Nukezilla » John Kershaw

Add “Yukon” to The List of Code Names for The Next Xbox

John Kershaw — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:08:20 +0000

In November last year it was apparently known as the Xbox Loop, in February this year developers were calling it Durango. I’m pleased to be able to add to the pile of names-that-won’t-be-used with the news that prior to these names, the new console was known as Yukon, according to documents seen by Nukezilla.

Nukezilla Upgrades its Editor in Chief

John Kershaw — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:47:22 +0000

It’s my pleasure to announce that there’s been a shuffle at the top of Nukezilla and Hans Wuerflein has taken over from myself as the site’s Editor in Chief. I’ll be moving to become the site’s Publisher, as well as a Senior Staff Writer.

I’ve been the site’s Editor in Chief since it began and am happy to be pointed at, judged, and known to be the person who’s fault this all is. And now it’s time for me to, slightly, hand over the reigns to somebody far better at the job than myself. Hans is taking over the day-to-day running of the site whilst the Council (which I will remain chair of) manages the rest. The buck will still stop with me, and all the business and techy side of things fall at my feet.

So anyway, hurray!

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Nukezilla to Start Republishing Press Releases

John Kershaw — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:46:41 +0000

Nukezilla will, from today onwards, be republishing every* press release we get sent. The press releases won’t appear in any RSS feed or on the front page but can be found via the link at the bottom of every page to the Press Releases page. We’ll not be publishing every press release out there, there’s other sites that do it already (Games Press, MCV UK) and better than we possibly ever could. This is purely a resource for writers and readers of the press releases we’re sent.

If you would like to send us a press release (oh how we long for your hyperbole and clichés!) feel free, just email tips@nukezilla.com.

For fun, we’ve left comments enabled on the press releases. Go on, be snide.

*terrible or uninteresting press releases may not be published. It all depends on how arsed we can be.

GAME Goes Bust

John Kershaw — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:04:00 +0000

UK games retailer GAME has filed for administration. The news, which will surprise nobody, comes hot on the heels of GAME suspending trading of their shares this morning.

For years GAME has been failing to compete with supermarket’s cut-throat discounting, and their reliance on rip-off trade-ins has seen their customer base slowly evaporate.

The company, largely responsible for eradicating the small independent videogame stores in the UK, has reached the end of its steady decline into obsolescence. Whilst the company will continue to trade, and has some rescue plans involving selling off Gamestation and completely re-branding, this will offer little comfort to the company’s 6,000 UK employees.

You Can Now More Easily Send us Tips (And Please Do)

John Kershaw — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:53:33 +0000

Found news on some other site you want us to copy & paste? Don’t want to go through the hassle of emailing tips@nukezilla.com? Well have I got an update for you! We’re testing the new Public Tips system which plumbs right into our guts. It’s basically identical to emailing us, only a bit easier, plus you can see a list of the most recent tips we’ve been sent. Useful.

Funny cat pictures are valid tips.

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Submit a Tip

John Kershaw — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:41:14 +0000

Submit a tip

To send us a tip that there's important news happening we're not covering, fill out the form below. You can also email tips@nukezilla.com. Before sending us a tip, check the list on this page for recently submitted tips. Also, thanks for your help, it's appreciated.

