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[Doc Holliday]

Please elaborate before making such libelous claims.

I think he's referencing Patricks claims that he had insider info that sony had DRM. Don't know much about it to have an opinion.

 

[Sendou]

You're both using the wrong term! The pedantic in me must hit you both with libel charges.

 

[Vire]

Dude, you're not King Justice that other mortals just have to look away from because they can't handle the truthbombs.

Sony pissing away an insane amount of money on a game that will never see the light of day is not a positive Sony story. I'm sure it can be spun that way but it never was up to now.

Just cherry picking some rumors and ignoring others and then calling every rumor post famousmortimer said to be pro-Sony is ridiculous and looks like wanting to look like the guy that "told you so."

He was passing the buck onto Stig Asmussen solely, rather than an ongoing mismanagement problem at Sony WWS. Claiming that he was the sole proprietor to blame and wasted $100 Million on a project that will never see the light of day, which is also libelous and possibly factually incorrect.

He played far too loose with details when these are people's career's we are talking about and he did it from a position of authority. I make no apologies for my beefs with mort.

 

[watership]

Anyway, I hope Driveclub is good and that we get to play it soon.

Best post in the thread so far. I can get behind this.

 

[troushers]

Jason merely made that screenshot, he wasn't the one who pointed out how dualshocker seems to have overly relied on Pete's rumors.

Also is there a bit of a difference between telling a lie about a person, and just pointing something out.

But we can all play that game. This is site:kotaku.com + insider. First 4 hits all Schreier, all insider info, some stale vom regurgitated from other places.

What was his point anyway? That the guy trawls neogaf for news? Like about half of the US based websites.

 

[Something Wicked]

How dare some of you sully the great name of FAMOUSmortimer?! Where would the video game industry be without his fierce bravery and brilliant, strategic activism?!

Without the Grand NoDRM Revolution, Microsoft would have went ahead with its foolish, initial plans for the Xbox One. Sales of such a console would have assuredly been nonexistent and likely would have forced Microsoft out of the console manufacturing business.

So, long live, Famousmortimer- the Last Great Defender of the Proletariat Consumer and the Eternal Savior of Microsoft Devices and Studios Group!

 

[Immaculate]

-Mort made some baseless accusations/assumptions about sony's recent 1st party issues, including an assumption as to why the CD of Evolution was no longer there.

-Former CD of Evolution studios comes into thread, clears the air, tells us that he left for very person reason related to the health of his son. Asks mort for an apology.

-Mort retires from gaf, gives no apology, is banned for being an ass.

thanks

it honestly seems like a big misunderstanding but not apologizing and swallowing his pride makes him seem really arrogant.

 

[SniperHunter]

It's disappointing and sad to see Mort fall so far.

The fact that someone had to come on here and give extremely personal details is perhaps the most sickening aspect of all this.

Not disappointing, that was a clear ad hominem attack. It is clear his sources are not very good.

He also mocked me personally once when I posted about the hunch I had about Driveclub being delayed. Justice has been served

 

[IncandescentPrecept]

On a side note, nobody gives a shit

 

[Sendou]

He was passing the buck onto Stig Asmussen solely, rather than an ongoing mismanagement problem at Sony WWS. Claiming that he was the sole proprietor to blame and wasted $100 Million on a project that will never see the light of day, which is also libelous and possibly factually incorrect.

He played far too lose with details when these are people's career's we are talking about and he did it from a position of authority.

Not to mention that Stig can't exactly come here and correct him. He can't talk about Sony business. With Col it was personal things which he probably rather wouldn't disclose but he can if he wishes. Even if Stig wanted to correct what Mort said he wouldn't have the needs to do so.

 

[artist]

But we can all play that game. This is site:kotaku.com + insider. First 4 hits all Schreier, all insider info, some stale vom regurgitated from other places.

What was his point anyway? That the guy trawls neogaf for news? Like about half of the US based websites.

lol

People living in glass houses and that stuff.

