Sony, Nintendo, and EA have publicly announced that they do not support SOPA. However, one company that runs E3 is still in support of it. That company is the ESA and as long as ESA is still funded by these video game companies, then these video game companies are still in support of SOPA and PIPA. If no one covers E3 as an anti-SOPA/PIPA movement, then this will put a big hit on the ESA.

So please Giant Bomb. Do not cover E3. Show your support against this movement against SOPA and PIPA.

shut up, this is like the 5th topic on this I've seen today

I like to read about new videogames.

@TentPole said:

I like to read about new videogames.

FUCK YOU SOPA CAPITALIST PIG DOG

@Animasta said:

shut up, this is like the 5th topic on this I've seen today

Wow. Ok... ok. Settle down. Just let a moderator know. There's really no need for all of the hate.

lol

lol

The problem is the ESA. Publishers should stand up and force the ESA to change their policy. Giantbomb's bottom line shouldn't be hurt just to make a point. Giantbomb is not a small site, but it is a far cry from the mega sites like Gamespot/IGN. I am guessing E3 coverage brings a lot of traffic.

@YoThatLimp said:

The problem is the ESA. Publishers should stand up and force the ESA to change their policy. Giantbomb's bottom line shouldn't be hurt just to make a point. Giantbomb is not a small site, but it is a far cry from the mega sites like Gamespot/IGN. I am guessing E3 coverage brings a lot of traffic.

this. giant bomb isn't ign or gameinformer. they need the e3. i need the giant bomb. it's a win win. (also: i can't stand hearing the words "SOPA" and "PIPA" anymore, even as a non american. it's an important issue but man it is annoying.)

game companies need to protest, not games journalism.

@NakAttack: Yes, but if EVERYONE pitched in with protesting ESA, it would be a lot better.

@byterunner: True, but Game companies can always show/announce their new whateverthefuck, while game journalists lose money and content by not showing up. as you said, if everyone pitched it would be better, but Compainies have less riding on e3 than journalists do.

Cosign.

The website exists to make money not to do what is right.

@NakAttack: I disagree, many companies use E3 as a major media blow out for there games. I believe that many companies would have issue with not having any exposure at e3 since almost all there biggest games are going to be there. Demos, announcements, release dates, etc. Are almost always around e3 and with no coverage from game sites like GB, than this could be a major issue for many publishers to get their game out to the public.

Fuck politics, I want to see the new consoles.

@artgarcrunkle: Sure. I dunno if you were here when Giantbomb started up, but at that point, it definitely did not make money. Even now, as a relatively young startup, Giantbomb likely isn't making tons of dosh. You don't start a company in this economy to make cash, and Giantbomb has been very lucky to have whiskey media backing it. Considering that SOPA and PIPA will pretty much fuck over e-commerce, and that Giantbomb does internet games journalism, I'd hope that we'd be willing to do whatever we can to stop it, instead of worrying about game news that will get announced any-fucking-way.

TC if you think you can deny me another award winning E3 live cast....you have another thing coming....

LOL @this thread.

Journalists don't create news, they report it.

Stop, people. Just stop.

Wow that guy with the shitty beard is REALLY bad at making it look like he is not reading everything he is saying.

@Doctorchimp: I will give up one year of amazing E3 coverage if it means many more years of amazing coverage especially if it means more power in the coverage

SOPA's dead. I wanna hear the news.

Microsoft oppose SOPA, can we still cover their stuff?

I can't believe most of you people. Yes, hearing about SOPA and PIPA can get annoying, but you have to realize that this is a serious deal that can affect the entire world if passed. Yes, SOPA is currently on hold, but that is until next month I believe. Yes, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, and EA said that they don not support SOPA, but as long as they pay money into the ESA then that is showing support for SOPA.

There's a lot at stake here, everyone. There's a possibility that someone from Japan, Sweden, Britain, Canada, etc. could be extradited to the US just for posting a link to something that is considered copyright infringement. And everyone knows that there's enough greedy ass holes in the US to literally claim that the smallest piece of work in copyrighted material.

@Barrock said:

SOPA's dead. I wanna hear the news.

SOPA is not dead. It's on hold until, I believe, next month.

@WinterSnowblind said:

Microsoft oppose SOPA, can we still cover their stuff?

As long as the ESA still supports SOPA and PIPA, and as long as Microsoft is paying money into the ESA, then no one should cover their stuff.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

You are asking a gaming website to not cover the biggest gaming trade show of the year.

That's like asking someone to put on a suit made of steaks and walk into a cage with a hungry tiger: it's stupid.

@iFail said:

@artgarcrunkle: Sure. I dunno if you were here when Giantbomb started up, but at that point, it definitely did not make money. Even now, as a relatively young startup, Giantbomb likely isn't making tons of dosh. You don't start a company in this economy to make cash, and Giantbomb has been very lucky to have whiskey media backing it. Considering that SOPA and PIPA will pretty much fuck over e-commerce, and that Giantbomb does internet games journalism, I'd hope that we'd be willing to do whatever we can to stop it, instead of worrying about game news that will get announced any-fucking-way.