Recent tips

Rhode Island's Reckoning: A quick history of 38 Studios and their deal with Rhode Island | The Verge (theverge.com)
Japanese Game Developer Apparently Harassed So Much, She Attempted Suicide (kotaku.com)
Gamasutra - When digital dies, where does that leave game preservation? (gamasutra.com)
Activision, Infinity Ward, and Project Icebreaker - Giant Bomb (giantbomb.com)
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning dev may be in trouble - GameSpot.com (gamespot.com)
Street Fighter X Tekken sales blamed on 'cannibalism' - GameSpot.com (gamespot.com)
Steam Wallet exclusive to GameStop, doesn't change company investment in Impulse (joystiq.com)
Resident Evil: Raccoon City sells 1.7 million units as Capcom's profits dip (gamesindustry.biz)
Grateful dad completes 24-hour solo SingStar record - Wire (wire.vg)
Zynga's Two-Billion-Dollar Bid Wasn't Enough to Buy Angry Birds [Angry Birds] - Wire (wire.vg)
Report: Wii U to Carry a Retail Price of $300 (gamepolitics.com)
Ubisoft sued for patent infringement over Rocksmith technology (joystiq.com)
redundant GAME employees in Ireland receive 2 weeks pay (twitter.com)
Wing Commander Saga Released (wcsaga.com)
Gnome's Lair: Wing Commander Saga - Preview & Interview (gnomeslair.com)
Witcher 2 devs: 'We will never use any DRM anymore' (joystiq.com)
Assassin's Creed 3 launching October 30 - GameSpot.com (au.gamespot.com)
Hasbro announces blizzard board games (tomshardware.com)
IndieCade 2012 Submissions Open (indiecade.com)
Megaton Preview: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (en.wikipedia.org)
Short-sightedness a result of lack of sunlight, not videogames, research shows (edition.cnn.com)
Hackers preparing for another bout with Sony. (1up.com)
http://www.vg247.com/2011/05/10/namco-ready-to-nuke-dubai-press-conf-liveblog-at-6-30am-bst/ (vg247.com)
http://purenintendo.com/2011/04/26/more-project-cafe-rumors-games-to-be-shown-off-at-e3/ (purenintendo.com)
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2011/110425_4e.pdf (nintendo.co.jp)
Tri-Ace's completely sick realtime lighting demo for 360/ps3 (research.tri-ace.com)
Wii 2 Speculation Continues Nearly Jumping The Shark (gear.ign.com)
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/04/14/new-nintendo-console-at-e3.aspx (gameinformer.com)
http://www.vg247.com/2011/04/08/resistance-3-multiplayer-beta-access-inside-select-copies-of-socom-4/ (vg247.com)
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/03/28/grasshopper_frog_minutes/ (andriasang.com)
http://collider.com/the-weinstein-company-twc-games/82530/ (collider.com)
http://wire.vg/Iwj (wire.vg)
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=26586881&postcount=1 (neogaf.com)
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/03/17/beyond-good-evil-hd-coming-may-2011-more-goodies-for-early-buyers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PSBlog+%28PlayStation.Blog%29 (blog.us.playstation.com)
Bethesda Dev: Graphics Matter (computerandvideogames.com)
http://www.capcom-europe.com/forum/showpost.php?s=50d237d7ba74e77b4b477c26f8bb2fbe&p=906512&postcount=24 (capcom-europe.com)
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=26341016&postcount=330 (neogaf.com)
GDC11: 3DS Zelda title dated (develop-online.net)
MTV Games closed (mcvuk.com)

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Server Vulnerability Found And Fixed. All is Well

John Kershaw — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:58:51 +0000

Last night I got an email from Media Temple, Nukezilla’s host, informing me that the software they install on our software (Plesk, made by a company called Parallels) recently found a security hole. The email stated that their “administrative team determined that your[server] was compromised to obtain certain passwords to your server. However, there is no evidence at this time that your personal data, site content, or account information was affected. ”

The bug with Plesk, as far as I understand it, is the one covered by Ars Technica a week ago. Yet Media Temple only informed their clients of this last night.

So, the server was vulnerable for a short while, everything is fixed now, passwords changed & software patched etc., and I’ve checked the logs and found no evidence of anyone other than myself and Media Temple gaining access to anything remotely secure. Even if passwords were obtained and never used, everything is still fine as all passwords used on this server are long, alphanumeric, random strings only ever used once.

More information:

Remote vulnerability in Plesk Panel – Parallels.com

Incident 2501: Parallels® Plesk Vulnerability – Media Temple

Wardrox’s Vlog 1st March: Stuff What I Done

John Kershaw — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:00:56 +0000

I’ve not done a video blog in a while, so this is something of a recap of the work I’ve done for Nukezilla over the past few weeks and months.

Be Good: Nukezilla Has a Code of Conduct

John Kershaw — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:19:19 +0000

After several weeks of revisions and feedback, Nukezilla‘s first Code of Conduct has been published. It’s a written form of what was previously simply common sense. The CoC [giggle] isn’t set in stone and will evolve with the site over time.

