Bethesda responds to NMA's preview

[Brother None]

More detail might've been possible had we actually recorded it, but it's hard to have stacks of quotes or a good visual description without recordings to reference to.

Some "unfair" details, like a few visual flaws that were obviously going to get fixed and the like, could've been mentioned, but I saw no point

 

[SuAside]

i dont know what causes a man that writes for a respectable site to write such bile... we'll probably never know.

but i guess we should see it as a compliment.

 

[mattpeckham]

no such thing happened and everything NMA did was by the book, if deceitful.

Oh come on now. You can't do everything "by the book" and be "deceitful" at the same time.

Look, your preview was great. Personally and off the record, good for you. It's just that annoying little hangover everyone's blithely ignoring about how deception empowers the public relations cloud when it comes to future information sharing.

 

[Brother None]

Oh come on now. You can't do everything "by the book" and be "deceitful" at the same time.

Yes I can. All we failed to do was mention we were reporting for NMA. Our press credentials were legit, our appointments were legit, made under our real names and for/by legitimate gaming sites. There is nothing in this whole thing that happened that was illegitimate or against the rules of GC or Bethesda. Hence "by the book."

It's just that annoying little hangover everyone's blithely ignoring about how deception empowers the public relations cloud when it comes to future information sharing.

If Bethesda chooses to react heavily and childishly to this preview, which was not gained by illicit means and kind of forced by their own behaviour, why should NMA get the blame? Why, exactly, is Bethesda being allowed to shove around the media like that?

 

[Blazerfrost]

It'll just be stupid of Bethesda to stop all information flow because someone came and gave a good, informative preview that was not was not all OMGZ FALOUT 3 ROXXORS!!!! They didn't do anything wrong and didn't gloat or throw the fact that they were able to get the review in Beth's face, so retaliation from Beth would just be childish.

 

[SuAside]

Oh come on now. You can't do everything "by the book" and be "deceitful" at the same time.

sure it can.

legally, everything was perfectly by the book and by the numbers. deceitfully in that we would also post a preview here, though i'm still posting one at Madshrimps too.

Look, your preview was great. Personally and off the record, good for you.

then one wonders why you felt the need to accuse us (of things that you couldve found for yourself to be untrue if you had bothered to read this forum or the official bethsoft game forum, great investigative journalism!).

It's just that annoying little hangover everyone's blithely ignoring about how deception empowers the public relations cloud when it comes to future information sharing.

by inviting tiny newssites while ignoring huge fansites? oops, they did that already...

i fail to see how our actions jeopardise legitimate press. nor how even -if it did- would warrant a false accusations of our integrity without any grounds. come on. your claims were outrageous and if we had been commercial press you'd probably be having a rather unpleasant chat with your editor right about now.

 

[Per]

It's just that annoying little hangover everyone's blithely ignoring about how deception empowers the public relations cloud when it comes to future information sharing.

This is a vacuous, cringing argument. Nothing "empowers" hype shrouds because they can already be pulled off to an arbitrary degree with the ready assistance of the gaming media. If Bethesda want to close the information tap that is their decision and the media should be on the case asking why and for what purpose - not fling accusations of "It was you who gave them the excuse! You made their choice for them! You are the mind-taker!" And right now you're helping the PR machine along, blowing this "excuse" - oh gods, someone paid attention when I personally couldn't be arsed to - out of proportion by lying through your teeth. Feeling that professional pride now?

 

[Edge386]

So instead of doing the job he went there to do, and write the preview, he became jealous of your meticulous article and instead decided to bash down BN, SuASide, and NMA in general? How does that make him a professional journalist?

Why oh why can't mankind evolve beyond 8th grade maturity?!?

You handled it well BN.

 

[mattpeckham]

Yes I can. All we failed to do was mention we were reporting for NMA. Our press credentials were legit, our appointments were legit, made under our real names and for/by legitimate gaming sites. There is nothing in this whole thing that happened that was illegitimate or against the rules of GC or Bethesda. Hence "by the book."

Right, but look BN, let's stop dancing around the core issue. I know its 2007 and go postmodernism and everyone's decided they get to apply their own personal interpretation of what "is" is, but in reality, by your own admission, you purposefully excluded your NMA creds because you knew you wouldn't get in. I don't care, I'm not passing judgment, I'm just observing a behavior that, in aggregate, makes my job that much harder. Boohoo, I know, but true any way you shake it.

If Bethesda chooses to react heavily and childishly to this preview, which was not gained by illicit means and kind of forced by their own behaviour, why should NMA get the blame? Why, exactly, is Bethesda being allowed to shove around the media like that?

Forced by their own behavior? What, because Bethesda was up front about wanting to have a press only demo sans fansites, NMA's supposed to come off as heroic for sneaking in?

