Victory Game Center

Spaghetti wrote: I'm going to write using proper punctuation for once, to show you that I mean it.

What Shenmue 3 has shown me, is that the dividing line between message board poster and video game journalist is a lot narrower than anybody ever thought.

Eurogamer's recent article is really great. It is. It tells the story of a game developer icon emerging from a decade in the background. Revitalised by his fans, a creative given back his medium to work in. Someone who has recovered their purpose in life.

But the headline is of course "I could do with a bit more money!"

A single quote, from a very small part of the article. There's a great story in the article as a whole, there truly is. Sadly, that story has been sacrificed for clicks.

They don't want you to read about a man who is enriched by the support of fans and looking to pay them back with something they've wanted for so long. They want you to read about this imaginary greedy man rubbing his hands to get your money.

Because outrage gets page views. Even if there's nothing there to be outraged about. And so the headline gets passed around, and people think that's the whole story. Then you get awful opinion pieces like Ben Kuchera's. His baffling, weird, confusing opinion piece where you can't figure out what the point is, besides a character assassination on Yu Suzuki for purposes unknown.

Some information about Shenmue 3 has been confusing. Some quotes taken out of context, some information that wasn't immediately clarified. The campaign wasn't perfect, the fans know that better than anybody.

What's awful is that the misinformation continues to spread, even after issues have been clarified. Despite best efforts of fans who have been following Shenmue 3's development closer than pretty much anybody in the games media. When we get annoyed or angry that a journalist has cited their own opinions about it as fact, or just disappointed us with a poor title choice like Eurogamer did, suddenly we're 'outraged fanboys' and Twitter post fodder for some game journalists to sneer at.

I've seen Shenmue called a sacred cow. It's anything but. Shenmue has been openly ridiculed for years and years. Sometimes for valid reasons, and sometimes just because. It's only in the last couple of years we've seen articles like the great Guardian piece where the writer looked past the meme-bait voice acting and reputation for being 'boring walking simulator' to find a game they really liked, even without any nostalgic factor on their part.

People like Colin Moriarty writing the game off three months into development is just dumb. Nobody doubts making Shenmue 3 is a monumental task, but Yu Suzuki is a video game icon that this industry owes huge amounts to. Just as much as Miyamoto and others.

Yu Suzuki seems revitalised, energised, and creatively refreshed. That's something to be excited about. An industry great, stripped of his old superstar status, but given new purpose by his fans. It's a lot of pressure, but I definitely think he can handle it.

But nobody wants to read about that, right?

bishopcruz wrote: Nothing though, beats the attacks on opening up funding for Paypal. First off, that is incredibly common in kickstarting games especially. Many allow you to be a slacker backer up until close to release. Secondly, it is something that people had been asking for for MONTHS. The fans WANTED Paypal, because some of them couldn't donate any other way. Finally, in the most transparent, and non-shady thing I have seen, YsNet is limiting the time that paypal will be open so that he can budget and scope the game correctly. Scandalous, I know.

Paul Veer wrote: Lol are people really going to get mad about Fallout4 using Skyrim clouds?

John Comes wrote: Building a project in front of so many people has another interesting side effect. Players come in early, form an opinion and don’t change it. We’re still seeing comments and tweets about PA being $90, even if it hasn’t been $90 in over two and half years. Tweets go out about the game missing features that released over a year ago.

Spaghetti wrote: Congrats games journalists, I didn't think you were lazy enough to forego less than a minute of research, but you proved me wrong. Inferring or outright stating that PayPal backers of Shenmue 3 would not get the items they paid for is ridiculous and a straight lie, it is an affront to the profession of journalism that the above examples could not be bothered to do the minimum amount of effort to get the story right from a research and presentation standpoint.

In the case of Eurogamer I'm very frustrated that they did actually present the story correctly, but buried the parts that proved there is no cause for alarm directly at the bottom of the article and masked it with an alarmist title. It's crazy how transparent this level of manipulation is, and even crazier that people are falling for it. Is Eurogamer's reputation as a respected games media website being abused in doing this?

