Epic's Clifford Bleszinski has hit out at what he called "tabloid journalism" amongst the enthusiast press following a supposed misquote that had him criticizing Japanese developers. The Gears of War creator was alleged to have stated that Japanese studios couldn't keep up with Western technology, a claim that Cliffy B claims is false.
"Internet tabloid alert: I said *nothing* about Japan not being able to keep up with the US regarding tech," Tweeted the developer. "There are plenty of existing and upcoming Japanese titles that look amazing. I have nothing but the utmost respect for those devs. If this 'journalism' continues devs will only be able to recite fact sheets verbatim.
"Websites intentionally publish misquotes and out of context pullquotes to create forum flamewars which generates traffic and profit."
I'm not sure if posting this very story would be considered an ironic example of tabloid journalism, but at least we can say that Cliffy's not being misquoted in this instance. It's also a very interesting point to bring up that bears discussion, especially at a time when it's become en vogue to criticize so-called "game journalism."
One can't deny that there's a lot of silly business that goes on in gaming media. Misquotes, dodgy headlines, and all manner of drama can ensue from hyperactive bloggers. I can't say I haven't screwed up myself in being overexcited and typing faster than my brain can engage at times, but that's because we're enthusiasts, learning as we go and hopefully remembering our mistakes.
Still, you only ever see developers complaining about this kind of "journalism." I'd like to see a developer call out some of the other examples of shady writing -- say, an overhyped preview or misleadingly positive review? Let's see outspoken developers call those out, as well as the more "negative" stuff.
Contest:
1:00 AM on 06.09.2010 | 
Pics or it didn't happen.
No? None of that happened? Well then maybe he's just a guy who makes videogames.
Well, except the ones who do it for what may be a higher purpose. Some websites are just awesome that way. :)
I kid! I kid!
"Would they benefit from using the Unreal Development Kit? To be frank, this is largely not my department," he continued in a moment of diplomacy before saying, "Knocking on Japanese doors and saying 'hey, if you use this you can cut through a lot of the costs of building your own engine plus have a better game that comes out sooner and costs less money.' It's pretty much that simple"
Translation: "Use our superior engine to save money, duh."
You want a REAL example of a site that does 'tabloid' like news? Try Sankaku Complex. Not only do they report some pretty fucked up news, but they often blow a fairly normal situation out of proportion or shit talk video games for the sake of controversy.
Be wary though, it's NSFW.
The man makes games with men made out of meat and bovine growth hormone. He will never shake the Cliffy B title.
JIM! 4/10 for FFXIII was TOO HIGH!
The guy has a point...kind of. I'm under the impression that the same is true for <b>all</b> news media, not just blogging.
Then I'd get excited for things like E3, now I can't stand it because every game site (Destructoid included) wants to post about every single rumour or quote or ESRB rating.
I think this applies to all journalism, though - most of the news is stuff that's about to happen: "The President will later today...", "BP is expected to plug the whole...", "A review (published later today) about the 9/11 attack is expected to say...".
That's not news. It's Futures.
Next Epic Spin-off game "Jims of War" to be announced soon. You play Jim Sterling and his clone who are battling their way through a fair and just Marxist society to bring about a reign of tyranny and oppression in the form of bad journalism and flaming.
"In society where everybody is equal. Jim is just a little MORE equal."
Destructoid, has the same problem. Always the sarcasm, the small portions of hate.
What happend to the dream of the "video game club" you always wanted, Niero?
I think you're overstating your own opinion there. Millions of copies sold, millions of players online says that you might just be talking out of your ass.
And my gosh, what a self-important bunch of pricks gamers have become.
Fact checking seems almost non-existant since everyone thinks Pachter's word is complete truth.
Going off personal experience, I still do original content and interviews and stuff, but sometimes I wonder why I bother because that's NEVER the shit people show an interest in. They give a shit about the console war stuff, the flamebait stuff. When readers actually demonstrate that they WANT real journalism, maybe they'll get it.
So far, there's very little evidence to suggest that a game "journalist" doing real "journalism" isn't wasting his time.
Please point me to where I interviewed a developer and then misquoted them.
I can deffinitely see him saying that, and it doesn't matter how you try to read it, it always comes off as being utterly asshole-ish. As someone said above, he made one great game with a copy-paste sequel and thinks he's revolutionizing the industry.
Specially when you realize after Bulletstorm's announcement that his creativity is limited to changing the colours of the backgrounds of meat-slicing and stuff-shooting.
When it boils down to it, most of innovation in the industry comes from Japan. If we depended on Cliffy Bs alone we'd have the same shit year after year. GOOD shit, but the same shit nonetheless.
Just sayin... Can't wait for GoW4... (What do you mean GoW3 hasn't come out yet?)
That was every fucking website the other day.
Yeah, regular newpapers, TV news and news magazines never use pull headlines to draw us in, they never misrepresent facts, they never present studies and results without telling us who funded the study, who did the study and the basic numbers in the study (that chocolate cures cancer headline was everywhere a couple of years ago... but it was never mentioned that Mars, the chocolate bar manufacturer, was a large contributor to the study, that it was a laboratory study only on cells and that the chocolate additive only slowed the cancer cell growth of a few of the cancers it was applied to.... in other words it was a complete farce).
Cliffy B is complaining about "journalism" in today's world... not "games journalism". The good thing is that gamers are actually quite net-literate and we actually see stories like this or even the original twitter post. Unfortunately the chocolate cures cancer details were never released unless you did a LOT of digging... you just saw the headline and ate chocolate thinking it was good for you.
Maybe not that, but you just complained about flamebait and then lashed out at the very readers of your site. Pot, meet Kettle.
Sidenote: I can always tell a Jim article on this site before checking the author because it'll be pissy and whining about something.
i've been avoiding sites due to this issue, dtoid included, but i understand that i'm a minority gamer. turning 30 this year, don't own ps60, and don't follow electronics trends. my point after all of that is, if you write articles for more cerebral readers, you will see the change you're looking for in readership. there are far less gamers out there that will read your posts, but you could actually make a difference to the gaming community. as it stands "gaming journalism" is a joke, and is going to remain that way until someone makes a site designed for adults instead of children.