Jimquisition: Shadiness of Mordor

[AlouetteSK]

Anything majorly different from the main Dynasty Warriors series?

Nothing too groundbreaking, just a few cool twists on the traditional DW formula. The biggest gameplay difference is probably the weakness system that enemy officers and big bosses use. Maybe it's because I'm also a Zelda fan, but I am spending way more time on this game than I generally do on other Koei titles. It's fun as fuck!

Disclosure: Never played a Legend of Zelda game before. Fringe knowledge comes from friends and Smash. I'm probably going to get flayed alive for the previous sentences.

Well, as long as I get to play a knife spammer like Wang Yuanji, I'm fine. Glass cannon build ftw. The difficulty settings are probably the same, i.e. harder == more life/defence/ability to ignore your defence and melt you instead of A.I. improvements.

 

[EternallyBored]

After all the Gamersgate stuff that happened isn't this just vindicating all of those people who were up in arms. Isn't this just another stark example of how utterly corrupt the gaming press is. YouTubers ARE the gaming press, like it or not they are now the leaders in the gaming press, dethroning print media. And while print sites scramble to stay alive, no one seems to be pitch forking the far more corrupt YouTubers. The print media are just as bad probably because these kinds of PR deals are not exclusive to YouTubers but the YouTubers have no quelms flaunting their journalistic corruption.

Is GG actually responding to this in any way? I would think a PR firm using tactics like this would be a good example of something they would want to boycott or write to WB to try and get them to stop using this particular PR company to advertise their games in the future. Something like this would be a ripe target for both chastising reviewers that take that loaded deal, and trying to punish an ethically questionable PR firm for its actions.

If they can spend time writing constant letters trying to get reviewer websites to lose their advertisers, I don't think it would be that difficult to add the WB to their list asking them not to use these PR guys in the future.

 

[K.ur]

The tragedy could be, that the pr-management, that cooked up this clusterfvck of a contract, could now claim that the good press the game gets comes from that cvntract. Instead from Monoliths, i'm a fan since F.A.E.R., good work.

 

[LazyAza]

What the heck why did they even feel a need to do this. I've seen enough unfiltered footage of the game to know I certainly want to get it eventually, jims right all this kinda bs does is make me not wanna play the darn thing.

So maybe I'll wait patiently until its on sale now instead.

 

[Akjosch]

After all the Gamersgate stuff that happened isn't this just vindicating all of those people who were up in arms. Isn't this just another stark example of how utterly corrupt the gaming press is. YouTubers ARE the gaming press, like it or not they are now the leaders in the gaming press, dethroning print media. And while print sites scramble to stay alive, no one seems to be pitch forking the far more corrupt YouTubers. The print media are just as bad probably because these kinds of PR deals are not exclusive to YouTubers but the YouTubers have no quelms flaunting their journalistic corruption.

Is GG actually responding to this in any way? I would think a PR firm using tactics like this would be a good example of something they would want to boycott or write to WB to try and get them to stop using this particular PR company to advertise their games in the future. I would think something like this would be a ripe target for both chastising reviewers that take that loaded deal, and trying to punish an ethically questionable PR firm for its actions.

If they can spend time writing constant letters trying to get reviewer websites to lose their advertisers, I don't think it would be that difficult to add the WB to their list asking them not to use these PR guys in the future.

We'll need to get to it, but it usually takes a few days to disseminate the intel and get the right targets and get the info out.

No time today for me, but I'll see to it tomorrow (well, in a few hours) if nobody else did yet.

Anyway: Thank you, Jim. You did well here. Finally some proper investigative journalism and reporting.

 

[P-89 Scorpion]

This is insane! I say the TB video of Shadow of Mordor and didn't properly take in just how overbearing they were being.

If I'd heard about this before buying the game then I definitely wouldn't have bought it. Hearing about this level of control over a particular product is just so suspicious that I'd be pretty certain the game would be awful... but the game is good, so what the hell was this for?

It's like walking through an airport shouting "I'm not a suicide bomber, honest!".

The problem now is that all the devs owned by Warner brothers jobs are at risk if this cause's people to avoid buying there games in future, remember WB interactive is a tiny part of WB which is only a third of Time Warner if this PR company is used for all Time Warner products WB Interactive has no say in how they advertise that would be Time Warner's legal department but they will suffer the consequence if sales do suffer.


This is the biggest risk of any dev owned by a multimedia conglomerate rather than a pure game/computer company just look at how Disney fucks over it's devs whether owned or contracted for how bad it can get.

 

[SacremPyrobolum]

The funniest thing about this is that Total Biscuit's review of the game was one of the most positive I have ever seen him give. Maybe he took that deal after all....

