Prankster Proves How Bad Games Journalists Are, Made up Next-Gen Xbox Rumor Storms the Web

Playstation Lifestyle: I haven’t tried to hide my contempt for how a lot of the games journalism media is run, with that cleverly-linked hyperlink taking you to a list of my favorite rants – teaser: expect another attack on Forbes and the industry that listens to their drivel by the end of the week. This time, however, I didn’t even need to say anything, someone else has done it for me.
-PSLS

[Sev]

Crazy that someone would go to such lengths to fake game sites, but even crazier that they all fell for it.

The list of sites covering it doesn't surprise me at all.

Unfortunately, games journalism is very competitive, so it leads to unsavory situations like this.

[mandf]

Sev people make up sites all the time just to bash a product it's called viral marketing. It has happened this entire gen. Finally someone did it to expose what has been happening. To those that don't think it happens a lot, I got a boat and island to sell.

[calis]

"Sev people make up sites all the time just to bash a product it's called viral marketing"

Viral marketing?

[jadenkorri]

if people didn't already know video game journalists are such a joke, they got to lift up that rock they been living under and connect it to some ethernet wire.

[SolidStoner]

everyone who visits N4G knows that!!

[kneon]

The real problem is that most game journalists aren't really journalists. If they were then more of them would have ethical and quality standards that would reduce the amount of crap we see.

More often than not they are crappy, semi-literate bloggers with horrible grammar and apparently no awareness of the existence of spell checkers.

[BX81]

I'm not sure what they fell for here. If they listed it as a rumor then it's just a rumor not news. I also agree with some of them not real journalist. Hell it's hard to even find a real journalist on the big name news channels.

[kneon]

Even if you do call it a rumor it's all in the delivery. If you clearly point out it's a rumor and objectively report it as such then that's fine. But too often that's not what we see. We see people ranting, raving and overhyping to the point that they forgot that it's all just a rumor.

And yes even the mainstream media have deteriorated, and it's all because of the hits. They are often so afraid of being the last to report something big that the normal journalistic standards are ignored just to make sure that they get enough hits on their web site.

[UnholyLight]

While I understand what the prankster dude has to say about "integrity in journalism" or whatever, I find it incredibly stupid to go to such great lengths as he/she did to write a big long article because they are pissed off about rumours.

It's all just silly and a bit hypocritical. To be honest I actually enjoy the rumours, I have enjoyed all the debates, heated though they may be between Microsoft and Sony fans but IMO it has helped pass the time. This wait has been so long, there's no doubt in my mind why the rumour mill would be running so rampant. Somewhere the Execs of each company are having a laugh because some of the true specs are probably out there somewhere. That or they are having a laugh because we have no idea how awesome the new consoles are going to be.

[wsoutlaw87]

what great lenghts, writing an email? The fact is a website shouldn't just put out what ever some idiot says and call it a rumor. If i say the next playstation will be called the ps6 that doesn't make it a rumor and it should not be written as news. What is the point of reading your site if its full of what ever garbage you can find and I know none of it is backed up by any fact. An email is not a source, what is it there first day on the internet.

[DigitalSmoke]

Competitive journalism isn't excactly whats going on, not even the slightest since journalism demands a water tight foundation.

Every single site who posted news from this guy on their main page should be DELETED from anybody's list right away.

These are the sites that hype you up for the next best thing, or downplay something you might very much like, their opinions are gabage.

[miDnIghtEr20C_SfF]

LMAO, of course a PS site thinks they're above all others. PS lifestyle has been running next gen rumor stories as well.

Bunch of hypocrites.

Rumors are just that, rumors. Until the truth comes out. People need to stop crying about rumors.

[edgeofsins]

Thankfully hiphopgamer no longer floods n4g.

[Wedge19]

Wait wait wait.... so you're telling me that you can't believe everything that you read on the web??

[FarCryLover182]

Yes you can.

[kma2k]

gees didnt you see the commercial about this? If its on tv & the internet its obviously true :)

[FunAndGun]

...uhh,Bonjour.

[Nevers]

I heard this guy won a 100,000,000 internet points from Bill Gates for this too ;)

[calis]

This says it all

[CaitSith]

IS THIS LEGIT?!

TIME TRAVEL!

[NYC_Gamer]

It's because many gaming sites are hungry for hits and don't check the original source of rumored info

[JoelT]

This x 1,000.

[mandf]

Those sites you speak of make up the info. Then they claim they are protecting the source when there is no source.

