Fox says EA ignored invite to discuss Mass Effect [update]

by Ross Miller on Jan 25th 2008 1:30PM

In what looks to be a standstill, MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo contacted Fox News to follow up on a letter sent to them yesterday by Electronic Arts asking to "correct the record" on the ignorant Mass Effect "sexposé." An unnamed spokesperson replied, "Fox News Channel has extended several invitations to EA through a company representative to appear on 'Live Desk With Martha MacCallum' to discuss 'Mass Effect' and the segment which aired on Monday. We have received no response."

We're wondering if an EA representative coming on MacCallum's show would get the same treatment as Geoff Keighley in the original segment. Also today, Totilo contacted Brown, who reiterated his position from yesterday's letter. Hence, both sides are waiting for other to somehow respond. Is someone going to make the next move (we're doubtful), or is this just going to blow away until the next batch of "sex-ified" games? (Potential candidates include Grand Theft Auto 4, Smash Bros Brawl and Spore.)

Update: GameDaily contacted EA VP of Communications Jeff Brown, who wrote the original letter to Fox News, to see if there was any update on the situation. Said Brown, "Not much to say other than there's no interest here in another debate with an 'expert' that will say anything to sell a book. They need to step up and correct the record." We couldn't agree more (and we can't seem to get the image of Brown's razor sharp fangs out of our minds).

Source

Tags: ea, electronic-arts, fox, fox-news, maccullum, masseffect, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (103)

Guys please sign this petition and spread the word about it.

http://www.petitiononline.com/foxnews9/

I've been following this farce since it began and want to put in my 2 cents.

I'm a programmer at EA and I'm proud that Jeff Brown went to bat for the video game industry. Video game developers pour their hearts, soul, and sweat into their project, often for years at a time, and sacrifice a major portion of their lives in order to create products that, if nothing else, enrich the world. I only wish I could've worked on Mass Effect and so it angers me that this so-called news outlet insulted the game in that way.

I'm also glad Jeff Brown has not agreed to go on the show and become embroiled in the circus that Fox News has become. We're well past the point of arguing against sexuality against video games. The fact that Fox was careless and negligent in their research is hard fact and is not open for debate. No one can fault him if he wants to accept a Fox apology in the comfort of his own office.

What amuses me is the fact that Fox actually thinks it's doing Mass Effect a favor by letting Brown appear on the show. Remember: the original broadcast already included the experienced and well-respected video game journalist Geoff Keighley, but they chose to ignore his opinions in favor of that of a panel of uninformed self-righteous 'experts' instead. What can they ever do to convince us they won't do the same with Brown?

Geoff tries to see if Cooper is even qualified to comment on Mass Effect by first asking her if she had played the game but she simply smirks and shrugs off the question, completely missing the fact the her casual and "whatever, loser" response completely undermined whatever credibility she thought she had. Geoff's occupation makes him responsible for studying the game and examining its content, and it appears as though he did so quite thoroughly. Cooper Lawrence is a relationship psychologist and nowhere in her biography did I find any mention of expererience with video games. Cooper Lawrence, in my book (a 5-star Amazon rated book at that), is an egotistical, hypocritical hack and should throw herself off a cliff. The cover of her most recent book alone objectifies women and her other book reeks of sexism. And she has a problem with a 20-second cutscene at the end of a 30-hour game? When it comes to video games, I value the opinion of my frying pan more than that of hers.

Speaking of Amazon, I found the tags amusing and the spamming of 1-star reviews hilarious, but I don't think it was the right approach. I definitely think Amazon was right in deleting all those reviews. What we should've done was to confront Cooper Lawrence on her show and through her producer and advertisers. She's too full of herself to heed any of our comments, but a lack of sponsors is the key to sending her off into obscurity.

Way to go Jeff and Geoff, keep on fighting the good fight. We'll support you. Cooper Lawrence can lose her house and be forced to burn her own books for heat for all I care. Martha MacCallum(sp?) is better suited for a role in front of a green screen parroting the weather forecast and Teri Van Horn should save whatever dignity she has left and step down. You deserve worse for betraying our trust.

I'm sick and tired of mainstream media demonizing video games. And for God's sake even if you want to villify a game, don't crucify a masterpiece like Mass Effect. Do your homework and maybe start with Leisure Suit Larry. Released in 1987. Just sayin'.

It's nice to see EA standing firm on this (asking for Fox to correct the record and apologize). The more cynical side of me could easily see a company like EA with big dollar signs in their eyes jump at the opportunity for the free publicity for Mass Effect that another "debate" on the air would generate, even if the game might be portrayed inaccurately. We have already seen the depths to which Rockstar Games is willing to stoop in order to grab headlines to promote its games by actually putting gratuitous amounts of sex and violence in its games. If this was Rockstar and not EA, I bet they would be promoting the misconception that Mass Effect had lots of explicit sex in it.

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