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Games Journalism! Wainwright/Florence/Tomb Raider/Eurogamer/Libel Threats/Doritos

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What I don't understand is why it seems these regurgitated press releases take up so much of gaming websites. Most gaming magazines didn't spit out the amount of press releases per issue that seems to make up most of the content on sites like Kotaku.

I get the difference in deadlines, but the thing for me is that print editors were able to convey what was important or a priority through layout and design. Regurgitated press releases were usually delegated to the front, but were very much separated from the rest of the features. With sites like Kotaku or Joystiq, it seems all the stories have the same weight, regardless if it's an indepth feature or a press release rewrite.

Gaming websites should take a cue from the Onion AV Club. The stream of regurgitated press releases are kept to their own little sectio (and having a writer as hilarious as Sean O'Neal would be a bonus). All the other stories on the site, from regular features like Commentary of the Damn or a Movie Review, are labelled and kept away from the press releases. I'd like to see that demarcation of content happen on gaming sites.

Also, I am digging the Gamelogical Society on the AV Club, who do stories never covered elsewhere.

Have you not been to Kotaku in a few years? We have a front page where we promote our best stories. Our news blips don't have even close to as much weight as our big original pieces.
 
Take Halo for instance since it's topical. I love that game and I know a lot about it but the 'experts' in deidcated threads are insufferable, talking about bullet spreads and bloom and jump heights like MLG is the height of gaming.


What exactly did you expect when you click on a thread dedicated to one game? Of course they will be talking about the specifics of gameplay mechanics.
 
Yep. If you go to NeoGAF with any regularity, you probably open up tons of threads based on news Kotaku has broken or stories we've reported. Dunno how you'd avoid us. ;)

If you go to Kotaku with any regularity, you probably have found tons of news posts based on news NeoGAF has broken or stories we've reported. Dunno how you'd avoid us. ;)

Hint: you obviously don't. NeoGAF is the single best news aggregator and every games journalist knows it.
 
Yep. If you go to NeoGAF with any regularity, you probably open up tons of threads based on news Kotaku has broken or stories we've reported. Dunno how you'd avoid us. ;)

I don't look at your main page. I just click on a link that someone on neogaf posted. Usually if there is a thread on Neogaf about a story you have run it is worth a look. Unless the topic doesn't interest me.
 
0205_7alpr.gif

I'd rather be doing that than writing ethical reviews at IGN
 
It is very possible that press release rewriting will eventually go the way of dead tree media, but I don't know. I think that a large number of readers don't like to read the PS Blog or Rockstar Newswire or whatever because they want to get that information through reporters and websites they trust to filter it out and provide an honest perspective. Other people just read sites like Kotaku because they like our personal voices -- we are good (and getting better and better) at adding an original touch to some of the press release rewrites we handle every day. I also don't think "here's a GTA5 trailer" or "new Skyrim DLC out next month!" is filler. I think it's news. It might not require as much hard work or effort as, say, an original story about X-Men Destiny and Silicon Knights, but to some readers it's just as important. Some readers aren't interested in inside looks at studios: they just want gaming news, filtered through voices that they've learned to trust over the years.

Maybe one day a site like Kotaku will exist only for original reporting. I don't think a site like that is financially feasible -- people in the Internet age are hungry for a constant stream of content, and we're here to serve those people -- but that's all speculative. Right now, I think what's important is for reporters like me to make sure everything we write is honest, fair, and interesting or informative to readers. That indeed means getting better at ignoring bullshit press releases. But it doesn't mean ignoring the ones that matter to the people who read Kotaku. It would be a disservice for us not to give our readers information that we deem interesting or important.

But as I've said earlier in this thread, I try not to spend a lot of time doing this sort of thing, and I don't normally have to. On my best days I spend 10% of my time posting press release news or videos or whatever and 90% of my time reporting, chasing stories, interviewing people, and writing original content. That's one of the reasons I love working at Kotaku.


You seem to be forgetting that on the PlayStation blog you can ask questions and get answers from the developers themselves. Why would I want to read Kotaku about a Insomniac or Hello Games Press release when I can get Jeff Stevenson and Sean Murry to respond to my specific questions on the Playstation blog?

Now granted I'm not guaranteed a response and complaints/criticisms are less likely to get a response(depending on who made the blog post, some are better at responding in general and to criticism then others), but even the chance of getting a reply is something you can't compete with.
 
You seem to be forgetting that on the PlayStation blog you can ask questions and get answers from the developers themselves. Why would I want to read Kotaku about a Insomniac or Hello Games Press release when I can get Jeff Stevenson and Sean Murry to respond to my specific questions on the Playstation blog?