There are only a few legit sites today that have staff that speak directly to developers. Most sites steal info from the legit sites. Go read submissions to this site half of them have no staff what so ever. Gamespot, Ign, Eurogamer have a staff for research. The rest are hurt fanboy teenagers taking potshots at a system they don't have.

[NYC_Gamer]

These huge sites that been around for years should know better than to run an article with no real legit source.....Instead of doing real journalism they are worried about web traffic/hits..There is no excuse for this sloppy state of journalism when it comes to a multi billion dollar industry..

[matgrowcott]

@mandf

It's incredibly easy to talk to developers. Getting them to talk back on a subject not pre-approved or even getting a reply on something they don't deem beneficial to current products is much, much harder.

I can tell you that researching something akin to an unannounced game or system specs (or even an unannounced feature of a previously announced game) basically boils down to "Is there any credence to this rumour?"

And then silence.

I don't approve of making things up, but the reason rumours are such an important part of our industry is because we rarely get anything else worth reporting on.

[rainslacker]

@mat

I agree. The thing with game development though is that generally it doesn't happen fast. Everything is known going in for the most part, and releasing all the information at once means that there is too long a time where the talk of the game goes dormant because there's nothing new.

It used to be that we'd wait a month or so for new information with our subscriptions, but today everything has to be 24/7, so too much filler is added in while everyone tries to stay on top. Same thing happens with the mainstream media as well, and it's made journalism go more towards opinions, rumors, and speculation, as opposed to real news.

You and I had this conversation last summer, basically we agreed there is an audience for it, so it will probably not change anytime soon.

[Murad]

Gamespot, IGN and EuroGamer have all been known and exposed at one time or another to give bad information, and give review scores based on the developers paying them. You my friend need to understand that before you make quick assessments of other peoples work. GiantBomb, and a great deal of other sites do not do the same.

[daggertoes83]

Bazinga!!!

[TrendyGamers]

Probably the 'pranksters' first word when he saw the initial post pop up.

[iNathan]

Lulz

Tomorrow: Xbox Live is Dead
After Tomorrow: Ps4 is Doomed
Saturday: Sony shoud kill Vita
Sunday: Wii U dead in EU

[jjb1981]

The vita? Noooooooooooooooooooo....

[BeAGamer]

Viva La Vita

[zerocrossing]

This just proves most games journalist are in it for the hits on their sites, instead of investigating and reporting legitimate news they publish flame bait.

[3-4-5]

I would be embarrassed if my website was listed amongst those that were duped.

Proves real journalism is nearly dead....

Just look at all other "real" news sites....It's all gossip and rumor.

It's like High school all over again...except now people get paid to lie and make stuff up.

[Murad]

No it's not dead, not completely anyway. GiantBomb, along with many other sites try to discover news as quickly as possible and give it to you. ElderGeek for example is a fabulous site, too bad no one gives a crap about them, just like you.

[dbjj12088]

Dummies. Whatever, I've got this massive grain of salt that I have with me whenever I'm looking for gaming news.

[RuleNumber5]

It's interesting that you react so shocked to this rumor and speculation stuff. It's like you've never heard of it before and it's a new thing. It literally has been going on for years with 24 hour news outlets like CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and others being the ones who started it. Hastely reporting Presidential Election results? Broadcasting opinion as news? That was started by them. Now it has spread to gaming journalism. At its heart, rumors are not what journalism is about. However, in this day in age, there is little choice for online writers. You need to react and react quick. That's it.

Don't complain about sites reacting to rumors and not fact checking because by the time they do that, 15 stories are out about it and no one cares about your fact checked story. This is simply survival of the fittest. Is all of that right? No. Is it what journalism should be about? No. But guess what? That is reality, and that is how sites run and compete with each other.

There are so many sites that report on rumor without fact checking, that any idealist sites will get run over every time. Some readers care, but most don't! The fact is, the Internet press is free, and just about anyone can pose as a journalist, unfortunately. When things are free and no one has to pay for what they are reading, then sites have to do things differently to generate revenue, even if that means running a story before facts are checked.

This is all a product of today's media, which starts at the top with 24 hour news channels, and then other outlets trying to keep up.

The age of Journalism has come and gone with the emergence of blogging and the explosion of the Internet. With the disappearance of print journalism also went ethics and what the profession use to be about.

It's not what it should be, I agree, but bitching about it everytime a story comes out like this, only makes you a whiner. Adjust to how media IS nowadays. One way or the other, you won't change journalism, journalism will change you.

