Jessica Chobot and Mass Effect 3

[ischmalud]

great news everybody - i actually had to google who that chick was, seems she not makin any waves outside the US so this (as my research concludes) horrible disease is contained within your lands - may god have mercy on your souls.

OT: u might wanna stock up on flamethrowers bevor the end is here

 

[Darkness665]

It seems a stretch for anyone associated with the Escapist to comment on this. Most of what is on this site that passes for news is just regurgitation from other, more journalistic sites (read the headline, google the keywords and find the originator or the piece). A couple of articles a month, an interview or two and some interesting videos from Australia. The videos are mostly opinion pieces and funny bits that wouldn't get released on a real gaming site. The biggest thing they ever accomplished is being acknowledged as a Gaming Life Style Web Site. Oh the stories they will tell over the next millennia of the impact of that!

As for yourself Dennis, I have read your bits over the years and the one thing you are not is Ben Kuchera. You blog up some things and once in a while you might produce something that could be read twice. So you being the entire development team for a game that you reviewed wouldn't be a conflict as neither job was something you could do well.

You got a lot of Jessica haters here. Big Surprise. She is a personality that has worked her way into gaming video world and most of these sites (including very specifically the Escapist) are less then journalist quality. Big Fucking Deal. She probably had to do a NDA to do the gig so not much she could share anyway. She did voice acting, motion capture and/or digital capture of her features. Not a game designer, artist, coder, producer or much of any other damned thing in the very large world of EA nor the Mass Effect sub-continent. If she doesn't like something in ME3 she will brashly and bluntly put her opinion forward ("No word on if you can Fuck her yet" find your own reference) I would suspect that her being involved will not have one bit of difference to the IGN crew except for trying to get her character into bed. Which is no interest to myself since Tali is the focus if I can get past the Origin crap.

Shamus Young, Susan Ardent and Zero Punctuation are the reasons I read this site. That and the hope that someone somewhere in this poorly developed moral quagmire will release Extra Credits videos from the publishers ass hole(s). Probably the same place they keep the policy to steal items that they couldn't or wouldn't pay for in the first place. When then do that maybe they can fix having to watch a video from Rebecca Mayes and have to listen to the pre-teen shout that is the essential Escapist journalism spirit? Hah!

The Escapist as moral compass in the gaming world. Funny concept.

 

[Endocrom]

I don't see THAT much conflict of intrest. Unless she was paid for her VO with a percentage of the profits or whatever, giving her motivation for promoting better sales. She got her check for her day in the recording booth, it's not like spent weeks writing code and wants to make the world believe that the movement mechanics aren't broken.

If anything I would think IGN and G4 would want to use this as a promotion for themselves "Hey, IGN's Jessica Chobot is in a big game, aren't we hip?"

On a side note:
"In an ideal world we'd all be dedicated to a single role..."
That sounds like a horrible world.

 

[surg3n]

What is missing from this article is one simple statement... ''Does anyone actually care?''

Seriously, I think the writer puts far too much faith in his profession, and not enough faith in the ability of gamers to simply not notice, not care, or maybe even just be annoyed at all the focus that this trivial matter has gained.

Nobody really cares about her opinion on ME3, whether she's featured in it or not. Hell, most gamers who will buy ME3 simply do not need to read a review, they might read a review to get information, but it's not going to stop them buying ME3. Fans of the series will buy it, and non-fans won't be put off just because a reviewer they never heard of is featured in the game.

These things are blown out of proportion, but there's no point in writing about it, bringing more attention to it. Gamers are more interested in information, not opinion - we can make our own minds up, we don't put our faith in reviewers, because there is no assumption that a reviewers opinion is more valid than our own. Who says that anyone with a clue actually thinks that including her will improve sales anyway? - it's not the developers, designers, artists, it's marketting... marketting is what happens when a reviewer sells his soul. The whole thing could just have been a bit of fun, but marketting turns it into a nipple-clamp every time.

So don't dwell on the semantics or the marketting - reviewers should provide information about the game, stop doing that and you'll make yourselves more and more redundant. Where exactly do we go to find out about a new game? - Youtube!
I've been a gamer for over 30 years and I only vaguely know who this woman is, because she features in ME3 and people can't seem to get over it. Jeez, imagine if this was in the 90's, and instead of that saucy looking reviewer, we had Violet Berlin lisping at you instead. We should be glad that she looks pretty decent and dismiss it as a bit of fun.

 

[zombflux]

BAWWWW. Like they said, it was a preview, not a review. Nobody with a brain believes previews to fairly show every aspect of the game, they ALWAYS only show the good things.

Get over it.

