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[Vibri]

RUMOR #1: The first PlayStation 3 game has been announced.
Source: Recurring RC guest star SPOnG.

The official story: See below.

What we heard: The "exclusive" SPOnG interview quotes Mark Cale, head of British developer Studio 3, commenting on his company's long-delayed game, The Last Ninja. Originally, the Last Ninja was scheduled to be published in 2003 by Simon & Schuster's now-defunct game arm for the Xbox. Now, according to the SPOnG article, the game won't appear until the next generation of consoles. Boasting of its graphical quality, Cale is quoted as saying, "Ninja Gaiden simply doesn't compare...the game is simply too advanced technically for a release on current systems." So which next-gen console will we see this dazzling title on? "We are going to release it on PlayStation 3," Cale allegedly said. That mention sparked murmurs that the game was already approved by Sony, who hasn't even officially announced the PlayStation 3's name yet. The problem is, Cale claims he never talked to SPOnG. "I have not been interviewed by SPOnG about Last Ninja and have no idea where they obtained their information from. We do, however, have every intention of releasing The Last Ninja on the PS2," he told GameSpot. "The game is scheduled for release next summer."

Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus.

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/gta4/news_6101473.html

 

[xsarien]

SPONG: do they just make news up?

More or less, yeah. Sometimes they get something right, but I attribute that more to the law of averages than any serious journalism going on at that fine *cough* institution.

 

[Bishman]

RUMOR #1: The first PlayStation 3 game has been announced.
Source: Recurring RC guest star SPOnG.

The problem is, Cale claims he never talked to SPOnG. "I have not been interviewed by SPOnG about Last Ninja and have no idea where they obtained their information from.

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/gta4/news_6101473.html

Spong got owned!

 

[gofreak]

I just don't understand how these sites get popular. It saddens me greatly NintendoNext was another from long ago. They'd just pull stories out of nowhere, and suddenly got a leap on other, far more reputable sites. I guess some people mistake this stuff for news, and since they don't get it anywhere else they keep coming back..

 

[GDJustin]

Yes. Yes they do.

 

[Chopin Trusty Balls]

I remember someone posted it here allready,when he did say it in his post in some forum or in his blog,Spong just qouted him from there claiming it as thier interview,so Spong says the truth this time (LOL?),not completely but the qoute is correct.

 

[Vibri]

How is the quote correct when the developer plainly states that his game is being released on PS2?

 

[Funky Papa]

I remember someone posted it here allready,when he did say it in his post in some forum or in his blog,Spong just qouted him from there claiming it as thier interview,so Spong says the truth this time (LOL?),not completely but the qoute is correct.

That was Milhouse. He sent an e-mail to Spong with news without nothing to probe it and they published the text as an exclusive news, then Milhouse posted the message here with some screencaps and delivered the ownage, but at some moment Spong noticed the "fraud" and retired the article. When somebody asked about the dissapeared text he got a "shit happens" response.

Comedy gold. Too bad that thread got lost during the old GAF disaster

 

[MC Safety]

The best example of a guy making junk up was on CVG.com. That guy Pat Garratt wrote a story about a game conference in Japan that featured Hideo Kojima. Anyway, Garratt wrote it in the first-person and claimed to have actually attended the conference.

As it turns out, Garratt didn't attend the event because it didn't happen. When confronted by this news by Daily Radar (of all places) as well as some other sites, Garratt explained it all away as a translation error.

 

[krypt0nian]

Everytime anyone goes to Sp0ng and gives them another hit helps to generate this drek.

 

[Vibri]

CVG/Patrick Garratt were the absolute worst at stealing information and screenshots from forums and personal sites online, before claiming them as their own. SPONG and CVG are both absolute dirt.

 

[Mr Mike]

..

 

[MetatronM]

SPONG: do they just make news up?

Uh...yeah. I thought this was common knowledge.

 

[ManDudeChild]

I just don't understand how these sites get popular. It saddens me greatly NintendoNext was another from long ago. They'd just pull stories out of nowhere, and suddenly got a leap on other, far more reputable sites. I guess some people mistake this stuff for news, and since they don't get it anywhere else they keep coming back..

They get popular because people are idiots.

 

[Kiriku]

I just don't understand how these sites get popular. It saddens me greatly

Have you ever seen those magazines with unbelievable news, like "my daughter had sex with an alien", "man found a map to the holy grail in his backyard"?

