I've been following this issue on Kotaku.com which has been doing a marvelous job posting updates.
A brief summary of the debacle:
A Fox News story on Mass Effect was full of statements ranging from misleading at best to down right lies about the romantic subplot in the game. The "reporter" for Fox slammed the game's "nudity" and the psychologist brought on was spouting nonsense on how sexist Mass Effect is when it's clear that all she has seen is a brief video of the "sex scene." Geoff Keighley of Spike TV makes a solid attempt at delivering the actual facts but he is drowned out by the incessant yelling of the other 2 women. Neither the anchor nor the psychologist played the game. The anchor "watched trailers" to learn about the game, but
EA, which now owns Mass Effect's developer, BioWare, has released a letter pointing out each and every inaccuracy in the Fox News story. EA even signs off on its letter to Fox News "This isn't a legal threat; it's an appeal to your sense of fairness. We're asking FNC to correct the record on Mass Effect."
They're asking for an apology, not demanding it. So far, Fox News has purportedly offered EA an opportunity to get on the air and set the record straight themselves. I find it very disconcerting that Fox News won't take responsibility for errors they made by setting the record straight themselves. Now you may think I'm some "gamer" ranting about game related drivel that has no impact on the rest of the world, but I beg to differ.
Fox News' treatment of this story makes me strongly question how they deal with more serious and complex issues such as rising tensions with Iran, tribal chaos in Kenya or global economics. Or even the upcoming Presidential race here in the US.
Not that I've ever watched Fox News with the intent of being informed.
I was sad when JC Barnett said he'd stop maintaining a blog. However, he's started it up again. The guy's prose has pizazz and wit that make it an utter joy to read. Though a generally acerbic fellow, he is capable of seeing good in situations which makes reading his entries overall a positive and not a drain.
Pity I only get 5 links on my Vox side bar. Anyways, I do plan to do some updating in the near future. Been a bit sick lately.
Yeeow, $175.00 for the basic expo pass. I've enjoyed a full pass that gave me access to all the talks before and I'm gonna miss that. But for almost $1000, yeeeeeeeeow, hopefully I'll be able to pick up some recordings of the lectures I was interested in. So far, there aren't too many lectures I feel like I absolutely have to see. Shocking, given how many absolutely amazing games came out recently; a Mass Effect postmortem would seriously have me ponder that $1K ticket.
On an unrelated note, Cursor^10 is a crazy, interesting game. It's co-op. With yourself.
-Apply to some Japanese game companies to get it out of my system. I have zero expectations of being accepted, but just...do it. Forget pondering about it. Do or do not. No try, only do.
-Hire myself to document the game I always wanted to make. Keep on drawing,
-Build a library. My current one is wholly consisting of some coffee table-type books from Japan, but very little in the way of English language material and solid reference.
