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UC4 Game Director Justin Richmond Leaves ND (And famousmortimer leaves GAF #1393)

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Deleted member 125677

Unconfirmed Member
I feel sorry for Pete, I really do. He seemed good at heart and like a nice guy. At the same time, it's not exactly a shock that something like this eventually happened. While it's obvious he knew a guy here and there, I believe in the end his downfall was that he wanted this position of his here a bit too much and perhaps that he was a bit too fond of the company he usually leaked stuff about. More than he was willing to admit to himself. And to us.
 
A lot of people are missing the point. Speculation was not the problem here. This board wouldn't exist without speculation, whether it concerned hardware specs, sales, company direction, or game design. The very clear problem, as has been covered in similar topics in the past, is our resident insiders using their credibility as 'currency', seeking to spend it to either remain in the limelight or to push an agenda.

There should always be a clear line drawn when presenting hard facts, shaky gossip, reasonable conclusions drawn from hard facts and shaky gossip, and complete wish fulfillment bullshit. Even a satire/entertainment journalist like Bill Simmons knows when to draw those lines. Dropping a few truth nuggets does not give you free reign to present all of your speculation as fact, as has been done frequently.

Perhaps as importantly, we should always remember that all of these people, whether insider or genuine employee, are still human, and many of them do have a horse in this race. It's quite obvious looking at their posting histories that mort and thuway are pro-Sony; it's equally obvious with the scope of the rumors and truthfacts that he chose to share, that cboat is anti-MS. These are not condemnations in and of themselves, as most gamers in general have a system preference. Where it gets dangerous, however, is that in the rush to defend one company over another (or in cboat's case, to slander a product), we have insiders throwing their weight in order to 'massage perception', something that is looked down upon when someone is paid to do so (see Penello, Albert).

I can see where the power could become intoxicating. Everyone hangs on your every word because of something you leaked 3 months ago, so why not leave it "open to interpretation" whether you were genuinely leaking new info, reporting a rumor, or just pulling something out of your ass? As long as everyone is quoting you dozens of times in a day, does any of that matter?

So we had mort and thuway downplaying the reveal of 5GB available to devs for PS4 (eg, "everyone has known this for months, calm down, it's only common sense"), even after painting the identical situation as a sign of impending doom over at MS. We had thuway guaranteeing that ALL XboxOne games would be downgraded from initial reveal to launch, a claim that not even the highest of higher ups could claim as #truthfact (and really only ended up as such for Forza). We had mort going in on TitanFall 360 being the secret definitive version that MS didn't want you to know about. We had cboat missing the boat on yield issues, ID@Xbox, downclocks, assstorms, and everything TitanFall. And then we had mort throwing 2 well-respected former SCE employees under the bus - in the same post - just to allay fears that Sony's much lauded first party studios were suffering brain drain.

The danger of trusting leaks with no proof is that we don't know what the intention of the leakers or their sources are. We cannot assume it's for the benevolent dispersal of information. I'm glad that the mods have been fairly loose in their interpretations of the rules - getting nuggets early is one of the fun reasons I visit this forum. But I'm also glad that they've drawn the line at rumors that directly affect someone's livelihood, like cboat's insistence on TitanFall, or mort's gamble on Rodgers. Those who have been fortunate enough to receive info have a moral obligation to use it wisely, and to present it clearly.

Too much thread shitting is my guess. He derailed quite a few with list wars.

Not to get too personal, but nib was a reformed PS fanboy from way back in the IGN PS2 days. If there was one constant in his posting life, it was praising GT/trashing Forza. He toned it down quite a bit during his stint here, but he really can't help himself.
 

JCizzle

Member
What was the piece of information that Pete leaked regarding Col that was potentially career damaging, exactly?

The accusation that he was fired for poor performance when that wasn't the case. Pretty fucked up thing to do in the defense of a corporation (which is what the motivation seems to be). Even if it was true, I don't see the need to air that sort of laundry.
 