Now granted I'm not guaranteed a response and complaints/criticisms are less likely to get a response(depending on who made the blog post), but even the chance of getting replied to is something you can't compete with.

Which is great! As a gamer, I love having that sort of access, and as a reporter, I love seeing it. But I don't think that renders my role obsolete. Having an independent watchdog to sort through bullshit when necessary is still important, I think.
 
Which is great! As a gamer, I love having that sort of access, and as a reporter, I love seeing it. But I don't think that renders my role obsolete. Having an independent watchdog to sort through bullshit when necessary is still important, I think.

It does make you pointless when it comes to press releases though because you can't provide that kind of interaction.
 
Have you not been to Kotaku in a few years? We have a front page where we promote our best stories. Our news blips don't have even close to as much weight as our big original pieces.

Yep. If you go to NeoGAF with any regularity, you probably open up tons of threads based on news Kotaku has broken or stories we've reported. Dunno how you'd avoid us. ;)

Easy.

"KOTAKU: Stuff here" thread seen.

halolz-dot-com-nope.avi.gif
reaction.

*scroll past*

OMG SO HARD.

(Yes, I know I'm being an ass and condensing. But come on, dude...)
 
It does make you pointless when it comes to press releases though because you can't provide that kind of interaction.

It's not pointless to people who only read Kotaku for gaming news. Nor is it pointless if there's something in that press release that needs better context or even straight-up BS debunking. There are a number of reasons to keep delivering that sort of news, and I think to do otherwise would be doing a disservice to readers. (Although as I said before, I think gaming reporters should be doing a better job of deciding which press releases are not worth their bandwidth.)
 
Yep. If you go to NeoGAF with any regularity, you probably open up tons of threads based on news Kotaku has broken or stories we've reported. Dunno how you'd avoid us. ;)

I'm glad you put that smiley at the end there, or else I would've thought you were completely serious.

The point I was trying to make is the onus is on Kotaku to entice people to read them, not the other way around. Over the years Kotaku has done a lot of shit where I don't visit the site and only visit a specific link when a thread is made here on a topic I find interesting. When Kotaku starts to post high quality pieces consistently I may reconsider. I know many around here feel the same way.

I see you're a junior, I assume you don't know how bad of a reputation Kotaku has around here?
 
It's not pointless to people who only read Kotaku for gaming news. Nor is it pointless if there's something in that press release that needs better context or even straight-up BS debunking. There are a number of reasons to keep delivering that sort of news, and I think to do otherwise would be doing a disservice to readers. (Although as I said before, I think gaming reporters should be doing a better job of deciding which press releases are not worth their bandwidth.)

I'll admit it takes nuts to come on neogaf and start defending your employer... New job?
 
It's not pointless to people who only read Kotaku for gaming news. Nor is it pointless if there's something in that press release that needs better context or even straight-up BS debunking. There are a number of reasons to keep delivering that sort of news, and I think to do otherwise would be doing a disservice to readers. (Although as I said before, I think gaming reporters should be doing a better job of deciding which press releases are not worth their bandwidth.)

Could you give a specific example of that? I can't really figure out how that'd work out and I'd love to see an example first hand.
 
They deleted this tweet or was it some fake tweet?

foqJ4.jpg

it seems to be real but deleted, I am basing this on the fact there are a bunch of reactions to it on twitter that have the "view conversation" button on them indicating they were replying to a tweet by CVG that no longer shows up

https://twitter.com/MSHus/status/265751152241569792
https://twitter.com/RothDuKildam/status/265750921227665409
https://twitter.com/Bendilin/status/265756496208474112

I wish games writers deleting things to pretend they never happened without admission, acknowledgement or apology wasnt so common.
 
I just got back from the grocery store, and I got a bag of Doritos. :( First one I've bought in around 3 years. Damn you all.
 
I just got back from the grocery store, and I got a bag of Doritos. :( First one I've bought in around 3 years. Damn you all.

I won't be swayed by their subliminal marketing campaign to get me to buy Mountain Dew and Doritos. It's Pepsi and Tostitos for me.

...

Shit.
 
Well this seems the most appropriate topic to post this, since I don't see a "Post your concerns about gaming in general in the form of parody lyrics" topic, and since part of this is, indeed, about games journalism. This started with the intention of being far less cynical than it wound up.

