Posted by: schild @ 04:09:12 on 6/15/06
So, the Vivendi/Blizzard news from the Wall Street article hit critical mass today. Getting linked to by Slashdot, Digg (though, admittedly, not frontpaged), Gamespot, IGN, Joystiq, Warcry, errrr - The INTERNET... Well, let's just say it can show you if your server is "up to snuff." Since ours is, it's time for a response to these mouth breathers who call themselves journalists.
You aren't. You're not even remotely respectable. Following up with all the wrong people with all the wrong facts and putting it out there since gamers are stupid.
Don't think for a moment I'm not onto your clever game.
You aren't. You're not even remotely respectable. Following up with all the wrong people with all the wrong facts and putting it out there since gamers are stupid.
Don't think for a moment I'm not onto your clever game.
If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people - including me - would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism. - Hunter S. Thompson
Blizzard is owned by Vivendi Universal - or as far as I can tell they still are. They do not get the final word. It doesn't matter who you ask at Blizzard - including one Mr. Rob Pardo. He's a lapdog as far as I'm concerned. They pay him the big bucks to do what he's told. I did not see a single website talk to the executive equivalent to Pardo at Vivendi. Someone might have, but I missed it. Referencing Blizzard/WoW moderators was a true sign of awesome journalism in action. These people, I guarantee, know less about what's going on at Blizzard than the average player who scours the internet for every tiny nugget of information on their beloved company.
Also, the slide presentation - you know why I didn't talk about it in my original post? Because it had nothing to do with what I said. See, the problem is, I have a majority of the facts - and put simply, I like playing some cards close to my chest. Especially when it's about the three headed hydra consisting of Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft. By referencing some other folks, you've managed to get your dirty little paws on a slideshow given during the Wall Street presentation. GRATS. That slide show presentation - if you haven't read it - did a great job of dumbing this gaming "stuff" down for people who have no clue what it's about. They want the bottom line, that's why population and dollars were the big discussion there. What hasn't been discussed anywhere, as far as I can tell is the Q&A session that went on afterwards. Shortly after I posted the news, an unnamed source sent me news that people were getting it wrong. That the line "All Blizzard franchises will become MMOGs" came from a Q&A with a Vivendi rep after the presentation. Have I said Q&A enough times? Is someone going to refer back to the WoW Slideshow for Dummies again? No?
A Vivendi representative saying [the bit about franchises] means two things:
1. All Blizzard franchises will become MMOGs.
2. This will happen with the support of Rob "The Ego" Pardo & Co. or not.
Why the hell wouldn't it? It's a cash machine. Those franchises are arguably the biggest things in gaming. Maybe The Sims is still the best selling PC game of all time - but it's still a game for wussies and The Sims Online completely flopped. Vivendi could hire some other team with decent writers, designers and a slew of artists to reskin WoW with Starcraft stuff and pump out a game. It would sell _millions_ of copies. Sure, a lot of people who are new to f13 are reading this and saying "Hey, I wouldn't buy that!" The hell you wouldn't. I don't write to entertain young folk. I don't discuss games to entertain young folk. I don't discuss games to tickle the gumshoe bone of other journalists. You can ask all the Blizzard folks you want what's going on. You already know that Blizzard's style isn't to announce three games at a time. One, sure. Two, maybe. Three, especially ones this big? Hell no. That's not how they function. Vivendi could take out a front page spread in Game Informer with internal screenshots in a feature and comments from Vivendi staff on progress and Blizzard would still deny it. Was that too much? Sorry, let me scale back:
Blizzard hypes one huge game at a time. They understand the ADD nature of gamers."Two games, holy shit man! I can't handle it! Which one do I get?! Which one do I turn on froth for?!" Like a few other companies in the gaming industry, they are MASTERS at using the tools available to them - the internet, EB/Gamestop, and a fanboy corp that makes the young republicans look like a group of newborn puppies.
So, at the end of the day, who do you trust? Vivendi or Blizzard? I'm gonna stick with Vivendi. Blizzard is a company that has shown time and time again that they'll just flat out deny anything as long as it keeps people interested in what sneaky business they might be up to.