Code of Conduct

John Kershaw — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:13:39 +0000

Nukezilla’s Code of Conduct

We’re a cool bunch of nice people. This Code of Conduct is a helpful way to keep things this way. If you want to join in with what we’ve got going on, be that by posting comments or replying in the forum, you should understand and agree to the following.

Please be respectful of each other; this doesn’t mean you can’t disagree on things, we all have our own opinions.

Obvious trolling, flame-baiting, harassment, racism, bigotry and offensive images are indicative of disrespect and will be dealt with appropriately.

Profanity, swearing and general naughty language is allowed, but try not to be a potty mouth. It doesn’t make you seem more adult.

There is a no-tolerance policy on spamming. What content is deemed as spam is decided at the discretion of the moderators. Do not post in spam threads, either, even if you think you’re being funny.

Don’t join us just to advertise something. If it’s cool, you’ve seen it and you’re a lurker, then show some respect, so more than copy-and-pasting a press release. Be aware that it’s thin ice as regards to our spam policy.

Respect the law. Refrain from posting incriminating information. A joke is a joke, but if it is concerning, we reserve the right to remove the content and take further action where needed.

Shady Internet Business (e.g. phishing, scamming etc) is not tolerated anywhere on the site and will result in an immediate ban.

Please respect the privacy of others, attempting to underhandedly obtain the information of another user will be considered as phishing; also, purposely posting the information another person may be considered harassment. Just don’t post anyone’s personal information, ever.

Do not brag about purposely violating the Code of Conduct as it will be considered a confession and will be dealt with as such.

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Borderlands 2 Arrives Late September, Has Pretty Trailer

John Kershaw — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:56:41 +0000

Borderlands 2, one of my anticipated games for this year, has gotten itself a launch date and a rather fine new trailer. The game will be out September 18th in the US and September 21st everywhere else.

Below is the first trailer I’ve seen this year which has me a little excited.

Help Nukezilla Destroy Annoying Adverts

John Kershaw — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:22:47 +0000

A long time ago Nukezilla made the decision to refuse money for advertising which takes over the page, or auto-plays audio. Sadly, because we are in the vast minority of sites which do this, our ad company doesn’t provide a water-tight shit-ad-prevention mechanism. Recently we’ve been getting auto-playing ads with audio. This will not do.

As soon as we were notified these ads were popping up I got in contact with our ad supplier. They say they don’t allow these auto-playing ads on their network, and so need our help tracking down the source of this crap.

As NZ doesn’t serve regular readers very many ads, and as the video ones we want to stop are quite rare, it’s difficult for just us to get the data needed. So, if you could help us out that would be appreciated. Below is a copy of the email instructions we got from Technorati on how to report these ads.

