The Brad Muir Thread: Also Starring Giant Bomb

Kwoaru

then maybe don't talk about journalistic integrity while people are still talking about this guy

even as a tangent

there is nothing about this that could possibly relate to the purpose/integrity of the institution of journalism and news reporting

Antimatter

Chincymcchilla wrote: »

Antimatter wrote: »

penny arcade is a minority on the web for trans support and that only happened recently

a former admin and current mod coming out as trans along with active posters doing the same probably helped

By "here" I meant the IT outfit I work for in a vastly right wing southern state.

apologies, i misinterpreted your statement.

Hullis

it is definitely a scary thing to have to rely on others during your period of transition

I have a friend who will of course remain nameless

but she has JUST started her transition, to the point where she's not even sure what her new name is going to be

and she had stopped talking to one of her best friends because she felt embarrassed about taking 50 bucks to pay for the meds she needed to stay sane during the process

Fences mended, and all, but having your hackles raised is something I understand

SwissLion

HyperAquaBlast wrote: »

Stilts wrote: »

HyperAquaBlast wrote: »

Stilts wrote: »

HyperAquaBlast wrote: »

LockedOnTarget wrote: »

Whatever his intentions and methods were, no one should be outing her to the public but her.

Well if it was cold hard fact journalism then I don't think it should have mattered. Truth comes out of facts even its good or bad,

But since it was apparently a hate piece then yeah it was a outing due to spite and thats wrong.

Part of being a journalist is weighing the public benefit against the consequences of the reveal.

Like, that is a basic and important skill to master.

How does his piece help the public in a way that justifies additional mental trauma to his subject?

Again I wasn't stating this topic specifically.

In normal journalism you put down the facts. If it happens to be facts that could bring stuff into a bad light then thems the breaks.

Don't think I am defending this guy or his piece.

I am defending that I want to hear the truth and in normal news journalism even if it could make somebody or group look bad. Opinion pieces don't count.

No

Fuck you

I am going to quote the SPJ's "common sense principles" to hopefully get the point across.

"Journalists often advance their “right” to seek information and record events, and stories of grief and tragedy are a staple of community news. The SPJ Code underscores the accompanying “responsibility” with common-sense principles:

— Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage.

— Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.

— Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort.

— Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials.

— Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity."

The writer did not consider or simply ignored at least 4 of those principles.

No fuck you.

I AM NOT DEFENDING THE WRITER.

What you are doing, though, is defending the reasoning he used to do this shitty thing.

It's bad reasoning. The truth is a whole lot of the time really not important enough to get people hurt over.

Did you never see the white lies episode of every/any cartoon ever?

Chincymcchilla

Antimatter wrote: »

Chincymcchilla wrote: »

Antimatter wrote: »

penny arcade is a minority on the web for trans support and that only happened recently

a former admin and current mod coming out as trans along with active posters doing the same probably helped

By "here" I meant the IT outfit I work for in a vastly right wing southern state.

apologies, i misinterpreted your statement.

It's fine. Even as I typed the explanation I realized that the field I work in probably isn't a great subset of the city.

Snowbeat

fucking "video game journalism"

bunch of incompetent wannabe assholes with inferiority complexes

fraud, crime and personal tragedies are delicate subjects that actual journos spend years learning how to navigate correctly so they don't lose their jobs, reputations, and possibly their freedom

but you give a fat white guy a keyboard and suddenly he's dreaming watergate dreams

Stilts

HyperAquaBlast wrote: »

Stilts wrote: »

HyperAquaBlast wrote: »

Stilts wrote: »

HyperAquaBlast wrote: »

LockedOnTarget wrote: »

Whatever his intentions and methods were, no one should be outing her to the public but her.

Well if it was cold hard fact journalism then I don't think it should have mattered. Truth comes out of facts even its good or bad,

But since it was apparently a hate piece then yeah it was a outing due to spite and thats wrong.

Part of being a journalist is weighing the public benefit against the consequences of the reveal.

Like, that is a basic and important skill to master.

How does his piece help the public in a way that justifies additional mental trauma to his subject?

Again I wasn't stating this topic specifically.

In normal journalism you put down the facts. If it happens to be facts that could bring stuff into a bad light then thems the breaks.

