Luke Smith vs. Square/Enix

Luke Smith, news editor over at 1up, recently posted a protesting blog entry which openly defied a draconian edict laid down by Square/Enix. The company required news organs to refrain from discussing many aspects of the Valkyrie Profile title, coming out in the U.S. later this year but already available in Japan. Gamers With Jobs has a good synopsis of the situation. From that article: "Is he being a bit overly dramatic on this issue? Perhaps. But it is an interesting illumination of a larger issue, to do with the quality of communication between the industry and games journalists. Smith is certainly not the first to express dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs."

Comments

Angriest Man in Games Journalism?

[neonprimetime]

Luke Smith is the angriest man in games journalism.

Yeah ... all three of them got in a room and beat each other ... Luke Smith was the last man standing.

Lame

[nacturation]

Here's the text of what they've requested:

With summer in full swing, the sun's come out to say hello, and our Japanese counterparts have unleashed a behemoth known as VALKYRIE PROFILE 2: SILMERIA in their home land. While the game sits in stores thousands of miles away, it's inevitable that some of you will import it to sample the delight that will be coming to North America in late September.

With that in mind, I feel it is necessary to highlight some key areas that you should not include in your coverage:

* Please do not write about spoilers of any kind

* This includes spoiler elements of the main plot, the appearance of Freya and Lenneth as playable characters and of course, the ending

* Please do not post CG movies of any kind

* This is a Square Enix staple that runs the gamut for Japan releases, so please refrain from posting videos of our CG or pivotal cutscenes, you will be able to post CG from the English game at a later date

* Please do not post music of any kind

* Do not sample or record the music from the game, there is an official OST out for VP2 and we can't infringe on its copyright

The majority of this boils down to "don't spoil it for the gamers". Of course, this just a polite request and, given that the Japanese version has already been released, Luke Smith doesn't have to follow any of this as he points out. However, Square Enix doesn't have to do any favors for him either. I wouldn't be surprised if 1Up gets cut out of the loop when it comes to any prerelease events.

Re:Lame

[ChaosDiscord]

I've copied most of Square Enix's request, but skipped over the most important part! Go re-read the article. At the very least, scan or search for "The following areas are embargoed until the corresponding dates:". The text below that is white-on-white to prevent spoilers, so in some web browsers you'll have to select the text to see it. The key point is that information about specific areas in the game is "embargoed" until a set of seven different dates, all of which are before the game's release. While much of the request is legit, the embargo list isn't about spoilers. This is about waiting so that Square Enix can announce it themselves (presumably on their web site). This is about yielding to Square Enix's marketing effort. That's the point where Square Enix crossed the line. Asking journalists to help them with their marketing is inappropriate.

Crymore Luke

[Sage Gaspar]

The "draconian" edict they passed down was a politely-worded suggestion that the news media doesn't post directly-ripped music, directly-ripped CG samples, and gross plot spoilers. There is one part of the letter where it "embargos" certain areas of the game for discussion until certain dates, I'm guessing to try to drum up interest for the game so that they don't blow everything immediately and have attention die down.

Is this a marketing ploy? Ya, I'm sure it is. But it's tit-for-tat. Square lets out information and demos to game media, Square asks for a little something back. The media can choose whether they want it or not. If not, fine, then their relationship with Square sours a little. Whoopdeeshit. If yes, then a couple salivating fans have to wait a month or turn to fansites to get their information.

Luke did a good job of drawing his line in the sand to rally the ill-informed reactionaries and the 15-year-old fanatics to the aid of his page impressions, but he needs a reality check.