An apology, and a note on hype
by Christopher Grant 
{ Sep 8th 2006 at 1:10AM }
Yesterday afternoon, we ran a post that generated an immense (and unexpected) amount of interest and speculation. Instead of defusing the prolonged PR tease that Nintendo has been escalating for the past year, we contributed to it. Instead of doing our readers a service, we added more confusion to the situation. The post was vague and left only room for disappointment which, inevitably, came at 12:01. The worst part is, we understand that it was our hard-earned credibility that contributed to this excitement cocktail. There are gaming websites that trade in hype, and we've always prided ourselves on avoiding it. If we tell you that something is "major" and "worth waiting for," naturally you would expect it to be. As you've all no doubt noticed by now, news that IBM has begun shipping processors for Nintendo's Wii console, while potentially telling, is hardly the sort of megaton announcement we alluded to or fans were dreaming of. It became increasingly clear as the comments increased and the diggs increased, that we would reap what we had sown. Our credibility and reader trust are all we have, and we are taking measures immediately to ensure that we don't make this mistake again. We're very sorry for the error in judgment.
Sincerely,
Christopher Grant
Editor, Joystiq
PS - We've switched off comments in the earlier two posts, and ask you to direct your comments here where they can be more productive.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
CrushDance @ Sep 8th 2006 1:13AM
Apology accepted. Lets just keep things open next time ;)
TsunamiPepper @ Sep 8th 2006 1:15AM
I loved it. Well worth it. Very exciting for the people that actually care about stuff like that, not the loser fanboys that want Mario to be on the PS3 or some other stupid deal. This IS BIG news. Thanks, I appreciated it.
Evan @ Sep 8th 2006 1:15AM
That'll do pig, that'll do...I mean apology accepted
bm @ Sep 8th 2006 1:16AM
Perhaps it would have been a good idea to try to defuse the hype before the actual article was posted.
Personally I wasn't expecting much of it, either way.
Jez @ Sep 8th 2006 1:29AM
I thought it was pretty good news myself. Got me all excited for next week. A little hype now and then isnt a bad thing. Fingers crossed for an earlier release date than expected. Especially for australia.
Firegi @ Sep 8th 2006 1:16AM
I have mixed feelings on the whole blowing the news out of proportion thing. Not really a big deal that the Wii processors have begun shipping, the PS3 delay was bigger news than that. Anyways, I wish Sony would take after Nintendo here and stop jerking us around, making us wait, and wait, and wait. I want my PS3!!!
Balla360 @ Sep 8th 2006 1:16AM
Sadly, had this news been posted sans hype, I think that the Joystiq community would have danced around excitedly when it was announced and welcomed it with open arms, instantly understanding the gravity of such an announcement.
Back_Lit @ Sep 8th 2006 8:29AM
I'm more annoyed that I lost an hour or so of sleep because I figured you guys had a killer story and I wanted to read it ASAP. Thanks for the harsh reminder that this is a blog, not a product of true journalists.
/bitter
Next time if the hype starts getting out of control...actually TRY and defuse it otherwise you will have some pissy readers.
j @ Sep 8th 2006 1:16AM
thankyou for the apology, i hope no one loses their job over it. sometimes its hard to stop something once it gets going. and we all must admit, it was a bit fun waiting for some "exciting news" even though the result was less than impressive. i know there are angry comments by me in both stories. but oh well. it was a big waste of time though.....
Ryan @ Sep 8th 2006 1:16AM
Shame on you, you big...hype...thingys...
Meh. Time to go to bed.
Jastrick @ Sep 8th 2006 1:35AM
Accepted! But I dont know what people got so bent out of shape about. The possibility of Wii in a few weeks is amazing!
James @ Sep 8th 2006 1:18AM
Which means the writer of the article, Robert Summa, got canned. That'll teach 'em to try and hype things. What a letdown.
Foppe @ Sep 8th 2006 1:17AM
If the Broadway Chip was the only thing the Wii was made of, I could understand the "Maybe it´s released soon"-hype, but the Broadway chip is only one of many components that needs to build the Wii.
vakerorokero @ Sep 8th 2006 1:17AM
I expect some kind of Wii exclusive interview or something in return...
Will @ Sep 8th 2006 1:17AM
Bravo, Joystiq. Nice to see someone admit they screwed up.
T-Bag @ Sep 8th 2006 1:17AM
Wow, Summa didn't even write the apology. LOL Arrogance is a horrible trait, especially when you have no reason to be in the first place.
Mesoian @ Sep 8th 2006 2:14AM
It's okay. Just don't do it again
Komrade Kayce @ Sep 8th 2006 1:18AM
This was my problem with it all in the first place, was the wording used to promote the hype.
It was said it was worth staying up for. The way it was hyped, it sounded like something the majority of people would care about. Instead, what we're given is a tidbit about 'hey, yeah, the chips are in production' and a bunch of personal speculation that this must meen that aha! its coming soon.
