This time, he's naming names.

Electronic Gaming Monthly Editor-in-Chief Dan Hsu is quite the controversial character, it seems.  We're not talking "controversial" in a negative, "tries to get mouth-love in an airport restroom" sort of way.  Rather, this is the positive, "tells the truth regardless of who he pisses off" variety.

Most of you probably remember the infamous editorial he previously posted in EGM (Issue 199), wherein he openly attacked certain gaming publications for engaging in the practice of trading favorable coverage for advertising dollars.  The problem?  He never specifically named the publications in question.  As can be expected, responses to his allegations were mixed.  Some praised his willingness to even broach such a touchy (and potentially career-wrecking) matter.  Others saw his unwillingness to be specific as part of a ploy to artificially boost the credibility of his own magazine.

Whatever the case may be, a lot has happened in the past two years.  The biggest bombshell dropped not too long ago in the highly-publicized firing of Jeff Gertsmann from Gamespot in late November of last year.  While no evidence of a wrongful termination has officially surfaced, it was difficult to follow the story without being reminded of Hsu's editorial.

Now, Video Game Media Watch reports that Hsu is back on the warpath, and he is specifically calling out the offending companies.  In his most recent editorial, he names the Mortal Kombat developers at Midway, sports game developers at Sony, and Ubisoft as inhibiting EGM from covering their products.  This move is apparently in response to the companies receiving what they perceived to be negative coverage in the past.  In other words, if the EGM editors smelled a turd, they didn't pretty up their impressions of the experience for their readers.

It should be noted that, as in the Gertsmann situation, nothing has been technically proven one way or the other.  Nonetheless, Hsu is a well-respected professional charged with overseeing the creation of a premier print gaming publication.  That he would gamble with his reputation, and that of his magazine, without good cause seems downright silly.  That being said, it seems a safe bet that no amount of salt need be ingested with this story.

This blog article should be recognized as the sole opinion of the editor and does not necessarily reflect GotNext’s official opinion on the subject.

Did your favorites make the cut?

Major Nelson just recently announced the Top Ten XBLA Games of 2007 and I must say, the list kind of took me by surprise. How so? Well, see if you notice a theme between what made the cut:

1. TMNT 1989 Arcade
2. Worms
3. Castlevania: SOTN
4. UNO
5. Bomberman LIVE
6. 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures
7. Sonic The Hedgehog
8. Pinball FX
9. Geometry Wars Evolved
10. Texas Hold 'em

So what did you figure out? That's right… most of the games are classic titles. Word Puzzle, SWOS and Undertow are nowhere to be seen. That's great news for retro enthusiasts since this could very well lead to an increase of the old-school stuff making their way onto Xbox Live Arcade. I'd say it's about time Capcom go into their vault and not just break out the long-awaited Street Fighter Alpha series, but Mega Man and other 2D classics in my opinion are long overdue. TMNT making the number one slot really shocked me. Now they gotta bring out The Simpsons Arcade Game. And there's a long laundry list of classics SEGA can roll out. It's been rumored that Chu Chu Rocket was going to make a debut, but perhaps they're not ready to release Dreamcast games yet. It can't be too far behind though seeing as the XBLA limit has been increased to allow more much larger games to be developed. Here's hoping 2008's lineup is even more promising.

Stealing is bad, nuff said.

I spend a 8-hour shift at work and come home to find an explosive amount of drama and hysteria has flooded several popular online destinations. I am talking about Kotaku, a certain Brazillian freelancer, and Ziff Davis. To put it simply, those two new screenshots that circulated faster than any virus epidemic turned for the worst. Why? Because the leaked info was in fact, the same "intellectual property" which was published in the SF4 cover story. You know… the same story which my colleague Shane Bettenhausen worked so hard to put into words that I'd be able to say "nice job" just won't have the same impact now.

See, that certain Brazillian freelancer actually used to work for EGM Brazil and it turns out that he stole a password to EGM USA's servers, posted the information on his blog (which was *surprise* shut down of course). As for Kotaku's role in this… well, they initially jumped the gun and sort of gave ZD the middle finger. Funny how we all roll in the media world when all the facts aren't revealed. Everyone's getting along now it seems, after Dan Hsu set the record straight leading to Kotaku to take a step back and realize: shoot, we were wrong — shame on you Douglas for being a thief and forcing James Mielke to write an extensive blog reiterating all the hard work that goes into creating a successful publication and building strong relationships with videogame developers (like Capcom for instance).

It's crazy y'know… all this time, I just wanted to kick back with the message board patrons talking about how I am finding it difficult to keep an open-mind (that's a story for another blog), but instead — I am left pondering how pathetic this guy had to be. And if I were in Shane's shoes, I'd certainly feel devastated, especially since he was the first editor anywhere to actually have some hands-on time. Some people might not see this as a big deal because those shots eventually would have made their way to the net (but in case you haven't figured it out… that's a big no, no… seriously). If things aren't sinking in yet, go read Milky's blog, take it all in and then you'll see that my colleagues in the field certainly are justified to be upset. This was a very big story for EGM and that's been tainted.

Was it everything you ever hoped for? Now updated with 50% more DRAMA.

