January 24, 2008 -
Jeff Brown (left), VP of Communications for Electronic Arts, has requested that Fox News correct Monday's disgraceful trashing of Mass Effect.As reported by Kotaku, Brown sent a letter to Teri Van Horn, producer of Fox News' Live Desk program on which the Mass Effect hatchet job was orchestrated. From Brown's letter:
As the parent company of BioWare... EA would like you to set the record straight on a number of errors and misstatements which incorrectly characterize the story and character interactions in Mass Effect.
Your headline above the televised story read: "New videogame shows full digital nudity and sex." Fact: Mass Effect does not include explicit or frontal nudity. Love scenes in non-interactive sequences include side and profile shots - a vantage frequently used in many prime-time television shows...
FNC voice-over reporter says: "You'll see full digital nudity and the ability for players to engage in graphic sex." Fact: Sex scenes in Mass Effect are not graphic. These scenes are very similar to sex sequences frequently seen on network television in prime time.
FNC reporter says: "Critics say Mass Effect is being marketed to kids and teenagers." Fact: That is flat out false...
Brown also named several of Fox's own programs for displaying a level of sexuality far beyond Mass Effect's single, rather tasteful love scene:
Do you watch the Fox Network? Do you watch Family Guy? Have you ever seen The OC? Do you think the sexual situations in Mass Effect are any more graphic than scenes routinely aired on those shows? Do you honestly believe that young people have more exposure to Mass Effect than to those prime time shows?
Comments
Re: EA Calls Out Fox News Over Mass Effect Smear
All is not gold that glitters.
张家界旅游
A maiden with many wooers often chooses the worst.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
lmao. You're right. XD Okay I concede. Go EA! Finally you do some more right in the hope we'll forget all the stuff you F*** up.
Better?
As for Cooper's Amazon page, while some see it as childish, I believe they were simply illustrating to her what it is like to have your work attacked by someone who has never even seen it. Quite a few said as much.
I honestly hope that Fox News is hit HARD by this.
If EA wanted to, they easily have the defamation of character suit given the obvious libel and slander. Though thats only a civil suit rather than criminal... Id like to see Fox make a forced broadcast apology where they say WHY they got it wrong. Lack of research. But, will probably never happen. Live in hope though
"THIS IS MADNESS!!"
"Madness? THIS...IS...BIOWAREEEEE!!!!"
Let's not forget that Dan Rather was fired for not checking his facts. If he gets fired for that, then Fox Noise should teminate some of their own as well.
"I DO think that giving bad reviews on that book based on that experience makes us just as hypocritical as the others. Fighting libel with libel won’t go anywhere. On the other hand, I found some GENUINE reviews that shows their dislike of the book."
Right, and I agree... but there may be another consequence. If those reviews impact her sales it might well hit her where it hurts the most... her wallet.
This might accomplish two things. It might make her think twice about commenting on gaming, which I think we all agree is a good thing, and it might also at least make her consider doing her homework.
It also might demonstrate that the gaming community has enough clout to fight back against being bullied like this by the mainstream media. If we, as a community, can influence the sales of non-gaming media whor... *cough*, I mean figures then maybe we might raise some eyebrows.
I still don't think that posting those negative comments on her books is a mature thing to do, or a good idea, but it might not be such a bad thing at the end of the day.
On a side note, apparently fox doesn't wanna talk about the issue. http://kotaku.com/348692/ea-fighting-mad-about-fox-news-but-still-no-cor...
However, I applaud them for this. Hopefully, someone higher up at Fox (presumably someone with brains, but you never know with Fox,) will hear about this and be more than a little pissed.
(they just scratch their heads with a blank stare if you use them)
Jeff Brown used so many facts(six or so) and made so much sense that the fox news crew could implode if they read it.
Even if they do air corrections the damage has been done and cant be repaired. Seeing as how not everyone who watched the old clip if going to see the new one ect.