 

[Nirolak]

But we can all play that game. This is site:kotaku.com + insider. First 4 hits all Schreier, all insider info, some stale vom regurgitated from other places.

What was his point anyway? That the guy trawls neogaf for news? Like about half of the US based websites.

Did you actually include posts about insider trading in your image?

 

[nomis]

But we can all play that game. This is site:kotaku.com + insider. First 4 hits all Schreier, all insider info, some stale vom regurgitated from other places.

What was his point anyway? That the guy trawls neogaf for news? Like about half of the US based websites.

I don't get it. Is your goal to defend dualshockers because they're no worse than kotaku? That's not exactly a high bar.

 

[Shinta]

Kind of funny how much shit I was getting earlier today about this very topic. Wish the thread wasn't locked though. There was a good discussion to be had.

Yeah ... I'd say a small victory lap on that one was fair. It does show how fast the mood can change on these things.

 

[ultratruman]

what does this mean for QoL??

 

[Lunzio]

This thread is is doing nobody any good

I hope the best for anybody who has left their respective studios and I hope that the games that they have left behind are top notch.

 

[anexanhume]

But we can all play that game. This is site:kotaku.com + insider. First 4 hits all Schreier, all insider info, some stale vom regurgitated from other places.

What was his point anyway? That the guy trawls neogaf for news? Like about half of the US based websites.

And none of those links disparage any specific individuals. That was the whole point.

 

[Griss]

Dodd's problem was always his attitude and posting style. He was never clear enough about what he knew and what he was speculating. Was this a lack of intelligence or in order to fool people into thinking he knew more than he did? That's the question. And secondly he never accepted that his rumours on here mattered at all; that they did have an effect on people.

Mort's attitude was that this was all just a laugh about a silly videogaming hobby. That being a 'GAF insider' was no big deal, because such a thing is too silly to even exist. But sorry, you can't keep posting rumours for attention, you can't be the source of a ton of media rumour reports read by tens of thousands of people and you can't try and set up your own games media website off the back of a rep gained through these rumours and then turn around and say 'oh it's all just a silly game, it's just gossip, don't take it so seriously!'

That's where he went wrong. Whether it was mis-analysis of the situation or whether it was just false modesty, from his posts it seems like he completely misunderstood his position on this forum, and how people read and understood his posts. And I'm not just saying that after his latest blog post - it's not the first time I have seen him say something like this after someone criticised him for posting a rumour. 'Take it or leave it, I'm just a fan like you, I don't expect anyone to listen to me, etc etc'. I didn't like it.

As for Col, all my best wishes to your boy. I know you'll all pull through. And good luck with your new venture. Keep GAF informed!

 

[antitrop]

On a side note, nobody gives a shit

I like how he helped make one shitty game for Steam that has a 32 Metacritic score and he thinks he's an insider.

 

[Vire]

Not to mention that Stig can't exactly come here and correct him. He can't talk about Sony business. With Col it was personal things which he probably rather wouldn't disclose but he can if he wishes. Even if Stig wanted to correct what Mort said he wouldn't have the needs to do so.

Indeed, I don't really think Stig has to anyway. The administration of the this site have made it pretty clear that the information provided was inaccurate and to be disregarded.

 

[Majanew]

In other words, he was spewing tales from his ass and can't be considered a reliable source. That explanation is nothing but a poor attempt to back peddle out of the pit that he dug himself and then fell into.

Mort, thuway and others, were all validating each other to look like they are legit insiders. It's been a joke and I'm glad to see it falling apart.

 

[viveks86]

I didn't say your words were hypocritical. Your behavior is. You're doing nothing but compounding the rampant speculation/slandering that started this whole scandal. Pete recklessly spread misinformation and speculation off as fact and deeply offended an honest working man, because of it. Now you're going from post to post recklessly spreading misinformation and speculation off as fact, while chastising Pete for recklessly spreading misinformation and speculation. You don't see the blatant hypocrisy about your behavior? Is it really that hard to see?

Vire, I don't have anything against you. I generally enjoy your posts. But what you're doing here is childish, and you need to realize that.

