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Arthur Gies Leaves IGN

Even though I don't agree with many of Gies's opinions, I still have a lot of respect for him and had actually predicted he would rise higher within IGN, maybe to Editor-In-Chief (if they have one).

I'll be interested to see where he ends up. Hopefully his new job allows him to keep doing Rebel FM.
 
Curufinwe said:
Not really. He would often invent facts to justify his opinions e.g. he claimed Devil May Cry 4 didn't sell well based not on DMC4 selling 2.6 million copies but only because he didn't like the game.

The maddening thing about Rebel FM was that the other guests knew even less they he did about that kind of stuff, so they just accepted whatever he said as gospel.

I totally agree with this, but I don't think it is as big of a deal as people are making it out to be. A lot of people do that (most of the time unintentionally), but overall he is pretty good at stating his opinion. That should count for something.
 
Seems to be some confusion in this thread. Ive listened to every RebelFM episode, as well as some other episodes with Arthur, here's the history.

Arthur met Anthony (Chufmoney from GFW podcast) from a previous job. It was Tower Records I think, and they became roommates. Anthony worked his way up at 1up and finally got placed on the 1up/GFW podcast from what seems Shawn Elliot liking him and getting him on. Arthur wasn't working in the game press at this time.

When 1up exploded in January 2009, Nick Suttner, Phillop Kholer, and Anthony formed RebelFM the same week. Arthur kind of lucked out here because he was Anthony's roommate, so he got on this podcast that had a ton of interest in it at first because of the 1up layoffs. It also had alot of listeners. I believe it was even number 1 on overall itunes podcasts, a huge feat for a gaming podcast. They also raked in the money. They accepted donations as the "ex-1uppers" who were mistreated and laid off, and made at least 10k, probably much more. I think this rubbed some mods here at Gaf the wrong way, as I seem to remember reading in my lurker days about Evilore posting he wouldn't allow these charity collections to be organized and collected from "mainly" gaffers. Within a couple months both Suttner and Kholer left. Arthur, Anthony, and Tyler remained. They have been very regular since then. They have consistently put out 1 show a week (plus a game club for a while where they played old games). The last few months though has been horrible. They NEVER do the podcast. Seems like they have averaged 1 a month, sometimes 2. And when they do the podcast, you can tell they don't want to be there. None of the passion or enthusiasm they used to have exists. Its like they just want to get it done and get out of there. Maybe because the are wanting to move on with their lives.

He was controversial from the first episode. I believe it episode 2 or 3 he made the infamous comment about Half Life 2 not being a good or competent shooter. That hate ensued from there. Arthur was unemployed at the time, so he worked fully on the podcasts. He eventually got a job at TeamXbox, and Anthony at Gamespy. They both soon were transferred to IGN.

Alot of times I agree with Arthur. And though he can come off as abrasive and know-it-all, he generally tries to be informed on what he speaks about. The only thing that rubs me wrong is his never ending push at all things far left on his twitter and podcasts. I don't care that hes liberal or has certain beliefs, but he goes out of his way to tell you why hes right and everyone else in the world needs to catch up to his rightness. He went to some San Francisco college for a degree in Art, and he fills the stereotype of what this means to be. You review video games man, dont need to hear what you think about the oppression of transgender people and how religion is Hitler. Also was kind of annoyed when he said " A gaming forum don't mean shit", when he was taking alot of flak on GAF for something he said. This is after they receive thousands of dollars in donation from mainly a forum you asked for it on.

Annoyances aside. He was the sole driver on RebelFM, and seems like he did most of the work. And that probably has lessened lately because he wants to move on. I cant stand Giant Bomb, but would listen to it if he joined. Hope he lands on his feet, I'm sure he will. He seems to be a hard worker.
 
Deadly Cyclone said:
He updated his Twitter:
For a writer he doesn't seem to respect the capitalization of letters.

Despite being irritated by him on that podcast, I wish him all the best, I know he's made some cool posts on GAF for sure.
 
POWERSPHERE said:
Riveting stuff. I'll be sure to post a letter to the Internet when I get a new job.

If "the internet" is your audience, as it is for this guy's current job, I think that'd be totally appropriate.
 
RPG said:
Soon to be employed at 343? or if he goes to GiantBomb I would love to see he and Gerstmann do their own podcast, it could be the Statler and Waldorf of gaming podcasts...

Absolutely brilliant xD
 
duffyside said:
Heh, why? There's no chance in hell that would happen. I think Ryan and Leigh are way on the outs.
Why? I know they've made fun of that podcast, but they brought her back after she was a fuckwit the year prior, they must like it.
 
StuBurns said:
For a writer he doesn't seem to respect the capitalization of letters.

Despite being irritated by him on that podcast, I wish him all the best, I know he's made some cool posts on GAF for sure.
Dude. YES. Could someone explain this to me? He's not the only person I've seen do this; that Alyssa Bereannazzandak chick that everyone went way overboard on hating yesterday. She's a tech writer, and she does the same thing in her twitter.