But all in all a step in the correct direction i think.
What I AM curious about is whether or not Martha Whatserface will actually respond to some of the emails that she got from gamers, myself included.
Despite that Right to lie, were I in a position to do so at EA, I'd still sue, not only FOX but Cooper Lawrence, for fraud, at the very least. Moreover, I'd be questioning any form of license to practice that Ms. Lawrence might have. Even further, I'd be writing letters to the college(s) where she obtained her degrees questioning whether the type of "professional" she's proven to be (a bigot as shown through her gender bigoted comments, and lying and deceiving others regarding the issues of her (lack of) research on this game as well as the (mis)quoted study) is the type of students they put forth into society. Or if maybe it brings into question whether or not her degrees were actually honorably and ethically earned and perhaps, if poosbile, should be revoked.
Nightwng2000
NW2K software
A. Harm.
B. Malice (they ignored Keighley and clearly didn't research the story)
EA's a big company and this would make news stations tread a bit lighter. I'm not a lawyer though. Just curious. Oh and, Hi everybody!
That would only confirm in their eyes that you are a part of the EVIL VIDEO GAME ESTABLISHMENT! Like, the establishment will knock you do.own if you go against them, man! It's a conspiracy. JT WUS RITE OH MAH GAAAAAWWD.
The rest of us would be laughing our asses off. :P
You know, I've never actually thought about that before...
Well, if you think about it, every "new entertainment" has been attacked for its corrupting influence. In the 50's it was Rock and Roll. In the 60's was TV and movies. The 70's ... well, the 70's were special and everyone was too hopped up on dope to care. Metal was hit in the 80's (music always seems to be a popular target because it's so dynamic). So, it's just video games "turn." It's like the Rush Week initiation procedure for new forms of entertainment. You have to be hazed by the media until all hell breaks loose.
This argument is valid. When I was younger, before I had my own television, I could be in the living room playing Mario, and my dad would come home from work, kick me off the TV, and turn on a World War 2 movie. Fox shows those, and guess what they hav,e and hint, it's not the Barny happy fun time hour.
For the Kotaku article called "Quack Gets Amazon Book Rating Spammed"
It seems that a lot of gamers took offense to Lawrence's comments so much that they decided to comment on her books the same way she commented on Mass Effect, with false accusations or no research at all.
movie sales go down whenever a big title game comes out, so yeah video games are taking people away from the movie and TV industry.
Better she knows how it feels to be falsely accused.
(Yes. I realize that most of the posters figured that out. This is for everyone else. :P)
Go EA. Finally, you do something right.
PS, EA, if you are watching, thanks again....and get us Spore. Please.
Yeah, It is about time. Well past time someone got up and socked it to them, as well as the fact their own shows show off more then the game does. I, myself cannot believe I forgot about Family Guy. It's animated too.
OMG! Its mass marketed to children and teenagers! IT'S A CARTOON!
Just kidding. But you get the point, no? Not EVERYTHING is for children.
- Warren Lewis
And yea, I don't foresee Fox retracting any of their statements. They are not in the business of saying they are wrong, and the law will protect them. Fox will only bring it up if they can squeeze in the last laugh.
- Warren Lewis
At this point I really feel like the biggest obstacle for the games industry is convincing the non-gaming public that most games are not being marketed to children anymore. This is not the 80's. Just like with any other entertainment media, there are different types of games marketed to different demographics, and Mass Effect is a prime example of a game that is being specifically marketed to an older crowd.
Hey now, EA does a lot right, they just do a hell of a lot more wrong.
I saw part of the Fox-thing, and it really seems like they should be suing for slander.
And since when did The Daily Bugle become a news organization? If you just replace video games with Spider-Man you'd essentially have J. Jonah Jameson there.
http://www.debone.com/boycottFoxNewsSponsors.html
Feel free to call, write and email them saying how we will not support a company or product that in turn supports a station full of sensationalist liars.