Mass Effect: Fox News Bashing, Amazon Retaliation!

VLSmooth · Post by **VLSmooth** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:26 am

I would usually feel bad about online vigilantism, but I'll make an exception here. People need to learn that stupidity has consequences.

For those not up-to-date:

Part 1: Fox News Bashes Mass Effect

Ars Technica: FOX News follows Mass Effect bashing with some of its own
YouTube: Fox News Clip

Ars Technica wrote:...the segment "'Se'Xbox? New Video Game Shows Full Digital Nudity and Sex" featured a debate between talk show host Cooper Lawrence and Spike TV's Geoff Keighley earlier this week...

Lawrence and the other panel critics cited a study "out of the University of Maryland right now that says that boys that play video games cannot tell the difference between what they’re seeing in the video game and the real world." ... combined with an exaggerated and falsified representation of the actual in-game content in order to suggest that the game should have shipped with an Adults Only rating. "Who can argue, possibly, that Luke Skywalker meets Debbie Does Dallas is a good thing. It’s not. And I’m definitely not going to let Mass Effect in my house," one panelist concluded.

... Though it's frustrating to watch, it's not really anything new for gamers. The mass media often targets games as the source of violence in society, and now it seems that rampant sexual deviance is another one of the many wrongs that our industry perpetuates.

Part 2: Gamers Strike Back

Gaming Today: Gamers Strike Back Against Cooper Lawrence On Amazon
Amazon: The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace with Your Inner Overachiever: Customer Reviews

Gaming Today wrote:After hearing the offensive and biased attack against Mass Effect on Fox News, I decided to check out some links on Cooper Lawrence, the psychologist who took part in the biased strike on the game. I came across her book on Amazon.com titled ‘The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace with Your Inner Overachiever’. It was interesting to see that the page was full of one-star reviews of her book mostly coming from gamers. Shawn covered the topic HERE yesterday. This is definitely one of the reasons I love the internet. She may think that it’s ok to bash a product she has never used and gamers are now bashing a book they have never read to drop her book rating on Amazon. Currently, there over 40 negative reviews posted. Check out the Amazon link HERE if you’d like to throw your two cents in or to just read some of the funny comments against her. Personally, I would never purchase advice from a psychologist who doesn’t do research on the topics she talks about. If Fox News and other media outlets want a war against gaming, they’ve picked an industry full of hard-core fans who aren’t going to sit back and take it anymore.

As of this posting, there are 192 one-star reviews out of 239 total. All but one of them were posted on 2008-01-22 or later, and that's AFTER Amazon started filtering reviews.

In particular, the customer images are great (example).

History: Part 0: the Kevin McCullough incident
The above was hot on the tail of Kevin's McCullough's scathing Mass Effect review.

Penny Arcade: 2008-01-16: News: The Stratagem
Penny Arcade: 2008-01-16: Comic: The Stratagem: "Shit on a biscuit!"
The actual article: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952968/posts
was pulled from townhall.com before it was removed

VLSmooth · Post by **VLSmooth** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:45 am

More collateral damage on Cooper's other books

Amazon: Been There, Done That, Kept the Jewelry: Find True Love--Turn Your Tarnished Dating Past into a Brilliant Romantic Future
Amazon: The Fixer-upper Man: Turn Mr. Maybe into Mr. Right in 5 Easy Steps

Also, she apparently has men all figured out!

Related quote

J. Muije wrote:When an author like this sees fit to go on television and speak like an expert on a topic she knows nothing about, ignoring the facts of the case in favor of hyping up the media, you have to wonder why anyone would willingly put their mental and social health in their hands.

You can do better than to read drivel like this. Given her track record, odds are more than good that she made up most of it anyway.

VLSmooth · Post by **VLSmooth** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:05 pm

Kotaku: EA Calls Fox Out on "Insulting" Mass Effect Inaccuracies
Ars Technica: EA responds to FOX Mass Effect fiasco

VLSmooth · Post by **VLSmooth** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:12 pm

EA's letter by Jeff Brown, EA's VP of Communications was also posted as an Amazon review of said book (link).

VLSmooth · Post by **VLSmooth** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:13 pm

Oh wow, all reviews have been pulled, supposedly around the 1000 review mark.

quantus · Post by **quantus** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:29 pm

it is just a game. 'nough said.