With the fall of NeoGAF, one can only hope that gamer culture really is a microcosm of the world’s politics, as game journalists would have us believe. Surely I can’t be the only one that remembers how they constantly told us gamers were dead, while simultaneously colluding with Russia to alter the 2016 US presidential election, and being the prototype for the recruitment of the Alt-Right’s online Nazi reserves? I know you remember, because it’s still going on today.
However, weathering those malicious assaults is something gamers do best. We forge ourselves in the pixelated flames of war, training relentlessly to do only one thing: Win. Judging by how popular gaming has become, and how those who constantly insult and suppress gamers find themselves wrapped in controversy due to their long buried skeletons rising from the depths, I’d say we’re pretty f*%king good at winning. Continue reading The Fall of NeoGAF: Hopefully gaming is the microcosm→
The online gaming forum NeoGAF has long been a major player in the gaming media. Many sites rip their claims and sources right from its posts, and industry insiders have often frequented its pages. However, there has always been a darker side to the board: More than a strong political bias, NeoGAF’s existence has been underscored by its hypocrisy when it comes to sexual harassment against women from it’s own staff.
NeoGAF’s owner Tyler Malka, also known as EviLore, has had multiple allegations of sexual misconduct leveled at him. In 2006 he helped spread allegedly private nude images of a forum member’s girlfriend.
In 2012 he bragged in a “Trumpian” manner about grabbing a woman’s ass hard without her consent, leaving her so disgusted she just left and didn’t even take her drink.
Just a few days ago, a woman claimed he invaded her shower without an invitation while she was ill and intoxicated.
Disgusting stuff all around.
Now given NeoGAF’s propensity for jumping all over people in these cases, even before a statement has been offered by the accused, and enjoying the 50+ page threads that inevitably devolve into turd-flinging messes, one would assume these claims, like many others, would have their own unified thread in which to calmly discuss accusations against the site’s own-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
No.
Threads were being locked and deleted as fast as possible. The site has gone into full damage control mode, and users are being banned for even mentioning the topic. The site keeps running slowly or going down completely, which helps slow the tide of new posts on the matter. That’s very convenient, as at least seven of the site’s moderators/admins have already stepped down amid swirling rumors that EviLore was trying to explain himself to them by accusing his accuser of being a wounded former lover caught in a love triangle. Smooth move, ladykiller! (Dear gods I hope that’s not a literal epithet by the end of this latest drama.)
I’m all for waiting for more facts to come out before we say EviLore did pull a Harvey Weinstein, but the disparity in the handling of this situation in comparison to say, Nick Robinson’s #MeToo moment, highlights the hypocrisy that saturates the entirety of NeoGAF. It looks like an admission of guilt in the scummiest way imaginable, and it created a far greater backlash than a centralized thread and well crafted statement would have led to in the NeoGAF bubble.
And that’s how Tyler Malka’s hypocrisy has led to NeoGAF burning
Note: In the interest of fairness and integrity, I will update this article if and when Malka posts his statement.
The tale of No Mans Sky and how it became one of the biggest cluster-messes in recent gaming history is a long and winding one. One that was alluded to in my previous article on the hacking of Hello Games email accounts. There is so much to the exact nature of this series of events however that could not have possibly been contained in that one short article. Continue reading How The Sky Fell: An Ethical Tale of Hello Games→
Uwe Boll, notorious german filmmaker and all around swellguy, has announced that he will be retiring from filmmaking this week.
Feel free to take a few moments to celebrate however you deem it appropriate before we continue.
For those not in the know, Uwe Boll is a german filmmaker who has a longstanding career of making some of the most critically panned movies in the history of Hollywood. Stretching back over 25 years in the industry Boll has been prolific (though not necesarily talented or even competent) in producing movies for world wide audiences. Boll is most infamously known for adapting video game titles such as Far Cry, Postal, House of the Dead, BloodRayne, In the Name of the King, and Alone in The Dark. All of which ended up as huge financial losses and horrible abominations of cinema that enraged gamers throughout the gaming community. Only made profitable due to Boll exploiting a loophole in german tax laws that placed a large part of the financial loss on the government. Loopholes which have since been fixed.
In an interview Boll said he was losing capital by having to finance movies himself. The losses proving to be too great. He explained that his films made in the last decade were all self-financed and that he only made his video game adaptations to raise the funds for his passion projects.
“I’ve been using my money since 2005 and if I hadn’t made the stupid video game based movies I would never have amalgamated the capital so I could say, ‘Let’s make the Darfur movie,'” Boll stated. “I don’t need a Ferrari, I don’t need a yacht. I invested in my own movies and I lost money.”
Boll’s video game movies have been nominated for a total of 16 Razzies throughout his career, with Alone in the Dark being especially notable for it’s panning by critics. Jeffrey Lyles of The Gazette considered it so bad that, “…other legendary bad films…await a film of this magnitude because it gets awfully lonely on the island of misfit movies.” While Roger Moore of The Orlando Sentinel stated: “Alone in the Dark shows just how tenuous Plan 9 from Outer Space ‘s hold on that ‘worst movie ever’ title really is.”
Gamers have long been infuriated by Bolls movies, citing that they rarely have relation to the actual game that they are titled after. Having cheap special effects, horrible visuals, and writing/characters that spit on their beloved franchises and in their own faces as well. The potential of a BloodRayne or House of the Dead movie forever tainted in their minds. Comforted only in the knowledge that Boll failed in his bid to attempt to direct the 2016 Warcraft movie.