Don't think I am defending this guy or his piece.

I am defending that I want to hear the truth and in normal news journalism even if it could make somebody or group look bad. Opinion pieces don't count.

No

Fuck you

I am going to quote the SPJ's "common sense principles" to hopefully get the point across.

"Journalists often advance their “right” to seek information and record events, and stories of grief and tragedy are a staple of community news. The SPJ Code underscores the accompanying “responsibility” with common-sense principles:

— Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage.

— Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.

— Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort.

— Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials.

— Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity."

The writer did not consider or simply ignored at least 4 of those principles.

No fuck you.

I AM NOT DEFENDING THE WRITER.

I realize that. But that has no bearing on what I'm saying. You stated...

HyperAquaBlast wrote: »

Again I wasn't stating this topic specifically.

In normal journalism you put down the facts. If it happens to be facts that could bring stuff into a bad light then thems the breaks.

Don't think I am defending this guy or his piece.

I am defending that I want to hear the truth and in normal news journalism even if it could make somebody or group look bad. Opinion pieces don't count.

Even if the reveal was stated as cold hard facts with absolutely no agenda or opinion behind it, it would still be a recklessly bad idea to report it because of the ethical concerns I just talked about.

Stilts

The basic idea is this: whenever a journalist writes a story, regardless of the intent or the tone of the piece, they should constantly remind themselves that they are writing about people.

And sometimes the facts aren't worth it.

McHoger

Things to try in Scribblenauts Unmasked
1) Jonah Hex
2) Tedd Kord's corpse
3) Earth-Three's Deathstroke

Chincymcchilla

McHoger wrote: »

Things to try in Scribblenauts Unmasked
1) Jonah Hex
2) Tedd Kord's corpse
3) Earth-Three's Deathstroke

"earth's end superman"

edit: Twin Hitlers

LockedOnTarget

How much do you want to bet DC Scribblenauts will somehow only have one Batgirl.

-Tal

Kwoaru wrote: »

-Tal wrote: »

Was there any way out of this that did not involve either suicide or a dishonest crowdfunding campaign

I want to say an honest crowd funding campaign, but I feel like crowd funding sites don't allow the sort of anonymity she would have wanted given that she didn't want to be out publicly

She clearly needed some sort of help, a support group if not an actual therapist

Are there charities that focus on helping people afford to transition?

I assume she was in a bad situation financially but I obviously don't know enough about her background to make any suggestion that isn't basically "find help/support"

If you want a better idea of her situation you can read the posts she made in this thread: http://www.theindiestone.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12430&start=80

Hullis

McHoger wrote: »

Things to try in Scribblenauts Unmasked
1) Jonah Hex
2) Tedd Kord's corpse
3) Earth-Three's Deathstroke

"Interesting Hal Jordan"

SwissLion

McHoger wrote: »

Things to try in Scribblenauts Unmasked
1) Jonah Hex
2) Tedd Kord's corpse
3) Earth-Three's Deathstroke

1-40)Any Animal you can think of
41-50) B'wana Beast x 10

Snowbeat

51) spiderman

am I doing it right

Hullis

52) Dinobot

captaink

Honest question: If you are having surgery, are you close to basically having to come out? Or do you still have a choice afterwards of presenting as male or female?

Opty

Yes, assuming "spiderman" made a spider with a man's body, centaur style (they already have centaurs, right?)

CorporateLogo

Centaur Superman

Snowbeat

ATTN: ALL OF THE OPTIMUS POSTERS

PLEASE STOP POSTING IMMEDIATELY AFTER ONE ANOTHER ALL THE TIME, IT'S HELLA CONFUSING

Hullis

CorporateLogo wrote: »

Centaur Superman

With x-neigh vision

Chincymcchilla

Hullis wrote: »

CorporateLogo wrote: »

Centaur Superman

With x-neigh vision

Hullis

I'm just horsing around

Mr. G

So not only has Ubisoft (allegedly) fired Patrice Desilets, they have now (allegedly) put his game 1666 on hold indefinitely

agoaj

1666 has been deep-sixed

captaink

This is the first time I've ever heard of that game.

