Retro Gamer magazine's terrible Metal Slug feature --reviewed!

[genjiglove]

I never thought I'd see a game journalist who makes Timothy Rogers seem like a really cool guy.

 

[RevStu]

Hot damn, I go to bed and all this happens? This thread delivers. The fun part is the fact that Stu keeps going on like a rabid child thinking he is right and all others are just dumps from a cow's ass, with the intelligence to match.

Nah, sorry, but I've been writing for years and I'll say this much: objectivity is key when writing a piece that is to be professionally published and released to a large audience. If you want to be loud, smarmy and generally oblivious to the topic you are covering (one week of playing the series isn't very long for really doing your research), you should keep it to the website where you charge people to read your shit. What a crock that is.

20 years experience in gaming journalism doesn't mean squat if you are terrible at it. You could have 20 years experience in hooking on the streets, but if you are a bad lay, then it means jack-shit. And for a 'professional', you have an awful lot of time on your hands to argue point/counterpoint. Face it: you're a hack. And if Retro Gamer thinks you are worthy of publishing, then they are just as unworthy of a fan-base.

And your video pinball table sucks balls. Fuck the Sex Pistols.

Bless.

 

[Chainclaw]

This thread is awesome.

I read about half of every Retrogamer, and it's a fun magazine.

If magazines were encyclopedias, I doubt anyone would ever read them.

 

[ookitarepanda]

This is so awesome. Makes me want to go play more MS, actually.

http://www.eegra.com/comics/2008/08/45.gif

 

[hermosaguy]

I never thought I'd see a game journalist who makes Timothy Rogers seem like a really cool guy.

Haha, my old roomie used to idolize the scenester T Rog.

 

[Deuce]

I do. If you blame anyone else for anything I say, you're the fuckwit, and you can try to bluster your way out of that as much as you want without it changing.

Wow. Quote editing. Very mature.

You say that your behavior here, in direct reference to your overreaction to someone griping about an article you wrote in Retrogamer, where even the (purported) people who run the magazine in some regard literally apologized for your language, is in no way a reflection on said magazine.

I doubt anyone is holding Retrogamer responsible for what you say or do outside of your writing, but you're a fool if you think there's no such thing as "guilt by association." There's a reason that individuals and companies alike try to distance themselves from those who make public fools of themselves. If you were being irrational about something totally unrelated to your work for the magazine, you might have a point, flimsy as it would be. I find it highly amusing that someone as dense as you has the gall to impugn my intelligence.

I hope you stick around. You've got potential here.

 

[astrodan88]

*wonders if Ed Semrad or Sushi-X ever got their "panties in a bunch" over a reader's dissenting opinion*

Indeed. I long for the golden age of gaming journalism.

Scary Larry was above all else a consummate professional.

 

[Pentarou]

RevStu, you are really dragging down Retro Gamer with you here. If I were you, I'd stop posting now to save them any further embarrassment.

 

[Professor Denim]

Hello idiots!

his first words in this site. his confidence is amazing.

 

[SIXPACK]

I'm done here, as I can feel my IQ falling just by being near you.

I totally agree! You should look for a place were they have the same IQ as yours!
Try your local sewer.

 

[OMFG]

his first words in this site. his confidence is amazing.

I totally agree! You should look for a place were they have the same IQ as yours!
Try your local sewer.

Man, it must be bad if Benfiquistas are posting in this thread.

 

[GunstarHero]

I like these guys. They're fucking funny.

Very well written, too.

You guys should post here more often. Seriously.

Good stuff.

Absolutely agree. I can't really argue about the article, I have not yet read it. But these guys are 100% Neo-Geo.com members in my book. Loud mouthed, ruthless and curt.

 

[Professor Denim]

Man, it must be bad if Benfiquistas are posting in this thread.

 

[Neo Alec]

This article reminds me of some of the worse pieces over at Hardcore Gaming 101. The Art of Fighting page in particular. It suffered from some of the same problems: Lack of context, way too much time spent talking about the ports, and was apparently written by someone who had only recently researched the series, rather than living through it during the era it was released. A web site is one thing, but for a magazine to publish something like this (particularly one that has a generally good reputation like Retro Gamer) is just lazy. Thank you, Bobak, for exposing it.

The article must have confused the mummies introduced in Metal Slug 2 with the zombies introduced in Metal Slug 3. An honest mistake, but might indicate another place where the author wasn't paying very close attention to the details.

 

[Metal Slugnuts]

Wow, what a completely unproffesional and childish hack.

I love how that even going by what the Definitive articles are supposed to be in RG, his article is STILL poorly researched and horribly written. One fucking week for the ENTIRETY of the Metal Slug games, including ports? I spent one week on just the original MVS version, and I woudn't feel comfortable writing a damn GameFAQs review of it, let alone a full spread for a respected magazine.

