Author: Steve Murray

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Kotaku, The Blacklist and What’s Left of Games Journalism

fallout-4-please-stand-byIt’s not an uncommon occurrence for a gaming news outlet to be blacklisted by a publisher. You can hear Jim Sterling talk about blacklisted regularly on The Jimquisition. Destructoid was blacklisted by Konami. At one time or another, EGM was reportedly blacklisted by numerous companies including Sony, Midway and Ubisoft. Jeff Gerstmann infamously lost his job at GameSpot over a poor review of Kane & Lynch that resulted in Eidos Interactive threatening to pull ads from the site.

The latest publication to take their blacklisting public is Kotaku. Editor-in-chief Stephen Totilo took to the site to reveal that the company had been cut off by the PR branches of both Ubisoft and Bethesda. While some in games media are standing up for Kotaku, those content consumers that Kotaku are supposed to be producing content for aren’t on their side. When you’re as divisive as Kotaku, there isn’t much sympathy for the devil.

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Sunday Link-Off: The Stories They Don’t Want You to Know

brooke-lawson-playboy15-13bOops! I was busy working on some writing for the week and completely missed that there was supposed to be a set of links that went up this morning. I did my annual Video Game Awards / VGX / The Game Awards write-up that will be posted this Thursday. I’m also working on the Doctor Who review for this week. There will also be a gaming column up either tomorrow or Tuesday.

For now, we have some links to do. Since I’ve been doing a lot of games writing, let’s kick off with Brooke Lawson who the internet might better know under the stage name Dodger.

The terrorists in the Paris attacks didn’t use any super-secret encryption or other under the radar means to plan the attack. They did it right under everyone’s noses. (Wall Street Journal)

It’s already time to start year-end awards. MacLean’s names Justin Trudeau their newsmaker of the year. (MacLean’s)

What do you really know about the John Furlong case? I’m guessing very little that is factually accurate. You see, the abuse allegations against John Furlong were never proved false in a court of law. In fact, the only legal proceeding regard Furlong that went before the courts has proven that people are allowed to make statements that are not necessarily accurate when defending oneself from a serious attack. So here are the sworn affidavits alleging abuse at the hands of John Furlong. (Canadaland)

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Doctor Who: Face the Raven Review

doctor-who-face-the-raven-headerWhat happens when the inevitable happens when you least expect it? I think that was what Steven Moffat was going for in putting together this season. He mixed that in with another of his favourite tropes this week when The Doctor’s past actions came back on him in a way he didn’t expect. This week’s episode was a memorable one but I’m not sure that I’d call it any good until the final ten minutes.

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Ori and the Blind Forest Review: Games as Art

ori-and-the-blind-forest-wallpaperHow long does it normally take to figure out if a game is any good? It’s not a topic I’ve ever given much thought to until I started writing this review. Ori and the Blind Forest makes a very strong first impression with an opening scene that is guaranteed to make you cry in the first ten minutes of the game. It doesn’t take you long to realize you’re playing one of the best games of 2015.

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Wednesday Link-Off: Truthiness

giada-de-laurentiis-campari15-02Is the truth really a matter of perspective? I know there are two sides to every story and the truth often lies somewhere in the middle. It almost seems like politicians are rewarded more as they stray farther from the truth. It’s not any one side, either. It’s as if the farther you get from the political centre on either end of the spectrum, the farther you get from the truth.

We’ll have more on that in a minute as we do the Wednesday set of links. Let’s kick things off today with Giada de Laurentiis.

The PolitiFact Truth-O-Meter goes from True to Pants On Fire. The Donald’s claim that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheered when the World Trade Center buildings came down could break the scale. (PolitiFact)

On that note, Bernie Sanders wants his shot at Trump to challenge his “facts.” The trick with people who have no facts is that they’ll force people to spend so long debunking made up stuff that they’ll never have the time to make their own points. (The Hill)

It’s all because Trump is trying to appeal to the GOP base to win a primary. Will this help him win an election? Most of the world hopes not. (The Guardian)

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Franchise Hockey Manager 2 Review: Shattering Shanahan

franchise-hockey-manager-2-bannerWhen I was in university, the one game that we played religiously was the latest EA Sports NHL games. Sure, it’s not the best investment of money because the games are largely the same year-to-year but we still all loved playing (and trash-talking). Being a fan of Football Manager, I also gave Sega’s hockey management sim Eastside Hockey Manager a try but was a broke college student so I was limited to the free trial. That and you could cheat your way to the Memorial Cup by literally buying players from other junior teams so where’s the fun in that.

Now, there’s a new player in the sports management sim genre. Out of the Park Developments, who also make the popular Out of the Park series of baseball sims, is getting into the world of hockey with Franchise Hockey Manager. How have they handled the transition from grass and bats and chewing tobacco to ice and skates and stitches on the bench?

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The Dollars and Cents of Star Wars (Infographic)

Last week, someone pointed out to me that we’re under a month to the premiere of Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. Putting the biggest movie franchise in the world in the hands of one of the hottest sci-fi directors who happens to be a noted Star Wars fan has The Force Awakens expected to be one of the biggest movies of all-time. Analysts are expecting Episode VII to top a $1 billion gross, a half-billion dollar opening weekend and maybe even beat $2 billion at the box office.

For more on the money made by Star Wars and the money spent to make that money, we have a handy infographic for your perusal.

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Sunday Link-Off: Politics as Usual

kate-upton-harpersbazaar15-01I keep saying that the hardest part of doing these linkdumps isn’t finding the links but coming up with the intros to the links. I’ve been busy this weekend and haven’t had much of a chance for writing. The next week on the blog could get annoyingly dull as a result.

Anyway, it’s Sunday which means that we have to do the links. Let’s kick off with Kate Upton.

Did a Conservative MP call a fellow politician an “NDP whore?” The whole of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald newsroom thought so but the story never ran. (Canadaland)

President Obama isn’t a fan of being too politically correct as it can be used to shut down whole conversations that could otherwise be held. (Daily Intelligencer)

Two men were asked not to board a flight because another passenger was afraid to fly with them because they spoke Arabic. They talk about terrorist winning by instilling fear in people. Well, here’s a perfect example. (NBC)

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Doctor Who: Sleep No More Review

doctor-who-sleep-no-more-headerIf there’s one favourite trick of the Moffat era of Doctor Who, it’s making you afraid of the seemingly ordinary. We’ve seen homicidal statues that move when no one’s looking, carnivorous shadows and being alone in the dark. This week, regular writer and Moffat partner in crime Mark Gatiss has a go at making you scared of the seemingly ordinary. This week’s episode tries to make you scared to sleep.

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WRC 5 Review: Dirty Rally

wrc5-headerOne of our unanticipated annual traditions on et geekera is the review of some annual sports franchises in the fall. In the next little bit, we’ll review Football Manager 2016 (the third entry we’ve reviewed in our under three years of existence) and Franchise Hockey Manager 2 will be the latest addition to the lineup of sport reviews. But the one I’ve been doing the longest between etg and The Lowdown is WRC. After a year’s hiatus, the World Rally Championship game is back. While much has changed, a lot still stays the same.

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