Rumour Control – The Thread – An open invite…

This thread on our humble site represents an opportunity to discuss the content and assertions of GameSpot’s Rumour Control column. Or Rumor Control if you live in Americaland.

For reference, RC is written by Tor Thorston. I liked the sound of him at first – Sounds a bit like Thurston, which makes me think of Sonic Youth, which generally makes me happy. But alas those times have passed.

Thorston’s job is seemingly to look at what the gossip is in the games industry and then decide whether it’s true or not. Or ‘bogus’ or ‘not bogus’ as is in keeping with [mildly condescending] ‘youth culture.’ This thread designed to look at what he says in some depth. It would be inappropriate for me to say that Thorston represents the worst elements of hit and run online reportage. What I would like to do is analyse his column in some detail, on a rolling basis.

RC presents itself as the finder of truth, the undoer of spin and the final word. Thorston often makes references to the journalistic practices of others. This thread is an open invite to anyone and any journalist who would like to point out anything about any element of Rumour Control.

For the record, Thorston has referenced SPOnG and made assertions about countless SPOnG stories. He has been guilty of failure to understand basic contextual points on several occasions. He has never once attempted to make contact with SPOnG to clarify or investigate any one of the stories he has covered. We have offered further insight on various pieces in the past. These offers have always been shied away from by the GameSpot writer.

I’ve only got the time and energy to hold Thorston’s column to account on issues relating to SPOnG. Writers for any other publication are welcome to use this forum similarly in relation to their own work.

I’m not going to dig over points past – We’ll just start with Rumor Control: Revolution rumblings, Killzone konfusion, and Nintencats dated Friday, August 26, 2005.



Aside from being aggressive and somewhat over-bullish, we must clarify that Thorston never tried to contact us about this piece at any point. Nor, from what we have gleaned, did he contact anyone at Nintendo about this specific point following the publication of this piece.

He fails to reference the fact that SPOnG ran an exclusive one-on-one interview with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata some months ago. He fails to reference the fact the SPOnG revealed the precise content of Iwata’s GDC keynote recently. He fails to mention that there was a Nintendo Europe press conference the evening before publication, in London, one SPOnG attended. You'd assume he'd see a link. Or perhaps even call us and ask, as many publications did, from across the world.

I don’t mean this to be an attack on Thorston and we appreciate his linking to SPOnG from the behemoth that is GameSpot and the fact that he types it correctly capped. I must however, insist that his assertions are held to account. And I’m sure that Thorston will welcome the challenge. And Thorston, you are more than welcome to engage in any discussion related to any section of your column that may arise here.

Stefan Walters
Editor
SPOnG

He's just jealous. You'll see, Reggie will slam trough a wall during MS pre-TGS meeting and kick J's his puny little wannabe ass...moehahahaaa... and then shows the Revolution in action...and eats a PSP!!

I've stopped reading Gamespot since they ran a news post about EA buying Ubisoft shortly after they bought some shares. Their evidence was EA having to contact a Government agency for confirmation. Right at the very bottom there was an update retracting the entire news post because French law states after every purchase of stock you need to contact said agency. Very lazy.

Isn't Rumo'r Control the butt of many jokes at industry gatherings?

The concept is sounds. However, the party falls apart when the investigative talent behind RC hits a "no comment" wall on the first (only?) phone call. Thus, the writer is left to speculate, with no more merit than the original article, on the validaity of the claims.

To summarise; 95% of the time (guestimate) the verdict isn't based on fact or overwhelming evidence, but on Tor Thorston's opinion.

I agree with Tiger. Let's scrutinise RS reports.

I read Rumour Control, but only because it helpfully collects some of the more interesting news stories from around the web.

I certainly don't pay any attention to whether Gamespot decides they're true or not.

I guess the people that do pay attention are not people who read Spong.

So this guy starts by complimenting you.


Then he goes on to agree that the content of your story was essentially true, even if the self-important claims of an "Exclusive" were not.


And then, because he fails to suck your cock, you throw all the toys out of the perambulator.