Face it: even from a layman's view, your article is terribley written, terribley researched and terribley WRONG.

 

[SIXPACK]

Man, it must be bad if Benfiquistas are posting in this thread.

Imagine if RevStu said something bad about Benfiquistas, !

 

[RevStu]

Wow, what a completely unproffesional and childish hack. I love how that even going by what the Definitive articles are supposed to be in RG, his article is STILL poorly researched and horribly written.

No it isn't, shit-for-brains. There isn't a single mistake in it, whereas your post made it five words before you fucked up.

 

[lithy]

No it isn't, shit-for-brains. There isn't a single mistake in it, whereas your post made it five words before you fucked up.

You're getting kind of boring.

 

[lithy]

I hate to think that we're keeping Stewie up late. Must be past 11pm in the UK right? Maybe he just missed his nap because of this thread, it would at least explain why he's so cranky.

 

[RevStu]

I doubt anyone is holding Retrogamer responsible for what you say or do outside of your writing, but you're a fool if you think there's no such thing as "guilt by association."

Make your mind up, love.

 

[RevStu]

You're getting kind of boring.

Then fuck off and stop reading.

 

[lithy]

Then fuck off and stop reading.

I'm done here, as I can feel my IQ falling just by being near you.

Ok.

 

[ninjaboyjohn]

Haha, my old roomie used to idolize the scenester T Rog.

insertcredit for life!

This whole issue cleared up considerably when it became clear that The Definitive is meant as a farce.

I'd definitely be more interested in a history / retrospective piece than "The Definitive."

How were the Metal Slug games received in the declining western arcade market? How come the engine and the majority of the sprites didn't change for the most of the series - how can Nazca afford to create MS1 and then re-art sprites and do engine tweaks for the other games, and how did that factor into the general SNK business plan (and what did it cost to make?) How did art direction, animation, and sound design mesh to create such a visually stunning game that still stands out today? Can we view the quarter-sucking nature of arcade game design through the various Metal Slugs and their difficulty ramps?

 

[Praise the Lard]

We already established that you're an egomaniac back on page 1 Stuart. No need to keep waving the fact in the wind. All you're really doing is dragging Retro Gamer's good name through the mud, and for what really? Maybe you should think about it. You're 41 years old, starting to act it wouldn't hurt.

I feel bad for Darren and the rest of the RG crew that might be reading this mess. Your tirade here is the worst thing I've ever seen related to RG. It's the kind of thing that will be linked for years to come whenever RG makes the slightest error just so internet jackasses can highlight the quality of the their writers by using you as their example.

Hopefully it was worth it for you, if only so you could feel like your ego was defended. I didn't know who Stuart Campbell was before this, but I know who he is now. I wish I didn't, because he's a cog of the only gaming magazine I've actively bought since the early 1990s.

 

[Deuce]

Make your mind up, love.

Pardon my omission. I should have said, "directly responsible." While the staff may choose not to hold you personally accountable for what you do outside your writing, you'd be sorely mistaken in thinking that no one else will associate your attitude with the image of the magazine.

As for Mr. Madeupname, you fall into more or less the same category by defending him. Yes, I read what you wrote, and I'll certainly address it. Yes, I've clashed with Bobak in the past, and I freely concede that his criticisms could've been made in a less impolitic fashion. I don't really care. There's the simple fact that this is not a public forum, however viewable and accessible by the public it may be. It's a privately-owned web site, and Bobak is the administrator. It's his playground; he can say and do what he wants. Sure, he's been an ignorant dick in the past (and I've told him so), and maybe he was in his original post, but it's all rather immaterial at this point.

Your freelance contractor/employee/what-have-you has come here with an agenda, to defend himself. Perfectly reasonable, but he did so in a grotesquely immature fashion. You're only doing slightly better. What you describe as "joining in" is no different from hypocrisy. There is the old aphorism, "Practice what you preach." If Stuart wanted to speak from a position of moral authority, he could have come in and addressed the points made rationally. Instead, he chose to spew insults and profanity at every turn, and then got further offended when people called him on it.

If you're actually one of the higher-ups behind Retrogamer, more power to you. Perhaps your entire staff is made up of immature middle-aged men. Stuart made the comment, "I play games for a living, hello." This is not an excuse for such behavior. He claims to be a professional, but the word means a great deal more than simply "getting paid to do something."

Professionalism is the practice of "exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner." There is no bastardization of the English language that can be wrought to accurately say that Stuart has done this in this thread. And by defending him, you only serve to further defame the magazine which you claim to be part of.

Oh, and by the way, the screen name? I know its various definitions. You're not being clever by mocking it, or making allusions to how you could. You're just being immature. Ooh, potty humor.