Mr. G

It's what he had been working on at THQ Montreal, apparently

SyphonBlue

Snowbeat wrote: »

fucking "video game journalism"

bunch of incompetent wannabe assholes with inferiority complexes

fraud, crime and personal tragedies are delicate subjects that actual journos spend years learning how to navigate correctly so they don't lose their jobs, reputations, and possibly their freedom

but you give a fat white guy a keyboard and suddenly he's dreaming watergate dreams

Wait when did CNN get involved?

-Tal

captaink wrote: »

This is the first time I've ever heard of that game.

it's never been officially officially announced but it's what THQ Montreal has been doing the past few years

which seems weird that they put it on hold because it should be decently far along, and the 1666 Amsterdam setting could probably be easily rolled into an Assassin's Creed spin off

-Tal

God I really hope Desilets can finally find somewhere stable to work

a5ehren

-Tal wrote: »

God I really hope Desilets can finally find somewhere stable to work

Ubisoft will just buy them too :P

McHoger

-Tal wrote: »

God I really hope Desilets can finally find somewhere stable to work

Preferably someplace that isn't shorty purchased by Ubisoft.

Mr. G

On the flip side of post-THQ...

Jason Rubin: Metro Last Light is the "triumph of an underdog"

It is unfortunate that Prof [Creative Director Andrew Prokhorov], Dean Sharpe, and the rest of the team at 4A won't receive appropriate credit for their achievement in releasing Metro: Last Light.

A combination of a complex and secretive industry, a press that lags the movie and music press in calling attention to the stories behind the games, a dysfunctional and ever-changing sequence of producers causing confusion, the inevitable anonymity that comes from being an Eastern European developer, and a new, last minute publisher that doesn't see the upside in doing your team's publicity, will conspire to keep an incredible story hidden.

I am going to try and change that.

To be clear, nothing in this missive should suggest that either 4A or I would like to see any change in the way the game itself has been received or reviewed by press or fans. I know 4A well enough to know that they demand to contest on a level playing field. This isn't golf, and they don't need or want a handicap. Their pride and skill demand that Last Light go head to head with competition on even terms, and I am sure they are happy with the response.

But now that reviews are mainly behind us, I think it's worth looking deeper.

Let's be honest: 4A was never playing on a level field. The budget of Last Light is less than some of its competitors spend on cut scenes, a mere 10 percent of the budget of its biggest competitors. Yet it is lauded for its story and atmosphere. It is built on a completely original and proprietary second-generation engine that competes with sequels that have stopped numbering themselves, with more engineers on their tech than 4A has on the entire project. Yet its tech chops are never in question.

And all of this is compounded by the conditions this Ukrainian team works under in Kiev. The entire 4A studio would fit easily in the (underutilized) gym at EA Los Angeles' offices. Yet Last Light's Metacritic score blows away Medal of Honor Warfighter. As undeniably fantastic as competitor BioShock Infinite may be, the team was given whatever resources they needed to make the title. At the same time, 4A's staff sat on folding wedding chairs, literally elbow to elbow at card tables in what looks more like a packed grade school cafeteria than a development studio.

When 4A needed another dev kit, or high-end PC, or whatever, someone from 4A had to fly to the States and sneak it back to the Ukraine in a backpack lest it be "seized" at the border by thieving customs officials. After visiting the team I wanted to buy them Aeron office chairs, considered a fundamental human right in the west. There were no outlets in the Ukraine, and our only option was to pack a truck in Poland and try to find an "expediter" to help bribe its way down to Kiev. We gave up not because this tripled the cost, but because we realized that the wider Aeron chairs would require spreading out people and computers, which would lead to extra desks, and that ultimately would have required bigger offices. Yes, really.

I truly enjoyed Far Cry 3, which deserved its great reviews. But how many times did Ubisoft Montreal lose power for hours or days during development? Power outages are the norm for 4A. All developers have deadlines, but I know of few that had to bring in construction generators to be able to work the weekend before final submission because an extra day meant missing shelf dates by weeks. Montreal is cold, but when it gets cold in Kiev it's different. That's because the government provides all of the heating through a central coal burning facility that pipes hot water to homes and offices. Unfortunately, it breaks down reliably a few times a year for a week at a time. Then 4A works in their parkas and struggles to keep their fingers warm in temperatures well below freezing. That is unless it snows and they get stuck home for a few days at a time because snow clearing isn't up to Western standards.