People want to believe, because it fascinates. It COULD be true. Suddenly, people remember hearing about something slightly similar happening somewhere, which means you basically have two sources for the same news. That more or less makes it 100 % true.

 

[Rhage]

Why the hell does GameSpot even bother with their nonsense?

 

[boutrosinit]

Spong got owned!

To be perfectly honest, I think this is an instance Spong is not in the wrong at all and they've actually been done over.

I know Stef of Spong personally and found this very funny, particularly as I was sitting behind Stef and Mark Cale at The Sky Bar in Hollywood at Mondrean Hotel on one of the first nights of E3, which was when and where the conversation quoted in the Spong piece took place. The guy's a total jerk and obviously the Spong article made him look a joke, so he lied to Gamespot for damage control.

So to summarise - Mark Cale not only lied about the quality of his game to Spong, but also to Gamespot to save his pathetic ass. I actually laughed my ass off when I read the Gamespot Rumour control piece.

 

[ManDudeChild]

To be perfectly honest, I think this is an instance Spong is not in the wrong at all and they've actually been done over.

I know Stef of Spong personally and found this very funny, particularly as I was sitting behind Stef and Mark Cale at The Sky Bar in Hollywood at Mondrean Hotel on one of the first nights of E3, which was when and where this conversation took place. The guy's a total jerk and obviously the Spong article made him look a joke, so he lied to Gamespot for damage control.

So to summarise - Mark Cale not only lied about the quality of his game to Spong, but also to Gamespot to save his pathetic ass. I actually laughed my ass off when I read the Gamespot Rumour control piece.

Which makes GameSpot only a step better than Spong. Fact checking, is it such a foreign concept in the videogame industry?

 

[boutrosinit]

Which makes GameSpot only a step better than Spong. Fact checking, is it such a foreign concept in the videogame industry?

To be fair, they checked with the quoted source, which is usually enough. I think it would be very rare to check with the journalistic source. Though in this instance, they would have done better to as this Mark Cale character isn't the most admirable of characters.

 

[Mr Mike]

What Boutros says about Cale is pretty much on the money, from what I've heard.

I've been told his latest trick has been to keep a tight reign on review code for America's 10 Most Wanted - and that's never a good sign. Not that anyone really expected any better of a game on that subject, but still...

 

[ManDudeChild]

Ah, I misunderstood. Ok, I take that back.

 

[deadhorse32]

That was Milhouse. He sent an e-mail to Spong with news without nothing to probe it and they published the text as an exclusive news, then Milhouse posted the message here with some screencaps and delivered the ownage, but at some moment Spong noticed the "fraud" and retired the article. When somebody asked about the dissapeared text he got a "shit happens" response.

Comedy gold. Too bad that thread got lost during the old GAF disaster

hahaha I totally owned them. I should have archived it

 

[Dice]

Checking facts is like not taking money hats for good reviews, no fun at all.

 

[God's Hand]

To be perfectly honest, I think this is an instance Spong is not in the wrong at all and they've actually been done over.

I know Stef of Spong personally and found this very funny, particularly as I was sitting behind Stef and Mark Cale at The Sky Bar in Hollywood at Mondrean Hotel on one of the first nights of E3, which was when and where the conversation quoted in the Spong piece took place. The guy's a total jerk and obviously the Spong article made him look a joke, so he lied to Gamespot for damage control.

So to summarise - Mark Cale not only lied about the quality of his game to Spong, but also to Gamespot to save his pathetic ass. I actually laughed my ass off when I read the
Gamespot Rumour control piece.

You know Stef personally? Have you ever asked him why he posts so much bullshit? Or would that destroy your friendship?

 

[Razoric]

You know Stef personally? Have you ever asked him why he posts so much bullshit? Or would that destroy your friendship?

haha

 

[boutrosinit]

You know Stef personally? Have you ever asked him why he posts so much bullshit? Or would that destroy your friendship?

LMAO. Funny guy

He did post quite a lot of shit in the past and it's not something he's afraid to admit. Stef has made some moneumental mistakes - like GoldenEye and Timesplitters 3 being canned, though most of the stuff he has got right - Rare + M$, Stranger going Dual Format, etc... were dead on.

As for stuff that didn't happen like the Nintendo buying Capcom thing, that was reported on solid leads, as a few people close to Capcom people heard about it - myself included. The deal was set to go through, it just didn't in the end.