We absolutely don’t allow automatic audio, so this is something we will definitely want to remove asap if you can help verify the creative. If you see the creative again, we ask that you take the following steps:
1) If the creative is not flash, please right click on the ad and copy the link address.
2) If the creative is flash based, we recommend using the TamperData FireFox plugin. Once this has been installed, you can open up TamperData (under ‘tools’) and place it another window. Please then visit the page where you’re visiting the problematic creative. If it doesn’t pull up, go ahead and hit ‘clear data’ within the tamper data window. Please repeat until the process until the creative shows up.
Then, on the tamper data window, please first filter by the ad size (’300×250′ for example). Copy all the click data into an email. Next you will want to remove the current ad size filter, and input ‘adnxs”. Please copy all the click data into the same email and send.
On our end, we will be looking for one of two basic ad call string formats:
http://ad.technoratimedia.com/iframe3?iT8AAK
KzKABAt6wAAAAAAIXTIAAAAAAAAgAMAAYAAAAAAP8AAA
AGD8mXOAAAAAAAp6YJAAAAAADuMysAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
BbuxMAAAAAAAIAAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKVHQS6Pw
AAAAAAAAAAAAAClR0Euj8AAAAAAAAAAAAAApUdBMo.AA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAC31S
NbicliCyX4gSMCZUn6iJsgYHhvIceb1.C2AAAAAA==,,
http%3A%2F%2Ftechnorati.com%2F,B%3D10%26Z%3D
728×90%26_salt%3D1558451654%26r%3D0%26
referrer%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252ftechnorati.com
%252f%26s%3D266426,ca57b4c8-43b2-11e1-a071-
78e7d15f5ca6,1327097097580=
or
http://ib.adnxs.com/if?enc=AAAAAACAI0AAAAAAAIAjQAA
AACDbeSxAAAAAAACAI0AAAAAAAIAjQDpE0vl93CYKD8xUKa2IU
AAZ5hlPAAAAAErWBgA2AQAANgEAAAIAAAASyxMAltQAAAEAAAB
VU0QAVVNEACwBWAIpbQAAMBUAAgMCAQUAAAAAuxTg7wAAAAA.&
amp;udj=uf%28%27a%27%2C+36748%2C+1327097369%29%3B
uf%28%27r%27%2C+1297170%2C+1327097369%29%3Bppv%28
26774%2C+%27731514423114613818%27%2C+1327097369%2
C+1337465369%2C+176544%2C+54422%2C+0%29%3B&cn
d=!RsaBQig4woQkpZPGAAglqkDMAA4qdoBQARItgJQyqwbWA
Bg1wJoAHA4eACAAUCIAQCQAQGYAQGgAQGoAQCwAQC5AQAAAAA
AgCNAwQEAAAAAAIAjQMkBOq8WfbeYxj_ZAQAAAAAAAPA_4AEA
&ccd=!mwS6Jgig4woQkpZPGJapAyAE&vpid=47
&referrer=http://www.technorati.com/&
media_subtypes=1
Let me know if you have any questions and thanks in advance for all of your help.

Please email us (John@nukezilla.com) with the ad call strings, as well as a description of what the video is.

I hate ads.

About

John Kershaw — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:01:42 +0000

What’s All This Nukezilla About?

Nukezilla is a videogame blog.

That doesn’t sound right at all. Nukezilla is a collective… a website … just a name … a community … an ethos? Well shit, I don’t seem to know what my own website is. Sorry.

Nukezilla is a space, owned by the people who use it, for talking about videogames.

The tag line of the site is “Because the games we love could be better and corporate bullshit still exists. Rawr.” which pretty much gets the point across. We’re interested in talking about games. Indie games, popular games, bad games, we want to talk about them all. We want to have these discussions away from the wider gaming world’s PR, sexism, greed and general unpleasantness.

This website began life in May 2008 as Negative Gamer (Why so Negative?). It was a place for me to vent and complain and rant. It was nice to be able to channel my inner angry-baby and not be met with a molasses of disagreeing comments. The few years that followed saw Negative Gamer gain a small audience of like minded people, and a gathering of writers who all shared the same general principals. I was an angry person back then, and whilst I’ve calmed down a bit and become hopefully more constructive, the ideas from Negative Gamer have continued on to Nukezilla.

The site was renamed Nukezilla in May 2010 (Negative Gamer is Changing Its Name to Nukezilla) because “Negative Gamer” is a crap name, and it limited the scope of what we could do. It’s difficult to move from under a well labelled trope out into the real world, but we’ve managed it.

We like to stand for quality, fairness, liberation and smart talking. We have a team of editors to make sure our words are good. We have a council to run the place and make sure everything is fair (How The Nukezilla Council Operates). We’re a welcoming, growing, safe community and we’d like you to join us. If you want.

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Ethical Guidelines

John Kershaw — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:06:24 +0000

Nukezilla’s Ethical Guidelines

We feel it’s important to have a written down record of our ethics. This document is the best current version of those principals, and are made public to keep both staff and the wider community aware.

Integrity of Coverage

Compliance With Embargos

Generally, we will try to comply with embargos when requested by an industry representative, AND when the embargo is generally applicable to all reviewing sites. This is limited until the release date for the product/beta/game being reviewed; after public release, there is no further reason to comply with the embargo. In situations where embargos are applied in a discriminatory fashion (for instance, to encourage exclusives), it will be the decision of the Industry Liaison Project Manager (see: How The Nukezilla Council Operates for role description) as to whether to comply with the embargo or to release coverage anyway.