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that rather old
Your consoles have grown
And accept it that soon
New ones you will own
If you think your hobby
Worth savin'
Then prepare some space
For this fact is well known
The generation's changin'

Come writers and critics
To score once again
Games that they haven't
Played through to the end
Their bias stacked high
As their PR stipend
And there's no tellin who's
Doin' the gainin'
'Til we see complaints
About games that got tens
The generation's changin'

Come senators, congressmen
Who just got a call
Piracy is so bad
And you must stop it all
With bills and laws
With to wide a sprawl
So businesses get
Busy with claimin'
The language so broad
You can lose to plain stall
The generation's changin

Come Capcom and your ilk
Throughout the land
To make your sales and
Steal with your other hand
Sweeping parts of games
And then make demands
That for DLC
We do some more payin'
For major parts of
Games' original plans
The generation's changin'

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
Friendships we once had
May no longer last
Loyalties will die
Betrayals will come fast
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And we'll do it again
Before long has passed
Generations do no changin'
 
Update: Added Kotaku 2


Current articles/videos/podcasts
Wings over Sealand (Stuart Campbell) articles (second article has early summary) 1 2 3
John Walker's (Rock Paper Shotgun) blog (start with Games Journalists, And The Perception Of Corruption, includes guest post by Rab Florence)
TotalBiscuit
Jim Sterling
Penny-Arcade 1 2
Gamasutra
Forbes
Worthplaying
GiantBomb
Jason Lauritzen editorial and GAF post
RPGCodex writes an excellent summary
Destructoid
BoingBoing
TheSixthAxis
EDGE article that was written a few weeks ago
PlayerOne Podcast
Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell (editor who edited Rab's column) about the last few days
Rock Paper Shotgun official stance
The Guardian and a funny thing related to the article
Giant Bombcast
VG247 on their new ethics statement
Video Games Interactive
Kotaku 1 2
Pocketgamer
Videogamer.com
Gamesindustry.biz 1 2

Old (but still relevant) articles/videos/podcasts
Rab Florence (the guy who started all this) criticizing games writing since 2008
An old episode of CGW Radio discussing Gerstmann-gate
Old Gamasutra article on the influence of PR
Old GFW radio bits
1up YoursShawn Elliot and Shane Bettenhausen

Comments from the industry
Shawn Elliot - 1 (aegies is Arthur Gies of polygon.com) 2 3 4 5 6 on the psychology of PR etc
and some more Arthur Gies - 1 2 3 4 5 and some replies 1 2 3
Jeff Green on the way it actually works, and another post, an another
ShockingAlberto on his view as a former games writer
Jason Schreier (Kotaku) - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 and many more
N'Gai Croal initial reaction on Twitter
Chris Schilling (freelance) likes both people involved and so doesn't want to write about it
Danny O'Dwyer (Gamespot UK) on why his site won't cover this (audience is not interested) - 1 2 3
pastapadre on being shunned by the industry
Stephen Totilo (Kotaku) doesn't think this is an important story (has changed his mind about that part, read post 9). Wants to focus on good games journalism, this prompted a pretty funny picture and a comment about it, then Stephen Totilo enters the thread 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 (ignore the comment on 18, couldn't find a direct link to Totilo's comment) 19 20 (in reply to this
Weekend Confirmed 1 2 (these two are from the podcast) 3 4 (comments from Garnett) 5 (podcast #2)
Syriel on his experiences of PR
Jeff Gerstmann short comment on swag
Christian Donlan and Simon Parkin of Eurogamer want to change how they do things[/QUOTE]
Nert on his experience as PR in the tech industry 1 2
John Walker (RPS) on why the site won't cover it (they did anyway) like his blog did
Rab Florence tweets
Jeff Gerstmann 1 (1 is from Tumblr) 2 (2 via EternalGamer, highlights some other stuff) 3 4 5 (3-5 are comments by Jeff in this thread)
Christian Spicer
MaxwellGT2000 talks about his experiences as a writer for a small site that got bigger
Dave Long 1 2
Brad Shoemaker 1 (in reply to this) 2
Brad Lawrence (2K games UK PR)

Comments from others
GillianSeed79 and firehawk12 on how journalist do criticize their peers
voodoopanda highlights that the issue is not in any way black or white
Snowden's Secret comments on gaming press reactions
Zissou weighs in

Other relevant/interesting links and examples of PR
Examples of various press kits
The 3DS comes to GiantBomb
Letter sent to reviewers from UbiSoft along with their press copy of Assassin's Creed 3
How Rockstar handled the reviews for GTA4
Battlefield 3 review questionnarie
 
It's not pointless to people who only read Kotaku for gaming news. Nor is it pointless if there's something in that press release that needs better context or even straight-up BS debunking. There are a number of reasons to keep delivering that sort of news, and I think to do otherwise would be doing a disservice to readers. (Although as I said before, I think gaming reporters should be doing a better job of deciding which press releases are not worth their bandwidth.)