Is this level of inaccuracy and obfuscation happening with every game that is covered by these sites? Why has this happened over and over with Shenmue III? Why are there continuing assertions that Sony is funding Shenmue III when it has been proven over and over that this isn't the case? Why did Eurogamer cheapen a great interview with Yu Suzuki by making money the focus of the title? Why does Ben Kuchera's weird, ranty hateboner thinkpiece about Shenmue III exist as legitimate journalist from a grown ass man? Why is this happening again, and again?

it is because there is no light in them.

Denis Kreynin wrote: Here's the thing, Joe: I'm going to start of with saying that no vs. CPU in Versus is truly shocking, and I'm extremely surprised it's not in the game.

THAT BEING SAID, everything else that's "missing" in the game is absolutely no act of deception. For those that were following Capcom and paying attention, Capcom was EXTREMELY transparent about what the state of the game will be at release. They pretty much said, "the game will only have these features on release, but don't worry, they will come shortly after release for FREE". Lot's of people knew this, and were thankful that they would at least be able to play the game earlier than later.

DLC characters will also be FREE. This is a first EVER in a Street Fighter game. In previous games, you had to the super/ultra edition to get the new characters. That model is completely gone now. This is actually pretty amazing.

So you saying that we must judge the game on release is a bit unfair given the circumstance that we KNEW it would be this way, and we also know it will be rectified.

Now why would Capcom release an unfinished game? Why not just complete it and release it later? The reason is because Evo and the Capcom Pro Tour are just around the corner, and everyone is itching to see SFV in them. Capcom did a FAVOR to most of their fanbase. Now, the problem is that another part of the fanbase doesn't give a rats ass about this, and just wants the single player content. I get that, but that is just not who they are trying to ultimately cater to (albeit they still plan on catering to them, but they have priorities and the stars just weren't aligned in everyone's favor.)

I would understand if you didn't know about all this because you're a variety gamer, and you're too busy paying attention to all kinds of games to have known and followed all this info. But I just want to lay it out that this was the gameplan, and Capcom was extremely vocal and giving to their fans.

Alex Proyas wrote: ‪#‎CRITICSSOWHITE‬

Not real. But maybe it should be. Most are white and male, are they not? So as an Egyptian guy, being called a racist by some of these people makes me feel a little queasy.

You know it must be hard to be a movie critic these days. I mean you are subjected to movie after movie to review for a “cynical” public - several every week sometimes - it must really take its toll on one’s nerves. And then there are some movies which come along with bloggers already bitching about them so doesn’t it make things a little easier if you are struggling for something to say? Well why not just say what those bloggers are saying, even if they haven’t seen the movie like you have. That will result in a review that will be received well. Won’t it? Only the film-makers will be annoyed with you. Who cares about them.

This way of thinking is human nature I suppose - it does not surprise me in the least as the web and the Rotten Tomatoes school of criticism supports this idea of reducing someone’s work to a series of stars awarded. I for one do not care about stars. Nor is this my vendetta against all critics. I know there are ones out there who are brave enough to express their own opinions about movies - and I want to encourage them in any way I can to stick to their guns, even if I have to criticise the critics, which for an artist means you will be instantly labelled as “crazy”.

People think I am angry because my film was not reviewed favourably. But you see I do not care if the reviews are positive or negative. I usually don't read them either way. And yes I generally take a fan’s opinion above a critic's. My fans are quite honest with me and tell me if they like something or not. I respect that. And most importantly I can trust their opinion as it is coming from a real place. Nor do I mind the bloggers who criticise for whatever reason - even over the racial controversy. As I have already stated I have sympathy for them, though I do not believe I could have done more in this regards for reasons I have stated elsewhere.

What I'm angry about is consensus reviewing - and how it damages movie making universally. I question the motives behind many critics response to my movie in this case. Some reviews so perfectly reflect the opinions of "hate" bloggers before the movie opened. Wonder why? Bloggers shape critics opinions - there is no denying that - more and more so. And the first professional reviews of a movie can poison the well - so that people are frightened to drink from it. I have seen that happen to many of my friends films recently and particularly to many original fantasy movies released in the past few years. So studios will probably stop making big budget original fantasy movies altogether. As a fan of the genre I think that would be a real shame. And... funny how the people who love to be so negative about films are the ones who have the hardest time being criticised.

(New improved "Paragraphs" courtesy of Angelo Mike)

For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.