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[WrenchNinja]

I asked him how the crow tasted after the PS4 used games Tretton speech during the e3 press conference

He said it tasted like value.

Let it he known that he has a sense of humour.

 

[Finalizer]

The idea that publishers would make games X1 exclusives, when they financially struggled on multiple platforms this gen, if Sony didn't give into their demands was pretty bad analysis. I don't get that thought process.

It stems from the idea that MS has infinitely deep pockets, which leads to the notion that they'd somehow be more than happy to pour billions of that into third party exclusives, ultra high-end hardware, and to bully Sony out of the marketplace outright. And sure, they could just spit out several billion on the Xbox division in one massive spending splooge... If they wanted every shareholder to run to the hills screaming "THEY'VE GONE BLOODY MAD" all the way.

As for the whole DRM debacle, it's only made the incredibly fucked up situation with game journalism all the more apparent. On the other hand, it's also made the past few months so damned entertaining to watch unfold; I don't think I've ever seen so many "professionals" sitting around eating crow and wiping egg from their faces in such short order.

 

[not_so_special]

I had no idea he wrote a second piece blaming gamers for refusing the gifts of Microsoft, I figured he would realize his opinion was unpopular, absurd and myopic. I guess the difference between journalists like him (Gies, totalbiscuit, etc) and Mayor Nelson is the paygrade.

major nelson actually works for microsoft..they wish they can say the same

 

[SeventhSon]

I particularly like how Sony proved the entire reasoning of the matter wrong: the assumption being that since MS was doing draconian DRM that Sony had to also to appease publishers. It's clear that such DRM will only work if the platform holders collude; Sony threw a wrench into the master plan... with help from us!

 

[Neuromancer]

I'm trying to take Jim Sterling's piece last week to heart and stop attacking other people online so I'm going to try to say this in the nicest way possible. I think this was an extremely poor opinion piece by Ben Kuchera. Not only does he not take the time to investigate his own claims ('publishers forced MS into this!'), not only does he make the same kind of groundless assertions as the average message board poster ('Sony's going to do the same stuff!'), but his heart isn't even in the right place. He should give the benefit of the doubt to his readers, the consumers of video games, and not write off their passion and intensity as worthless. Instead he should have looked into why people feel the way they do and try to write a coherent and thoughtful examination of public sentiment instead of attacking the people he's supposed to be supporting.

I hope he's not so arrogant as to write off this incident, and instead maybe think about how he can use it as a lesson to become a better writer.

 

[Rapstah]

I think a common logical flaw in gaming personalities, and this goes for both people who self-identify as journalists and others, is figuring gaming has to be more accessible for others than for them because they have to do all kinds of side stuff like going to E3 and recording interviews, playing terrible games, and possibly writing stuff, all the while ignoring the fact that they have everything about the way in which they play games set up around making that part as easy as possible. All consoles needed to make a living, possibly review copies of stuff, mandatory great internet connections, etc.

Just not being a casual Facebook gamer doesn't mean you have the privilege to even close to those circumstances.

 

[Gigglepoo]

Yup, guys like him, the GB dudes and I'm sure dozens more at IGN/GT/Gamespot sure were quick to ridicule that whole movement. Shows just how much a bunch of tourists of the industry they actually are.

I can assure you that GameSpot did not ridicule that movement; we were a part of it. Here are two editorials I wrote about the system: Xbox One's Offline Pass is an Ill-Conceived Tax and Sony's Triumphant Night. Plus, I had lots of tweets. MS' strategy has been really embarrassing, and they've admitted as much with all of their backtracking.

 

[Dennis]

Unfortunately games journalists are even more contemptuous of their audience than regular journalists.

This looking down on your audience is both insulting and destructive. And the arrogance and superiority complexes are unearned by the way. Most games journalists couldn't analyze their way out of a shoe box.

 

[Corto]

There are still some people that regard these last Microsoft decisions as mistakes and that they should have hold their ground in favor of "evolution" and "reinvention" of the industry.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/422580/schell-microsoft-should-have-held-its-nerve-on-xbox-one/

I'm sure there are more people that share Schell's opinions, he is only more vocal about it.

 

[not_so_special]

There are still some people that regard these last Microsoft decisions as mistakes and that they should have hold their ground in favor of "evolution" and "reinvention" of the industry.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/422580/schell-microsoft-should-have-held-its-nerve-on-xbox-one/

I'm sure there are more people that share Schell's opinions, he is only more vocal about it.

these are the journous who got their free game code ,they dont care about used games,consumer rights,etc etc

why?they dont have the same problems that the normal consumer does

 

[sixghost]

All of a sudden everyone on a video game podcast became a fucking expert on the subject of console launches. At least the bombcast took it in stride and laughed about the fact that virtually every prediction of theirs ended up being wrong.