Jeez dude, if you so need your ego massaging, why don't you get a girlfriend?

This guys job is to pimp his own website, not yours.

I think you need a holiday.

All I'm looking to do is scrutinise the assertions made by RC concerning SPOnG news. I think pointing out the fact that the journalistic practices employed by the writer are somewhat lacking, in a column which aims to be the bastion of journalistic practices is a valid exercise.

Hopefully this latest, selectively drawn, misleading and, frankly worthless troll of yours will be abandoned in the same way your last one was… Rather than trying to derail this discussion, why not add *anything* valid or of any interest.

I’m not going to post here until Iwata takes the stage at TGS or Thorston picks up on another of our stories. That being the point of the thread.

perhaps mister turdston has been servicing rod's rod? :)

seriously though, the guy is a hack. no credibilty, no work, no reaserch, hes the bill o'reily of video game journalism. throwing around opinions and belittleing those who disagree or disparage him from his ever prestigous platform. That said, i don't think its anyworse that what many game sites have said about you guys over time. Always trying to demean (sp?) you and make you look small tiem and hacky. when a small independant site keeps scooping their over funded asses its to be expected.

i dont think you are pitching a fit as rod implies, making more of this than he would maybe but certainly not in an overly whiney or unreasonable way. In an indutry over run by paid off pundits its not easy makign a living tellign the truth and you shoudl be comended for it, as such... i made a topic just for that .

also since tiger chooses to take the high road and not defend himself and his personal deelings i will throw in my possibly unwanted (hopefully not)two cents... the guy does NOT need any help in the female companionship department.

oh and back on the maine topic... whats wrong with his articles in general... well most importantly, they apear on gamespot.

be excellent to each other.
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n Hey Tor THORSEN here with some responses.



The purpose of RC is to collate the big rumors of the week and debunk them--IF POSSIBLE. If we have no information one way or the other, all we can do is present the facts and voice our own gut feeling--since that's all we have.



And in no way do we ever say that something is bogus or not bogus unless it's based on hard fact. We wouldn't feel right making determinations without the facts in hand, and do my best to find them out through official and unofficial channels. But if they ain't there, they ain't there—I guess I am “uninventive” in the respect that I don’t make stuff up. And the only calling out I do is when people trumpet an article as an exclusive or as truth but don't offer so much as an inkling of where they got the information.



Well, any site that makes visitors wait at a redirect page whenever you access them from an outside link so they can double their pageviews is hardly in a position to cast aspersions about another site's integrity. I mean every time you try to log onto a page, you get this obnoxious message:

"Welcome to SPOnG, and thanks for visiting. Click here to continue to "Satoru Iwata. The Essential and Exclusive SPOnG interview"

While you're here, why not peruse our archive of over 59,000 releases, 125,000 screens, 18,000 pack shots, 16,000 people and 3,500 companies from within the games industry? Just use the search box on the right."

Then, after about 10 seconds, you get redirected to the page you wanted to go in the first place, and SPOnG gets 2 pageviews for the price of one, doubling stats for ad sales! Brilliant!

That said, you guys to do get a lot of stuff right, and deserve props for that at least--my arch tone is more to make the column a fun read than anything malicious on my part. And I said so in the column, whereas most game journalists on this side of the pond consider SPOnG nothing more than a tabloid. You think RC is a joke at gaming events? I actually find myself defending you guys on coups like getting an Iwata interview, and if anything, admire your brand of sassy, hip-Brit prose.

I didn’t contact you guys re: The Revolution because I have my own sources, and journalists traditionally don't tell each other where they got their info. That's why our respective sites have "exclusives."



Where in that interview does it say that he'll reveal the revolution at TGS? I'll tell you where--NOWHERE. In the interview, which was given before E3, he said:

"'And of course, I cannot comment on when we’ll begin selling the Revolution. But I believe that our target audience is totally different than that Sony is aiming at with the PlayStation 3. And therefore slight differences in launch timings will not be very important. For example, if we were to launch a month sooner or a month later, I really don’t think it will matter a great deal. Words alarmingly reminiscent of those spoken of the ‘GameCube difference’ not so long ago…' Iwata-san continues, 'But of course, in the US and in Europe there are key sales times, especially around the winter holidays. So to gain the most momentum for the Revolution launch we have to have the timing correct and this is far more important to us than concentrating on a release timeline governed by the actions of a competitor.'"

