If it was just this once off, I wouldn't have said anything. But it feels like every time someone on MS's payroll is talking, they speak in such convoluted terms. Just an odd...culture? Or front. Or I'm not perceiving it in a balanced way.
Mixed Information on Consoles or How I learned to loathe PR *spin off*
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Could simply be that translating engineering speak to English is hard. Think of times you've had to explain tech stuff to someone who's not technically inclined. Now imagine someone's there with a notepad writing down exactly what you said as you tried to phrase things in ways they would understand. That might look really rough in text, right?
Actually that's something I tend to be very good at, so I'm somewhat prejudiced in my thinking because immediately I think, "that's not how I'd say it." I agree with your comment above that the article should probably have been edited better to leave out the verbatim twaddle which adds nothing to the commentary. Just as I'm sure every...uh...every...um...every repetition and...and pause isn't...uh...what's the word...um...repetition and pause...tuh..tuh....transcribed!
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It is. That's why when you're paying for the media to come to you to report your product you create opportunity for clarifications to draft articles to be incorporated into the version that is published. That's how it's worked for years. Nobody pays all costs with zero approval on the published article. Nobody.
It is. That's why when you're paying for the media to come to you to report your product you create opportunity for clarifications to draft articles to be incorporated into the version that is published. That's how it's worked for years. Nobody pays all costs with zero approval on the published article. Nobody.
I thought I heard or read somewhere that MS had no prior review of what DF was going to publish. It might have been a podcast by Albert Pennello although I'm not sure.
They probably had an NDA on what he was allowed to talk about though.
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If this is true then Microsoft have brought such criticism upon themselves. Which billion dollar corporation would rely on a small media outlet to communicate key technical facts of their new product with no oversight at all? That would be beyond fucking stupid. Seriously, who the would do that?
If this is true then Microsoft have brought such criticism upon themselves. Which billion dollar corporation would rely on a small media outlet to communicate key technical facts of their new product with no oversight at all? That would be beyond fucking stupid. Seriously, who the would do that?
Here at the 5:30 mark Maj Nelson states that they didn't know what DF was going to say til that morning.
It's a snippet from the full Maj Nelson podcast https://majornelson.com/podcast/596-project-scorpio-update-with-albert-penello/
If this is true then Microsoft have brought such criticism upon themselves. Which billion dollar corporation would rely on a small media outlet to communicate key technical facts of their new product with no oversight at all? That would be beyond fucking stupid. Seriously, who the would do that?
Because their other option was to have DF do a report based on the leaks that they were sure to get since MS had just briefed a bunch of developers (Leadbetter flat out copped to this in one of the videos) and, once this arrangement was made, if MS exerted any kind of editorial control over what DF published it would look even more like DF was just acting as a PR mouthpiece. You should have realized MS didn't review the article prior to publication when they had to immediately issue a correction about the command processors. Side benefit might be that, if they were smart, they got DF to sign an NDA in exchange for the access.
criticism or not, I guess their dammed if they do, dammed if they don't.If this is true then Microsoft have brought such criticism upon themselves. Which billion dollar corporation would rely on a small media outlet to communicate key technical facts of their new product with no oversight at all? That would be beyond fucking stupid. Seriously, who the would do that?
as then the accusation that's already leveled by some it's harder to combat, that DF was just paid of and was doing pr piece for them.
this way they can say they had no input or say in DF's reporting. Lesser of two evils.
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I can't express how dumb this is.
Wasn't the obvious alternative option for Microsoft to correctly communicate the technical details themselves?
Which goes back to to my point from the outset of why were DF even involved here? Why introduce a wildcard into your PR process. Again, who does that!?!Wasn't the obvious alternative option for Microsoft to correctly communicate the technical details themselves?
Because they felt people would be more willing to believe that Scorpio was awesome if DF said it than if MS said it?
I can't express how dumb this is.
Wasn't the obvious alternative option for Microsoft to correctly communicate the technical details themselves?
It's not like DF is going to the only one to be given access for what's coming regarding Scorpio. Based on how much coverage it is being given on the internet/youtube, it seems that MS made a good choice imo.
It legitimises and humanises the communication. "Hey, gamers! We're one of you. See, we're hanging with the same people you hang with, talking about our new box like you guys are. We're cool, right?"Wasn't the obvious alternative option for Microsoft to correctly communicate the technical details themselves?
It's worked very well with Cerny as all the Sony fans love him.
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This harks back to my initial point prior to the article being published. How bad must things be at Microsoft if they think unsanitised articles from DF will be received better than direct technical messaging from Microsoft?
Cerny was (is?) employed by Sony and is one of the people who made design decisions. Cerny is not the media. Also I doubt many console 'fans' even know who Mark Cerny is. His celebrity is literally decades old and his presence in the modern gaming community is close to zero.
