Konami Shuns Kotaku Japan Over Corruption Comments

[Logan Westbrook]

Konami Shuns Kotaku Japan Over Corruption Comments

Konami has revoked Kotaku Japan's invitation to the launch event for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker after it published an article suggesting that there was something fishy about its perfect score in Famitsu.

A perfect forty out of forty in Famitsu is pretty rare, so rare in fact there have only been 13 in the magazine's 24 year history. The recent 40 handed to Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker takes the total up to fourteen, but not everyone is convinced that the game came by such an accolade entirely honestly.

In an editorial, Kotaku's Brian Ashcraft pointed out [http://kotaku.com/5520937/do-not-trust-this-magazines-review-scores] that Hirokazu Hamamura, the former Famitsu editor-in-chief, and the current president of Enterbrain had appeared in a number of ads for Peace Walker and that the magazine actually appeared in the game, and suggested that there might be a conflict of interests.

Kotaku Japan published a translated version of the article, and in response Konami and Famitsu both contacted the site and Konami revoked its invitation to Peace Walker's launch event. This isn't proof of any shady or underhanded goings-on, but doesn't really help either Konami or Famitsu one bit, especially not when you consider how often the gaming media gets accused of being on the take on a good day.

Source: 1up [http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3178998]



Permalink

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Famitsu gave it a 40/40?!

Hell, I'm shocked. Now I wish my PSP hadn't broken.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famitsu#Perfect_scores

For those wondering.

 

[chstens]

I get the feeling that Evil Inc. is somehow involved... Devious...

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I'd get it if only to clear that image up.

Is that Solid Snake? Unless that's not Big Boss strangling that guy back there. Confusing.

 

[Benjeezy]

LOLOLOL banhammered. That'll teach them to backsass Hideo "The Iron Fist" Kojima.

 

[Abriael]

This is getting hilarious. Ashcraft writes an hot headed (and hypocritical) ranting post against a competing publication, a post that really borders libel and might easily have legal implications and he gets bent out of shape when he gets called on it?

I have to reiterate my opinion about the matter: http://classygamer.blogspot.com/2010/04/famitsu-controversy.html

This is the point where a professional journalist should swallow his pride, understand that he thrown accusations without a shred of proof, admit he was wrong and move on.

But no, he grasps at straws so desperately that it isn't even funny anymore: "waaaaah they responded on the same day! They must have decided together to bully Kotaku! Waaaaah!"
Good morning, Mr Ashcraft, publishers and journalists TALK to each other. You probably talk to publishers daily. When one of the two parties saw that libel article, it's pretty obvious that they called the other to let them know that some site was slandering them. There's really nothing weird or conspirationalist in that. So it's pretty obvious that a response was issued on the same day and, surprise surprise, arrived on the same day. Postage in Japan still works.

Maybe it's really time for Ashcraft to swallow his pride, admit that he did something stupid (and ethically very wrong), bow down and step back, instead of trying (and failing) to beef his accusations with more smoky conspiracy theories.

As for "shooting the messenger", Kotaku Japan isn't a "messenger". Kotaku Japan willingly published a libelous article, no matter where it was originally written. They did so under their responsibility. If you publish a libelous article, you're just as liable as if you wrote it. It's probable that they didn't even notice that the article was just a translation of what it appeared on Kotaku. The two sites being owned by different companies is no matter. They have the same name, and Kotaku Japan lives mostly on articles translated from Kotaku. To an external observer they are the same entity, so it's natural that they just wrote to them.

Seriously, Bashcraft did something hypocritical, morally and professionally wrong, and probably even bordering on the legally wrong, he's been called on it. he should it up, apologize and move on.

 

[TOGSolid]

Diffrent people likes diffrent things.
People have been giving HALO and Call of Duty series a string of near perfect scores since years back when they aren't better than good old DooM.

And like our gaming review sources aren't any less bought out? Anyone that trusts review scores is a dunderhead.

Kotaku Japan published a translated version of the article, and in response Konami and Famitsu both contacted the site and Konami revoked its invitation to Peace Walker's launch event.

This is pretty damning. Either A) Those two companies are a bunch of butthurt, whiny fuckheads or B) They really did have some shady shit going on and the review scores were bought out.

Isn't it peculiar how half of Famitsu's perfect scores occured within just the past two years? C'mon now, that's just damned odd for a mag that's been around for 24.