Basically, Stef knows the heat he gets from GAF and he knows in the past it's all fair. Nowadays though he screws up a lot less. Aside from the two stories above, I think his hit rate's been pretty good so far these last few months.

 

[ManDudeChild]

LMAO. Funny guy

He did post quite a lot of shit in the past and it's not something he's afraid to admit. Stef has made some moneumental mistakes - like GoldenEye and Timesplitters 3 being canned, though most of the stuff he has got right - Rare + M$, Stranger going Dual Format, etc... were dead on.

As for stuff that didn't happen like the Nintendo buying Capcom thing, that was reported on solid leads, as a few people close to Capcom people heard about it - myself included. The deal was set to go through, it just didn't in the end.

Basically, Stef knows the heat he gets from GAF and he knows in the past it's all fair. Nowadays though he screws up a lot less. Aside from the two stories above, I think his hit rate's been pretty good so far these last few months.

-By the time Spong "reported" on it, every other rumor site was. Nothing new there.

-Nintendo buying Capcom ... you remember mega, nevermind.

 

[GDJustin]

Spong doesn't catch heat from GAF. It catches heat from fucking EVERYWHERE. For good reason.

 

[boutrosinit]

-By the time Spong "reported" on it, every other rumor site was. Nothing new there.

-Nintendo buying Capcom ... you remember mega, nevermind.

Fair play. Those were the only examples I remember. If you lot want to grill him I can get him on here if you lot want...

In reply to GDJustin (is that you Keeling?), Stef is a good friend, so I am biased. I do however genuinely enjoy reading his Daily Star-influenced writing style. And to his credit, he does break some heavy shit every now and then, despite some of the fairly shameful stories that he puts up every now and then.

And what other site had the balls to report the Driv3r-related PR shame that went on? None if I remember correctly, bar Spong. He at least deserves kudos for that. MCV wrote a story on it but spinelessly didn't name the game, the games company and even pohotoshopped that comedy UK Resistance pic of the CD. Why? Guess what their cover game was the week before...

 

[Razoric]

And to his credit, he does break some heavy shit every now and then, despite some of the fairly shameful stories that he puts up every now and then.

Post enough bullshit stories and there is a chance you might actually get one right.

 

[Mr Mike]

MCV wrote a story on it but spinelessly didn't name the game, the games company and even pohotoshopped that comedy UK Resistance pic of the CD. Why? Guess what their cover game was the week before...

But isn't it just libel to go around saying every reviewer is taking knock backs for good scores - or that a specific game is being badly PR'd? That's probably why MCV did that. And as I've said before, the sorry Driver 3 mess/outrage isn't as black and white as 'Atari paid for a score', even if you could boil those elements down to that.

 

[GDJustin]

In reply to GDJustin (is that you Keeling?), .

Nope, different Justin. The GD is short for GameDAILY. Anyway, I'm of the opinion that the reason other places stayed away from the Driv3r controversy is BECAUSE it was spong that broke the story, not because of it's actual abrasiveness. I know that's why I chose not to report it. Spong is simply wrong. A lot. Being right a lot still doesn't change that fact, and it makes it very hard to take them seriously.

Anyway if I was in your position I'm sure I'd be defending my friend too, so eh.

 

[TheDiave]

Yeah, and if they're ever right, it's just the law of averages coming into play.

 

[boutrosinit]

But isn't it just libel to go around saying every reviewer is taking knock backs for good scores - or that a specific game is being badly PR'd? That's probably why MCV did that. And as I've said before, the sorry Driver 3 mess/outrage isn't as black and white as 'Atari paid for a score', even if you could boil those elements down to that.

Libel is hurling an unsubstantiated claim at someone if my legal knowhow (very limited) is correct. They would have been fine if they had a direct quote from an editor, but of course politically it's a massive risk. Of course exposing something like that would cause chaos and stepdowns at Atari.

Honestly, I never heard of Atari paying for the review score, I just heard from a few editor friends that they were told they couldn't have review code unless they promised a 9/10 rating. Those sites didn't have a review up until after the game came out.

Regarding your post GD Justin, everyone in the journo side of things knew about it - in Europe at least, it's just that none of them were allowed by their publishers, nor had the balls to piss Atari off. If they did, perhaps heads would have rolled at Atari to serve as example and this shit would be more widely frowned upon. Who knows...