ROBERTS speculation. Not something someone from Nintendo said. I cant beleive there are commenters on here going 'hey, this is big news, it means we could have the system in a few weeks'. You guys all knew it was coming soon anyhow, and we still havent got any more damn information on exactly when, just goddamn Robert making guesses on things based on the slightest of information is only midly interesting, not worth staying up for.
The majority of people are not hardcore geeks, and couldnt give two shits about that information. You hyped it like it would be something everyone would look at, like a game, or release date, or price, or hidden power, or whatever. I, personally, could care less that IBM has shipped the chips. I know some people would, and its worth posting, but not worth hyping the way you guys did. There wasnt even a line in that post like 'and they announced that it was going to be... 1.2ghz'. So we didnt even get a goddamn actual specification, just the manufacturer saying all is well.
If Joystiq had said "Hey, we got a small bit of information on one of the consoles, nothing major, but we're not allowed to tell you until 12:01am tonight because of an NDA or something" then I would have seen this as being more reasonable.
And for people throwing the word 'fanboy' around, this has nothing to do with being a fanboy. What joystiq did is the exact same reason why I started reading joystiq in the first place, because I felt regular gamenews outlets preferred (and they do) hype over quality and joystiq looked to be a little staple of honesty. I enjoyed the blog format and I (used to) enjoy coming and reading things here.
Instead, this is the second time in less than a week that Robert Summa has gotten the community up in arms. I'll still be around here to read everyone elses stuff (like Vlad, you rock), but Im sorry man, you put your credibility on the edge by making light of the death of a beloved human being, and then pushed it out the window with this. Now, you're just another gamespy/gamespot/dailyradaretc. I like some of those places, but I dont read them on a daily basis like I do joystiq.
There are a million ways the 'information tba' post earlier could have been worded that wouldnt have made you, Robert, come off like a huge asshole.
STUFF @ Sep 8th 2006 10:25PM
First time posting a message here. Long time reader. You guys always do a great job and I totally understand how difficult it is sometimes to not post certain things.
The news was exciting news, if anything it will make us comfortable knowing that the Wii development is going great.
So, no need to apologize. It's not like any of us actually stayed up, we are geeks, we don't go to sleep till way past midnight anyway :P
Jeremy @ Sep 8th 2006 1:19AM
I accept completely.
Hell, it sucked, but what else can one do but apologize. A
nd I love this site, what would I do without it!
C. Grant @ Sep 8th 2006 1:20AM
That's exactly the point Balla360. That's what we're good at, that's what our readers want from us. We could have ran this as is, sans hype, and gotten a great response.
PR Team @ Sep 8th 2006 1:22AM
What, sales team presenting the traffic numbers to new prospective advertisers today?
milo @ Sep 8th 2006 1:21AM
It's not the hype that bothered me. its the fact that this was reported weeks ago, on digg and many other sites, yet it seems like your were traffic fishing by making it seem like you had some secret
Foppe @ Sep 8th 2006 2:04AM
Am I the only one that wants an apology from Summa?
Pete @ Sep 8th 2006 1:23AM
@ #11
No apology from the Joystiq writer that I noticed, although I did see his post inviting people to "suck my cock" or however he phrased it.
Nice journalism, Joystiq.
Kefka @ Sep 8th 2006 1:25AM
The Wii being in production was mere speculation; the confirmation that one of the most important factors of one of the most anticipated consoles is in production seems like fairly big news to me. It was a big announcement, not a huge one; I'm not losing any sleep over this.
Apology not only accepted, but I counter-apologise for how ridiculous my fellow gamers (who happen to represent me and a hobby of mine) have acted. You provided us with a story, they had their hopes up... they can deal with it.
Spank @ Sep 8th 2006 1:24AM
I can't help but see this as mere damage control, rather than a sincere apology. You guys could have made another post (or updated the post in question) to defuse the hype, and you could have done so before the 1000th comment.
Chris @ Sep 8th 2006 1:24AM
What the hell did you expect to happen when you say "huge news on one of the next-gen consoles". And it turn out to be a speculation?
Did you guys want hits?
On out part, it's stupid to think you'd have any news, since you post things a few hours after ign does. And also post every rumor.
Another website posted an article talking about the 12:01 announcement, but they stated the news will probably be disappointment and not reveal the actual concrete info we're searching for.
C. Grant @ Sep 8th 2006 1:24AM
Thanks for your feedback Komrade Kayce. "What joystiq did is the exact same reason why I started reading joystiq in the first place"
That's the worst part of all. We've earned our popularity by *not* doing this stuff. Hope you'll stick around.
daveroz @ Sep 8th 2006 1:28AM
Bah. No apologies necessary. What true gamer goes to bed before midnight anyways?
Kotaku posted the same thing, but no apology was issued. And I consider Joystiq a much better site than Kotaku (thus, the apology, because you are better).
Don't sweat the small stuff, Joystiq. We still luv ya.
The Third Strongest @ Sep 8th 2006 1:28AM
Iuhoh I didn't that it was a big deal. Hype is hardly grounds for discredibility. You guys do a good job please marry me, or I'll eat a hotdog backwards.