Yesterday, 1up.com gave us the first official look in the fourth (true) long-awaited installment in the Street Fighter franchise. What I didn't expect was a single screenshot. Don't get me wrong, I was definitely impressed as it confirmed my theory of the game consisting of a 2D/3D engine; I just expected more. Fortunately, we'll be offered a more detailed "inside look" at what's to come from Street Fighter IV in the next issue of EGM. Shane Bettenhausen (I am so jealous, haha) was the first editor outside of Capcom to actually play the game and I am looking forward to his impressions with great interest.

For now, I know just as much as the rest of you. Here's my two cents on what's been revealed so far:

Old faces: SFIV will mark the return of four classic characters: Ryu, Ken, Chun Li and Dhalsim. There's no word if we'll see other familiar faces, but I wouldn't be quick to dismiss the possibility that they may appear as hidden characters. 

The NEW challengers: It's anyone's guess what type of fighting styles and unique characters will be introduced. I must admit, the ones in SFIII were definitely respectable (and eventually accepted by many longtime SF fans) like Matoko, Q, and Urien… I for one found them much harder to get into than say Karin from SFA3. I also hope they make all the African-American characters more politically correct. Sorry, but M. Bison and Dee Jay were definitely on that sterotype train. Believe.

2D vs. 3D: So we're told (via 1up.com) that the game is definitely 2D, but the screenshot suggests that it's a far cry from that classic look we've grown to know and love. Change is always difficult to accept especially when previous history with 2D meshed with 3D elements presented in the form of Street Fighter EX leaves me somewhat skeptical how promising this will play. Of course, I haven't seen the game in action so it's best to keep an open mind that Capcom will not disappoint. After all, we've been waiting over 10 years for this sequel; please don't suck!

New special moves: Now I can have a field day dreaming up all the possible new moves the developers have come up with. Personally I think the Shotokan duo are in serious need of something beyond their traditional Shoryuken-Hadoken routine. The press release suggest that they'll be beyond any Street Fighter fan's wildest imagination. Shoot, are they going to be pulling off some DBZ meets Matrix fisticuffs? Only time will tell. 

New gameplay elements: Yeah, that doesn't say much, but if the upcoming Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is any indication, I am willing to guess that some of the motions will be a lot more simplified than the few hand gymnastics that were required in past installments. Yup, I am looking at you Vega, Fei and Guile — some of your moves made me a sad panda.

Arcade or console: Right now, no one's confirmed anything and yes Capcom is being tight-lipped for now. My thoughts? An arcade release will definitely happen, though very few states have an active arcade presence so I don't expect its debut to be quite the shockwave that occured with say, Street Fighter III. I think it would make more sense just to go ahead with a full-blown multi-platform release. Oh, and hook that title up with online play please, courtesy of that new GGPO-esque netcode. Kthx! 

Your thoughts: I haven't got over to see the feedback at SRK, but the thoughts on 1up.com and another forum I frequently visit expressed favorable responses. Some are uncertain, and the rest… well, they couldn't care less either way — they're just glad a new SF is on the way. I am be more interested in everyone's opinion once EGM's issue has gone public. I am also looking forward to 1up.com's feature which will offer some retrospective highlights and quite possibly a deeper look into the next Street Fighter and maybe… just maybe other iterations are on the way. Street Fighter Alpha 4? Yeah, right… keep dreaming.  

Giving a low score to the featured game is now a firing offense.

Jeff Gerstmann, Gamespot's former Editor in Chief, is job-hunting after writing an unfavorable review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.  He gave it a 6.0 and that didn't sit well with Eidos, who have plastered the site with banners saying what a wonderful game they've published.  Eidos whined to CNet, who owns Gamespot, who employ Jeff Gerstmann.  What does 11 years of service (he started at Gamespot in October 1996) get you if you say mean things about the big advertisers' games?  A pink slip, apparently.

I wish it wasn't this blatant, that there were mitigating factors to his removal, but at this point it's a very cut and dried case of a publicist complaining to the parent corporation, who promptly fire the offending employee's ass for doing the job they assigned to him.  Gamespot is running damage control as best they can, shutting down threads as fast as they pop up, but something as ham-handed and pathetic as this is the stuff of internet flamewar dreams.  There's a good guy (Jeff Gerstmann), a bad guy (CNet), and a huge load of spectators with a very loud voice.

The headline to this article would be cheap, incendiary tabloid crap on any other story.  Here, it's a simple statement of fact.  I didn't have anything against CNet or Gamespot before (that other article was just poking fun), but now I can't imagine any reason I'd bother with them.  The Gamespot editors are being dealt a bad hand, as evidenced by this post (third one down at the time of this writing) in their forums-

"People, don't direct your anger at Gamespot. This is CNet's meddling. Gamespot consists just of the editorial, news, community, and development teams. It's CNet's marketing that puts the ads up. CNet's marketing that complained. CNet is who can fire their EIC."

But that still doesn't change the fact that this taints the entire site.  Gaming journalism is already filled with enough dodgy crap soiling its reputation, we really don't need events like this making it even more obvious how little integrity has to do with anything that might generate ad revenue for the big sites.  I'm not asking for lily-white ivory tower purity, just a little hint that maybe they're there for something more than being a big advertising outlet for whatever product is being spewed forth from the industry's gaping maw.

This blog article should be recognized as the sole opinion of the editor and does not necessarily reflect GotNext's official position on the subject.