As for me - this whole thing (the whole f13.net thing) is a labor of love. I love doing this and I love sticking it to companies that pull these stunts on gamers. Keep pulling rugs over our heads. That's cool. Just let it be known that there are people who know that Starcraft 2 has been in development for over two years - and they don't work at Blizzard.
[discuss]
Blizzard is owned by Vivendi Universal - or as far as I can tell they still are. They do not get the final word. It doesn't matter who you ask at Blizzard - including one Mr. Rob Pardo. He's a lapdog as far as I'm concerned. They pay him the big bucks to do what he's told. I did not see a single website talk to the executive equivalent to Pardo at Vivendi. Someone might have, but I missed it. Referencing Blizzard/WoW moderators was a true sign of awesome journalism in action. These people, I guarantee, know less about what's going on at Blizzard than the average player who scours the internet for every tiny nugget of information on their beloved company.
Also, the slide presentation - you know why I didn't talk about it in my original post? Because it had nothing to do with what I said. See, the problem is, I have a majority of the facts - and put simply, I like playing some cards close to my chest. Especially when it's about the three headed hydra consisting of Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft. By referencing some other folks, you've managed to get your dirty little paws on a slideshow given during the Wall Street presentation. GRATS. That slide show presentation - if you haven't read it - did a great job of dumbing this gaming "stuff" down for people who have no clue what it's about. They want the bottom line, that's why population and dollars were the big discussion there. What hasn't been discussed anywhere, as far as I can tell is the Q&A session that went on afterwards. Shortly after I posted the news, an unnamed source sent me news that people were getting it wrong. That the line "All Blizzard franchises will become MMOGs" came from a Q&A with a Vivendi rep after the presentation. Have I said Q&A enough times? Is someone going to refer back to the WoW Slideshow for Dummies again? No?
A Vivendi representative saying [the bit about franchises] means two things:
1. All Blizzard franchises will become MMOGs.
2. This will happen with the support of Rob "The Ego" Pardo & Co. or not.
Why the hell wouldn't it? It's a cash machine. Those franchises are arguably the biggest things in gaming. Maybe The Sims is still the best selling PC game of all time - but it's still a game for wussies and The Sims Online completely flopped. Vivendi could hire some other team with decent writers, designers and a slew of artists to reskin WoW with Starcraft stuff and pump out a game. It would sell _millions_ of copies. Sure, a lot of people who are new to f13 are reading this and saying "Hey, I wouldn't buy that!" The hell you wouldn't. I don't write to entertain young folk. I don't discuss games to entertain young folk. I don't discuss games to tickle the gumshoe bone of other journalists. You can ask all the Blizzard folks you want what's going on. You already know that Blizzard's style isn't to announce three games at a time. One, sure. Two, maybe. Three, especially ones this big? Hell no. That's not how they function. Vivendi could take out a front page spread in Game Informer with internal screenshots in a feature and comments from Vivendi staff on progress and Blizzard would still deny it. Was that too much? Sorry, let me scale back:
Blizzard hypes one huge game at a time. They understand the ADD nature of gamers."Two games, holy shit man! I can't handle it! Which one do I get?! Which one do I turn on froth for?!" Like a few other companies in the gaming industry, they are MASTERS at using the tools available to them - the internet, EB/Gamestop, and a fanboy corp that makes the young republicans look like a group of newborn puppies.
So, at the end of the day, who do you trust? Vivendi or Blizzard? I'm gonna stick with Vivendi. Blizzard is a company that has shown time and time again that they'll just flat out deny anything as long as it keeps people interested in what sneaky business they might be up to.
As for me - this whole thing (the whole f13.net thing) is a labor of love. I love doing this and I love sticking it to companies that pull these stunts on gamers. Keep pulling rugs over our heads. That's cool. Just let it be known that there are people who know that Starcraft 2 has been in development for over two years - and they don't work at Blizzard.
[discuss]