I’m almost reluctant to help a blatant cry for hits, but when a major (sort of) gaming site loses it so spectacularly, it has to be seen. I know from experience that plagiarism happens online sometimes having experienced it myself in my GameFAQs days, but to suggest that you’re being copied on a feature that requires as little imagination as a “best of” list is ludicrous.
Might I suggest that people email them at their email address set up purely for this little crusade and gently suggest that they stop being so petulant and put the toys back in the pram.
Oh, and guess what? I did a best of the GBA feature in February. Games Radar better not do anything similar or I’ll sue.
BBC: FBI tries to fight zombie hordes
It’s the end of civilisation! Dawn of the dead!
…
Now tell me you weren’t severly disappointed after reading that headline…
The dissertation is done, and with my only exam now finished that means I’m one deadline shy of actually finishing uni for good. Hooray! Of course the downside is that I need to get a job, and that’s proving even harder than finding that elusive last agility orb. At least that dropped some hints as to its whereabouts and gave achievement points.
So far applications and CVs have gone out to Imagine (an acknowledgement and then nothing), Future (being reviewed), CNet (aka GameSpot; a rejection), and Blackfish Publishing (nothing yet). I assume it’s the same in any career, but I can’t stand the void when you get no reply at all, or even an acknowledgement with no follow up. When I got the rejection from CNet they were kind enough to take the time to send a personal email to say why which I really appreciate, along with an invitation to apply again in the future.
Still, I’ll always have this place, right? Hello?
After countless hours of research and wearing my typing fingers (little-known fact: I only type with three fingers) down to stumps, I’ve finished my dissertation. Not only does this mean that I’m mere weeks away from being kicked out into the big bad world, it also means that I can play some games and post on here again. It sucks when life gets in the way of the really important things, doesn’t it?
26 pages or 11,222 words was the final count, all in. That beats my previous biggest Word document by some 22 pages. I could be forgiven for being put off ever blogging again after writing that much about the things.
The current games of choice are both on their second wind with me: Halo 2 in anticipation of a little event in a couple of weeks, and alternately another futile attempt to master Counter-Strike Source and find out how much better at it most people are than me. Give me a week to get back in the swing of things and I’ll be on about the summer drought again.
Considering that I’m supposed to talk about games all the time, ostensibly at least, I haven’t been doing a lot of that recently. I haven’t even been playing them, much to my 360′s chagrin. No…I’ve been knee deep in the bane of any university student, my dissertation.
*sound of thunder*
Nobody likes essays, and they’re odious enough when you have to write 2,000 words on something that doesn’t really interest you. Quintuple that and it’s simply painful. I chose a journalism subject that was closer to my heart than most, blogging and citizen journalism, but writing is a lot less fun when you can’t slip an innuendo in there or joke about that time you swapped the picture on Ken Kutaragi’s Wikipedia page for one of Kim Jong-Il.
It’s due in 27 days and I’ve written a bit over 5,000 words, with the aim of getting at least another thousand down before the Easter break ends. This being the last couple of months of my last year at uni, things are complicated by assorted other projects and impending exams, which at the rate I’m going will necessarily be over-the-weekend jobbies. How I wish they’d stagger deadlines instead of encouraging us to put everything off until the week before. I could procrastinate for England.
I know what would make this better, though, and it involves Games for Windows Live. How about some achievements for Microsoft Word?
Sorted.
News about games journalism! Hooray!
The whole thing seems to be over now, but last night gaming blog Kotaku got into trouble with Sony for posting a rumour about what Sony was set to unveil at next week’s GDC. Sony told them not to, they did anyway, and Sony blacklisted them from all their mailing lists and future press events.
You probably won’t be surprised to hear that I was entirely on Kotaku’s side on this issue. As is often the case lately, I don’t know why Sony acted the way that they did. All throwing the toys out of the pram and trying to blackmail Kotaku did was give credibility to the story, whereas the usual “we do not comment on rumours or speculation” would have at least kept people guessing until next week. The way Sony acted the only possible outcome was for Kotaku to come out smelling of roses, simply because when it’s announced everyone sees that they got the scoop and didn’t give in when the big boys tried to bully them.
Of course, the majority of people supported Kotaku’s stand, but what surprised me when trawling forums was that a number of people were congratulating Sony on not putting up with such insolence, even going as far as to criticise Kotaku’s journalism, such as in this quote from IGN’s PS3 forum:
“Sounds like Kotaku got what they deserve. [...] Seriously. Did these guys take any journalism courses at all?”
That sums up what far too many journalists reporting on this industry seem to think: that “journalism” means “typing up press releases” and taking what they’re given, which is often the complete opposite of what journalism should be. I’m not going to make myself look stupid by invoking some of the great investigative journalists because I have no illusions of reporting on this industry being comparable to anything what has been brought to light by political journalists in the past, but being cowed by any of the big industry figures is not journalism.
Bravo Kotaku. Now I hope you walk into that media event next week with a massive, proud grin on your face. You won that round.