 

[RiseUp]

Disclosure: Never played a Legend of Zelda game before. Fringe knowledge comes from friends and Smash. I'm probably going to get flayed alive for the previous sentences.

Huh, I find that a little weird. Not bad, just a bit strange, probably because the Zelda series is what really got me into gaming in the first place. If you're ever looking to get into the series, I'd recommend Twilight Princess or The Wind Waker. They're both great games that actually might be approached best with minimal outside knowledge. One step up from those, I'd recommend Majora's Mask. It's a little bit rough around the edges in areas, but I still think it's the best game the series has ever produced, and it's by far the darkest and most thematically interesting.

As for Hyrule Warriors, I can't say much because I haven't had access to my Wii U since I left for college, but I'll definitely be picking it up when I go home in a week.

 

[faeshadow]

After all the Gamersgate stuff that happened isn't this just vindicating all of those people who were up in arms. Isn't this just another stark example of how utterly corrupt the gaming press is. YouTubers ARE the gaming press, like it or not they are now the leaders in the gaming press, dethroning print media. And while print sites scramble to stay alive, no one seems to be pitch forking the far more corrupt YouTubers. The print media are just as bad probably because these kinds of PR deals are not exclusive to YouTubers but the YouTubers have no quelms flaunting their journalistic corruption.

Is GG actually responding to this in any way? I would think a PR firm using tactics like this would be a good example of something they would want to boycott or write to WB to try and get them to stop using this particular PR company to advertise their games in the future. Something like this would be a ripe target for both chastising reviewers that take that loaded deal, and trying to punish an ethically questionable PR firm for its actions.

If they can spend time writing constant letters trying to get reviewer websites to lose their advertisers, I don't think it would be that difficult to add the WB to their list asking them not to use these PR guys in the future.

GG is about journalistic integrity, not company heavy-handedness. I'm sure they could add it to their list of grievances, but they were more focused on sleazy journalism, not sleazy corporate bullshit.

 

[Grace_Omega]

See *this* is the sort of thing the Gamergate people should be focusing on, not the sex lives of indie developers. This is legitimate corruption.

 

[EternallyBored]

After all the Gamersgate stuff that happened isn't this just vindicating all of those people who were up in arms. Isn't this just another stark example of how utterly corrupt the gaming press is. YouTubers ARE the gaming press, like it or not they are now the leaders in the gaming press, dethroning print media. And while print sites scramble to stay alive, no one seems to be pitch forking the far more corrupt YouTubers. The print media are just as bad probably because these kinds of PR deals are not exclusive to YouTubers but the YouTubers have no quelms flaunting their journalistic corruption.

Is GG actually responding to this in any way? I would think a PR firm using tactics like this would be a good example of something they would want to boycott or write to WB to try and get them to stop using this particular PR company to advertise their games in the future. Something like this would be a ripe target for both chastising reviewers that take that loaded deal, and trying to punish an ethically questionable PR firm for its actions.

If they can spend time writing constant letters trying to get reviewer websites to lose their advertisers, I don't think it would be that difficult to add the WB to their list asking them not to use these PR guys in the future.

GG is about journalistic integrity, not company heavy-handedness. I'm sure they could add it to their list of grievances, but they were more focused on sleazy journalism, not sleazy corporate bullshit.

It's pretty much both though, and it would be largely useless to focus on journalistic integrity if you don't at least attempt to address where part of the money and influence is coming from. Otherwise you end up just attacking symptoms instead of causes, and one of the major causes of unethical journalist actions seems to stem from things like this.

 

[Kmadden2004]

The funniest thing about this is that Total Biscuit's review of the game was one of the most positive I have ever seen him give. Maybe he took that deal after all....

Nah, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'd publicly shame a PR firm for its shady practices, only to then take them up on their offer.

 

[MerlinCross]

YouTubers have no quelms flaunting their journalistic corruption.

So Youtubers have the option to either review the game, positively, or put the review up and either have it flagged as copyright(Which is really bad) or just taken down, losing all the time and work they put into the video. Or just not get a review copy at all.

That doesn't seem like corruption to me. That sounds like heavy handed marketing control from the publishers. It would have been corruption in my mind if all the Youtubers went up to WB and said "Hey pay us and we'll all give you a good review". Maybe they don't have a mailing list to coordinate.

And hell, why is it the Youtubers have to abide by this? Wasn't there an article a few days ago about the game and the reviewer, *gasp*, Didn't like it? Lemme see if I can find that.

They like their hobby, and they like talking about it. That makes some people complicit in this system, but they're not responsible for it. It's the industry's largest publishers that GamerGate should be worried about, not Indiecade or Zoe Quinn or Gamasutra.