Texhex

Banned
Well all I see is some nice speculations, because Gaf was already talking about a possible paywall before E3 started.
So he took the ~I heard they will have a paywall~ route, was lucky, and is a confirmed insider now.

Here is how you become an insider like atPeteDodd or thuway:

Read some old interviews and watch some old videos. [Damn, can't find the video interview of RAD with the ~want to top Naughty dog / be the new ND~]
j6vecEQcPqfff.png

Post some modified quotes of it on your twitter feed:

Wait until some small sites are writing an article about your ~insider news~:
http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/01...as-sonys-first-naughty-dog-game-insider-says/

Repeat!

Read some old interviews about Watch_Dogs being better on PS4:

When resolution-gate was the main story here for a while [Tomb Raider] talk about ~but Watch_Dogs Too~ on your twitter feed:

Wait for the gaming sites:
http://www.nowgamer.com/news/2257362/watch_dogs_720p_on_xbox_one_1080p_on_ps4.html

Repeat!

Read some interviews or articles:

Post it on your twitter feed with some extra juice [~It's buggy, therefore, not yet released~ Wow man, really? ~Blu-Ray updates coming~ No shit, Sherlock!]

Wait for the gaming sites:
http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/03...-playback-plans-unknown-according-to-insider/


Your turn, guys.
You know how it's done. Get some money!
 

benny_a

extra source of jiggaflops
Your turn, guys.
You know how it's done. Get some money!
How about you do it. You predict Sony's E3 line-up. Be sure to mention by name the presenter and the game title of the newly announced games that are revealed there. We wouldn't want to be soft.
 
I can't help but think the biggest problem everyone is dancing around is not any "insiders" content. It is that everyone is trying to label people as insiders when they are just GAFers getting info leaked to them.

Which is fine. But when others force the label of insider on these posters it carriers different expectations for others than presenting it for what it is. A fellow enthusiast received some leaked info. It may or may not happen. cool.
 

ghst

thanks for the laugh
what happened to GAF's "two sources" rule regarding leaks? is it like an honour system where once you are verified you are free to pull whatever you want out of your ass in order to stoke your waning relevance?
 
How about you do it. You predict Sony's E3 line-up. Be sure to mention by name the presenter and the game title of the newly announced games that are revealed there. We wouldn't want to be soft.

No need to get your knickers in a twist. I think it's pretty obvious that both famousmortimer and thuway have at one time or another been privy to some insider information, however that doesn't mean that they haven't also done a lot of lucky cold-reading in order to bolster their reputations.
 

Sean

Banned
I think of Dodd as a genuinely nice guy who just fucked up royal. I think it sucks for everyone involved and we should just let it rest. He was a pro-consumer kind of guy with no real agenda. I think he trusted his sources and made a bad error in judgement by talking about something that had no clear benefit beyond shutting up NEOGAF from wild speculation based on nothing. There is no need to apply some revisionist history to make him out to be anything more than that. I think we need to agree to move on from this quickly as it has been an embarrassment to Dodd, Neogaf, Col and anyone else affected. I don't want to prolong everyones suffering by talking about it for two weeks straight.

Not sure I agree with the "no agenda" bit, famousmortimer has a very obvious (and self-admitted) Sony bias and it showed in many of his "leaks" too. First was MS paying for non-mentions of PS4 multiplats at E3, then the OS being a complete disaster at launch, then party chat possibly taking up to a year to be fixed, and most recently "Microsoft is looking to dump Xbox" and sell to Amazon. And now he was banned in this thread for slandering a developer in order to defend SCE WWS.

He obviously had inside information at some point but more and more it seemed like he was using his credibility / internet fame to push his preferred platform and viewpoints.
 

Jinfash

needs 2 extra inches
what happened to GAF's "two sources" rule regarding leaks? is it like an honour system where once you are verified you are free to pull whatever you want out of your ass in order to stoke your waning relevance?
Or it could have something to do with a loophole involving egos growing two folds.
GNtfoDk.png
 
Well all I see is some nice speculations, because Gaf was already talking about a possible paywall before E3 started.
So he took the ~I heard they will have a paywall~ route, was lucky, and is a confirmed insider now.