I interviewed NOA VP George Harrison @ E3--do I bring that up every time I address a Nintendo rumor? Nope.

Whatever. It's my personal opinion that SPOnG is a always-entertaining, often-informative site which lands some great interviews and often has some choice scoops. But you guys also tend to self-aggrandize stories that are often proven wrong--but many that are proven right. So if I sound arch or snide in my column, it's more of a tease between colleagues than any sort of personal attack.

If you want to discuss this further, my address is tor@gamespot.com. Cheers _ TOR

and...



so.. you rag on some one who you claim to defend cause they get alot fo good things right... because in an article they dont divuldge the source of their info... and then in the next breat defend your lack of cantacting them for a comment becaus you have sources and so do they and you dont expect journalists to divuldge sources... classy

i apreciate the pleasant nature with which you chose to adress this but my comments relate only to the article you are known for writing, which is fluff, pure and simple. not that you dont do the best dman fluff peace you can... but thats what it is. no harm in making filler so the masses have somethign to read... i love fluff peaces... gets me through the day.. whish spoing had more honestly... but when writing a fluff peace... understand that is what you are doing and dont attack an organization who you supposedly admire to some extent cause there un revealed sources info doesnt jive with your gut feeling.

a simple "the fact is, we have no idea if this is true so we will just have to wait and see, but we will let you know as soon as some solid info reaches us." would have sufficed.

oh, and for refference when i first go to your site i also get an add message... but its an add message for one of your paid advertisers, all spong does is point out that besides being an excellent news source they are also a vast historical video game database. and, if you allowed the cookie you should only see that message once per session... or even once period. your site always makes me look at an add.

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I would like to point out that I have never seen that screen in my entire life, and I've been coming here for....a couple months now.

I concur; it's something I'm used on Gamespot, but never seen it here.

Fair game for coming here and having your say, Tor, and not provoking a cheap slanging match.

Never seen it either. Well, not that I remember.

The self-aggrandizement I like to call "British humour". We love irony, satire and stuff like that.

Okay, I'm the tech dork here. Let me clarify. Adam M brought this up in one of the other forums. I got halfway through writing a response when XP slipped away from under my fingers, taking with it my will to live (okay, perhaps only my will to rewrite everything I'd just written)

What Tor's seeing is an inbound interstitial page. While it might poke page impressions a touch, it's certainly not the 2x he suggests. The page is only presented when visitors access the site for the first time via an link on another site or RSS feed directly into an article or game. Links to the home, indices or search results are sans interstitial. Once you've seen the interstitial page, you should never see it again within that visiting session - even if you follow further links from external sites. So that's one extra page view per session only if you visit via an external link. Certainly not even close to doubling the number of page views. If Tor's getting one every view, assuming they're all within the same session (which persists for 20 minutes after your last page access), then there's something up with his cookie settings.

The primary purpose of that page is not to increase page views, but as an opportunity to offer our clients a place where their brand gets centre stage, and full visitor attention. It guess it's just a tiny, little bit like IGN's inbound interstitials. Anyone calling foul there? We also use the page to educate visitors as to SPOnG's vast historical games database, something I doubt 99% of our transient news readership would know about without a bit of nudge.

Now, we have noticed problems with inbound readership via some RSS reader, primarily due to their complete lack of cookie support. No cookie = new session every visit = repeated presentation of the page. We're working on moving SPOnG from ASP (hack, spit) to Java, and with that we're providing support for session management without cookies (as though you care! :)

Well, I stand corrected, then. Sorry to cast stones w/o knowing the inner workings of of your site. Anyway, keep up the good work guys--I'll try and be less snarky next time I link to all y'all. Cheers _ TOR