Publishers: Yes yes, buy our product like good sheepies.
Journalists: You bought their product! How DARE YOU!!! YOU ARE BAD, DEAD, AND NOT OUR CUSTOMERS ANYMORE!!!

Yeah who do I please when the Publishers want my money and the Journalists seem to not want me in the hobby anymore. I blame both of them. The Publishers for doing shady practice after shady practice, and the gaming media for putting up with if not doing shady practices themselves. I'm also mad at the gamer(Oh no I just labeled people) core/community/etc for letting it get this far and out of control. Should have had the pitchforks out long ago.

Maybe it's not to late to just give up and play tabletop. Keep doing what you do Jim.

 

[Sticky]

Seeing this contract thing is just.. Weird. Never even knew reviewers and lets players had contracts. I thought they just played games.

Oh well, at least the game is good.

Weird that they specified not wanting references to the movies or the books... Its from the same WB, after all.

Was wondering about that as well. Seems strange.

Here's the thing: They wouldn't have contracts if they just played games like all the other consumers do; on the day of release.

The LPers and internet personalities are falling into the exact same trap that reviewers fell into in the 90's. [http://i.imgur.com/0kWbxNB.jpg]

That article I just linked? That's from 1995 from an Amiga magazine. The same trick worked then and it's working now to enslave and silence those who wish to speak to the consumer without the industry mouthpiece.

The problem is that there isn't much they can do about it, especially with the internet. People want reviews and are willing to watch videos from known industry shills if it means they get to watch the review seconds before a perfectly honest reviewer.

I've seen people blame the internet for teaching people to be lazy and decadent when it comes to content evaluation. That can't possibly be true, because the same thing was happening way before the internet even existed. This was a common practice with the movie industry up until some of the great reviewers gave the finger to the industry and reviewed it on their own.

Really it seems to me that Warner Brothers are just porting over their scummy underhanded tactics from their movie industry practices. This wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a business dealing in Hollywood obtaining a television sponsorship.
Maybe WB's mistake was that they're trying to treat the internet like television. Or maybe that's not a mistake at all and it will work wonders to the detriment of everyone.

Of course, I'm saying this as I type in a captcha that has me repeating the glories of Idaho Steaks and their "Easy mashed flavors", whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean.

 

[Kmadden2004]

After all the Gamersgate stuff that happened isn't this just vindicating all of those people who were up in arms. Isn't this just another stark example of how utterly corrupt the gaming press is. YouTubers ARE the gaming press, like it or not they are now the leaders in the gaming press, dethroning print media. And while print sites scramble to stay alive, no one seems to be pitch forking the far more corrupt YouTubers. The print media are just as bad probably because these kinds of PR deals are not exclusive to YouTubers but the YouTubers have no quelms flaunting their journalistic corruption.

Is GG actually responding to this in any way? I would think a PR firm using tactics like this would be a good example of something they would want to boycott or write to WB to try and get them to stop using this particular PR company to advertise their games in the future. Something like this would be a ripe target for both chastising reviewers that take that loaded deal, and trying to punish an ethically questionable PR firm for its actions.

If they can spend time writing constant letters trying to get reviewer websites to lose their advertisers, I don't think it would be that difficult to add the WB to their list asking them not to use these PR guys in the future.

GG is about journalistic integrity, not company heavy-handedness. I'm sure they could add it to their list of grievances, but they were more focused on sleazy journalism, not sleazy corporate bullshit.

Except that this company heavy-handedness may have a direct impact on journalistic integrity by locking them into such a draconian agreement just to review the game, and going out of their way to silence those who review the game but didn't sign into the brand deal. Sorry, but you can't pick and choose here. If the GamerGate crowd can't, or won't, see how this is precisely the thing they should be lighting the torches and sharpening the pitchforks over, then they're just undermining their own "we hate corruption" argument.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

Seeing this contract thing is just.. Weird. Never even knew reviewers and lets players had contracts. I thought they just played games.

Oh well, at least the game is good.

Weird that they specified not wanting references to the movies or the books... Its from the same WB, after all.

Was wondering about that as well. Seems strange.

I imagine that is something to appease the Tolkien folks. I hear they are very strict regarding everything that goes into a Middle-Earth media. Polygon had an article where a developer had put a pumpkin patch in the Shire and they had to go back and remove it at their behest.

EDIT: Here is a link to that Polygon article if anyone is interested: http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/29/6863443/pumpkin-spice-latte-in-middle-earth

As for the contract stuff the video was about, the only word I can come up with is "Shameful". And the saddest part of all is that this game is great. I bought it myself and have had a great time with it, like Jim already said. It's sad they felt the need to go this route.

 

[Bad Jim]

They actually tried to cut ties with the LOTR/Hobbit films but had "Him" in it. Is he a different copyright or something?