Here is how you become an insider like atPeteDodd or thuway:

Read some old interviews and watch some old videos. [Damn, can't find the video interview of RAD with the ~want to top Naughty dog / be the new ND~]


Post some modified quotes of it on your twitter feed:


Wait until some small sites are writing an article about your ~insider news~:
http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/01...as-sonys-first-naughty-dog-game-insider-says/

Repeat!

Read some old interviews about Watch_Dogs being better on PS4:


When resolution-gate was the main story here for a while [Tomb Raider] talk about ~but Watch_Dogs Too~ on your twitter feed:


Wait for the gaming sites:
http://www.nowgamer.com/news/2257362/watch_dogs_720p_on_xbox_one_1080p_on_ps4.html

Repeat!

Read some interviews or articles:


Post it on your twitter feed with some extra juice [~It's buggy, therefore, not yet released~ Wow man, really? ~Blu-Ray updates coming~ No shit, Sherlock!]


Wait for the gaming sites:
http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/03...-playback-plans-unknown-according-to-insider/


Your turn, guys.
You know how it's done. Get some money!


Oh.... It's that easy. Okay... When is the Last Guardian coming out? Is Activision ready to sell the Crash series back to Sony? Is that Rockstar exclusive game for PS4 real? What is Sony announcing at E3?

Surely you can read some of these articles and post something on your feed too as well right?
 
The accusation that he was fired for poor performance when that wasn't the case. Pretty fucked up thing to do in the defense of a corporation (which is what the motivation seems to be). Even if it was true, I don't see the need to air that sort of laundry.

There was some kind of poor performance involved, potentially, right? I mean... Driveclub was supposed to come out almost six months ago. Things are definitely not working out over there like how it was planned. Please don't misconstrue this as defensive.

It's still crazy for me to think that a random guy on the internet who posts about video games could potentially damage someone's career. Maybe GAF holds more weight as a forum then some people in games media like to admit.
 
Wow, what an interesting thread

Mainly just wanted to pop in to express my regards to Col, you and your family are in my thoughts man. Best of luck with everything <3
 
There was some kind of poor performance involved, potentially, right? I mean... Driveclub was supposed to come out almost six months ago. Things are definitely not working out over there like how it was planned. Please don't misconstrue this as defensive.

Yes but delays are extremely common.
 

Imbarkus

As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Oh geez... the PS4NoDRM conspiracy thread... Good thing the mods are paying close attention today, lots of information boundaries get a bit hazy when the disgrace-o-tron is running full speed...
 

ghst

thanks for the laugh
Or it could have something to do with a loophole involving egos growing two folds.
GNtfoDk.png

well, regardless. dodd was a notorious sony fanboy who rolled out a serial quoted insider diatribe which threw professionals under bus in order to defend the fatherland. i thought there was a system of checks and balances set up (the "two sources" rule) and it seems like a pretty major failing if a red flag like that can just go through without at least being combed over.

i'm not privvy to the backroom workings of this machine, so maybe it was a case that his info did check out and it's just one of those unfortunate things.
 

fantomena

Member
Have not read in this thread much. But after what I do have read, I will give all my preyers to Col Rodgers and his family. Really sad thing to hear about.

Also, what is this fuzz about PS4NoDRM conspiracy? Could somebody give me a quick summary or something?
 

Corto

Member
Oh.... It's that easy. Okay... When is the Last Guardian coming out? Is Activision ready to sell the Crash series back to Sony? Is that Rockstar exclusive game for PS4 real? What is Sony announcing at E3?

Surely you can read some of these articles and post something on your feed too as well right?

TLG Holiday 2015

Yes.

GTA5 PS4 timed exclusive

GG RPG game, Media Molecule new game, Planetside 2, Everquest PS4 ports. Bunch of indie proper/timed exclusives for the PS4 and last year indie ports for the Vita.
 

