Is Hitman's Next Target Assassin's Creed? 
Why Kotaku Australia Should Never Work With Children... Or Robots 
Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land 
Why Robin Makes Batman Better Can parody be parodied? That’s the question we ask ourselves after watching this spoof of Geoff Keighley’s appearance on FOX News. While the skit itself is alright, it was the reporter’s opening monologue that made the clip post-worthy. So without giving anything away, we’ll just say that, damn, we really wish we’d played the publicised version of Mass Effect. Because it sounds really freakin’ hot.
Max Effect [loadingreadyrun via Maxconsole]
Believe it or not Jack Thompson and I email sorta regularly. Granted he usually emails me bizarre, over-the-top press releases (which I often don’t post) and I respond with disjointed quotes from movies, which I hope will one day remove that last wobbly hinge of his. (No luck yet).
Last week Jack emailed me a press release entitled “Grand Theft Auto IV to Be Released April 29; Culture War Begins Now” and after my typical poking, I got on to the topic of the Mass Effect controversy and was shocked, literally out of my socks, to find him defending the game… sort of. Apparently, even anti-gaming crusader Jack Thompson found self-help author Cooper Lawrence (who he refers to as a man), uninformed and the entire controversy contrived. Hellooooo kettle.
G4 host Adam Sessler gives his opinion on the whole Fox News/Mass Effect imbroglio in this clip from a recent episode of X-Play. He presents the facts with much more aplomb and fairness than Fox did, but in the end turns the tables to give the network and author Cooper Lawrence a taste of their own medicine. Although Lawrence has since apologised for her missteps, it’s still fun to watch Sessler take her and the dubious Fox News to task.
Self help author Cooper Lawrence, along with Fox News came under heavy fire from gamers last week when they mindlessly branded Mass Effect as pornography. While Fox News hasn’t come forth with an apology, Lawrence has admitted her mistakes in an interview with the New York Times yesterday after angry gaming fans trashed her book on Amazon.
…Ms. Lawrence said that since the controversy over her remarks erupted she had watched someone play the game for about two and a half hours. “I recognise that I misspoke,” she said. “I really regret saying that, and now that I’ve seen the game and seen the sex scenes it’s kind of a joke.
“Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it’s like pornography,” she added. “But it’s not like pornography. I’ve seen episodes of ‘Lost’ that are more sexually explicit.”
While I don’t think situations like this will ever change the way Fox News handles its sensationalist stories, perhaps it will send a message to the so called “experts” they bring on the show to do their research before going on air. As vehemently protective as gamers are of their genre, it will only end up coming back to bite these allegedly knowledgeable people in the ass. Hell hath no fury like a gamer scorned.
Author Faults a Game, and Gamers Flame Back [New York Times]
You may have heard that after Geoff Keighley fell from his lofty position of Kotaku guest editor to some TV show that he made an appearance on Fox Newsdefending Mass Effect. Most of you heard about his experience defending the game’s chastity, but what did he have to say about it afterward? We debated whether I should do that or not. In retrospect I’m glad I went on to at least try to set the record straight…I sort of felt a little bit like I was on an Onion News Network skit or something like that.
Yeah, we know what you mean. It’s sad sometimes how it doesn’t feel like our world can really be happening. Keighley: Fox News’ Mass Effect Skit Was ‘Off the Wall’ [gamedaily]
This Fox News Mass Effect imbroglio is turning into quite the drama. To bring everyone up to speed: Fox News made erroneous claims about Mass Effect. Game journalist and one-time Kotaku guest editor Geoff Keighley tried to clear the air, but the network’s panel and dime store Freud shrink Cooper Lawrence wouldn’t listen. The internet got angry and spammed her book’s Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble listings. Amazon.com has since turned off the comments and erased user added images for her book’s page.
Electronic Arts, likewise, got upset and called out the news network on its “insulting” inaccuracies. The Fox producer of the segment in question blew off Electronic Arts’ request for a correction. There still hasn’t been a correction or an apology from Fox News. The game publisher added that it won’t back down and will continue to “step up when someone maligns our creative teams”. According to MTV Multiplayer, Fox News issued this statement:
Fox News Channel has extended several invitations to EA through a company representative to appear on Live Desk With Martha MacCallum to discuss Mass Effect and the segment which aired on Monday. We have received no response.
Hey Fox, the point isn’t inviting EA onto your dog and pony show to set the record straight. It’s for you to do that yourself. Get a clue. This is libel. Sexbox Controversy [MTV Multiplayer][Pic]
In a single line text message sent from her Blackberry, Teri VanHorn, producer of Fox News’ Live Desk with Martha MacCallum, blew off Electronic Arts’ detailed call for correction over the error strewn report the show did on Mass Effect earlier in the week.
Jeff Brown, Electronic Arts’ vice president of communication, told Kotaku that the producer told him to contact Fox News’ public relations department, which apparently now deals with factual errors in their stories.
Brown told me he wasn’t surprised, but that EA will continue to “step up when someone maligns our creative teams.
“They need to understand there are 100 people in Edmonton, Alberta who dedicated years to making that game. They’ve got names, faces and reputations – and they’ve been slandered. We’re angry about that.”
He added that yesterday’s reaction was not a one off, “it’s a policy directive from Riccitiello. Anyone who tells lies about our creative teams is going to get a fight.”
EA Calls Fox Out on Insulting Mass Effect Inaccuracies [Kotaku]
Electronic Arts, likely sick of having their role playing game Mass Effect dragged through the mud on national television, has requested that Fox News Channel correct their error-plagued segment on the game.
In the letter, which cites Kotaku, Jeff Brown, EA’s vice president of communications, asks Teri VanHorn, producer of the Live Desk with Martha MacCallum, to clarify “serious errors” the channel made in their Mass Effect story.
“As the parent company of BioWare, the studio which created the game, EA would like you to set the record straight on a number of errors and misstatements which incorrectly characterise the story and character interactions in Mass Effect.” The letter starts and then proceeds to outline their very strong case.
I’ve never watched the new Fox News Channel. But if this interview with Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime is any indication, I don’t need to watch. The interviewer can hardly say Reggie’s title (chief operating officer) and she talks about how it’s exceeding “anticipation” (I think she meant expectation). My favourite part, though, is when they post the Super Mario Galaxy metacritic at the bottom of the screen (a 96).