 

[Jared]

I get the feeling that Evil Inc. is somehow involved... Devious...

Indeed...and it seems they have been caught out

 

[Abriael]

This is pretty damning. Either A) Those two companies are a bunch of butthurt, whiny fuckheads or B) They really did have some shady shit going on and the review scores were bought out.

Excuse me, but this is a pretty farfetched argument. When someone writes a quite clearly libelous article against a publisher AND a developer without the smallest shred of proof (and accuse a publication of corruption is plenty between the boundaries of libel), there's nothing surprising if the ones on the receiving end of the libel (both the publisher and the developer) retaliate.

Blacklisting Kotaku would be actually a very mild reaction. They could have easily reacted with a lawsuit.

Looks like Ashcraft thinks he can write whatever the hell he wants without any consequence, no matter the fact that he doesn't have any kind of proof or solid argument. Well, he's just been proven wrong. Good lesson that everyone in his line of business should learn.

 

[John Funk]

This is getting hilarious. Ashcraft writes an hot headed (and hypocritical) ranting post against a competing publication, a post that really borders libel and might easily have legal implications and he gets bent out of shape when he gets called on it?

I have to reiterate my opinion about the matter: http://classygamer.blogspot.com/2010/04/famitsu-controversy.html

This is the point where a professional journalist should swallow his pride, understand that he thrown accusations without a shred of proof, admit he was wrong and move on.

But no, he grasps at straws so desperately that it isn't even funny anymore: "waaaaah they responded on the same day! They must have decided together to bully Kotaku! Waaaaah!"
Good morning, Mr Ashcraft, publishers and journalists TALK to each other. You probably talk to publishers daily. When one of the two parties saw that libel article, it's pretty obvious that they called the other to let them know that some site was slandering them. There's really nothing weird or conspirationalist in that. So it's pretty obvious that a response was issued on the same day and, surprise surprise, arrived on the same day. Postage in Japan still works.

Maybe it's really time for Ashcraft to swallow his pride, admit that he did something stupid (and ethically very wrong), bow down and step back, instead of trying (and failing) to beef his accusations with more smoky conspiracy theories.

As for "shooting the messenger", Kotaku Japan isn't a "messenger". Kotaku Japan willingly published a libelous article, no matter where it was originally written. They did so under their responsibility. If you publish a libelous article, you're just as liable as if you wrote it. It's probable that they didn't even notice that the article was just a translation of what it appeared on Kotaku. The two sites being owned by different companies is no matter. They have the same name, and Kotaku Japan lives mostly on articles translated from Kotaku. To an external observer they are the same entity, so it's natural that they just wrote to them.

Seriously, Bashcraft did something hypocritical, morally and professionally wrong, and probably even bordering on the legally wrong, he's been called on it. he should it up, apologize and move on.

Do you really think that pointing out that a magazine gave a perfect score to a game that its founder has been involved in promoting - a magazine that is included in the game itself, no less - without any disclosure of this fact is, indeed, libelous?

 

[Jumplion]

Condense

I agree, after reading Ashcraft's article it was basically just random accusations of some conspiracies and basically insulting them with baseless claims before the game had even come out for them to decide if the game was warranted a "perfect" score.

And really, "The review appears bought. It needlessly dirties up what could very well be a great game"? A perfect score dirtying up a game? What the hell is he talking about?

I won't deny that something may be fishy about it, but frankly I don't care. A review is a review is a review, whether bought or not, if everyone else hates it then that's what they think. I wouldn't invite him to my birthday party if he was slandering conspiracies about how I invited a girl that apparently I "boned" yesterday, would I?

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

While I don't really think tat anything fishy is going on, I think this is the reason why advertisement deals should be made after the review is done to make sure their is no conflict of interests or the illusion of such.

Though banning that pass was proboly the stupidest mistake that Konami could make in this situation.

 

[Poomanchu745]

This is getting hilarious. Ashcraft writes an hot headed (and hypocritical) ranting post against a competing publication, a post that really borders libel and might easily have legal implications and he gets bent out of shape when he gets called on it?

I have to reiterate my opinion about the matter: http://classygamer.blogspot.com/2010/04/famitsu-controversy.html

This is the point where a professional journalist should swallow his pride, understand that he thrown accusations without a shred of proof, admit he was wrong and move on.