 

[kerotan_eater]

Kuchera should at least acknowledge his dismissive behavior as its probably the worst piece from a journalist with some semblance of a reputation that I've ever read. That totalbiscuit guy apologized and that takes balls. If Kuchera wants respect from the core, he needs to admit he was wrong.

 

[Finalizer]

I know PA doesn't care if a few people stop going to their site, but I hope they understand that they've gone from one end of the spectrum to the other in just a few years. They really used to seem like regular gamers like us that made fun of how ridiculous the industry was and how it treated its most loyal customers.

Feels pretty ironic that this is the same site that made this particular little gem years back.

 

[RoboPlato]

There are still some people that regard these last Microsoft decisions as mistakes and that they should have hold their ground in favor of "evolution" and "reinvention" of the industry.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/422580/schell-microsoft-should-have-held-its-nerve-on-xbox-one/

I'm sure there are more people that share Schell's opinions, he is only more vocal about it.

These people are the worst. They act like they can't buy all games digitally any more, which they absolutely can. All that they lost is the mythical "family share plan" which was guaranteed to not be what MS was making it sound.

 

[jschreier]

You're also another journalist whose articles I enjoy reading, by the way. Nice writing style and well thought stuff, instead of click bait bullshit.

I don't actively visit any gaming sites apart from GAF, but it's always good to see a new thread poping up here about your latest opinion piece

That's very nice of you to say - thanks.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

All of the events leading up to and surrounding this whole thing really illustrated just how uninformed so many gaming journalists are. Most of them really don't know much more than the average forum-goer (and in fact many of them probably are far less informed when it comes to actual games and their content). The only difference is that they have personal relationships with people at video game publishers and developers, so they'll happily go to bat for them in order to stay connected and keep feeling like they are on the inside of things.

It's definitely not all of them. There are a select few who are good at what they do, but damn if it isn't the vast majority who come of as being completely full of shit.

 

[The_Killah29]

Isn't this just reinforcing the the fact that we already know that Kuchera's a militant Microsoft fanboy?

 

[Snowden's Secret]

I still think Sony likely had a similar DRM scheme in place, but had the sense not to go through with it after the XBONE reveal.

That said, the spectacle surrounding this whole ordeal has been surreal.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

I still think Sony likely had a similar DRM scheme in place, but had the sense not to go through with it after the XBONE reveal.

That said, the spectacle surrounding this whole ordeal has been surreal.

Yep, I think they were going to have a similar plan in place but saw the backlash after the rumor and reveal. It just made sense to not do it after that. They basically won E3 just by saying they weren't doing it.

 

[ZealousD]

As much as I agree with the gist of the OPs argument, it's hard to call somebody antagonizing and belittling when you invent a disparaging nickname like Kooch for the guy.

 

[Neuromancer]

I've still never heard mention of Kuchera outside of this piece and his rants related to it.

He's quite a character. Read this:

http://www.somethingawful.com/video-game-article/king-ben-kuchera/

One takeaway especially relevant to this thread:

 

[Htown]

I suspect most of these people are not explicitly paid or bribed. They're just captured by the industry, in a way not unlike common fans of a brand who can't say anything bad about their favored company and who don't even realize how silly they look when viewed by someone outside their bubble.

It's also telling because so many of them are so sure they aren't doing this. It's a testament to how easy it is to subconscious persuade and trick the human mind. Never think you're above it, as I am certainly not.

bingo

 

[dugdug]

I can assure you that GameSpot did not ridicule that movement; we were a part of it. Here are two editorials I wrote about the system: Xbox One's Offline Pass is an Ill-Conceived Tax and Sony's Triumphant Night. Plus, I had lots of tweets. MS' strategy has been really embarrassing, and they've admitted as much with all of their backtracking.

Yeah, I was just about to back you up. Tom, to this day, still calls MS out (and other companies, when warranted, but, mostly MS) on a regular basis, and its awesome every time.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

One takeaway especially relevant to this thread:

hehe

boom

 

[SneakyStephan]

Just don't give this gnat any attention or clicks.

Blacklist his shitty comic and his shitty blog and in a few years noone will remember him.

 

[beato_angelico]

I stopped reading PA report after that article, and I'm not even a console gamer.

 

[Neuromancer]

As much as I agree with the gist of the OPs argument, it's hard to call somebody antagonizing and belittling when you invent a disparaging nickname like Kooch for the guy.

What's wrong with Kooch? It's a term of endearment. Like "The Gipper."

 

[Jabba]

I was getting into it with Jaffe in another thread. Just unreal the whole "gamers keep quiet and see what we can get away with" attitudes from the industry.

Jaffe said gamers are the table. I argued we are a reactionary one and in this case we need action before, not after the industry puts it's policies in place.

