Blistered Thumbs: Lying for $$$

This is going to be different from other things I've done but I feel a need to write it even if most won't care.

I'm not very "up-with-it" with newer things. Rose colored glasses are my friends and I usually stick back a generation or two in regards to technology (I just recently got a phone...that takes pictures. Awesome, right?!). However, to get to a point, with E3 starting up, I figured there was a chance to actually know what was going on for once, so I actually sat down and watched coverage of it. Easily amused is a good descriptor for me so most of the times the presentations were fun (and Need for Speed: The Run was absolutely insanely hilarious for some reason).

But enough babbling foreshadow; let's get to the point of this blah blah blog.

I was on Twitter the other day and happened upon this tweet from Channel Awesome/Blistered Thumbs own Angry Joe Vargas:

Wow. I watched the Nintendo press conference and an interview afterwards with Geoff Keighley, so the idea that the President/CEO of Nintendo would actually brush off someone covering E3 in such a vulgar manner completely surprised me. So...I clicked the link like a good little pigeon and skipped part one of their three part wrap up in order to get directly to the 'good stuff.'

The way the picture is shown here, again promising a surprising story of a man being cursed out by a Nintendo representative, makes it appear as if it is the first thing that will be discussed. That is not true as it actually takes 12:21 into the video before the story comes up.

And this crazy, interesting, click-worthy story...is a complete fabrication.

See, the story is brought up at 12:21 and within five seconds later, it's gone. When the person (2nd from the left in the picture) says:

"I thought your best moment was going to be when Reggie told you to go **** yourself. I mean, his bodyguard told you..."

Done. I could just stop there. The whole thing is officially a lie. Reggie did not curse this kid out. A bodyguard did. That's completely different.

It makes sense why they did it. They wanted me, and many others, to click the link and garner more views for the video (Blip.TV shares ad revenue with contributors). I suppose "Bodyguard does job; keeps reporter away from someone" is less likely to earn a view. However, the thing that irks me is suggesting Reggie was the speaker. It's completely tasteless and disrespectful to his work.

But it continues. It turns out that Eli, our storyteller, spotted Reggie as he was leaving and decided to go ask him for a picture.

"And I see Reggie about to get into his Nintendo branded Navigator. I'm like, guys,...I'm a huge Reggie fan...so I go to his bodyguard...and I'm like "Sir, sorry to bother you, could I maybe get a picture with Reggie?"

That's a reasonable fan request, but (and this part is my own fault for assuming) it seemed as if this person would be interviewing Reggie and angering him. So this is like "Fan gets turned away for picture as 'celebrity' leaves." That's quite the non-story.

From here, it's often that the group talks over each other, but the following is the best I could transcribe:

...He looked at me like I was a rock, a disgusting bug, and he was like "What did you just say?"..."Why would you ask me that?"

Which doesn't sound like "**** off" to me. Later on, Joe himself makes a point to suggest the bodyguard said it, but (unless I missed it, which is possible as they talked over each other at times and I couldn't make everything out) there was no point where Eli stated the bodyguard told him to "**** off" outside of nodding as other people spoke.

The start of the story is someone else bringing it up and suggesting the bodyguard said it and the end of the story is someone else bringing it up and suggesting the bodyguard said it. I sent a tweet to Eli asking him about the situation but he didn't respond. Oh well. I tried, but perhaps didn't word it the best to get a response.

If you don't mind me randomly bouncing back to a point, I'll briefly say is that it is obvious that this is being done to get clicks. They even used the fabricated story on the picture 'teaser' for the video:

So that it's mentioned twice right there on the screen. That's ridiculous. Whoever did this should really consider looking into what makes a good story and what makes a tabloid lie.

In my eyes, this is a website that has existed around or slightly over a year and is still in need of good credibility in order to be accepted as a site to visit. It took a long time after a botched PS3 giveaway (Not that a PS3 wasn't given away, just that the contest was poorly done from nearly all sides) for me to start looking at the place again. Completely lying for no other reason other than to garner clicks damages what credibility they have in my eyes. They aren't looking to give me good information or entertainment. They're just looking to get as much attention and ad revenue as possible. And while it isn't the only site I use for finding my video game news and entertainment, I'll still be avoiding it for quite some time.

Thank you for your time.

Shawn DC.

"Disturbingly Cheap Reviews"

EDIT:
Since the writing of this blog, the page has now been changed. The hype picture has now been changed to discussion of the WiiU controller. The hyping words now ask whether it was Reggie' Bodyguard who threw the profanity at Eli, a much more accurate description.

So, I'm glad to see this happen even though I'm still disappointed it occurred at all. I hope that Blistered Thumbs can use this to take a step forward (and avoid three steps back).