I don't always agree with what you're posting, but mad props for you for continuing to hang and defend your workplace. You obviously believe in it. Most people would have turned tail and run by now, but you've remained calm and continue to post in a rational manner.

I tip my hat to you Sir.
 
I don't always agree with what you're posting, but mad props for you for continuing to hang and defend your workplace. You obviously believe in it. Most people would have turned tail and run by now, but you've remained calm and continue to post in a rational manner.

I tip my hat to you Sir.

You know, I appreciate it as well, and I actually went to Kotaku today, of my own free will, as a sort of tip of the hat of his and Stephens efforts here.

This was my greeting:

ioIC3l.jpg


Below that was a section titled "Dicks" and an article on Cortana

I think it's safe to say that I don't 'get' Kotaku, whatever their efforts here :(
 
You know, I appreciate it as well, and I actually went to Kotaku today, of my own free will, as a sort of tip of the hat of his and Stephens efforts here.

This was my greeting:

url]


Below that was a section titled "Dicks" and an article on Cortana

I think it's safe to say that I don't 'get' Kotaku, whatever their efforts here :(

That's par for the course for any life style/generalist men's magazine/site. If you can just ignore the fluff you can find really good articles on such niche subjects as wargaming, games theory, and decision making processes in warfare. There should be an easy way to subscribe specific writers/features though. Totilo? ;)
 
That's par for the course for any life style/generalist men's magazine/site. If you can just ignore the fluff you can find really good articles on such niche subjects as wargaming, games theory, and decision making processes in warfare. There should be an easy way to subscribe specifics writers/features though. Totilo? ;)

I don't read those, specifically for that reason (garbage fluff to me).

To be clear, I don't take exception to people who do, or that Kotaku is such, it's just clearly not something I'm going to be interested in.

That said, your latter point is quite true. An easily customizable frontpage for sites like this would be appealing (beyond ifttt rss combinations), simply so I could filter out what I consider pointless and read the interesting stuff in one place.
 
I don't read those, specifically for that reason (garbage fluff to me).

To be clear, I don't take exception to people who do, or that Kotaku is such, it's just clearly not something I'm going to be interested in.

That said, your latter point is quite true. An easily customizable frontpage for sites like this would be appealing (beyond ifttt rss combinations), simply so I could filter out what I consider pointless and read the interesting stuff in one place.

I was going to point you to http://kotaku.com/kotaku-core/ , because that's supposed to be the "serious" version of Kotaku, without all the bullshit, but then I checked it out myself and this was the first thing I saw:
 
Anyone else think that Halloween this year was *just* one week too early this year? Doritos Pope could've been epic.

Shit, I reckon I'm gonna dress up as him for PAX Australia next year.
 
You know, I appreciate it as well, and I actually went to Kotaku today, of my own free will, as a sort of tip of the hat of his and Stephens efforts here.

This was my greeting:

ioIC3l.jpg


Below that was a section titled "Dicks" and an article on Cortana

I think it's safe to say that I don't 'get' Kotaku, whatever their efforts here :(

Most of the commenters on Kotaku prior to Kinja have no love for or interest in Patricia Hernandez. She used to be a commenter herself, and even The Krue, as her homies were known, apparently hated her. Once you get past her and Bashcraft, Kotaku's a lot better than they get credit for.

In fact, nearly every "bad" article I've seen being used to prove that Kotaku sucks is one posted by either of these two. Or JJ, but he quite a long time ago.
 
Hey jschreier want to defend these articles at all? Nothing against you at all, I appreciate you coming in here and being as honest as you are, but it's stuff like this that makes Kotaku and its journalists not look favorably. It just seems for every article like the recent Silicon Knights one, there are a dozen of these.


You know, I appreciate it as well, and I actually went to Kotaku today, of my own free will, as a sort of tip of the hat of his and Stephens efforts here.

This was my greeting:

ioIC3l.jpg


Below that was a section titled "Dicks" and an article on Cortana

I think it's safe to say that I don't 'get' Kotaku, whatever their efforts here :(

I was going to point you to http://kotaku.com/kotaku-core/ , because that's supposed to be the "serious" version of Kotaku, without all the bullshit, but then I checked it out myself and this was the first thing I saw:
 
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