Top Rope Suplex @ Sep 8th 2006 9:20AM
No apology needed - I loved the excitement and the post!
I thought it was made very clear throughout that this wasn't a mega-announcement, just a solid piece of pertinent information. It was something worth posting, IMHO, when looking at the landscape of the gaming world.
Sony has announced they won't be able to make their launch numbers. It's only fitting that their competitors basically are able to say "we're going to make our launch numbers. Maybe early."
To me, the news of something going right for a launch is big news in the midst of so many things going wrong with other launches. I had fun, the people on the site had fun, the guys at my work all had fun with it.
Thank you guys for letting us all geek out and have fun being fanboys.
If you really want to make it up to us, post a picture of a flying squirrel. That would make me happy.
Ross Miller @ Sep 8th 2006 1:24AM
Balla, I think you might be right.
I know that this is probably going to stick with us for awhile, much like that "smelly car" Seinfeld episode. But we'll make it up to you, promise.
Adding my two cents, and a second apology. Sorry,
Ross Miller
AJP @ Sep 8th 2006 1:25AM
Does this mean you're hiring again?!
omg I'm so bad.
Bedtime.
Embassy @ Sep 8th 2006 1:25AM
appreciated...but this should really be coming from robert.
Luis @ Sep 8th 2006 1:27AM
Hey hey hey! No need for an apology. I have no idea what everyone else is whining about, but this is AWESOME news. The Wii is coming...and it could be coming sooner than we all expected.
Pfft...kids. They can't tell the good news from the bad.
Borat @ Sep 8th 2006 1:27AM
I rarely complain about Joystiq (I rarely even comment), but Joystiq really dissappointed me with the "news". Kotaku did a similar tease but they did mention that it wasn't that "big" to get excited about.
Still, it's not a big deal. Those who get REALLY angry should get a life anyway. If you get really angry about a blog you have other problems.
Terence @ Sep 8th 2006 1:26AM
It's easy to get drawn into the hype when a big company like Nin-buy-the-next-mario-zelda-console-tendo sends you a fancy NDA. I used to be in the video game journalism cluster and I remember this kind of stuff. You don't want to be the only place NOT talking about it. You also don't want to be a patsy for the companies, but even the best of us can be temporarily blinded! No big deal if you ask me.
Master X 24 @ Sep 8th 2006 1:27AM
I forgive u joystiq
Balla360 @ Sep 8th 2006 1:26AM
C. Grant - Thank you for your direct response, I certainly appreciate it. The apology was both swift and sincere, and on my part is certainly accepted. I eagerly await the next cool news.
RiemannMeetLebesgue @ Sep 8th 2006 1:27AM
I don't want to see Robert get canned. He's normally a good blogger. However, an apology from HIM would do wonders to restore my faith in him.
CrushDance @ Sep 8th 2006 1:27AM
Whatever...lets just move on. Besides we'll get real info next week from Nintendo itself(no offence intended). I visit here daily for news, in the morning and at night, so...kind of a let down but I'll live.
Bezman @ Sep 8th 2006 1:30AM
You are not alone in trying to generate hype for this unnouncement. This event reminds me of Paris Hilton for some reason. Out of sight, out mind. However when she gets arrested for a DUI or IBM ships hardware, people try to kick the hype machine into full gear. It's not like a new series of The Simple Life for God's sake. Stand down, Joystiq. Give me more news I can use - like cheap software selling more than expensive software!
Patchola @ Sep 8th 2006 1:29AM
Backpeddle!
polly @ Sep 8th 2006 1:29AM
Summa should be fired. It's as simple as that. That was really the lowest thing Joystiq could have done to their readers. For shame!
danny @ Sep 8th 2006 1:30AM
So who's getting fired?
vakerorokero @ Sep 8th 2006 1:32AM
Considering the Slow news period we have right now, I guess this got out of hand. Don't fire anyone it not like someone got hurt or something!
LeFishy @ Sep 8th 2006 1:31AM
Heh. I'm just glad its Nintendo news. And personally (I am one of those people who care about these things) I would consider it pretty big news. I accept your apology no questions asked and You will not be removed from my Google Homepage :)
RiemannMeetLebesgue @ Sep 8th 2006 1:32AM
No one needs to get fired here. Just an apology from the blogger who created the initial post (Robert). That's all I ask. I don't want anyone to lose his job.
Psaakyrn @ Sep 8th 2006 1:38AM
Now, if you really wanted something to hype on, someone earlier mentioned this article ( http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10779 ). The two main items of interest is the "Wii Controller Glove" (sound familiar?) and the HD component cable. Granted, the HD component cable may have been mistaken for something else, but the Glove is in a class of it's own: I don't think there's any similar peripherals available to be lost in translation.
Back on topic, unless you're told by Nintendo (or whoever else) to generate hype, please don't intentionally do so. The only thing worse than self-overhyping (see example: German game convention) is having the overhyping done by someone you respect.