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VG TIPS: GAMES JOURNALISTS ARE IDIOTS TOO by Mr Biffo

14/10/2015

14 Comments

 
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I confess that I don't read VG247, so I don't really have an opinion on it. There are just so many games websites out there vying for space that there isn't time to consume everything.

And the general impression I get is... well... as I've said previously, a lot of them just seem to repackage the same information. This might not be the case with VG247, but... as I say, I have no opinion on that. 

Anyhow, some of you may be aware - as it seems to be becoming a bit of a thing on the social media - that VG247 recently wrote up an unflattering preview of Uncharted 4, following a hands-on session at the Tokyo Games Show.

Except... the game they actually played wasn't Uncharted 4, but the remastered version of Uncharted 2. Cue embarrassment. Cue the lobbing of firebrands and venomous orbs.

The article was removed once developer Naughty Dog pointed out the error, and VG247's editor Matt Martin has since come out to apologise... though, inevitably, the original article still exists online.

As you'd expect, the site's now coming in for some serious flack. But is that fair?

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THING
​Back when Digitiser was a Teletext thing, and not just another website vying for a bite of the online pasty, we had zero competition. Alright, there was a games page on Ceefax, but we were the only real, viable, daily games magazine.

​Even then, Digi was a hungry beast that needing constant feeding. Heck, a big part of why we started writing stupid stuff, coming up with the characters and whatnot, was because we needed to fill space. We needed stuff to write about, and there wasn't always stuff to write about. Or if there was stuff, often it was too boring to report on unvarnished. Hence the stupidity; to relieve our own boredom.


Nowadays, I can't imagine the pressure felt by those running websites. There must be no time to stop and catch your breath - the pace of Internet consumption must make it feel like running on an atomic treadmill.

If you're not engaging enough, not punchy enough, not current enough, people are going to click away from your site... maybe for ever. No clicks means less advertising revenue. Less advertising revenue might mean your site could go under.


We had it easy with Digi, relatively speaking... but even we screwed up from time to time. And when I say "from time to time" I mean "often". Plus, when we did cock things up, we never had the Internet breathing down our necks telling us what idiots we were. We were able to shrug it off and move on.

HUMAN BEING WRONG
Fact is, games journalists are human beings too. It's too much to expect them to be infallible. In certain quarters, there seems to be an expectation of them to be above making mistakes.

I dunno whether that's a righteousness borne of jealousy, due to a mistaken perception of games journos as the privileged, because they're all earning six figure salaries, and do nothing but play games all day. Or whether it's because people just feel really passionate about games, and games journalists are an easy target. Or whether it's because some people are simply dickflaps.

Whatever the case, all we can hope for is that journos - like everyone else - try to do their best. The writer of the "Uncharted 4" preview seemed to have at least a passing familiarity with the series, but I don't know if I remember every last moment of Uncharted 2... and I loved it. I'm sure - in the surroundings of a busy game show, where you're looking for stuff to write about - it's a mistake any of us could've made. Alright, it's a stupid mistake to make... but aren't they all?


None of us can expect to breeze through life without making errors, but what matters most is how you then respond to that. And VG247 responded in the best way possible, by raising their hands and admitting they ballsed up. There was no passing the buck, or making excuses. Expecting every writer, every editor, every site, to be 100% correct,100% of the time, is unrealistic.

Then again, so is expecting the Internet to give people a break when they put a foot wrong. But I live in hope. 
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
REVIEW: UNCHARTED - THE NATHAN DRAKE COLLECTION (PS4)
MR BIFFO'S PLAY EXPO DIARY
10 THINGS GUARANTEED TO RUIN ANY GAMING SESSION

14 Comments
Wicked Eric
14/10/2015 11:33:43 am

I for one am appalled that you have featured vile cybernat Stuart Campbell on your teletext site.

For shame Mr Biffo!

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MacReasonable
14/10/2015 05:35:56 pm

It's only awful fox-hunting tories that use the term "cybernat", and it's a shame to see them on this site.

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Gaijintendo
14/10/2015 11:38:29 am

They should have left the article up, with a disclaimer, and enjoyed the ad revenue.

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Darren link
14/10/2015 11:53:08 am

They held their hands up and took the flak. End of story...

