Kotaku Destroys Itself in A Single Post.

[schild]

Or at least I hope.

According to NeoGAF, CheapyD over at CAG challenged his users to make some awesome fake sh*t up to get a big site to just run with a story. Well, it worked. Obviously, anyone who has followed Kotaku for some time wouldn't really be <strong>surprised</strong> that they'll run with anything, particularly considering their rate structure for writers and the quality of their work. Both of which are, well, bad. But that's not even the best part, rather their response - which shines like a dying star:

UPDATE: It appears that this rumor story could be CAG throwing their
credibility out the window as part of a contest. Kotaku''s decision to
run rumors is always based on the credibility of the site and the
information contained within it. In the past CAG has proven to be a
reliable site, having broken a number of stories through apt reporting.
It appears that may no longer be the case.

I'm sorry Mr. Crecente, there's no amount of spin you can put on it. Kotaku running a rumor based on credibility just reads: "We don't need to check facts, someone else will do it for us." No, you don't check facts because you have a bunch of writers flapping about trying to get the story with the most number of page views to increase their paycheck. Your entire structure is flawed and leads to that sort of unchecked content. Trying to spin it on CAG is just bad taste. This is your fault. No one elses.

You don't check sources. You don't hold your writers to any sort of standard. You've dug your own grave. Here's to hoping the gaming public actually notices this total fuckup instead of assuming you're a legitamate source for anything.

Also, props to CAG, you all proved a point I've been trying to make few over a year now more elegantly than I ever could.

http://giantrealm.gameriot.com/gaming/kotaku-crushes-their-own-credibility

[fuser]

Classy

Brian Crecente   at 08:55 AM
@tex1ntux: It would certainly be sad if that were the case. I can't imagine wanting to throw my site's credibility out the window for a contest.

.

[schild]

Update: Oh man, it only gets better. Xbox 360 Fanboy/Joystiq and Gizmodo. Wow. Just wow. At this point, it's not really a question of whether CAG made the best point ever or the bestest point ever.

[fuser]

Update: Oh man, it only gets better. Xbox 360 Fanboy/Joystiq and Gizmodo. Wow. Just wow. At this point, it's not really a question of whether CAG made the best point ever or the bestest point ever.

360fanboy/joystiq pulled it new url... gizmodo commented:

UPDATE: It appears that we were misled by Cheap Ass Gamer as part of a prank contest. Running fabrications like this one does not help a site's credibility.

Edit: HEXUS picked it up.


This deserves.........

[NiX]

I think we should spin rumors once a month and see who bites consistently.

[Fabricated]

Ahahah, awesome. It's nothing anyone doesn't already know however.

edit: Also who gives a fuck about NeoGAF again? Didn't Cheap Ass Gamers do this? Why do we need to hear about it from the subliterate kids at NeoGAF?

[lamaros]

So I guess google and bloomberg will be killing themselves now too eh?

Talk about a non story.

[Azazel]

Destroys itself? Hardly. Everyone shrugs, moves on and forgets about it.

Just like that whole anonymous/scientology movement from the start of the year.

[stray]

Hmm, now that you mention it, that's what the world needs, isn't it? A good ole fashioned complete destruction of something. Nothing dies off properly these days.

[driph]

That's awesome. The contest was something Cheapy and Wombat came up with spontaneously on the CAGcast after talking about how all the game news blogs were running the bs rumors about the 360 relaunch and g4tv, etc without checking any sorts of facts.

Nice writeup.

[Azazel]

Hmm, now that you mention it, that's what the world needs, isn't it? A good ole fashioned complete destruction of something. Nothing dies off properly these days.

Enron? There's also a couple more being discussed similarly in the Politics forum...

[HaemishM]

The solid fundament of games journalism is shaky on the best of days. People trust games journalism?

[MournelitheCalix]

The solid fundament of games journalism is shaky on the best of days. People trust games journalism?

I know I for one don't.  Long ago with Fallout: Tactics it became painfully obvious to me that either there is a financial relationship between the gaming companies and the games journalism guys or something else must be going on and I really haven't picked up a video gaming magazine since then.   I do however put a lot of stock in word of mouth.  If I hear from friends that a game is worth picking up, then I will more than likely get it.

[Margalis]

Ew Fallout: Tactics. Ew.

[stray]

Hmm, now that you mention it, that's what the world needs, isn't it? A good ole fashioned complete destruction of something. Nothing dies off properly these days.

Enron? There's also a couple more being discussed similarly in the Politics forum...

OK, yeah, that was pretty good. But I need more destruction dangit!

[Jain Zar]

The solid fundament of games journalism is shaky on the best of days. People trust games journalism?

I take it with a grain of salt.  Given the fact I have become even pickier and more of a cheap bitch when it comes to buying videogames  (Helped along with the fact I could easily avoid buying any new home console games for 2-5 years and have a comfortable selection of games to start, finish, or maybe even replay.  OMG HOLY SHIT REPLAY A VIDEOGAME WOAH.) and not really giving a shit what is talked about anyhow Kotaku and the rest of the industry don't bother me much.

That whole Kane & Lynch Gamespot thing was fucked, but it could have been worse if it happened to a reviewer who was willing to get off his fat ass to properly play Wii Sports back in the day.

We know they are as reliable as Fox News already.  Just enjoy the bits worth enjoying, and ignore the rest.  Hell, even Game Informer is worth the roughly 5 dollars or so of the Gamesuck card it will end up costing me a year.  I need something to read on the can every day when I wake up, and Retro Gamer isn't the easiest magazine to come by in the US.

And as to Kotaku itself?  Honestly the worst thing about it is when they talk about their kids and shit.  I don't even want to hear about my friend's kids.  I sure as fuck don't want to hear about some game journalists'.

(Ok, if the journalist is a HAWT CHICK and she wants to blat on about her bi curious sex life I might be vaguely interested in their non game related prattle, but otherwise use a fucking blog for your life stories game journalists.)

And besides, nothing is as bad as Insert Credit, the most Weeaboo of Weeaboo game sites, totally devoted to sucking Japan's cock and making my AD&D House Rules articles look short and concise.

Im not sure who I would want to curbstomp more.  Bill O Reilley or Tim Rogers of said site.

[Yegolev]

I really don't think that any new expose of Kotaku's crappy journalism will affect them any more than the hundreds of previous examples.  It's all about pandering for pageviews, since it's all about money.  In fact, this requires a visit from Pageview Panda.

[lesion]

Jesus hell that looks like one credible bear. Does it have RSS?

[Yegolev]

He will implement whatever you want as long as you keep giving him previews.

[OcellotJenkins]

I'm not necessarily taking up for Kotaku here but they do openly advertise that they are a games rumor and gossip site and more often than not specify when a post is a rumor.



They are like the Drudge Report of games journalism, yeah there is a lot of bullshit but more often than not they get it right and lots of people seem to be ok with that.

[schild]

When you post everything and pay your writers based on CPM, since you're copying from every other site very quickly hoping your post will get the most hits - yea, you're going to be more right than wrong. Make no mistake though, they are the single biggest pure gaming blog on the internet and do NOTHING with the power they have. They are wasted sacks of flesh, don't care if their writers fact check, and honestly shouldn't be read by anybody. You'll get more news faster reading the opening posts of threads on NeoGAF.

[Ironwood]

"Don't mince words, Bones, tell me how you REALLY feel."