Luke Smith vs. Square/Enix 59
Luke Smith, news editor over at 1up, recently posted a protesting blog entry which openly defied a draconian edict laid down by Square/Enix. The company required news organs to refrain from discussing many aspects of the Valkyrie Profile title, coming out in the U.S. later this year but already available in Japan. Gamers With Jobs has a good synopsis of the situation. From that article: "Is he being a bit overly dramatic on this issue? Perhaps. But it is an interesting illumination of a larger issue, to do with the quality of communication between the industry and games journalists. Smith is certainly not the first to express dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs."
Is that legal? (Score:2)
Re:Is that legal? (Score:1)
Re:Is that legal? (Score:3, Informative)
No, but they can cut the news agency off by not helping them write stories anymore.
See the Propaganda Model [wikipedia.org].
Re:Is that legal? (Score:2)
Of course not. But nobody is dictating anything (Score:2)
How is this dreck even worth posting in the first place, much less being an item on slashdot?
Oh, yes. Corrupt but highly legal. (Score:2)
This is how businesses control the media. It's really that simple.
Re:Oh, yes. Corrupt but highly legal. (Score:2)
Angriest Man in Games Journalism? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah
This is ludicrous. (Score:2)
"Hey guys we know the internet is already full of all of this information but PLEASE don't say anything about these specific topics until these days okay. ^_^"
As a result of this bullshit, I won't be buying a copy of Valkyrie Profile 2.
Here's a crazy idea... (Score:3, Insightful)
I, for one, am tired of waiting six to twelve months for games to be localized, and all the while running into little spoilers that diminish my enjoyment of the game when it finally arrives. Though it may be a bit harder to pull off, it would be nice if non-Japanese gamers weren't treated like second-class citizens when it comes to release dates.
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:1)
Re:Here's a crazier idea.... (Score:2)
Ummm... No. Relatively few would comprehend english to the point where they can buy an english language RPG. That's not counting the fact that those few have finished their education or travelled/lived abroad for that knowledge. I've lived there for several years and know a lot japanese nationals that live in my state, so I have to say your answer is overly simplistic. Sorry.
Now then, if it were a fighting game I could see it...
Re:Here's a crazier idea.... (Score:1)
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:2)
Here you go [wikipedia.org] -- some basic economic principles for your edification.
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:2)
Why don't we delay your next paycheck for six months?
Additionally, I'd imagine this gives them time to run the PR hype machine and a little leeway if it turns out the game is an awful performer to cut back on its promotion on the other side of the world.
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:2)
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:1)
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:2)
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:1)
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:2)
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:2)
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:2)
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:2)
Yes, translating material can probably be done during the original game development. But integrating the translated material and creating the localized version of the
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:2)
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:2)
Furthermore, your analogy is faulty. The effort required for you, an english speaker, to translate a book into german is proportionally far greater versus writing the book, than it is to translate a game versus create one from scratch. In the case of a video game, most content (music, game engine, graphics) is reused in the translated version, whereas in a book *all* of
Re:Here's a crazy idea... (Score:1)
Lame (Score:4, Informative)
The majority of this boils down to "don't spoil it for the gamers". Of course, this just a polite request and, given that the Japanese version has already been released, Luke Smith doesn't have to follow any of this as he points out. However, Square Enix doesn't have to do any favors for him either. I wouldn't be surprised if 1Up gets cut out of the loop when it comes to any prerelease events.
Re:Lame (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Lame (Score:2)
Re:Lame (Score:2)
Re:Lame (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, that's part of the point isn't it? Video game journalism has incentives to cozy up to publishers, compromising the resulting reporting. Square Enix wouldn't have asked this if they didn't think at least some journalists would agree. What does it say about the state of video game journalism that a publisher believes it can ask journalists to stay silent about publically available information sole
Re:Lame (Score:2)
No it's not, just as it's fine for journalists to ask for exclusive information so they can attract readers. It's a give-take relationship.
Re:Lame (Score:1)
Re:Lame (Score:1)
The fact that the (narrative-driven) game in question is available (in Japanese) in Japan is irrelevant, and Luke Smith's reliance on this fact as a rationale for his actions is totally unacceptable. The vast majority of 1UP's readership won't have played the game and won't have gone out of their way to look for spoilers and game movies.
Pretty much everywhere I've seen reporting or commenting on this story has scoffed at Luke's self
Uh... huh. (Score:3, Insightful)
However, they can't talk about spoilers? I can understand this demand if 1up got a scoop on a game that's still in production. I can understand this if 1up got a scoop about some utlra super secret sidequest and were to only do teasers until a certain date (or it became public some other way.)
But telling them to keep quiet about a game taht has been out in Japan for months, widely available to anyone with the money for an import? What, is Squeenix hoping that someone with a Geocities account can get details out earlier than a gaming site?
It doesn't look like they're threatening anything, either- it's just a "hey, if you would, could you not do this stuff please? kthx" letter.
Crymore Luke (Score:4, Insightful)
Is this a marketing ploy? Ya, I'm sure it is. But it's tit-for-tat. Square lets out information and demos to game media, Square asks for a little something back. The media can choose whether they want it or not. If not, fine, then their relationship with Square sours a little. Whoopdeeshit. If yes, then a couple salivating fans have to wait a month or turn to fansites to get their information.
Luke did a good job of drawing his line in the sand to rally the ill-informed reactionaries and the 15-year-old fanatics to the aid of his page impressions, but he needs a reality check.
Re:Crymore Luke (Score:2)
You missed the point. The game is out already. People have imported it and posted info on their personal sites.
Square is asking the media to act as though they don't know the rest of the world exists.
Re:Crymore Luke (Score:2)
When the game "media" stops advertising the products it's reviewing, writing previews that are basically verbatim press releases with a couple screenshots, editorializing like emo versions of Maddox, and actually... I dunno, doing some interesting journalism and fact-finding instead of filling pages up with the above drivel handed to them on a platter by game companies, we can talk. Not that I'd agree with you still, but we could talk. Until then I'll regard them as the glorif
Organizations? (Score:1, Troll)
Sounds sensible to me... (Score:2)
Re:Sounds sensible to me... (Score:1)
I think you need to RTFA...
Square Enix states:
The last cut-off date is the 4th of september...
By the 4th of september, the reviewers will be free to discuss anything about the game they want.
The 4th of september is BEFORE the release of the game...
If they wanted to keep some parts of the game secret (spoilers), t
The three things... (Score:1)
Gameplay: Does it play well? Or is the gameplay effed up the wazoo?
Graphics: Does it look good? Or does watching it make you barf?
Plot: What is the basic premise of the game?
Those are the main things we really need. Now lets look at the requests.
Well thanks asshole. For
It worked (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It worked (Score:1)
It's Valkyrie Profile man. If you haven't played the first one, and you're a decent fan of RPGs, then you sir, should shoot yourself.
Re:It worked (Score:2)
I knew a remake was coming out for the PSP, I was unaware of the sequel.