In situations where an embargo is broken early by another site, the ILPM, EiC or appropriate section Editor or Project Manager may decide to break the embargo as well; however until that decision is made (or the embargo requester lifts the embargo) we will continue to comply with the embargo. Typically we will comply if it is just one site, or a low-traffic site, which breaks the embargo; however if the information becomes widely available at heavily trafficked sites, there will be no reason to continue to comply.

Where possible it will be made known if Nukezilla has complied with an embargo if it has changed the way we have reported on an event, game or other such product.

Requests From Industry Representatives

Special requests from industry representatives for coverage will be handled on a case by case basis. In general, we will only specially review something if we would have given it coverage anyway, or if upon hearing about the game we would like to review it (this mainly applies to “indie” games, or games from smaller developers, where the first time Nukezilla becomes aware of the game is when we are sent a free copy).

It will not be standard policy to provide industry representatives with advance copies of coverage for review; except as necessary for fact checking or to confirm quotations. It will likewise not be standard policy to edit coverage on request; except when necessary for corrections, or to provide an update of further information to an article. Exceptions to these two rules will be determined by the Ombudsman/ILPM.

Situations where an industry representative requests changes or special coverage on an article should be reported to the Reviews Editor, Ombudsman/Industry Liaison, and EiC; it is also encouraged, but not necessary, to discuss them at Nukezilla Council meetings.

Any changes made after publication, due to contact with somebody outside of Nukezilla, should be noted in an update at the end, or within the body of, the article detailing what changed and who suggested it.

Conflicts of Interest

All conflicts of interest MUST be disclosed in advance; authors that believe they may have a conflict of interest should consult with the Ombudsman/ILPM and Reviews Editor/Project Manager to see whether their conflict is significant enough that the author should not cover the piece. When possible, conflicted authors should attempt to find another author on staff to do the coverage. If this is not possible or not feasible, and the conflict is deemed minor, a disclosure of the conflict MUST be included in the article. Furthermore, any article potentially involving a conflict should be reviewed by at least TWO editors.

Whether or not the conflict is deemed minor can only be determined using common sense. If there is any doubt the decision should be referred to the ILPM or suitable section Editor.

Any review in which a free copy or reduced price copy was provided should have a disclaimer identifying this fact. Any review in which the author received payment from someone other than Nukezilla for their work MUST be identified to the Ombudsman/Industry Liaison, Reviews Editor, EiC, and should be reviewed by at least TWO editors.

Any coverage of a game/studio in which the author is a member should include a disclaimer identifying this relationship.

Negative Coverage

Negative coverage is part of our jobs, and we should strive to be honest, fair, and accurate in our reporting. That said, we should not shy away from negative coverage where warranted. Negative reviews will be treated like any other review; however if the author in his/her judgment believes that the review will be controversial, it should be reviewed by a second editor.

Furthermore, editors reviewing articles that are particularly negative should take extra care to ensure that criticisms are fair and that we are not beating up on the subject beyond what is warranted. Remember, our purpose is to provide information and coverage; while we can have a “point” to our coverage, there is a line to be drawn between having a point of view, and eviscerating a subject just to be an arse.

Personal Information Policy

How The Council Operates

John Kershaw — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:05:06 +0000

How The Nukezilla Council Operates

[This document is almost always a work in progress.]

What “Council”?

In late 2011 John started working for Nukezilla full time. One of the first things he did was to create the idea of the Nukezilla Council (NZC), a group of people who would replace him as the entity which runs the site. The NZC is a subsection of staff, each with a given role within the site’s management, working together to diffuse authority fairly amongst the collective to keep the site fair for all.

The members of the council change over time (no role is permanent) and the way decisions are made attempts to be as fair for all as possible. As of 6th Feb 2011, the following roles had been discussed. Where applicable the name of the current person serving under each title is given.

Council Chair – John Kershaw
The Council Chair is in charge of making sure the council operates. They have no added decision-making power. They are there to organise and facilitate meetings, as well as making sure everyone is happy in their roles. They can be thought of as the Council Project manager.