The only thing for which 4A is getting more credit than I think they deserve is the creativity behind the ever frightening, dark, post apocalyptic environment of the game. I've been in Kiev to visit the team, so I know they just stepped outside for reference.

That last paragraph is a humorous exaggeration, of course, but there's truth behind the lie. One evening when Dean Sharpe arrived at his apartment after a long day at the office a dangerous looking Georgian man and his three-car armed entourage greeted him. Dean was told that, lease be damned, he had a day to clear out and find a new apartment.

So there were challenges - why should we care?

Though any gamer can enjoy Last Light without the backstory, I think the backstory makes it that much sweeter. It is interesting enough that Pele was perhaps the greatest football player of all time. But it is even more interesting when we find out that he learned to play bare footed because he couldn't afford to buy shoes. The Jeremy Lin story was interesting, but so much more so when you find out that he received no scholarship offers out of high school, was undrafted, and played sparingly before he hit headlines.

If you care about the art of making games then you have to care about more than the final product. The struggle and the journey becomes part of the story. Like sport, you cheer when the underdog comes from behind, and triumphs in the face of incredible odds.

That doesn't always mean getting the gold. Sometimes when the underdog comes in second, third, or fourth, it is ultimately more impressive than the story of the inevitable number one. 4A is to developers what the Jamaican Bobsledding team is to Olympic sport. The Jamaicans may not have won the gold in 1994, but they beat the Americans who had far more going for them... like winter coats and bobsledding tracks to train on.

According to professional third-party game rating estimation groups, this year titles will find themselves with a 3-5 point Metacritic deduction versus the same game two years ago due to the maturity and fatigue in the console cycle. But even without adding those points back in achieving an 80+ score this year for Last Light, accounting for the budget and adversity that the team faced, and considering the size and talent of the teams they are competing with, is a stunning achievement.

It is a true testament to the raw skill and potential of the team. Ultimately, it is a desire for the recognition of 4A's talent that drove me to write this. You may know that I have a history of talking about developer recognition. These guys need recognition.

If 4A had been given a more competitive budget, in a saner environment, hadn't wasted a year-plus chasing the irrational requirement of THQ's original producers to fit multiplayer and co-op into the same deadline and budget(!), hadn't had to deal with the transition to a new publisher in the crucial few months before final, what could 4A have created?

I can only imagine, and I am looking forward to playing it.

Langly

Mr. G wrote: »

So not only has Ubisoft (allegedly) fired Patrice Desilets, they have now (allegedly) put his game 1666 on hold indefinitely

Isn't this what they said in the initial statement, that all the games were put off?

Sweeney Tom

Langly wrote: »

Mr. G wrote: »

So not only has Ubisoft (allegedly) fired Patrice Desilets, they have now (allegedly) put his game 1666 on hold indefinitely

Isn't this what they said in the initial statement, that all the games were put off?

It is, only now we have an actual name of his main project (1666)

MrDapper

LockedOnTarget wrote: »

How much do you want to bet DC Scribblenauts will somehow only have one Batgirl.

I'm laughing but I'm crying inside.

Mr. G

Sweeney Tom wrote: »

Langly wrote: »

Mr. G wrote: »

So not only has Ubisoft (allegedly) fired Patrice Desilets, they have now (allegedly) put his game 1666 on hold indefinitely

Isn't this what they said in the initial statement, that all the games were put off?

It is, only now we have an actual name of his main project (1666)

Apparently, putting the game on hold instead of cancelling it means they don't have to give the IP back to Patrice

Langly

Sweeney Tom wrote: »

Langly wrote: »

Mr. G wrote: »

So not only has Ubisoft (allegedly) fired Patrice Desilets, they have now (allegedly) put his game 1666 on hold indefinitely

Isn't this what they said in the initial statement, that all the games were put off?

It is, only now we have an actual name of his main project (1666)

Oh ok, that makes sense

Hullis

MrDapper wrote: »

LockedOnTarget wrote: »

How much do you want to bet DC Scribblenauts will somehow only have one Batgirl.

I'm laughing but I'm crying inside.

Object "Wally West" not found

SyphonBlue

oh my god I want this prison game