Basically this. Love you, Vire. But your last few posts aren't remotely constructive. The man is GONE. No need to pass accusations that are impossible to prove or defend. In that process you are also insulting the good judgment of mods who had kept him around thus far.

 

[benny_a]

He was passing the buck onto Stig Asmussen solely, rather than an ongoing mismanagement problem at Sony WWS. Claiming that he was the sole proprietor to blame and wasted $100 Million on a project that will never see the light of day, which is also libelous and possibly factually incorrect.

I looked through every post he made in the SSM lay-off thread and he said it was the studio head's decision to can the project.
There is a sole mention of Stig: He speculated that Stig might even be given a new project. If someone blames Stig for everything, why would they speculate that? And if they did, wouldn't that automatically cast the people that decide this in a bad light?

He played far too loose with details when these are people's career's we are talking about and he did it from a position of authority. I make no apologies for my beefs with mort.

You can hate on mortimer as much as you want, you just can't write stuff that I know is not accurate because I have the same privileges as you: I can read post histories.

 

[Jinfash]

I think he's referencing Patricks claims that he had insider info that sony had DRM. Don't know much about it to have an opinion.

Unless the info he shared slandered people mentioned in name, I don't think the situations are comparative. #InsiderNoLibel

 

[Yekshemesh]

Has Mort apologized to Col yet? Or is he still doubling down on the " I don't know what GAF insider means" bullshit? (After wearing that badge with pride since E3 last year.)

 

[Tripon]

But we can all play that game. This is site:kotaku.com + insider. First 4 hits all Schreier, all insider info, some stale vom regurgitated from other places.

What was his point anyway? That the guy trawls neogaf for news? Like about half of the US based websites.

You do realize that those are likely Kotaku's (Jason's) personal own sources right? The issue that I (and others) have with Dualshockers quoting Mort without consulting him is that it just passes along info with little to no fact checking.

I won't even go into Kotaku's editorial policy for using sources.

Now, if you want to criticize Kotaku's gross review on Taco Bell's waffle breakfast taco, I'm can get behind that.

 

[jschreier]

But we can all play that game. This is site:kotaku.com + insider. First 4 hits all Schreier, all insider info, some stale vom regurgitated from other places.

What was his point anyway? That the guy trawls neogaf for news? Like about half of the US based websites.

The image I posted was all articles from within the past month citing NeoGAF insider posts. Your image has nothing to do with anything. What is this even.

 

[Salvor.Hardin]

Yeah ... I'd say a small victory lap on that one was fair. It does show how fast the mood can change on these things.

It's too depressing for a victory lap. I'm disgusted that it had to come to this point.

 

[Imbarkus]

What I am doing is protecting my professional integrity by correcting comments which ended up being posted as news on games industry websites. Websites that are read by my potential employers. Really, I'm not too worried about people talking about me on forums - my work has been praised and criticised over the years by loads of people - what I'm concerned about is when posts on forums become personally damaging.

This is a tremendous shame that you feel you've had to do this to enact information control here. Much of what appears here does seem to reverberate forth and be reported upon by new sites, and even if it isn't, who knows who is reading something and accepting it as truth, who may someday hold your destiny is their hand.

I hope you and your family stay strong, and your boy copes well and overcomes this challenge.

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

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

This is an interesting situation. Journalists are trained to be judicious when they use anonymous sources. It's one thing to cite unnamed people while revealing information about a company or a product; it's quite another to cite unnamed people while disparaging someone, especially someone who isn't a public figure. At the very least, if a journalist decides it's appropriate to do that, it's only right to give that person an opportunity to comment before publication.

"Office gossip" is the worst kind of foundation to use as 'insider info/leaks.'

In a large organisation, not everyone knows everything about what happened, and given the nature of office politics, there's going to be equally the same amount of love/hate for any given employee to a certain extent.

It's all about consequences. As was stated earlier, depending on the context of the information 'leaked,' the ramifications can have a profound effect on someone's (in this case) career. Especially given the nature of the news, some of the damage may be irreversible, so vetting said information before you leak it is of paramount importance.