News Project Manager (News Editor and Editor-in-Chief) – Hans Wuerflein
The News PM makes sure Nukezilla covers news as best it can. This role leads our quality development and policy debate, as well as providing editorial oversight to the news.

Reviews Project Manager (Reviews Editor) – Brett Parsons
Similar to the News PM the Reviews PM’s main task is making sure Nukezilla produces reviews that are interesting and of high quality.

Industry Liaison Project Manager – Dan Rosenthal
The ILPM is Nukezilla’s version of the PR manager. They are the main contact with the industry. It’s their job to make sure we don’t burn bridges that don’t need burning, but also that we don’t compromise our ethics for industry pressure. They keep us on the ethical side of life.

Community Project Manager – Faye Lanks
The CPM is a very unique role in that the person who is the CPM is not a staff member, instead they are a member of the wider Nukezilla community. They are the voice at the council meetings which represents non-staff Nukezilla people. They are also in charge of community based events, site features and conflict resolution.

Features Project Manager (Features Editor)
Managing columns and one off features, making sure Nukezilla continues to output a solid quantity of original articles.

Video Project Manager
A role for the person in charge of Nukezilla’s video content.

New Person Project Manager
Somebody who’s role is based around staff recruitment, and making sure new memebers of staff are settling in and happy.

Merch Project Manager
The Merch PM is in charge of coming up with viable merchandise opportunities for the site. Everyone likes mugs.

Meetings

When?

The NZC aims to have meetings every two weeks. Availability of current council members is first considered when deciding on a time to have the meeting, however meeting times should be chosen to be as accessible as possible. Having a regular meeting time is problematic as it may exclude some people for long periods of time. The Council Chair is in charge of arranging meetings.

Who?

Meetings are open to, and should be attended by, anyone who is a current NZC member. Staff members curious to listen in are welcome to do so, and staff members who may want to take on a council role are encouraged to come along.

Community members are not currently invited to meetings, unless invited by the CPM for a specific reason which requires them to be there.

How?

Before the meeting, a document listing discussion points is created. Anyone can submit a discussion point.

Meetings happen via a Skype conference call. The call is recorded. Each discussion point is gone though.

After the meeting a link to the audio recording, the pre-meeting discussion points and resulting minutes/notes are emailed to all staff.

What if I want to say something?

If you’re a council member, add what you want to say to the discussion points list and it’ll be brought up at the meeting.

If you’re a staff member, but not on the council, you can have your comment/issue put on the discussion points list. It’s recommended to chat to the most suitable council member before the meeting so they can speak on your behalf.

If you’re not on staff, you should talk to the Community Project Manager who can talk on your behalf.

Action Points and Proposals

During the meeting there’s two progressive things that can happen.

Action points

The first is that somebody is Action Pointed to do something. A record that person A said they would do thing B is noted and at the next applicable meeting their progress is discussed.

Proposals

The second thing that can happen is that a Proposal is made. This is usually for larger or more important things which need doing or deciding. Proposals follow this process:

At the meeting the council works out roughly what the Proposal needs to be.
An email is sent to all staff with the Proposal details in for consultation. The default consultation period is a week, unless otherwise stated.
If nobody objects, the proposal is put into action.
If concerns are raised, a discussion is had about the proposal.
If needed, the Proposal is discussed again, as well as all feedback, at the next Council meeting.
A conclusion on what to do with the Proposal is made. The Proposal may be dropped, changed, or voted on in some form.

Decision Making

If it seems like there’s some disagreement, a form of voting is used to decide an outcome. The council decides on which form of voting is best.

Ideally a “normal” majority vote should be avoided unless consensus is not suitable. If 49% of people are unhappy, this is not a wanted outcome. Instead, consensus should be used; people can Agree (voting in favour of the Proposal), Stand Aside (choosing not to vote) or Block (very strongly disagree). If there is one Block, the Proposal does not pass.

No related posts.

Posting Guide V3.0

John Kershaw — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:39:35 +0000

Posting Guide V3.0

Being written.

Code of Conduct

GameStop: Only Straight, Male, Patronising Gamers Play Twisted Metal

John Kershaw — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:09:08 +0000

GameStop have a special offer on at the moment; if you pre-order Twisted Metal you get a discount on buying flowers, because the game comes out on Valentine’s Day, get it?