 

[mattpeckham]

legally, everything was perfectly by the book and by the numbers. deceitfully in that we would also post a preview here, though i'm still posting one at Madshrimps too.

You're the only one mentioning legality. Let's lose the semantic ambivalence. The book in this case was Bethesda's, not some imaginary lawyer's. Their rules, not yours or mine.

then one wonders why you felt the need to accuse us (of things that you couldve found for yourself to be untrue if you had bothered to read this forum or the official bethsoft game forum, great investigative journalism!).

Forums as a source for investigative journalism? There's never been a less credible source for anything in modern history. And don't mistake what I'm doing in a clearly marked op-ed blog for Ed Murrow-style hard-news style journalism.

i fail to see how our actions jeopardise legitimate press. nor how even -if it did- would warrant a false accusations of our integrity without any grounds. come on. your claims were outrageous and if we had been commercial press you'd probably be having a rather unpleasant chat with your editor right about now.

When someone can openly admit what they did was deceitful while simultaneously claiming to have integrity... 'Nuff said.

 

[Briosafreak]

Hello Matt, this is Briosafreak from Fallout3:a Post Nuclear Blog.

First let me correct you on one thing, I send the pics to NMA, and I was thousands of miles away from Leipzig, the pics were released to the public by Bethesda before the article.Maybe you could edit that part.

I disagree on your negativity towards the detail of the NMA piece, instead I find it comendable. Still if you read the previews of Ron Burke at Gamingtrend or Brendon Lindsey at Gamenode you’ll find other examples of extremely detailed pieces, NMA was the most thorough but not the only one.

Finally as you can read here there was a time Bethesda allowed fansites to see the demoing of the games by themselves, if it discriminates Fallout fans than it seems reasonable they use direct action in order to better cover the game and give the info their viewers deserve, the best possible, as it should be on the gaming media in general.

All the best for the future

Briosafreak

 

[Karak]

What, because Bethesda was up front about wanting to have a press only demo sans fansites, NMA's supposed to come off as heroic for sneaking in?

Not for sneaking in...for delivering...

Maybe you should consider why they felt the need to see the demo for themselves...obviously they didn't place much trust in mainstream gaming media previews...

 

[SuAside]

What, because Bethesda was up front about wanting to have a press only demo sans fansites, NMA's supposed to come off as heroic for sneaking in?

up front? not at all. they told Silencer (a reporter that did use NMA creds) that the roster was full and that there were no more spots available.

yet, when i was standing in line 2 random reporters walked up and asked if they could be fit in. the answer was yes. draw your own conclusions Matt. the 'no fansites' excuse came only after the fact. if the excuse existed prior to the fact, than they shouldve simply told it as it is: sorry Silencer, we arent allowing any fan sites in on the viewing.

either way, badly handled. besides, is it so weird that a reporter might actually be a fallout fan WITH ties to the fan community? i've seen many if not most reporters claim to be fans, yet few have ties and none of them have stepped forward with additional information.

me, i had press creds from Madshrimps. legitimate press creds. but i also happen to be a "rabid fallout fan" as they so often like to call us. well, i shared my information with the fans. so what?

does that mean you have the right to slander us?

Forums as a source for investigative journalism? There's never been a less credible source for anything in modern history. And don't mistake what I'm doing in a clearly marked op-ed blog for Ed Murrow-style hard-news style journalism.

seeing forum credibility as a single entity is kinda moronic.

Blizzard makes 'blue' posts all the time on the Blizzard forums. arent they credible?

if Grandstaff, Pete Hines or Todd Howard post on the bethsoft game forums, don't they have credibility? well, sorry, we already fully explained what happened and how on the bethesda forums. we (the authors) explained it to the fanbase and Bethesda (if they were listening).

i dont really see how this has a credibility issue. i'd even say your own claims have a far bigger credibility issue, so don't try to 180° out of this by shifting blame.

When someone can openly admit what they did was deceitful while simultaneously claiming to have integrity... 'Nuff said.

when someone can accuse another of falsely breaking several rules, while he himself fails to show integrity by researching or backing up any of said claims?

you have a minor point that we did not reveal that we'd ALSO be posting a preview on NMA. but that is the only point in your entire message of accusations that has any groundings in reality.

sorry if we're left unimpressed.

 

[mattpeckham]

Not for sneaking in...for delivering...

Well there you go. And if I was just an NMA reader, I'd be pouncing too, because readers could frankly care less about anything as long as the info-IV's tapped to full.

 

[mattpeckham]

besides, is it so weird that a reporter might actually be a fallout fan WITH ties to the fan community? i've seen many if not most reporters claim to be fans, yet few have ties and none of them have stepped forward with additional information.

