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Atari Accuses Journalists of Making Stuff Up So They Produce Recordings of the Interview (theregister.co.uk)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Legendary games company Atari has accused a Register reporter of making stuff up and acting unprofessionally following an interview earlier this year in San Francisco at the launch of its new games console, the Atari VCS. In that article, we were critical of the fact that the machine did not work, and that its chief operating officer Michael Arzt, whom we spoke to, appeared unable to answer even the most basic questions about the product. We were shown "engineering design models" that were said to be "real" yet turned out did not work, and pointed out as much.
In the article, we wrote: "What happens if we plug this into our laptop, we ask Mike. I don't know, he says. Will it work? I don't know. If we plug it into a different games machine, will it work? No. So it's custom hardware and software? I don't know about that." Presumably this is where Atari feels that the reporter "wrote what he wanted instead of what was discussed with him." Which makes this clip tough to explain -- and we'll give you a clue: your humble Reg hack is the one with the British accent... This is a clip of Atari having no idea about its own controller. The Register goes on to provide more examples of how Atari "is so full of crap..." The accusations started via the company's Facebook page, where a potential buyer of an Atari VCS posted a link to the Reg article and asked the company to explain it. The full interview between the journalist and Atari can be found here.
In the article, we wrote: "What happens if we plug this into our laptop, we ask Mike. I don't know, he says. Will it work? I don't know. If we plug it into a different games machine, will it work? No. So it's custom hardware and software? I don't know about that." Presumably this is where Atari feels that the reporter "wrote what he wanted instead of what was discussed with him." Which makes this clip tough to explain -- and we'll give you a clue: your humble Reg hack is the one with the British accent... This is a clip of Atari having no idea about its own controller. The Register goes on to provide more examples of how Atari "is so full of crap..." The accusations started via the company's Facebook page, where a potential buyer of an Atari VCS posted a link to the Reg article and asked the company to explain it. The full interview between the journalist and Atari can be found here.
Why? Certainly if Atari is willing to give interviews on it, the reporter not only can but should publish about it. But even if Atari hadn't, why shouldn't the reporter report?
Bullshit. Atari was stupid to agree to the interview and to send an unqualified representative who couldn't talk about the product. The reporter did his job and reported factually on the product and the meeting.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Why? Certainly if Atari is willing to give interviews on it, the reporter not only can but should publish about it. But even if Atari hadn't, why shouldn't the reporter report?
The reporter was INVITED by Atari.
'Nuff said.
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
The Atari of today has nothing to do with the original Atari that actually made games and computers.
Atari is now nothing more than a brand name and some IP that has been passed around several times until Infogrames, a French holding company, bought the name in an attempt to capitalize on the good will and nostalgia gamers had for the original brand. What they've really done is dilute that good will even further.
But there *was* substantive information being exchanged--that Atari was utterly clueless about their own project. Granted, that probably wasn't the information they wanted to impart...
That's why being a reporter is paid job--you have to put up with this sort of thing.
It wasn't the *reporter's* dignity being lost. As far as the Atari COO was concerned, I can only agree with you.
I'm more than willing to bet the recording was for the Journalists' own notes, and not meant to be released. It obviously wasn't recorded in a studio, probably on a phone in a pocket or something.
Atari is wrong to have accepted an interview to talk about an unfinished product
I know it's Slashdot but if you RTFA it states that: "Atari was extremely clear about the reason it had invited us – during the very busy Games Developer Conference – to meet up with it". I think that's one of the reasons why the Reg journalist was so annoyed with them.
This is a disaster entirely of Ataris own making. They invited a journalist from a technically-savvy website to see product that wasn't there being presented by a guy with no technical knowledge of it. Even they knew that this was going to turn out badly by the end if you listen to one of the clips.