[violents]

Many of those so call "gaming sites" are just some fat idiots blog. If you are really a journalist you would have people to fact check stories before they are put up on the internet, or paper or whatever. There should be some way to regulate if its a blog or some kind of actual journalist's publication, like a different address or something, mabey instead of .com at the end use something like .bl so people know if its a blog and not masking itself as a reputable source of information.

[RuleNumber5]

There use to be good journalists and good reporting, but it was all ruined by the Internet and blogging. It sucks, but that's reality, so accept it and move on.

[rainslacker]

I don't think we should just accept it. The more we speak out the more people come to realize that it isn't news. The only way to stop the ongoing degradation of news is to speak out against it and want something else. If enough people want it then the media will change. It's not likely to happen soon...certainly not overnight...but it's a sweeping social issue, and those things take time.

The only accepting that should be done is realizing that this isn't the way it should be done. It's a disservice to the reader and the community. If we understand that it's not right, then at least we can see it for what it is.

The worst part of this though, is that these companies actually like these kinds of rumors to go out there. It keeps their product in the spotlight when they have nothing to say about it.

[CatXFlash]

No one knows nothing until SONY and Microsoft come out and speak facts. I am simply going to wait for official word.

[Picnic]

But what if this 'admittal' of the 'prank' is the real prank itself and all the original information was true? ;O)

On the other hand, the idea that the next Xbox will be called just 'Xbox' is so bland that I immediately thought it was unlikely when I read it. That's the tactic that games series use when they need to do a 'reboot', not a successful console series. And I didn't understand the rest of the original article - it was too boring to seem true of a company looking to distance itself in the console market from the mundane aspects of PC computing.

[profgerbik]

Sorry didn't need some "Prankster" to teach me this, have known this for years now.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

There are many fake sites linked on n4g, that shouldn't be surprising news. They're usually responsible for most of the fanboy drivel that gets posted in this site.

However, the real surprise is who owns these sites.

Hint: a big corporation known for slinging mud and a small media empire.

[Soldierone]

Why does everyone pretend its only games journalists that do it? You are a journalist, you want to be the first to the story, thats what you do. Of course you fact check, but if its listed as a rumor whats the problem?

Not only that look at all the massive sites that fell for it. Yahoo was listed, but some TV networks also fell for it.

Honestly it comes down to discretion. We don't run rumors on our site that are from "trusted sources" or "my friends uncle" If there are hints in an actual business letter or something, we might pick it up and list it as a rumor. If it turns out false then everyone goes "game journalists are so terrible!!!!" However I think its fine as I've been with sites, even some that have worked closely with PSLS, and people start learning where a viable source is or isn't.

Back to my original statement, look at Journalism as a whole. The school shooting for example. Due to all the idiotic news sites trying to be first, how many different guns were listed? How many names did we get? How many different numbers and witnesses etc... They were trying to be first, and no one was cross checking information. Look at politics, he said she said bull crap. Journalism as a whole has become "I'm first with the wrong information, but i'm first!"

It's just irritating to me when people pick out games journalism. If I walk around saying I'm a journalists, I get credit. I say "I write for video game sites" and people laugh because of this. However I've ventured out, I freelanced other topics, and my articles were picked up within days, its just not interesting to me so I stick to games and movies.

[tiffac008]

Tell us something we don't know.

[mochachino]

Game journalists are less like major news journalists and more like a company controlled forum or blog. There is very little credibility an highly sensational articles.

[csreynolds]

It was only a matter of time before this happened, and regretfully I don't think it'll change anything... :-(

[Picnic]

I always laugh when I read a report in a tabloid newspaper that has a quote from an unnamed 'close friend of the star'. It nearly always happens to coincide with the known views of the newspaper and is usually in the style of a written piece rather than verbal communication.

[WayneJ360]

Sounds like the prankster doesnt have a gf or a life to me :) lol

[ziggurcat]

this is why you should never listen to anything other than what's coming from the actual source (i.e. MS, sony, nintendo).

which is why the 2013 release dates are ridiculous (it won't happen, people... time to start thinking of a 2014 release), why the constant "ZOMG HURR R TEH SPECZ" articles are ridiculous, etc...

[HawtPaws]

I wish game news reporters would take the time to learn the same reporting techniques as every other type of journalist. Seriously, a 12 year old who goes on 4chan can post a blog and be called a "video game news reporter" nowadays.

That's not to say readers aren't responsible for not verifying sources, but still...

[Kidmyst]

This just goes to show that we will see alot of crap this year and 1/2 of it will be false rumours. Which is why I don't clike on all site links to give them a hit. This is funny though I think and shows how you can say anything and some will jump all over it while others will dismiss it for the official released info.