Dawg

Member
Oh geez... the PS4NoDRM conspiracy thread... Good thing the mods are paying close attention today, lots of information boundaries get a bit hazy when the disgrace-o-tron is running full speed...

Insider information has changed.

It's no longer about leaks, megatons or buttocks. It's an endless series of conspiracies, agreed by insiders and publishers. Insider information, and its consumption of life, has become a well-oiled machine.

Insider information has changed.

Publisher tagged insiders carry publisher tagged information, use publisher tagged leaks. Nanomachines inside their bodies enhance and regulate their abilities. Genetic control. Information control. Emotion control. NeoGAF control. Everything is monitored, and kept under control.

Insider information has changed.

The age of insiders has become the age of control. All in the name of averting catastrophe from publishers. And he who controls the NeoGAF, controls history.

Insider information has changed.

When the NeoGAF is under total control, insider information... becomes routine.
 

Slashlen

Member
Yeah, basically all the crazies who have an ax to grind with Mort/Sony/Anybody have come out of the woodwork and turned the thread to shit.
 
TLG Holiday 2015

Yes.

GTA5 PS4 timed exclusive

GG RPG game, Media Molecule new game, Planetside 2, Everquest PS4 ports. Bunch of indie proper/timed exclusives for the PS4 and last year indie ports for the Vita.

So does this make you a Sony fanboy because your know this information?

If you are wrong, do you get banned?

Am I gullible for believing you instead of waiting for the actual words to come out the horses mouth?
 

artist

Banned
well, regardless. dodd was a notorious sony fanboy who rolled out a serial quoted insider diatribe which threw professionals under bus in order to defend the fatherland. i thought there was a system of checks and balances set up (the "two sources" rule) and it seems like a pretty major failing if a red flag like that can just go through without at least being combed over.

i'm not privvy to the backroom workings of this machine, so maybe it was a case that his info did check out and it's just one of those unfortunate things.
mort started dropping info on his twitter feed more than GAF, presumably because he didnt have two sources to back them up. Besides that nobody (even the mods) have the ability to double-confirm your info all-the-time.

Stop trying to somehow push the bllame on GAF mods. This blame game is really getting out of hand.

Yeah, basically all the crazies who have an ax to grind with Mort/Sony/Anybody have come out of the woodwork and turned the thread to shit.
Not even the mods have been spared.
 
Well all I see is some nice speculations, because Gaf was already talking about a possible paywall before E3 started.
So he took the ~I heard they will have a paywall~ route, was lucky, and is a confirmed insider now.
Hahaha. The name "Knack" for a new IP for PS4 is now speculation? famousmortimer has to be a psychic then for predicting that. Also the post he made about the paywall was before the PS4 was even unveiled, not right before E3.
 

Dewoh

Neo Member
This whole thing is gross. An indiegogo asking money to help fund a "good" video game website because IGN, Giantbomb, Polygon, ect are unreliable shills of the PR machine, and lack integrity. Then he slanders someone's career on gaf. No tact what so ever.

AND then apologizes with an "I don't need neogaf anyway". The fact people would give him money or want to help write for his site is laughable.

I hope people learn from this, and practice better judgement in the future.
 
Well all I see is some nice speculations, because Gaf was already talking about a possible paywall before E3 started.
So he took the ~I heard they will have a paywall~ route, was lucky, and is a confirmed insider now.

Here is how you become an insider like atPeteDodd or thuway:

Read some old interviews and watch some old videos. [Damn, can't find the video interview of RAD with the ~want to top Naughty dog / be the new ND~]


Post some modified quotes of it on your twitter feed:


Wait until some small sites are writing an article about your ~insider news~:
http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/01...as-sonys-first-naughty-dog-game-insider-says/

Repeat!

Read some old interviews about Watch_Dogs being better on PS4:


When resolution-gate was the main story here for a while [Tomb Raider] talk about ~but Watch_Dogs Too~ on your twitter feed:


Wait for the gaming sites:
http://www.nowgamer.com/news/2257362/watch_dogs_720p_on_xbox_one_1080p_on_ps4.html

Repeat!

