5 Things To Learn From The Aliens: Colonial Marines Debacle

4. Maybe Journalists Can Do A Better Job Playing the blame game Russian roulette, allow me to now point the gun at my own head. Well I didn't cover the game, so I guess I can go unscathed, but that doesn't mean that A:CM hasn't left me in deep reflection about my own work. Much of the mismanaged hype can be laid on to the media's shoulders and not looking past what PR teams wanted them to see. Sometimes at a press event, you walk a very tight rope. Pushing for more information is essentially the crux of a journalist's job and controlling the information is the PR's job. It is a relationship that is bound to create friction, especially as the PR can decide whether or not to invite the journalist again for future events. However, in the case of A:CM especially, the press were regurgitating exactly what the PR wanted them too and I didn't see too many articles where the creators of the game were pushed for hard and concrete answers about what they were promising. Now, I sympathise with journalists who feel like they were lied too to their face. When someone tells you a lie and you report it, it can make you look brash, unreceptive and worst of all, unprofessional. The truth it, there isn't a lot you can do about it. But it does usually mean that there was a line of questioning that was ignored such as pushing for more details on a promised feature. But possibly the thing to do better is figure out how a game has been packaged for a preview and figure out if that has any real meaning. How much game time did a journalist get with the game? Was it hands on? Was it controlled? And how far into development is the game? All of these things matter, even if it seems like they don't at the time. If I was on a film junket and they just showed a short fizzle reel with unfinished special effects two weeks before release, the alarm bells would be ringing I really am not trying to call anyone out on this. The whole situation is a mess for everybody, and I certainly am not trying to get on a high horse to suggest I would have done anything differently. But it should allow us to sit back and consider the way we do things in the future.