Now that teletext has become hip again (a bit like progressive rock), I feel more confident about talking about my own days working at the teletext rockface, crafting entertainment out of photo particles - one could say we were literally "writing with light".

My little games section that no-one heard of was called "Random Access" on UK Gold (1995-1998, I think) and I was lucky enough for it to be a weekly section but I still had four pages to fill about video games and over the barren summer months things could get a little difficult.

I can't imagine what it is like now, where being first to break a story is a substitute for quality and where social media is now biting steadily at the broken ankles of "proper journalism". I had a taste of it when I worked on the web at the turn of the century (makes me sound like a Victorian gentleman), but now...shudder...I can't imagine what the pressure must be like.

Teletext is dead...long live teletext (with a small "t").

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Chinnyhill10
14/10/2015 01:23:37 pm

Goldtext was aces! And the station would act on the requests for new shows on the letters page as well.

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Mr Biffo
14/10/2015 01:30:57 pm

And I can only thank you for taking flack on our behalf...

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Bugler
14/10/2015 01:21:23 pm

I can't help but feel that a large part of the vitriol being directed at VG247 is coming from angry fanboys who took umbrage at his criticism of the Uncharted series as a whole. It didn't help that the journalist's mistake was symptomatic of his fatigue in the series as a whole. Sadly, in this day and age, if you publicly criticise something that's broadly popular, any sign of vulnerability (such as being unable to tell games in the series apart) is like blood in the water. IT'S AN OUTRAGE!!! etc.

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Ben
14/10/2015 01:55:53 pm

People are dickflaps, this is true and they also make mistakes, but in this instance, as much as taking unabashed responsibility for said mistake is admirable, I do think it was a really stupid mistake to make, and surely someone through the 'chain of command' involved in publishing such things should have questioned or checked it at some point?

BTW, in no way do I support the kind of frothing, misanthropic mob so vocal in the internet response to pretty much anything, but that doesn't excuse a lack of professionalism; if you're going to criticise, you really need to get your facts straight, no?

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Mr Biffo
14/10/2015 02:01:34 pm

Oh yeah - it was a dumb mistake, no doubting that. And it *shouldn't* have happened. But... we do all make them. And yeah... when we do we typically have to endure the embarrassment and grief.

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dan de la peche
14/10/2015 02:45:39 pm

Imagine if Barry Norman thought he was reviewing Terminator 3 but was actually watching Terminator 2, people would question his commitment to his field. But that's the whole "Game Journalism" issue, there's not much comparison to other fields of journalism, is there? Amateurish press-release regurgitation machines, beholden to advertisers (for the large part).

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Terrence McPringles
14/10/2015 08:47:09 pm

It happens all the time. You don't recall the infamous episode of Film 2003 where Wossy watched The Matrix three times in a row and accidentally gave Matrix Revolutions its only good review ever?

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Terrence McPringles
14/10/2015 07:17:34 pm

This is basically the gaming equivalent of someone complaining about typos in a forum post by posting "Please use spellchock next tome".

Basically it's not so much outrageous as funny.

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Alex Rogan
15/10/2015 01:47:47 am

At first, something like is funny. Then the internet does it's thing and you feel ashamed, because people now aren't happy with apologies and admissions of guilt, For some, VG 24/7 has to pay some kind of unknown penance, as if it has a history of messing up what number sequel a preview is for. Look around, there's far worse than that. One time, I got rejection email telling me I spelled the word "journalist" wrong in the title.

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CrashC
20/10/2015 10:26:26 pm

People need to stop saying it was an honest mistake. She said she was an "Unchartered Veteran" but didn't realize she was playing a 6 year old game? That is called Journalistic Integrity. Secondly, I noticed a lot of game journalists (as well as people not admitting they work in the field) rallying around her. My Brother worked in the field for 9 years and yes people...some games are not properly reviewed or played for longer than a few hours (there is just not enough time between indies and big studio games..on top of working/meetings/etc). There..the cat's out the bag! She has done a diservice to you and your field and your group should be the hardest on her. I only fault her for intentionally lying and stating she was familiar with the series. On top of that, the review/story was lying around the company for a while and EVERYONE failed to notice it was actually UC2? To quote the great Robert Deniro in Casino "You were either in on it (for click-bait) or too dumb to realize it. Either way I gotta let you go".

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