Read some interviews or articles:


Post it on your twitter feed with some extra juice [~It's buggy, therefore, not yet released~ Wow man, really? ~Blu-Ray updates coming~ No shit, Sherlock!]


Wait for the gaming sites:
http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/03...-playback-plans-unknown-according-to-insider/


Your turn, guys.
You know how it's done. Get some money!

Detective GAF at it's finest. Really impressive. Good job.
 
Hahaha. The name "Knack" for a new IP for PS4 is now speculation? famousmortimer has to be a psychic then for predicting that. Also the post he made about the paywall was before the PS4 was even unveiled, not right before E3.
I don't want to discredit famousmortimer for finding the name "Knack" but it was already found long before he actually named it. I am sure most of us could guess it was a new IP from Sony, as they trademarked it, just like The Order: 1886.

Article is from January 17, 2013, although the site is banned here.

SCEA Files Video Game Trademark for ‘Knack’

With the PS3 still chugging along, the PS4 right around the corner and the Vita being the Vita, Sony’s development teams have never been so busy. Now, PSLS may have uncovered yet another game they are working on – Knack.

The trademark filing by Sony Computer Entertainment America only happened this year, although we’ve also dug up a trademark for Knack in Europe by SCEE last October. Considering SCEE trademarked it first, it’s possible that a European studio is behind the game.

Knack doesn’t exactly sound like an AAA game (we could be wrong), and could instead be a downloadable title – the trademark does cover “computer game software downloadable from a global computer network”. We also don’t know if this for PS3, PS Vita, PS Mobile or PS4 as trademarks don’t list specific platforms.

Hopefully we’ll find out soon, although unfortunately a correlation can’t be drawn between the time of a trademark filing and the date of announcement – some are done years in advance, others the very day before and some even after the game has been announced.
 

Imbarkus

As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Insider information. Insider information never changes.

The Romans used it to build an empire, and the journalists and message boards of our era have done the same. Pain is the only people for anyone targeted personally, as a balanced truth, one with a response as we see here, is so rare. SEO shapes a battered or much-argued article or post in to an information superpower.

But inside information never changes.

 
GTA5 PS4 timed exclusive
I predict XB1 timed exclusive or at least multi.


I don't want to discredit famousmortimer for finding the name "Knack" but it was already found long before he actually named it. I am sure most of us could guess it was a new IP from Sony, as they trademarked it, just like The Order: 1886.

Article is from January 17, 2013, although the site is banned here.

SCEA Files Video Game Trademark for &#8216;Knack&#8217;
Fair enough. Says nothing about PS4 though. Especially since famous combined it with Infamous, KZ, Evolution and Bungie makes this a clear case of leakage (at least for me).
 
well, regardless. dodd was a notorious sony fanboy who rolled out a serial quoted insider diatribe which threw professionals under bus in order to defend the fatherland. i thought there was a system of checks and balances set up (the "two sources" rule) and it seems like a pretty major failing if a red flag like that can just go through without at least being combed over.

i'm not privvy to the backroom workings of this machine, so maybe it was a case that his info did check out and it's just one of those unfortunate things.

Generally speaking, I don't know if we really consider a top priority to have an official protocol to deal with this kind of thing. Mind you, we obviously don't want people derailing conversations with rumors they've just pulled right out of their ass, and if we suspect that that's what's going on, we react in a number of different ways. Maybe we ban them right away because it's transparently clear that they're full of it. We might reach out via PM and attempt to figure out who they are and why they know what they know. We might decide to just let the situation play out if the info is pertaining to an upcoming event. In regards to verification, some people on the staff might go this route more than others. For instance, bishoptl has famously done this on numerous occasions (i.e. come into threads and told posters to check their PMs). He is obviously comfortable doing this having worked in the industry for some time.

Me? I don't know anyone in the industry. I'm not going to waste my time trying to track down who your source is or if it's legit. The most I'm going to do is let other people on staff know that I'm not so sure about Dubious Insider #1645 and get their take on how tot proceed. But I certainly don't sound the Drudge alarm everytime somebody posts an unverified rumor and demand two sources.