Spoiler

No, he's the project manager!

"MY PRECIOUSSS"

 

[Sticky]

After all the Gamersgate stuff that happened isn't this just vindicating all of those people who were up in arms. Isn't this just another stark example of how utterly corrupt the gaming press is. YouTubers ARE the gaming press, like it or not they are now the leaders in the gaming press, dethroning print media. And while print sites scramble to stay alive, no one seems to be pitch forking the far more corrupt YouTubers. The print media are just as bad probably because these kinds of PR deals are not exclusive to YouTubers but the YouTubers have no quelms flaunting their journalistic corruption.

Here's my main issue with GamerGate in general (because of course it has to come up somewhere in a thread about industry bullshit): they target the wrong people. There is corruption within the industry, but it's not at all driven by the sinister, self-promoting intent they assume of people in gaming journalism. It's as a direct result of publishers manipulating gaming media as a marketing department, something a good amount of journalists seem to buy into simply because they're excited about what they do, they like the opportunity to have the industry cater to them and give them special access to things they personally enjoy. They like their hobby, and they like talking about it. That makes some people complicit in this system, but they're not responsible for it. It's the industry's largest publishers that GamerGate should be worried about, not Indiecade or Zoe Quinn or Gamasutra.

No they're just as guilty as everyone else too. Just because they're small, doesn't mean they're still not part of the problem. You can't make the argument that being small somehow negates them from being part of the problem when they themselves are repeating the industry mistakes that got people who want to enjoy video games into this mess.

The only reason scummy rags and shady developers aren't taking just as much fire over this is because it's really easy to point at a big specter like Warner Brothers and say they are the cause of the industries' woes. It's easy to get distracted by the bigger players while the smaller players commit just as worse atrocities to journalistic integrity.

It's the same with the Let's players who are signing these contracts. The only reason they're signing these contracts is because they want even the tiniest edge over their competition. Which hurts everyone, because now everybody wants that tiny edge no matter what contract they have to sign to get it. I can't blame Warner Brothers for offering the contract as much as I do the let's players for signing it.

Really all of Gamergate has been that way, people wanting accountability for the underhanded tactics that are meant to get an edge in the industry to the detriment of everyone else. I hope the best to the people supporting it, but I can't in good faith take to twitter to help fight for it when I know that it's a longstanding problem with advertisement industries in general that isn't ever going to go away.

 

[EternallyBored]

No they're just as guilty as everyone else too. Just because they're small, doesn't mean they're still not part of the problem. You can't make the argument that being small somehow negates them from being part of the problem when they themselves are repeating the industry mistakes that got people who want to enjoy video games into this mess.

The only reason scummy rags and shady developers aren't taking just as much fire over this is because it's really easy to point at a big specter like Warner Brothers and say they are the cause of the industries' woes. It's easy to get distracted by the bigger players while the smaller players commit just as worse atrocities to journalistic integrity.

As someone who has worked with a number of social causes big and small over the years, you gotta attack both the big and the small targets for anything like tackling a systemic issue to have a lasting impact.

While pointing at the big guys is easy, actually attacking them is much much harder than attacking the smaller targets. On the flip side, the small guys are better at avoiding being targets, but they are much easier to actually attack, because they will generally respond, and can be hurt far easier than the big fish.

It's a common problem in a lot of social change organizations I've worked for over the years, the desire to focus only on the the smaller symptoms and players is tempting because there is actually a good chance that you can engage and either change or attack them. The problems start to crop up when you leave the big players unmolested, or focus too much attention on the more easily attacked small fry, you either end up being unable to effect change because the small players are too easily replaced and for every one you knock down another springs up, or you end up changing things on a a mezzo or micro level, but the macro level issues make it so the changes you fought so hard for end up being undone in a year or two due to downward pressure from macro level organizations that hold the majority of the money and power.

That's not to say attacking at the micro level is bad, but I've seen even the most well intentioned groups fail because they were drawn in by the more easily attacked small targets and never quite worked up the courage to attack the big players, because changing the big guys is probably one of the hardest parts of these types of movements.

 

[babinro]

This video has effectively turned me off the purchase of this game.

To be honest, I was never planning to buy this game new to begin with...it's always been a title that interests me but could wait for a price drop. Knowing this...I really don't feel 'okay' supporting the product anymore. I can live without this title despite the fact that it still looks cool (the shadowstep combat stuff seems amazingly fun!).

I won't go as far as to say that I'll boycott companies that do this but if I'm on the fence about something...I'd rather not support a company that uses this kind of practice to sway my decision.

I don't watch these personalities to experience a talking game advertisement...I'm not going to these channels to watch an informercial.