Why do people do this? My guess it has something to do with acting like your stream-of-consciousness writing isn't that important, or putting on a facade of saying you're not that important, wanting to appear humble, blah blah blah. I don't get it. I hate it.
 
StuBurns said:
For a writer he doesn't seem to respect the capitalization of letters.

Despite being irritated by him on that podcast, I wish him all the best, I know he's made some cool posts on GAF for sure.

Eh, the level of communication on Twitter doesn't need to be dignified by capital letters.

duffyside said:
Dude. YES. Could someone explain this to me? He's not the only person I've seen do this; that Alyssa Bereannazzandak chick that everyone went way overboard on hating yesterday. She's a tech writer, and she does the same thing in her twitter.

Why do people do this? My guess it has something to do with acting like your stream-of-consciousness writing isn't that important, or putting on a facade of saying you're not that important, wanting to appear humble, blah blah blah. I don't get it. I hate it.

dealwithitinlowercase.gif
 
If you fed NPD numbers and wikipedia into a Mr. Speak-and-Spell you'd have the platitudinous docent contribution of Mr. Aegies.


boom.
 
duffyside said:
Heh, why? There's no chance in hell that would happen. I think Ryan and Leigh are way on the outs.

Because it would be The Leigh-Cast!!11!, Co-starring "those Giant Bomb guys..."

UNLESS they could guarantee each week that they would argue with her and make fun of her constantly.
 
AiTM said:
He went to some San Francisco college for a degree in Art, and he fills the stereotype of what this means to be.

Not quite. He went to the University of California, Davis. And he didn't get a degree in Art either, even though he is an artist - I believe he has a degree in something like Technocultural Studies, which is humanities.

I went to Davis myself. It's quite different from San Francisco.
 
StuBurns said:
Why? I know they've made fun of that podcast, but they brought her back after she was a fuckwit the year prior, they must like it.
Yeah, but not this year. I remember Ryan or Dave tweeting a pic of their desktop right after the 2010 E3-cast where a savvy (and creepy) internet person was able to cobble together a conversation between Ryan and Dave where Ryan basically called her batshit crazy. I think I remember Leigh responding to that too, in some fashion.

Moreover, I don't think she is very fond of the Giant Bomb community. The first year she sort of understood the freak-outs (though for totally the wrong reasons). The second year she and the community went off-the-wall nuts at each other. Like... it was pretty scary.

Lastly, when Ryan was asked about her being on the 2011 E3 casts, Ryan's comment hinted to me that there wasn't a good relationship there anymore.
 
To be honest, I've been visiting IGN or n64 ever since I was a kid, and have never noticed this guy's work. Good luck to him, he must have something better coming to him, or he's just moving a few desks down to 1up. Nevertheless, thank you.
 
Oh shit, best of luck Agies, hope you still get to do the rebellion. A wonderful fat penis to you in all your endeavors.
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
You guys mentioning Giant Bomb make me think I'm dreaming and this is my worst nightmare.

Yep. NOT GIANT BOMB GOD

edit: oh, it wasn't.

classicdms said:
I really don't understand all the hate for Arthur. At all. Dude knew his shit. And sometimes he calls people out for talking about shit they don't know about. I say we need more of that, not less.

Granted, I don't know how that would fly with the current Bombcast setup, but he doesn't have to be on every week. Patrick isn't. More things to read on Giant Bomb, if that's where he ends up, can't be a bad thing. Unless you just hate his voice. Which is w/e. I don't see the collective voice of the site changing because of one additional writer.

The problem is calls people out for talking about shit HE doesn't know about either. And he's condescending while doing it.
 
I never thought a game journalist getting another job would elicit such a negative response.

Video game journalists: serious business

Enjoy your new opportunity Arthur.
 
The Big Rig said:
I never thought a game journalist getting another job would elicit such a negative response.

Video game journalists: serious business

Enjoy your new opportunity Arthur.
It's only because someone started that GB thing. Without that speculation, no one would care.
 
infinityBCRT said:
Jeff was on another site where he answered questions in video form. Does he still do that? What was that site?
I have no clue, but I'd like to see that. Jeff does a ridiculous amount of outside-of-giantbomb community outreach in general. I have no clue why someone would want to spend so much time talking to and broadcasting themselves to complete strangers all the time, but I thank him for it anyway.
 
infinityBCRT said:
Jeff was on another site where he answered questions in video form. Does he still do that? What was that site?
The site is vyou. I think it's "/jeffg" or "/jeffgerstmann" or something like that.
 
I was never a fan of Arthur's blatant bias towards MS and the 360 and lack of objectivity at times but I do have to say I did respect his reviews at least, he was definitely one of the better writers at IGN.
 
Well Arthur and Anthony are growing up anyway. It's bound to happen. He was searching for his own apartment. These guys can't sit around doing podcast forever. I wish him all the best.
 
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