Well, the difference between this and, say, CBOAT being wrong about Prince of Persia being shown at E3 or the PS4 coming out in October, is that this is actively harmful to someone's life and career.

I know this thread is like dancing on the edge of a razor blade, but I'd be curious if anyone would like to draw some comparisons for discussion between this situation and that of Denis Dyack and the bad PR that accompanied (and seemed to affect) the failed crowd-funding efforts last year.

I realize his story, as pertains to NeoGAF, has a lot of direct message board vitriol history. But after that, when he seemed to pull away from direct PR intentionally, there was the Kotaku article and the MamaRobotnik post here, which really seemed to cement a lot of people's opinions.

Am I the only one reminded of this, and is it because I just listened to the 1up Yours podcast where he was discussing these issues? Weird.

I think Leigh Alexander wrote a pretty good piece regarding that sort of stuff http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/211139/Irrational_Games_journalism_and_airing_dirty_laundry.php

I thought this was a fantastic article on this subject.

 

[prwxv3]

Has Mort apologized to Col yet? Or is he still doubling down on the " I don't know what GAF insider means" bullshit? (After wearing that badge with pride since E3 last year.)

I think he privately apologized to him.

 

[Stumpokapow]

But we can all play that game. This is site:kotaku.com + insider. First 4 hits all Schreier, all insider info, some stale vom regurgitated from other places.

What was his point anyway? That the guy trawls neogaf for news? Like about half of the US based websites.

the first two of those articles are the same thing and are schreier hosting a q&a session with an employee of a publisher, whose identity he verified. the last two are a different definition of insider, referring to named and noted employees of the company in question. schreier's point was that when someone here gets a reputation as an insider (even in cases where both the source and moderators here explicitly point out that the person in question is not working in the industry, and that any information they have is taken from conversations they have with actual insiders, so apply a filter of skepticism to what they say), lazy journalist sources repeat it uncritically without verifying the identity of the purported insider. your rebuttal has nothing to do with that.

 

[Dragon Puncher]

Things sure change on a dime around here.

This is secretly the best post in the thread. Seems like people turn on insiders on a dime. Not that mort didn't deserve it here, he handled everything about this very unprofessional and disrespectful.

 

[MyLifeIsALie]

Hello, all.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks, all.

Col.

Why isnt this said at the time of departure? or at least something? AS far as i know nothing was said about your leaving, just that you left. The secrecy involved with such easily explained things is baffling to me.
In the future i hope people really just clear the air about such things, that way nothing will be conspiracy theoried up, because it will happen. And if you care about having your name being in said conspiracies then best to clear the air early.

 

[A_Gorilla]

See this is why I love Gaf, one day we're all just talking about new games and waiting for NPD numbers, the next day the entire forum explodes after an "insider" makes a fool of himself.

Never a dull moment at NeoGAF!

 

[Loudninja]

Has Mort apologized to Col yet? Or is he still doubling down on the " I don't know what GAF insider means" bullshit? (After wearing that badge with pride since E3 last year.)

He did via email, twitter and on his blog.

 

[nomis]

The image I posted was all articles from within the past month citing NeoGAF insider posts. Your image has nothing to do with anything. What is this even.

This is secretly the best post in the thread. Seems like people turn on insiders on a dime. Not that mort didn't deserve it here, he handled everything about this very unprofessional and disrespectful.

.

 

[SargerusBR]

So there only Verendrus left in the GAF insiders team?

 

[prwxv3]

Why isnt this said at the time of departure? or at least something? AS far as i know nothing was said about your leaving, just that you left. The secrecy involved with such easily explained things is baffling to me. In the future i hope people really just clear the air about such things, that way nothing will be conspiracy theoried up, because it will happen. And if you care about having your name being in said conspiracies then best to clear the air early.

He has the right to keep personal things to himself. Same with Amy

 

[Yekshemesh]

I think he privately apologized to him.