Now, as it relates to posters like mort that have a reputation of having insider info, my own speculation -- and I'll note clearly that it's speculation on my part as I neither know nor care who his contacts were -- is that he knew people that knew things. If I had to guess, I don't think that these people had positions in high places. I don't think he had access to key strategic info. I don't think he should have ever been regarded as a definitive source of information, and that -- like with most insider information -- any bit of speculation should be taken with a grain of salt. But I do believe that he had access to information that the general public didn't. I don't think that information extended to knowing the specific circumstances surrounding departures of key individuals, as was clearly the case here. But I also don't necessarily believe that he just made it up.

I don't expect that this post clears up everyone's concerns, but I just thought I'd post where I'm coming from. I don't intend for this to be any sort of final word on how NeoGAF handles insiders.
 
Hopefully Dualshockers gets banned after all of this.
Hopefully they don't. They are mostly garbage, but from time to time they dig up something interesting or translate interviews, post stuff from the E3 show floor etc.
Ignore the insider nonsense, take the rest with a grain of salt and you should be fine.
 
Fair enough. Says nothing about PS4 though. Especially since famous combined it with Infamous, KZ, Evolution and Bungie makes this a clear case of leakage (at least for me).
I was just pointing out that some of this stuff is out there, but it usually flies under the radar of most people. The name for Knack, The Order: 1886, DriveClub etc were all leaked before their official reveals. Same goes for the cancelled SSM IP, as people uncovered some stuff about it through Job Listings and Linkedin profiles.

Again, don't read my post as discrediting mort, since it is not my intention at all :)
 

fasTRapid

Banned
Read some old interviews about Watch_Dogs being better on PS4:


When resolution-gate was the main story here for a while [Tomb Raider] talk about ~but Watch_Dogs Too~ on your twitter feed:


Wait for the gaming sites:
http://www.nowgamer.com/news/2257362/watch_dogs_720p_on_xbox_one_1080p_on_ps4.html

Repeat!
Don't know about your other two examples but the interview you linked with this one isn't saying anything near what you believe it does. It's about PS4 vs. PS3. Xbox One isn't even mentioned in that article.

But nice work at cropping that image, lol.

uOpkCxT.jpg
 
6 months on a game that was supposed to come out at launch sounds pretty mainstream. I'm not saying it's nothing, but it's not -- in itself -- the kind of thing that gets people fired or pushed out. Games get delayed like this all the time.

I think it'll be more than 6 months. And how many games that were scheduled to be released last year were delayed by that much? The only one I can think of is Watch Dogs.
 

FranXico

Member
We should also all be a little bit more humble about ourselves since almost nobody protested Pete's original post in which he, without malicious intent, threw Col under the bus.

It doesn't matter whether his information was correct or incorrect. It was irrelevant to us and potentially damaging to somebody's career. That was the actual fuck-up, and apparently it was a fuck-up that many of us would have made had we been in Pete's position. Otherwise, more of us would have protested the original post, but nobody (or only few) did. On the contrary, I liked the post and thought it was a rational rebuttal of all the doom-and-gloom hyperbole. I didn't realize from reading the post that disclosing such kind of information is not ok in general. And I guess that many of us dancing on the grave of Pete's account didn't realize that as well.

This.

I also thought at the time that it was a great rebuttal for a lot of irrational conspiracy theories going around.

The reason he was banned was that he irresponsibly caused damage to a person's career and personal life by posting wild speculation as fact. Not any supposed pro-Sony agenda and certainly not for always being wrong in his leaks in the past.
 
I was just pointing out that some of this stuff is out there, but it usually flies under the radar of most people. The name for Knack, The Order: 1886, DriveClub etc were all leaked before their official reveals. Same goes for the cancelled SSM IP, as people uncovered some stuff about it through Job Listings and Linkedin profiles.

Again, don't read my post as discrediting mort, since it is not my intention at all :)

Knack was certainly not known.
 
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