No, no, no, I'm not taking issue with your fannish-ness. Go NMA, rah rah Fallout fans and all that.

does that mean you have the right to slander us?

The only slander here's coming from across the aisle, sorry to say. There's nothing false in my post (I don't lay claim to anything as absolute fact). You're obviously welcome to disagree with it.

sorry if we're left unimpressed.

With respect, right back atcha.

 

[DirtyDreamDesigner]

Noobies showing you how it should be done must sting a lot, huh.

Be a man for once and at least apologise for the slander.

 

[Kyuu]

The only slander here's coming from across the aisle, sorry to say. There's nothing false in my post (I don't lay claim to anything as absolute fact). You're obviously welcome to disagree with it.

Bullshit. You're making false, negative accusations about the characters and behavior of Brother None and SuAside. That's pretty much the definition of slander, although it's a written article so I think that actually makes it libel. There is zero truth and no credible source for any claim that they made a recording or broke any rules.

They had legitimate press credentials. There was no rule in effect by Bethesda that you had to reveal any and all ties to fan sites. NMA is a privately-run fan-site, not a business or organization where Brother None holds some kind of actual title. SuAside isn't even a mod or admin, he's simply a long time poster, and he was doing a legitimate preview for GamerNode. Your claims have zero credibility, and hiding behind "it's an opinion piece, I can say anything I want" is a cop-out.

 

[stingray420]

With respect, right back atcha.

Your blog comments are broke btw. Or maybe you shut them off I don't know.

And talk about journalistic integrity Your post is full of falsehoods, and frankly it is childish.

There were gaming fan sites, ran by fans, not "Professional gaming journalists" An oxymoron if ever there was one, admited into other previews. NMA was being prohibited because they knew it would not be a overlying glowing ass kissing preview as they can expect from people of your ilk.

What your posting is childish jealousy at best, slanderous drivel at worst. Until your profession stops accepting paid trips by developers, stops writing glowing previews on the promise of ad sales and access down the road it will continue to be basically "Broken". Gaming companies should allow access to there games if they want them covered, it should not be the media covering them who has to suck up and bend over for that access.

Gaming journalism is broke. Your defending of a broken, and corrupt system here is going to fall on deaf ears. Was there a white lie, unspoken to gain access? Maybe. In the long run does it matter? Not really, unless BN and Su were hoping to get a paid trip to Maryland, hate to break it to you guys it's not gonna happen now

 

[mattpeckham]

Bullshit. You're making false, negative accusations about the characters and behavior of Brother None and SuAside. That's pretty much the definition of slander, although it's a written article so I think that actually makes it libel. There is zero truth and no credible source for any claim that they made a recording or broke any rules.

And if I was making "false, negative accusations about the characters of" whoever, then it would be slander. But since I'm not, it isn't. They admitted breaking the rules, not me. And I was expressing an opinion about their blow-by-blow direct-quote coverage. Your disagreement's noted.

They had legitimate press credentials. There was no rule in effect by Bethesda that you had to reveal any and all ties to fan sites.

Whatever. If this was all hands-on-the-table, we wouldn't even be having this conversation, because NMA wouldn't have felt the need to characterize it as deceitful.

 

[mattpeckham]

Your blog comments are broke btw. Or maybe you shut them off I don't know.

They're on, and I'm not sure what's up, because every time I post it assigns me a name that isn't mine. You should be able to post, it just may list you as anon.

And talk about journalistic integrity Your post is full of falsehoods, and frankly it is childish.

Opinion noted.

There were gaming fan sites, ran by fans, not "Professional gaming journalists" An oxymoron if ever there was one, admited into other previews. NMA was being prohibited because they knew it would not be a overlying glowing ass kissing preview as they can expect from people of your ilk.

"Of my ilk"? Who talks like that? Watch out, or "you'll rue the day" or something.

What your posting is childish jealousy at best, slanderous drivel at worst. Until your profession stops accepting paid trips by developers, stops writing glowing previews on the promise of ad sales and access down the road it will continue to be basically "Broken". Gaming companies should allow access to there games if they want them covered, it should not be the media covering them who has to suck up and bend over for that access.

Jealousy, yes. Childish, no. Slanderous, of course not. But envy? Hey, I admitted that much in the post!

Gaming journalism is broke. Your defending of a broken, and corrupt system here is going to fall on deaf ears. Was there a white lie, unspoken to gain access? Maybe. In the long run does it matter? Not really, unless BN and Su were hoping to get a paid trip to Maryland, hate to break it to you guys it's not gonna happen now

Fascinating. I never tried to defend gaming journalism, whatever that is. Not once. And as for paid trips, you're apparently not aware of how any of that works, i.e. publishers like Ziff and IDG don't accept them. Believe it or not, it's the fansites and non-professional news hubs that end up taking most of the payola.