But no, he grasps at straws so desperately that it isn't even funny anymore: "waaaaah they responded on the same day! They must have decided together to bully Kotaku! Waaaaah!"
Good morning, Mr Ashcraft, publishers and journalists TALK to each other. You probably talk to publishers daily. When one of the two parties saw that libel article, it's pretty obvious that they called the other to let them know that some site was slandering them. There's really nothing weird or conspirationalist in that. So it's pretty obvious that a response was issued on the same day and, surprise surprise, arrived on the same day. Postage in Japan still works.

Maybe it's really time for Ashcraft to swallow his pride, admit that he did something stupid (and ethically very wrong), bow down and step back, instead of trying (and failing) to beef his accusations with more smoky conspiracy theories.

As for "shooting the messenger", Kotaku Japan isn't a "messenger". Kotaku Japan willingly published a libelous article, no matter where it was originally written. They did so under their responsibility. If you publish a libelous article, you're just as liable as if you wrote it. It's probable that they didn't even notice that the article was just a translation of what it appeared on Kotaku. The two sites being owned by different companies is no matter. They have the same name, and Kotaku Japan lives mostly on articles translated from Kotaku. To an external observer they are the same entity, so it's natural that they just wrote to them.

Seriously, Bashcraft did something hypocritical, morally and professionally wrong, and probably even bordering on the legally wrong, he's been called on it. he should it up, apologize and move on.

Do you really think that pointing out that a magazine gave a perfect score to a game that its founder has been involved in promoting - a magazine that is included in the game itself, no less - without any disclosure of this fact is, indeed, libelous?

I find his comments about Ashcraft being libelous very libelous! I demand legal reparations!

OT: I smell some fishy shit here too. Granted the game might be that good but Im guessing it might have gone from a 39 to a 40 from the conflict of interests.

 

[Abriael]

Do you really think that pointing out that a magazine gave a perfect score to a game that its founder has been involved in promoting - a magazine that is included in the game itself, no less - without any disclosure of this fact is, indeed, libelous?

If you read the article that originated the whole mess, you'll notice that he didn't just point out the fact, he also drew personal conclusions and insinuated some quite clear accusations. That's most definitely libelous.
He concluded that Famitsu "is not to be trusted" without a shred of proof(so much that he put it in the title), if that's not defamatory, I don't know what it is.

If I write on a newspaper "The politician X has his niece working for the corporation Y, the corporation Y got this project from the government" those are facts.
If i write "the politician X has his niece working for the corporation Y, the corporation Y got this job from the government, hence the politician X is not to be truested, because we suspect that he underhandedly favored corporation Y in the competitiojn for the project" and I don't have any kind of solid proof to back that up, that's most decidedly libelous.

This without even mentioning that other than being libelous Ashcraft's article is absolutely hypocritical. Ascraft's salary comes from game publishers that pay Kotaku with advertisement deals. He receives tons of swag and favors from publishers basically daily. Why should we not trust Famitsu and trust him? It's not like he has no relationships with game publishers, quite the contrary.

Also, What disclosure? What is there to be disclosed? The deal for the appearence of Famitsu in MGSW is in everyone's face. They even went on stage on a press conference to announce it with every possible frill. Nothing of it is secret or hidden, so there's nothing to be disclosed.

When the rest of the gaming press will go out and "disclose" every single advertisement deal they have related to a game or publisher, when they will send back to the sender all the swag, favors and little giveaways they receive from publishers, then they'll have the ground to single out Famitsu on a similar thing. Kotaku for sure isn't clean, so Mr ashcraft should look into his own camp instead of slandering another publication.

While I don't really think tat anything fishy is going on, I think this is the reason why advertisement deals should be made after the review is done to make sure their is no conflict of interests or the illusion of such.

Great. I'm all for that. But tell it to the gaming press as a WHOLE, because you know, every single gaming publication out there has advertisement deals with publishers before the review is published. Famitsu is not the first, not the last, ergo another gaming publication that lives on advertisement deals just as much (actually more, since Kotaku lives exclusively on advertisement having no other revenue) singling famitsu out is so hypocritica, unprofessional, and ultimately disgusting.

Though banning that pass was proboly the stupidest mistake that Konami could make in this situation.

It's actually a quite mild reaction to a defamatory post.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Makes you wonder, if this review was indeed bought, then how many othe MGS reviews were bought as well? Perhaps Hideo's belief that he is a good game maker isn't built on as a solid foundation as he thought.