The title of the promo email is “Send her flowers so you can game”, and the body of the text reminds you this is “a simple solution to that age-old question: game or girlfriend?”. The implication is pretty clear; shut her up with cheap pretty things as you play your videogame.

This is very, very sexist.

I won’t repeat the sensible thoughts you just had in your head about the woman-hating company. Instead I will head off on a tangent and suggest that if you have a hobby in your life which is so important you would choose it over one who you say you love, and if you are put in a situation where you must choose between them, I think you should stop and re-evaluate your situation.

GameStop, it’s 2012, you don’t need to be misogynistic to attract the “gamer” demographic any more.

(If you don’t have a girlfriend who needs patronising, you can pre-order Twisted Metal on Amazon for the same price as GameStop here)

[Update 1: This article has been updated to mention the game comes out on Valentine's Day.]

Update 2: Tumblr user TopHatt Designs has written GameStop a letter about this. You should read it as it’s quite good.

blogs

John Kershaw — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:14:26 +0000

So I Got This Email From PR

John Kershaw — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:58:33 +0000

Every day (usually clustered around 3pm) Nukezilla is sent emails for games we couldn’t give a damn about. These press releases are often filled with boring crap I don’t want to read, and link to images and videos I never want to see. Sometimes, they’re useful.

In this case, I shall use a single press release we got sent yesterday from a company (who I won’t name, but will say that they regularly email us asking if we want a copy of a game for review, then ignore our replies, wasting our time) as examples of most of the things I hate most about gaming, and PR.

Incompetence

In this press release there are paragraphs for the five global areas with pre-order bonuses. Each paragraph is simply copy and pasted with the distributor changed. It’s so lazy. But, that’s not the incompetence. The email was sent, followed by three more emails to make a correction. Where the name of a UK distributor should be, in the press release was simply “xxx”. Why proof read something when it takes other peoples’ time to read?

DLC announcements months before the game ships

The game this press release is for ships in March. In this email, sent in January, the DLC packs are detailed. I know it’s been a few years since the practice of holding back content to try to sell to you for extra money became mainstream, but it still irks me. These companies kinda hate you.

Shit pre-order bonuses with misleading names

The content of the pre-order bonus is copy and pasted several times for each region and is generic extra weapons and character skins. But for one region the pre-order bonus is named as the “Limited Edition” version of the game. It’s not a limited edition, and as far as I can tell from the information given, is the same exact pre-order bonus as everywhere else.

Nationalism

This one is probably more to do with my personal politics than anything else. The pre-order stuff for every country is fairly generic, except for the USA. In the USA, if you pre-order the game you get a special “God Bless America” DLC pack too. The DLC pack includes such great things as…. an American themed shirt for one of the characters to wear. Americans, I think this game is taking the piss out of you.

Sexism

Here’s the best one. As well as titling the press release in a way which puts “hostesses” on par with the walking dead and guns, the press release boasts that the USA-only DLC is “guaranteed to make you feel manlier”. The other pre-order bonuses are also pushed in a similar way with the fantastically misoganistic tag line “If you like guns, girls, or the two combined – this pack is for you!” This DLC is not for non-straight men. Got it.

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Women Paid Less Than Men in The UK Games Industry

John Kershaw — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:43:46 +0000

After gathering and tallying the results from 975 people (597 of whom are based in the UK) MCV have released the results of their annual Games Industry Salary Survey. Whilst the results in general show the drop in industry-wide salary seen in the previous year has not continued this year, it also shows some pretty surprising results when it comes to the gender divide.

Firstly, and least surprisingly, only ten percent of the respondents to the survey identified as female. As MCV point out, this is “in line with the estimated proportion of females working in the trade”. Secondly, those women reported their average salary was around £3,000 a year (or around £1.50 per hour) less than the average man’s salary.

This pay gap is both counter to the results from the international community (though it could be argued there isn’t enough data to be all that accurate here) but more worryingly, worse than it has been in recent years. Three years ago MCV‘s survey reported that women were being paid more than men.

