based on the content of the game. That's what I mean by my "I don't listen to publisher or journalists" statement. My judgment stems from my own evaluations, not what i'm force fed by gaming media or what virtues a pub wants to extoll via media interviews. Arguing about the delivery of media in a discussion about interpretation of interviews is rather silly, quite frankly.

Actually, no. The flow of interviews is almost pathetically low.

Based on what metric?

Cliff's interview on Irrational Interviews was 100x more interesting than most anything similar I've listened to in a very long time. Chris Hecker's interview could have been interesting, but well, it wasn't at all, because Eurogamer squandered the opportunity in favor of cheap clicks. In the future, they'll have even less opportunity.

Hmm, and what are you basing this on? Keeping the basis of this interview in mind, Hecker got word out about his game. Perhaps Eurogamer butchered his quote, but I ask you, why is THIS the straw that broke the camel's back when it comes to the future of interviews? Interviews like this happen everyday. Frankly it seems your only basis for them ceasing to exist is because you don't like the tone of this one.

As for the rest of your post, you seem to be taking a "who the fuck cares about you" approach to the whole thing. You personally don't care about anyone's opinions, so fuck everyone else and their ability to hear interesting things.

Well, to that, I say "good day sir" and I wish you well along your way (out of this thread that is apparently irrelevant to you in the first place)

Oh am I banned now? Didn't realize your intent was just to have posters who shared your view in here.

 

[ElectricBanquet]

The problem here is that it's not me who has to stop listening to gaming "journalists".

The problem is that this shit that Eurogamer (and countless other sites) pull makes it less likely that any developer will ever want to give a candid interview again.

I agree gaming journalists should be more responsible, and that it's disgusting what Eurogamer did to Chris Hecker, but don't we as gamers have some responsibility to not click on a headline like "Hecker: I stand by my Wii is s*** rant", and not reward the site owners for publishing a story like that?

It seems to me that the core problem is that these outlets are for profit endeavors, and the only way that we can realistically expect them to act the way we say they should is if responsible journalism becomes more profitable for them than sensationalism.

 

[D4Danger]

Maybe if he wanted some favourable coverage he should've paid for them to go to fancy spa or something

 

[DaBuddaDa]

Unless you seriously mean to infer that I should not form an opinion on what the publisher is trying to sell me based on the content of the game. That's what I mean by my "I don't listen to publisher or journalists" statement. My judgment stems from my own evaluations, not what i'm force fed by gaming media or what virtues a pub wants to extoll via media interviews.

This is literally what I am saying people should do, so we're on the same page here.

 

[farnham]

Yes. Yes we are. That's what separates them from every random member of GAF. If this is games journalism, then what qualifies them to make money more then me?

The problem is and always has been that investigative journalism is almost impossible in this kind of situation. You can't ask interesting questions, you have to ask PR questions, because interesting stuff doesn't get answered, or at least that's the perception.

That recent interview that candidly talked about how lackluster FF XIV is shaping up to be is a rare breath of fresh air. And the most insight we seem to actually get into game design and the stories behind the games come from Iwata asks, internally published interviews. Where are the journalists who care more about how much the latest preview/review of game A rocks/sucks? The Escapist and Gamasutra are the only two places I can think of that are any good at doing this, Escapist for interesting opinion pieces, Gamasutra for some actual design stuff.

EDIT: Firestorm, interesting point. I should clarify that when I say I expect them to act like real journalists its in the spirit of "good ol' fashioned real journalism"

the iwata ask series is a prime example of proof to me that gaming journalism failed. as you said the stuff that nintendo publishes internally is much more interesting then what we hear from gaming journalists.

of course there is an argument that nintendo is a secretive company that wont let any details slide and that nintendo is controlling the masses with iwata asks.

but i do think that a lot of gaming journalists could learn from the interviews in that series

Well, that's why I'm asking them to not be so terrible. Because right now, they're terrible.

what they need is some seperation or distnace of the publisher PR.

right now a gaming journalist would probably do anything to get the newest tidbit of the next big thing. informations that the PR people are controlling. at the PR stage id say gaming journalism is nothing more then rewriting the PR peoples press release.

gaming journalism only gets some distance from the PR controll when they go to the review phase. and of course after the release of the game.

the problem is that the readership usually just is not interested that much in the post mortum stage. they are interested in the preview stage the most. thats what gives gaming sites or magazines hits and buys.

 

[dLMN8R]

Oh am I banned now? Didn't realize your intent was just to have posters who shared your view in here.

Well, I mean, I made a thread talking about how I want journalism improved so I get to hear more interesting stories from developers, and then you basically say "lol who gives a fuck about developers and their stories who gives a fuck about journalism i don't listen to journalists ever".