Had all those news outlets said to Microsoft had they been honest with the press that actually covers them in the first place, we can't support these policies and will tell our readers/audiences not to support X1, there wouldn't have been a debacle in the first place.

Jaffe was right about shitty policies towards the consumer dying a swift death. But the original X1 policies should never had seen the light of day. They died the deserved swift death before implementation. Not after.

 

[NullPointer]

I'm trying to take Jim Sterling's piece last week to heart and stop attacking other people online so I'm going to try to say this in the nicest way possible. I think this was an extremely poor opinion piece by Ben Kuchera. Not only does he not take the time to investigate his own claims ('publishers forced MS into this!'), not only does he make the same kind of groundless assertions as the average message board poster ('Sony's going to do the same stuff!'), but his heart isn't even in the right place. He should give the benefit of the doubt to his readers, the consumers of video games, and not write off their passion and intensity as worthless. Instead he should have looked into why people feel the way they do and try to write a coherent and thoughtful examination of public sentiment instead of attacking the people he's supposed to be supporting.

I hope he's not so arrogant as to write off this incident, and instead maybe think about how he can use it as a lesson to become a better writer.

So you're saying you think he's a giant asshole? Got it.

 

[Veezy]

When he's on point he can write some pretty solid stuff, but his articles during the whole sony security debacle completely made me lose respect for him. You'll have to dig, but this guy wrote on how, when the breech happened, some of the Ars readers noticed their credit cards were being used improperly. Thus, the obvious connection was that all the Sony credit cards were out in the open.

Which is simply shitty assuming, poor reporting and turned out to be completely false. Never apologized for it.

 

[Glix]

I stopped visiting PA because of this joker.

 

[EatinOlives]

Thanks for posting this. It's fab.
I called Kuchera out on twitter when he was bullying the GJAIF blogger, after he said he was glad the guy lost his job & he couldn't afford his girlfriends meds. Got blocked for that.

The guy is lauded in some circles, I called him out on a PA post again and got bothered by a loyal follower of his. Since his Ars days the dude has wrote awful link bait articles and treated his readership like shit. (The PS3 sends your credit card info in plain text debacle anyone)

Glad to see someone calling out the "Don't comment, shut the fuck up and Obay my opinion" culture that's popping up as well. Had a run in with C418 (minecraft music guy) about that recently. It's amazing when their fans/consumers/readership don't exactly fall in-line with their opinion how quickly they get aggressive and defensive. It certainly does exist. You have tech consumer sites turning off comments, Boing Boing removing comments and placing people into a forum instead and in games journalism you just have a horrifically "Us Vs Them" attitude in some corners from them against us as their readership. My simple rule nowadays is we're always arseholes until they have a kickstarter on.

Ugh. His entire "coverage" of the PSN hack was one enormous carnival of stupid. It certainly didn't help that he fabricated his narrative to appease the typical Ars reader. It became a giant echo chamber, which undoubtedly stroked his ego beyond reason.

 

[Moon_frogger]

The funny part is that big corporations are very sensitive to consumer feedback from twitter. Like, moreso than all other types of social media combined. How could this guy not know this? Lol

 

[AlphaDump]

I guess the point of this post is to use Kuchera to illustrate what seems to be a growing trend of "fuck you peasant, obey your masters" coming from the press.

Yes. E3 was enlightening in just how bad the problem really is. I've almost completely stopped relying on the press at this point. After neogaf was raided by marketers in parallel to the press response was fucking terrifying in just how deep this stuff really goes.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Thanks for posting this. It's fab.
I called Kuchera out on twitter when he was bullying the GJAIF blogger, after he said he was glad the guy lost his job & he couldn't afford his girlfriends meds. Got blocked for that.

The guy is lauded in some circles, I called him out on a PA post again and got bothered by a loyal follower of his. Since his Ars days the dude has wrote awful link bait articles and treated his readership like shit. (The PS3 sends your credit card info in plain text debacle anyone)

Glad to see someone calling out the "Don't comment, shut the fuck up and Obay my opinion" culture that's popping up as well. Had a run in with C418 (minecraft music guy) about that recently. It's amazing when their fans/consumers/readership don't exactly fall in-line with their opinion how quickly they get aggressive and defensive. It certainly does exist. You have tech consumer sites turning off comments, Boing Boing removing comments and placing people into a forum instead and in games journalism you just have a horrifically "Us Vs Them" attitude in some corners from them against us as their readership. My simple rule nowadays is we're always arseholes until they have a kickstarter on.

??? Explain.