On behalf of the gaming community I would like to bid Uwe a fond farewell. You will not be missed……like at all.
A trailer unveiled earlier this morning by Square Enix showed off footage from their new addition to the Kingdom Hearts series. As a celebration of the games 15th anniversary, Square Enix has announced the release of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix for next March. A compilation of six remastered titles from the series for the PS4. Meaning that fans of the series can relive everything from the very beginning before they play the long-awaited Kingdom Hearts 3 – whenever they get around to actually releasing it. Continue reading Kingdom Hearts Collection to be Released for PS4 Early Next Year→
Since the announcement of the Nintendo Switch on Thursday people have been clamoring for the latest news from Nintendo about every little detail that can be pried from their tightly-closed lips. Though a lot of questions have been answered many of them will likely have to wait longer than any of us want to get an official answer. Perhaps even until next year. That being said a few new details have managed to be discovered by mining the depths of the flurry of Nintendo press releases that have been coming out. Continue reading New Details Leaked For Nintendo Switch→
For over a year now Nintendo has been coquettishly teasing the gaming community with the promise of a new console. Only known until today by the codename “NX”, and now finally revealed to the gaming masses as the “Switch”. A hybrid mobile and common console as has been previously speculated over the last year.
My call for help did not fall on deaf ears, and thanks to that, this site will soon start bustling with a lot of new content. Someday, I hope we can all look back on this as a case of greatness coming from humble beginnings. A time when gamers banded together after years of strife, and made something cool. A place to congregate without others, especially the writers, insulting you for your taste in games, platforms of choice, or views on the media as a whole.
Believe it or not, there was a time when gaming media was almost as satisfying as the games being covered. Many of us older gamers may remember the excitement that came with getting that copy of PSM, EGM, Nintendo Power, Ultra Game Players, etc. from the store or in the mail. News on big upcoming games, letters, fan art, contests, and comics/gag strips, inserts, and other cheap gifts felt magical. There was a wit and a charm to old gaming magazines that hasn’t been matched since.
While the magazine medium has almost completely died off, with the internet replacing it, that doesn’t mean the spirit of this forgotten medium can’t live on. That’s what we’re trying to do with Common Sense Gaming: Reclaim the spirit of gaming’s Golden Age, and adapt it to today’s modern media.
Now to the part where those of you reading this help out.
As a new face on the scene, our content is going to be limited by our views. Until we get enough eyes on us, most (non-indie) publishers won’t even respond to our inquiries, let alone ship us early copies for previews/reviews, or sit down for interviews. They want exposure, and at the time of this writing we can’t give it to them in the amounts they desire.
However, we’re gamers. Problem solvers, either by nature or the nurturing of gaming’s school of hard knocks, and we have a plan: This site has no ads. None of us are paid by advertisers or clicks, the great corrupters of today’s media. We don’t have to funnel your eyes to our site. The site isn’t important at all. What’s important is that you see our content, wherever it may be, and let the developers and publishers know you’ve seen it.
Being the gamers we are, we’ve turned the problem with the magazine medium on its head, and made our faux magazine style our biggest strength. Before, magazines were cumbersome, and slow to distribute. Now, we turn a page into an image you can download and share freely with others. There’s no ads to filter, no time wasted. If you like our content, right-click, save as, post wherever, and enjoy at your leisure.
All we ask is that those of you who like our stuff take that extra fraction of a second to retweet or share. You don’t even have to add a witty comment. Would it be awesome if you donate to our patreon or tip us directly through paypal? Fuck yes it would, this shit is coming straight out of my pocket, christ I can’t afford this forever, what am I gonna do about re– Yes, it would be great, but its not currently needed.
A glimpse at something we’d like to bring to our followers: Boss ass console/pc decals.
A big part of our goal moving forward is to capitalize on our easily spread nature to become known and reach out to developers, publishers, and artists. This is so we can bring cool stuff that you would expect from a 90’s gaming magazine. Envelope art and other such contests with cool prizes, decals for your gaming systems, and maybe someday physical collectors edition publications so you can really feel that magazine magic.
That’s pretty far off, but it’s where I want us to be. Until then, this is just a labor of love for gamers, by gamers.
I currently have my hands full, and my output is going to continue to crawl as i set up my new apartment, look for a new job and find a new vehicle. At the same time, I’m working up to the eventual full start of the Faux 90’s Gaming Magazine CSG and video content. You can currently see what I’m going for by clicking over to the reviews section on this site.
I’d like to cover all of the bases found in classic magazines: Previews, Reviews, Interviews, Tips & Tricks, Letters, Features, Comic/Gag Strip, Fan Art Envelopes, etc. I need content to practice laying out pages, and that’s something I’m currently light on.
Are there any gamers that enjoy writing and want to team up? There’s currently no profit, so you’ll have to settle for those wonderful exposure bucks everyone talks about, articles that have a unique look when shown off to potential employers, review copies, and an introduction to editors from sites that actually do pay.
There’s also complete transparency: I am investing my personal money into eventually making something of this site. If and when I turn a dime on this side project, all records will be made known to the group, and everyone involved will get a share. However, that’s still far away.
Again, I’m not looking for journalists. I can find those. I’m looking for gamers that want to share their experiences and have fun making throwbacks to PSM, Nintendo Power, EGM, etc., while building a community and media source gamers deserve. If you want to write for fun, with the added perk that it may eventually get noticed or make money, then let’s work together.
Common Sense Gaming 