I figured that since the entire thread was irrelevant to you, and the whole topic is so entirely uninteresting to you, that you'd have no interest posting in the thread anymore, so I said good-bye before it was too late. I didn't think you'd want to come back!

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

I agree gaming journalists should be more responsible, and that it's disgusting what Eurogamer did to Chris Hecker, but don't we as gamers have some responsibility to not click on a headline like "Hecker: I stand by my Wii is s*** rant", and not reward the site owners for publishing a story like that?

It seems to me that the core problem is that these outlets are for profit endeavors, and the only way that we can realistically expect them to act the way we say they should is if responsible journalism becomes more profitable for them than sensationalism.

Bingo.

To act as if this method of reporting is going to cease paying the bills is preposterous.

Well, I mean, I made a thread talking about how I want journalism improved so I get to hear more interesting stories from developers, and then you basically say "lol who gives a fuck about developers and their stories who gives a fuck about journalism i don't listen to journalists ever".

I figured that since the entire thread was irrelevant to you, and the whole topic is so entirely uninteresting to you, that you'd have no interest posting in the thread anymore, so I said good-bye before it was too late. I didn't think you'd want to come back!

You're making the mistake in thinking that I wouldn't like this too. The problem with your thought is that bitching about it isn't going to change a thing. I stopped listening not necessarily because I don't care, but because it isn't ever going to change, ever. the media in general is about sensationalism, and the gaming media is about sensationalizing products and events that are relevant primarily to excitable males. The irony of this whole thread is that your complaining about the quality of the article has driven far more clicks to what you consider a problem than the alternative method, which is realizing gaming journalism is full of shit, shrugging your shoulders and saving your click for something worthwhile.

 

[MidgarBlowedUp]

Unfortunately for you, perhaps you should. Because the rest of your post is literally irrelevant to the entire thread - OP, interview that the OP linked to, and everything else in between.

OK. Read it... or speed read it.

Eurogamer is to game journalism as FoxNews is to political journalism. I get it now.

Which is why I don't watch Fox News and I don't read Eurogamer which is probably why I didn't bother to read the whole article. Which should serve some kind of point, that as a gamer, I've simply given up on most gaming news sites.

-edit- what ElectricBanquet said.

 

[Firestorm]

Iwata Asks has the president of the company interviewing you. You don't need to worry about PR getting on your ass because you said something they didn't want you to say. The control in the industry is ridiculous and that is the fault of the publishers. I'm sure in this case the journalists do want to be able to ask the types of questions Iwata asks (see what I did there?). However, they will never get those answers.

OK. Read it... or speed read it.

Eurogamer is to game journalism as FoxNews is to political journalism. I get it now.

Which is why I don't watch Fox News and I don't read Eurogamer which is probably why I didn't bother to read the whole article. Which should serve some kind of point, that as a gamer, I've simply given up on most gaming news sites.

Fox is not the only news source that does this. Neither is Eurogamer in the games industry. The vast majority of them do this. Unless your sources are NPR, CBC, BBC, and other media not driven by profit as their motive and instead the public good, this is what you're going to have force-fed to you.

 

[farnham]

Then be horrified. This is exactly how "real" journalism works. Interviewers go into an interview hoping to get a soundbyte that will give them the headline they want. You have to stay VERY on-topic and try not to give in if youo're being interviewed. At the end, the journalist - if they haven't got what they wanted - will usually ask a question phrased in a way to get what they need.

We were talking in one of my classes about a prof in the school who was interviewed about the role of Facebook in a gang rape of a teenager that happened around here. Of course, the angle that they wanted to take was "Social Media is corrupting our youth" which wasn't the root of the problem at all. They were trying their damndest to get him to say something that would support their angle at some point of the interview so they could use that line.

well there are journalists with agendas that would do such things. the media nowadays holds a lot of power that is relatively new and as a result not being constrained by other powers aside of money.

but there are journalists in the world that are not like that. and gaming journalism as a whole lacks such people.

Iwata Asks has the president of the company interviewing you. You don't need to worry about PR getting on your ass because you said something they didn't want you to say. The control in the industry is ridiculous and that is the fault of the publishers. I'm sure in this case the journalists do want to be able to ask the types of questions Iwata asks (see what I did there?). However, they will never get those answers.

Nintendo would be selling their stuff fine without publishing iwata asks interviews.

i dont think its necessarily because they are secretive and want to control everything about the game (because frankly, they could just not publish the interviews). i think its more about disbelief in gaming journalism that nintendo as a publisher has.

 

[Neuromancer]

Farnham why would you post something so fucking terrible.

:lol

I like Eurogamer but that was pretty shitty of them. I think they were just trolling Hecker with that last article.