All of the events leading up to and surrounding this whole thing really illustrated just how uninformed so many gaming journalists are. Most of them really don't know much more than the average forum-goer (and in fact many of them probably are far less informed when it comes to actual games and their ). The only difference is that they have personal relationships with people at video game publishers and developers, so they'll happily go to bat for them in order to stay connected and keep feeling like they are on the inside of things.

It's definitely not all of them. There are a select few who are good at what they do, but damn if it isn't the vast majority who come of as being completely full of shit.

We're seeing a crest of a wave of new beginnings coming over the horizon (video commenters) that will sweep the old standard away. Unfortunately, it's more than obvious by now that those better journos will not necessarily be saved by the fact of that quality.

 

[Nags]

Nicely done, eznark. You expressed clearly my biggest issue with some of the major gaming media recently.

 

[Nokterian]

I stopped visiting PA because of this joker.

i never visited PA...but reading it for a long time here on gaf makes me laugh. That is good right?

 

[kirblar]

Boing Boing removing comments and placing people into a forum instead

This is actually a huge positive step. Comment sections in articles are the worst.

 

[sleepykyo]

TBH Patrick did say he did not like the DRM in the Xbox One, Brad was the only one I heard spouting BS about how Sony is surely gonna do the same thing.

It didn't seem that far fetched at the time.

1. Microsoft decides to go one corporation army on the both rental and retail.

or

2. Microsoft decided upon their actions after forming an agreement with publishers, and that said publishers indicated that they convinced Sony to go along.

Who could have anticipated that Microsoft wanted to go Rambo?

 

[eznark]

As much as I agree with the gist of the OPs argument, it's hard to call somebody antagonizing and belittling when you invent a disparaging nickname like Kooch for the guy.

How I wish I wish I wish I could take credit for that.

 

[Curufinwe]

This is a very thorough and valuable breakdown of just how out of touch and dishonest certain gaming journalists are.

I still think Sony likely had a similar DRM scheme in place, but had the sense not to go through with it after the XBONE reveal.

There's nothing to support that. An always-on console with used games that were only able to be sold thru approved retailers would have had to have been in the works well before E3 to be ready by November. There's no evidence Sony was working on that, and direct quotes stating that they weren't.

 

[SeventhSon]

How I wish I wish I wish I could take credit for that.

Was it Mike Phillips?

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

The article was irritating at the time but in retrospect it's hilarious. So much crow to be digested. Deal with it indeed.

 

[panda21]

the one thing i don't like about giantbomb is the way they often are super patronising about people complaining and usually take a 'you just dont understand the industry' stance, when really its just their opinion and its no more informed than anyone else. and then they show they were completely clueless all along.

infact i don't see how journalists are any more informed about the industry than your average forumer, now that trailers and press releases are all over the interent. the only insider infos they have is access to preview builds.

 

[Rubius]

Looking back on that whole saga is fascinating.

I could see a movie out of this.
"There can be only One winner this generation"

 

[RoboPlato]

He's quite a character. Read this:

http://www.somethingawful.com/video-game-article/king-ben-kuchera/

One takeaway especially relevant to this thread:

Oh, wow. SA tore him apart in that article.

the one thing i don't like about giantbomb is the way they often are super patronising about people complaining and usually take a 'you just dont understand the industry' stance, when really its just their opinion and its no more informed than anyone else. and then they show they were completely clueless all along.

infact i don't see how journalists are any more informed about the industry than your average forumer, now that trailers and press releases are all over the interent. the only insider infos they have is access to preview builds.

I swear mine and a lot of gaffers' predictions and understanding of the industry seem to be more accurate than most journalists. I always think it's funny when they call out GAF in particular for not understanding the industry

 

[BolognaOni]

Wow, clicking around PA report and stumbled on an article titled "The Xbox One launch package is a mess of smart decisions".

Not going to post a link to it. The gist though, is how awesome the Xbox package is. Like, so awesome.

This next gen cycle really has me wondering if this industry has always been so brain-dead, and I'm only realizing it now, or if it's actually worse now.

 

[baphomet]

He's seriously a dumb cunt. Completely out of touch with the public. I guess that happens when you don't actually have to pay for any of your games, and never bother taking that into consideration. Why would he give a shit about used games when all of his games are given to him for free?

 

[fatgamecat]

There are a few tech 'communities' that applaud people like him. neowin.net is like a bizarro world where MS can do no wrong and anyone who dislikes Win 8, MS phones, tablets, or X1 are [insert just about any personal attack here]. It's pretty strange.

 

[MilkBeard]

As much as I agree with the gist of the OPs argument, it's hard to call somebody antagonizing and belittling when you invent a disparaging nickname like Kooch for the guy.

Kuchera is eating crow for sure. But I have to say that this topic is not very productive. It's just a big negative thread where everyone rips at one guy. You guys have to be careful because you turn into the thing you despise.

He was wrong. Okay. Moving on.