Some people are such fucking cunts. They are video games, ffs.

Anyone else sensing thunder and lightning where their tea should be?

Sasukekun wrote:

Anyone else sensing thunder and lightning where their tea should be?

So long as the biscuits remain intact.

Was anything that Florence said actually libellous there?

He said, if you'll let me paraphrase a bit, that she tweeted that giving away PS3s to games journos isn't a bad thing, and then immediately does a little fangirl spaz out about Tomb Raider.  He says that when he sees those tweets together, he immediately becomes suspicious of her motivations.

That's entirely reasonable.  I do too.  He didn't say "Wainwright is obviously in someone's pocket" or "her opinion is definitely for sale."  He said it made him suspicious that she's so happy to advertise Tomb Raider when she's ostensibly an independent journalist.

She's a shockingly bad writer, but that's by the by.

Strangely, Forbes have written some words about this.

adkm1979 wrote:

Am I alone in failing to care what the stupid little moron writes, libellous or otherwise?

Robert Florence?  Why the dislike?  Admittedly this is the first time I've heard of him.

adkm1979 wrote:

He's an idiot.  I'm amazed anyone ever gives him the time of day.

What's he done before this?  I've never heard of him but thought the original article was alright.

Oh, he's a Consolvania person.  Either way, I think Lauren Wainwright's a shit writer and I'm suspicious of her tweets too.

Square Enix has now been removed from her employment section.

oh dear oh dear oh dear.

Didn't a similar thing happen with Stanton only weeks ago? Another fine mess for U.K games journalism, which seems to be an industry populated entirely by huffy children.

I really like what Rob Florence wrote, but this whole event seems to have taken a turn for the ugly. Lawsuits, internet detectives, people erasing their history and whatnot. 

The internet is a scary place. 


I guess at the end of the day there is a lot of money sloshing around the industry and a lot of pressure to get things sold or else studios go kaput. At the end of it all, I do feel the average gamer who tries to find buying advice is being treated like a mug, and there are vastly more people out there who are acting with impropriety who never get found out.

It's interesting to note that MCV deny legal threats. Which begs the question, why would Eurogamer change it? I'd like to believe Ben Parfitt, as hes seemed like a decent sort in the past, but it's hard to see why Eurogamer would not stand by Florence unless lawyers were involved.

Think i'll make a couple of calls tomorrow and see what i can uncover.

Polygon is the spinal tap of games journalism.

He left the column because they edited it, going against the point if the article, not because he didn't want to 'name names'.

I love shit like this. Days like this make me happy. I don't know why, but I do enjoy the feeling of schadenfreude in this instance.

I dont blame the writers/journalists/whatever who receive the free games/money/trips/etc. I mean, I would take them too.

If my hobby was videogames and I got to write about videogames all day long. Then some big publisher gives me free videogames to talk about their videogames nicely I'd probably say yes. Especially if I was on less than 20 grand a year like most of these guys and girls are. 

But then, I'm not an un-educated buffoon like the majority of the readership. I'm not the only member of the bear and badger to be utterly un-shocked by this whole debacle surely? 

Good on Rab for calling this shit out. The very fact that the writer, publications and publishers have been so defensive speaks volumes. 

But again, is this any real surprise to anyone here? Sure, the average 14 year old kid who reads twitter and genuinely hangs off every word the videogame press feeds him might be shocked. But that's because he's 14.

Not 34.

I hope for more articles like this in the next few weeks. 

Well done Rab. Well done Rich. Well done RPS. You're not talking bollocks anymore.