Last year The Guardian collected data from the Office for National Statistics annual survey of hours and earnings and reported that in 2010 the average pay gap between women and men in the UK was around 10%. The UK gaming industry, with all of its innovation, technology, forward thinking visionaries and modern approaches to business, is average at best. As somebody who assumed we were all a pretty cool, liberal bunch, it’s pretty surprising and shameful.

Image: “Weird Bathroom Sign In California Adventure”, Flikr/bitshaker

Wardrox’s Vlog 11th Jan: The Nukezilla Council

John Kershaw — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:00:59 +0000

Nukezilla, as a company, collective, website and verb will soon be run by an elected group of people with good intentions. This group will be the council. There will be positions in the council like Reviews Project Manager, Industry Liaison Project Manager, and even a Community Project Manager (which will be one of you! Update: Flanks has started the thread, which can be found here). Decisions will be made using cunning and fair processes, and it’s all still work in progress.

Nukezilla Waves Goodbye to GoDaddy

John Kershaw — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:02:25 +0000

Nukezilla is currently moving all domains and any hosting associated with GoDaddy to a new service provider (Name Cheap). Downtime is not expected.

The Nukestravaganza Archive

John Kershaw — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:18:29 +0000

The Nukestravaganza Archive

December 2010: The December Review NUKESTRAVAGANZA!

February 2011: NUKESTRAVAGANZA II: The Lovepocalypse

April 1st, 2011: Nukestravaganza III: Interpretive-Dance-And-Mime-apoluza

June 7th, 2011: Nukezstravaganza IV: 88 Miles-Per-Rawr!

December 2011: The December Review NUKESTRAVAGANZAGAIN!

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5 Nukezilla Reviews I Really Enjoyed in 2011

John Kershaw — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:00:13 +0000

Something I enjoy with Nukezilla is how, when writing, I’m free to do what I want. My Editor’s Choice column turned into something of an experiment which I’ve had a lot of fun with. This approach has, in my opinion, created a space with Nukezilla which can lead to some fun, original and great writing.

Reviews are a foundation – and cliché – of most gaming websites, so thought I would read over Nukezilla‘s 2011 reviews and compose a list of some of my favourites (I have a lot of favourites, these are just some. If I had to order them in preference it would be like asking me to pick my favourite child).

Stacking – Jon Ruggiero

Anyone who knows me knows I have a fondness for using the unique properties of the web to have a bit of fun. Jon’s stacked Stacking review is an obvious review for this list. The way the review unstacks, echoing a mechanic of the game, is very pleasing. But what I enjoy even more than the simple stacking/unstacking is how the writing also repeats the idea, with each layer being one paragraph shorter.

Portal 2 – Justin Massongill

I’ve chosen Justin’s Portal 2 review because it’s a very good example of a simple, but great review. Just words and some pictures, but it’s well written and for a game I adore. The right words in the right order.

Haiku Impressions: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – John Kershaw

It’s sort of a review. This is my list, I can do what I want! The game never turned up and I ended up having to get a refund and order the game from a different retailer. This post allowed me to cheekily let out some of my frustration.

Duke Nukem Forever – Brett Parsons

A seriously shitty game given a review in Shakespeare quotes; come on now, of course it’s on my list! The rules of the Nukestravaganzagain (of which this review is part of) says this review can only be nine sentences long. Brett’s genius (if I can use that word without undue ego boosting) just made the review delicious.

L.A. Noire – Jenny Rouse

Much like Justin’s review mentioned above, this is a simple review; just words. But Jenny managed to write those words so damn well, adding a surprising and brilliant twist whilst keeping the point of the review in there. Reading the opening sentence of the review (“Christmas used to mean something in this town. Maybe it still does, but not to me; I’ve seen too much.”) on Christmas day put the biggest grin on my face; I knew immediately I was about to read some fantastic writing.

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Haiku Impressions: Global Game Jam: 48 Hours of Persistence, Programming and Pizza at Scottish Game Jam

John Kershaw — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:35:45 +0000

Almost Vonnegut
Personable, well written
Game Jam? You need this.

Haiku Impressions: Pocket Frogs (iOS)

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