 

[Space Jawa]

Isn't it peculiar how half of Famitsu's perfect scores occured within just the past two years? C'mon now, that's just damned odd for a mag that's been around for 24.

I'm curious about that, too. I have a hard time believing that the past two years has seen that huge an upswing in the ability of people to make 'perfect' games. At this point, I'm not sure how reliably I can count any of those recent 'perfect' scores to be.

Perhaps this is the real story here. Maybe someone should look into it and write a story about that.

 

[John Funk]

Do you really think that pointing out that a magazine gave a perfect score to a game that its founder has been involved in promoting - a magazine that is included in the game itself, no less - without any disclosure of this fact is, indeed, libelous?

If you read the article that originated the whole mess, you'll notice that he didn't just point out the fact, he also drew personal conclusions and insinuated some quite clear accusations. That's most definitely libelous.
He concluded that Famitsu "is not to be trusted" without a shred of proof(so much that he put it in the title), if that's not defamatory, I don't know what it is.

If I write on a newspaper "The politician X has his niece working for the corporation Y, the corporation Y got this project from the government" those are facts.
If i write "the politician X has his niece working for the corporation Y, the corporation Y got this job from the government, hence the politician X is not to be truested, because we suspect that he underhandedly favored corporation Y in the competitiojn for the project" and I don't have any kind of solid proof to back that up, that's most decidedly libelous.

This without even mentioning that other than being libelous Ashcraft's article is absolutely hypocritical. Ascraft's salary comes from game publishers that pay Kotaku with advertisement deals. He receives tons of swag and favors from publishers basically daily. Why should we not trust Famitsu and trust him? It's not like he has no relationships with game publishers, quite the contrary.

Also, What disclosure? What is there to be disclosed? The deal for the appearence of Famitsu in MGSW is in everyone's face. They even went on stage on a press conference to announce it with every possible frill. Nothing of it is secret or hidden, so there's nothing to be disclosed.

While I don't really think tat anything fishy is going on, I think this is the reason why advertisement deals should be made after the review is done to make sure their is no conflict of interests or the illusion of such.

Great. I'm all for that. But tell it to the gaming press as a WHOLE, because you know, every single gaming publication out there has advertisement deals with publishers before the review is published. Famitsu is not the first, not the last, ergo another gaming publication that lives on advertisement deals just as much (actually more, since Kotaku lives exclusively on advertisement having no other revenue) singling famitsu out is so hypocritica, unprofessional, and ultimately disgusting.

Though banning that pass was proboly the stupidest mistake that Konami could make in this situation.

It's actually a quite mild reaction to a defamatory post.

Okay, you are familiar with the idea of an opinion editorial, yes? There is a difference between news reporting and an opinion piece.

The expectation is that if Kotaku were similarly involved with the promotion of a game (and if Kotaku reviews were so influential as those of Famitsu), it would have to disclose such a thing in its review.

 

[Abriael]

Perhaps this is the real story here. Maybe someone should look into it and write a story about that.

Or perhapse they simply have a new generation of reviewers and journalists that are more enthusiastic about games and more free in giving high scores?

Look around the world-wide press. How many perfect scores did you use to see in the nineties and early 2000s? Lately there's tons of 10s dropped around. God of War III, Uncharted 2, Metal Gear Solid 4. Lots of examples out there. Why?
Simply because gaming journalism, as a whole, has changed.
Once upon a time an 8/10 was a great score. Now if a game gets 9.2 instead of 9.5-10, then it's a failure and a trainwreck ensues.

It's most definitely not a matter of Famitsu.

 

[Abriael]

Okay, you are familiar with the idea of an opinion editorial, yes? There is a difference between news reporting and an opinion piece.

Opinion pieces don't allow you to say whatever the hell crosses your mind, mate. You're still subject to laws and regulations, and if you write something that potentially damages someone's public image and credibility, you better have your proof well lined up, and much more solid than your own little conjectures.

The expectation is that if Kotaku were similarly involved with the promotion of a game (and if Kotaku reviews were so influential as those of Famitsu), it would have to disclose such a thing in its review.

Kotaku are similarly involved in the promotion of a ton of games. They splatter their whole site with full blown themes that basically turn the whole site into an ad (and the same is done by Kotaku Japan).
How influential they are is irrelevant. And they disclose nothing.
The same goes for all the other publications that receive tens of thousands dollars (not to mention all the freebies) from publishers to advertise games.