 

[PlasticTree]

To be honest, the difference between 'news reporter' and 'reviewer' isn't really relevant here. Sure, if she only makes strategy videos then that's fine. However, while a news reporter usually doesn't explicitly display his/her attitude or opinion on things, implicitly he/she does, of course.
You don't let a politician report on political news, no matter how fact-based the news is. So why would it be different in this case?

 

[mxfox408]

I really can care less, but if she reviews games, maybe this game should not be reviewed by her, to avoid this so called conflict of interest all you people are babbling about. Personally I never took game reviews seriously, I play it myself then judge it based on my experience. That being said, I can't understand the mentality of if she's in it I'm not buying it type of childish nonsense. Now as far as you guys stereo typing her as just a pretty face, I'd say your a noob. There are tons of hot girls who play video games, not just the controller that manipulates you, but I've met dated, and worked with some pretty hot girls who plyed WoW, CoD MW, mass effect, ect. Don't judge a book by its cover, judge things by your own experience not someone elses.

 

[Salad Is Murder]

I think the logical fallacy of this article is in assuming that G4 has, or has had, any content that considered 'journalistic' or 'having integrity' or 'worth spending time watching' (ninja warrior excluded).

 

[VulakAerr]

If you have it in you to write this much moral pondering on this, then seriously: You need more in your life. The only cause for concern in this whole thing is if you hate Chobot enough not to buy the game. In which case, don't buy it.

She's a video-game personality. Not a serious reviewer. She probably fulfilled some kind of life dream from appearing in ME3 so why begrudge her it? It just seems like so many sour grapes. I'm not fussed about her either way. Her videos are helpful mostly but it's more interesting listening to her talk about something she's actually interested, like Mass Effect. I don't think she's made any secret of the fact that she likes the franchise. I don't really think being in the game will change anything.

Grow up and start worrying about more important things. Everyone just sounds like they're throwing their toys out of their pram over this and it just comes across as sad.

 

[Icehearted]

So when people like Adam Sessler say things like "don't impugn my integrity", realize that people like his own colleague, by which he is affiliated if even in the loosest possible sense, makes possible such skepticism.

I've said it many times; there are no real journalists in gaming. That would be like having a coffee shop critic sponsored by Starbucks. Your integrity is intrinsically moot with regards to this business, exceptions being only those that do so independently, but I'd find it impossible to genuinely regard them as professional journalists in that case.

At least you were willing to share somewhat likewise observations, soft-handed though they were.

 

[mitchell271]

I put basically this on my facebook page
"I don't know what the hell Jessica Chobot is doing in this game, but good for her. Especially after she left the Daily Fix on IGN."

And for discussion's sake:
According to the article, she is either a journalist or an entertainer, akin to a news anchor. I think she's much, much closer to a personality (i.e. an entertainer) as she doesn't write her own material (I think) and I've never seen an article from her on any site whether it be IGN, G4, GT, Screwattack, The Escapist, GameInformer, Gamasutra, Kotaku, nowhere. So her not reporting her involvement with the project and her "coverage" of it is perfectly reasonable and does not overstep any boundries.

Disclaimer: I know there was a decent amount of speculation in my post, but remember, it is for discussion. Feel free to prove me wrong.

 

[Trishbot]

Which is more pandering to the horny, repressed nerd demographic that likes "gamer girls"?

Sexable Jessica Chobot in Mass Effect 3 or Felicia Day in Dragon Age 2?

I guess I should be grateful Olivia Munn moved on to other things.

 

[grigjd3]

I'm sorry, but even the so called news reporting from G4, IGN or Gamespot is much more akin to advertising than news. When I read or see anything from these places, I assume from the start that the writer is there to express a commercial interest and let them prove me wrong, if they can. I almost certainly prefer to hear an obvious bias because then, at least, the author isn't hiding it.

 

[Preacher zer0]

meh, nobody complained when she appeared on the box art of GTA.

 

[RaNDM G]

Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I wasn't going to buy the game anyway.

 

[draythefingerless]

Watch this if you want a reason to dislike her:

Oh dear god why...

She is a blight. A hideous stain upon an already badly soiled cloth.

Words cannot describe my disdain.

im with this guy. this fucking excuse of a human being does not deserve to be paid to voice a companion in mass effect. at least with Miranda, it was an actual actress(wich btw, her real ass is nothing like mirandas).

 

[Vuljatar]

im with this guy. this fucking excuse of a human being does not deserve to be paid to voice a companion in mass effect. at least with Miranda, it was an actual actress(wich btw, her real ass is nothing like mirandas).

Now now, lets not take things too far. I'm sure she's a lovely human being, but she is no game journalist and has no place in the world of game journalism. (When I referred to "an already badly soiled cloth", I was speaking of the "mainstream" game media, not of humanity in general.)