He did via email, twitter and on his blog.

That's good, he manned up and did that.

 

[dragonbane]

I just don't understand...you slander Col Rodgers, talk with his friend and clear everything up...but INSTEAD of apologizing you decide to make a cheeky Tweet instead?

What...why? Why didn't you just edit your initial post? Why didn't you come to GAF with an apology? Why didn't you give a heartfelt apology the moment that you cleared things up? Why did you have to respond with sarcasm?

Come on now...that logic is just bogus.

I think he wasn't clearing anything up about Col. He made a kinda passive-aggressive remark against his friend as well and was probably clearing that up with him.

It's disappointing and sad to see Mort fall so far.

The fact that someone had to come on here and give extremely personal details is perhaps the most sickening aspect of all this.

Yeah. Too bad it had to come to this.

 

[troushers]

Did you actually include posts about insider trading in your image?

That was the first and only result about that. Have fun. You either crop off the Ker-plunkett article (sourced from reddit) or the "insider trading" article. Either way, wtf was Schreier actually on about?

 

[Aquamarine]

Why isnt this said at the time of departure? or at least something? AS far as i know nothing was said about your leaving, just that you left. The secrecy involved with such easily explained things is baffling to me.
In the future i hope people really just clear the air about such things, that way nothing will be conspiracy theoried up, because it will happen. And if you care about having your name being in said conspiracies then best to clear the air early.

What the hell is this post...

...Dude...really?

REALLY?

He left the studio because his son is very sick. He didn't need to "disclose" or "defend" anything. It's an extremely personal and heart-breaking event. God...give the guy some respect.

 

[Shinta]

Mort's attitude was that this was all just a laugh about a silly videogaming hobby. That being a 'GAF insider' was no big deal, because such a thing is too silly to even exist. But sorry, you can't keep posting rumours for attention, you can't be the source of a ton of media rumour reports read by tens of thousands of people and you can't try and set up your own games media website off the back of a rep gained through these rumours and then turn around and say 'oh it's all just a silly game, it's just gossip, don't take it so seriously!'

That's where he went wrong.

I think any sense that he literally believed that he wasn't influential went out the window when he started raising money. Clearly he knew he was, and he knew people listened to him. I read through the indiegogo thread and in response to Schreir in there he mentioned he was featured on Kotaku as the most important gamer of the year.

So yeah, any attempts to deny his influence were almost surely just misdirection, and not genuine.

 

[bishoptl]

all 31 flavours of stupid.

OH MY GOD.

 

[freenudemacusers]

The image I posted was all articles from within the past month citing NeoGAF insider posts. Your image has nothing to do with anything. What is this even.

it was a valiant attempt

Why isnt this said at the time of departure? or at least something? AS far as i know nothing was said about your leaving, just that you left. The secrecy involved with such easily explained things is baffling to me.
In the future i hope people really just clear the air about such things, that way nothing will be conspiracy theoried up, because it will happen. And if you care about having your name being in said conspiracies then best to clear the air early.

GOAT posting ITT

 

[Celestial Mortal]

Why isnt this said at the time of departure? or at least something? AS far as i know nothing was said about your leaving, just that you left. The secrecy involved with such easily explained things is baffling to me.
In the future i hope people really just clear the air about such things, that way nothing will be conspiracy theoried up, because it will happen. And if you care about having your name being in said conspiracies then best to clear the air early.

There's something called 'privacy' and 'personal reasons'.

If the guy didn't feel like sharing the reason for his departure, who are we to say anything, even when he cited 'personal reasons' for the reason of his leaving.

 

[IncandescentPrecept]

So there only Verendrus left in the GAF insiders team?

Verendus - he along with thuway are the ones that I truly doubt.

 

[ironcreed]

Mort, thuway and others, were all validating each other to look like they are legit insiders. It's been a joke and I'm glad to see it falling apart.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

I have obtained a candid photograph of gaf's next insider:

 

[Mysterious]

How much do I have to pay to buy Nintendo so that I can be a Nintendo insider?