Jeers of War [update]

For those who don’t frequent Infendo, i’d like to share something. Jack is Infendo’s main news editor. I am an editorialist and general author on Infendo. Me and Jack don’t agree very much. I have had spats with him from time to time, both here and there.

You see, Jack is very pro-Nintendo and very anti-everyone else. I am pro-Nintendo and anti-people like him. He likes to push the Nintendo bandwagon when he sees it slow down, just to make sure everyone aboard enjoys a smooth ride. As such, he writes many biased articles with select facts thrown in to spike the punch of the already intoxicated Nintendo faithful. It works. Plus he’s snarky, so typically that readership likes to read what he says. They’re on the same wavelength.

That’s fine. I don’t like it, but there’s an audience who does. Problem is, there is a line between basic fanboy hyping and politically charged propaganda that’s uncalled for, even on a Nintendo site. Jack crossed that line today. He picked a couple Gears of War reviews which got an 8/10, nothing to fart at cause an 8 is very solid, but there are tons of others who’ve given it 10’s and 9’s and that’s the worst he could find. He picked this to make a case for Nintendo’s argument that old gameplay mechanics are old and that Wii is the only way to play going forward. Mind you, he’s played neither Gears or Wii, but let’s move on.

Jack says: “This is the same thing you were playing last year, with a new coat of paint. Oh, and a $10 next gen tax. And yet the reviewers are gushing over it. Honestly, if this is perfection, then count me out of the next gen race. Sure, you can slap on motion sensing to the 360 and the PS3 very easily, but their price points and development costs make that an unlikely success in the long run. Enter the Wii again.”

He ends with: “In a nutshell, this is what companies like MS and Sony think the next gen should be. Pretty graphics, great sound, and solid gameplay that we’ve all seen before over the last 10 years. The next five years will be about playing it safe and brand new televisions and re-buying the DVDs you already have with Blu-Ray/HD DVD ones. The next gen is an 8 out of 10. Unfortunately, playing it safe means you never move forward, and that doesn’t help anybody. Enter Wii.”

People of intendo, what say you? My feelings are already out there, but i wanna hear your side. Is this kind of self-assurance that Wii is the right choice for you the thing to do? As a commenter on Inf said, everyone on that site is rooting for Nintendo already, so why is this kind of campaigning needed?

~~~

[Update: The fine folks at 4cr have embarrased themselves more than they needed to by linking and agreeing with Jack’s post. However, thank goodness there are Nintendo fans out there who agree with the philosophy of this here site, because most of the 30+ comments (about 95%) disagree with both Jack and Benny, the 4cr writer who linked the story. Here’s a choice quote:

That article over at Infendo has to be one of the worst game related posts I have EVER read. The fanboy bias from that post has set the new benchmark for all blogs.

Its even more disappointing that a solid site such as 4cr would reduce themselves to that level.

I don’t even understand why such an article needed to be written in the first place. Gears has NOTHING to do with the Wii and yet infendo and 4cr seemed to have taken offence to it.

Why? Because its possible that good games can be made on other systems? Do you guys actually feel threatened by Gears because it delivers a solid gaming experience with good looking production values (graphics/sound) without the need of the Wiimote?

Rollin: I’ve been a long reader of Infendo, but that article by Jack, and his previous articles are really getting to the point where Infendo is starting to become nothing more than a fanboy propaganda site.

God, this fanboy bullshit is getting out of control and really needs to stop.

-Magik

Click on over and give both of them a piece of your mind.]