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you not been around for last 3 years to see just how bad ms communication is?
they could bungle the message you won the lottery
edit true about messaging thread and sorry
Only as a consultant, although I don't know what that has to do with the issue.
I'm confused. When DF has had interviews with Cerny for exactly the same purposes, to PR their hardware, it's been well received. Instead of being a PR piece run through the semantic filters of an army of marketeers, lawyers, and PR suits, Sony's presentation has fronted a very human and affable face to the engineering aspect. It's been good PR and it'd be a good strategy for MS to emulate if they can. They just can't seem to get it right. Even when they took on Phil Harrison, who was an awesome PR front for Sony, he didn't take his public face with him and MS didn't benefit.
Or one could choose to read this as MS are so confident in Scorpio that they are comfortable giving an independant third party the opportunity to provide the world with their very first impression of the hardware without the safety net of editorial control.
If you want to see this as negative, you can spin it that way. If you want to see this as positive, you can spin it that way. Probably best to end up somewhere in the middle.
I see a lot of people going crazy about it, but when the official reveal is out, with the games and the box, I think people could be satisfied with that. And they got the tech specs out of the way for those interested in it, put out the disappointing news now for those hoping on Zen and Vega. They can focus on games and policy for E3 which is probably what matters. I don't think they want their E3 overshadowed with tech details on whether scorpio can deliver or not. Best to get it out of the way now before the event.
Negative news tends to be forgotten over time, as long as MS delivers on what DF thinks they can deliver, I feel like they've done anything wrong. People are looking for that chink in the amor, they're looking for a way to counter this scorpio launch (not saying us here) but out there, in the mainstream where dumb console wars are fought. They're putting that information out there early to let people attack them, and hyping up those who defend them. We've still got 6 months until release, I don't feel like I'm being pressured to buy scorpio nor do I feel like I'm being lied to. The more information I have and the more time I have it for, should make me be a purchaser in theory.
They seem to be building towards their case towards proving that they can deliver on their original goal. Starting with specs and then moving to games. From games they continue with policy and then pre-orders and purchasing opens up.
If people want to call it an XBOX One Pro, that's fine too; lots of people out there still hoping Scorpio is better than it is, and a lot of people out their hoping it's worse than it is. Just the nature of the industry unfortunately.
Do I feel like a lot of hype is being mixed with facts here on DF. Sure, it's certainly doesn't feel like we're reading Anandtech or something. Do people hate that type of thing? We are likely more put off by it then others, but their own fan base also gobbles it up. XBOX guys want a victory, and I feel like DF gave it to them, they didn't have to, but they did anyway. Whether it's a real or fake victory, we'll know soon.
Negative news tends to be forgotten over time, as long as MS delivers on what DF thinks they can deliver, I feel like they've done anything wrong. People are looking for that chink in the amor, they're looking for a way to counter this scorpio launch (not saying us here) but out there, in the mainstream where dumb console wars are fought. They're putting that information out there early to let people attack them, and hyping up those who defend them. We've still got 6 months until release, I don't feel like I'm being pressured to buy scorpio nor do I feel like I'm being lied to. The more information I have and the more time I have it for, should make me be a purchaser in theory.
They seem to be building towards their case towards proving that they can deliver on their original goal. Starting with specs and then moving to games. From games they continue with policy and then pre-orders and purchasing opens up.
If people want to call it an XBOX One Pro, that's fine too; lots of people out there still hoping Scorpio is better than it is, and a lot of people out their hoping it's worse than it is. Just the nature of the industry unfortunately.
Do I feel like a lot of hype is being mixed with facts here on DF. Sure, it's certainly doesn't feel like we're reading Anandtech or something. Do people hate that type of thing? We are likely more put off by it then others, but their own fan base also gobbles it up. XBOX guys want a victory, and I feel like DF gave it to them, they didn't have to, but they did anyway. Whether it's a real or fake victory, we'll know soon.
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Nor do I, you brought up Cerny's involvement.
I am also confused nor do I see not equivalency here. Cerny was employed by Sony to design PS Vita, PS4 and PS4 Pro. He isn't, nor to the best of my knowledge, has he ever been part of the gaming media. Cerny (as a spokesman for Sony) was giving an interview to DF (as representatives of the media) and all the other media representatives following a Sony media event. I'm not sure where you're going here?
You could if you like like. Putting something like this in the hands of a third party seems risky to me.
No, prior to the article being published I said it was "weird" and "unprecedented" for a media outlet to reveal hardware and DF said much the same in their article. Why does any statement have to be filed into positive or negative? Plenty of views are neither but it does feel like certain people insist on mentally filing other's views into binary positions and rush to defend against those statement they feel are negative.