Giant Bomb has to be making some kind of money if Jeff can blow money away on shit like Star Trek Online lifetime subscriptions and everything that Skylanders offers without thinking twice about it!

@jakob187 said:

You are asking a gaming website to not cover the biggest gaming trade show of the year.

That's like asking someone to put on a suit made of steaks and walk into a cage with a hungry tiger: it's stupid.

@iFail said:

@artgarcrunkle: Sure. I dunno if you were here when Giantbomb started up, but at that point, it definitely did not make money. Even now, as a relatively young startup, Giantbomb likely isn't making tons of dosh. You don't start a company in this economy to make cash, and Giantbomb has been very lucky to have whiskey media backing it. Considering that SOPA and PIPA will pretty much fuck over e-commerce, and that Giantbomb does internet games journalism, I'd hope that we'd be willing to do whatever we can to stop it, instead of worrying about game news that will get announced any-fucking-way.

Giant Bomb has to be making some kind of money if Jeff can blow money away on shit like Star Trek Online lifetime subscriptions and everything that Skylanders offers without thinking twice about it!

There's a difference between salary and profit. You can still be paid a healthy salary while a company is breaking even or in the red.

Please do, otherwise I have to go to another site to get my fix.

Giant Bomb, please do cover E3 this year.

Fixed.

If you want to fight SOPA and PIPA through boycotting E3 then you should go to the developers and publishers. The ESA won't care about a few websites not covering E3 - but if big publishers said no, then that would have an impact - but alas that won't happen.

I would miss the podcasts covering E3. The part where I get shown tiny clips of games that I'm supposed to salivate over that won't come out for 2-4 years? Eh, I really don't pay attention to a game until its just about to come out. Like, within a month.

Because Giant Bomb is suddenly a political platform and not a website about video games.
 
Take this angst to livejournal.

How about they just wear t-shirts denouncing SOPA around E3? It would be kind of funny and we'd still get the news. This assumes that the guys even really care that much.

Reddit is that way.

@NakAttack: Yes, but if EVERYONE pitched in with protesting ESA, it would be a lot better.

IGN will not boycott as they are owned by NewsCorp and Uncle Rupert is a big supporter of SOPA. Gamespot will not boycott as CBS/Viacomm is a supporter.

So that is 90% of your traffic right there.

occupy SOPOAAPAAPDUR

@alternate said:

@NakAttack: Yes, but if EVERYONE pitched in with protesting ESA, it would be a lot better.

IGN will not boycott as they are owned by NewsCorp and Uncle Rupert is a big supporter of SOPA. Gamespot will not boycott as CBS/Viacomm is a supporter.

So that is 90% of your traffic right there.

This has confused me, as Gamespot has actually given a decent amount of coverage to SOPA.

@TheHumanDove said:

occupy SOPOAAPAAPDUR

thank you for your intelligent post, not at all a strawman there.

Also, all of this "I want my fucking news" shit is basically assuming that publishers can't announce anything without E3. Breaking news, there are these things called press releases. Your fucking game news will turn up eventually. To avoid combating a hugely destructive bill like SOPA just to get some news, only 1/3 of which will actually matter in a year is shortsighted.

If GiantBomb doesn't cover E3, people will go to other sites that do.
Simple as that.

Personally don't care if the whole board is flooded with topics about this as this is kind of all that matters in regards to the internet right now. The OP is right, Giant Bomb shouldn't cover E3, and getting a little disappointed they haven't picked a side on this thing yet. Besides, heavily regulated PR statements held at a specific time of year hardly qualifies as "news" anyway. I can just as easily read the same information from the companies themselves than from a middleman. Yes, I'll be robbed of Giant Bomb's whimsical commentary but again, who cares when the future of the internet, free speech and creativity is on the line?

@SamFo said:

If GiantBomb doesn't cover E3, people will go to other sites that do. Simple as that.

Heh, tried combining two different things irrespective of the times of year we are talking about so apologies for that last posts brashness. There is a boycott being pitched around that is intended to damage a lot of companies Q1 reports. That goes until early March. E3, while much later, is such a big event even threatening not to cover it ought to be effective. And yes, those challenging game sites not to cover E3 wouldn't go to other sites without becoming hypocrites, which no one likes being labeled. So plenty of ways to protest this whole thing, thus alleviating the possibilty of future guilt.

There, that makes more sense and is less arrogant in tone.

Fuck that.

@FreakAche said:

@alternate said:

@NakAttack: Yes, but if EVERYONE pitched in with protesting ESA, it would be a lot better.

IGN will not boycott as they are owned by NewsCorp and Uncle Rupert is a big supporter of SOPA. Gamespot will not boycott as CBS/Viacomm is a supporter.

So that is 90% of your traffic right there.

This has confused me, as Gamespot has actually given a decent amount of coverage to SOPA.

and IGN/1up have said they also oppose the bills - and their parent companies will let them get away with that as they like to appear hands off and maintain the illusion of independence - but have a blackout or boycott and the word will come from on high that they toe the line or look for new employment.

It is like when the News of the World was shut. Other Murdoch papers like The Sun and The Times made a show of coming out against phone hacking but there was a limit to how vociferous they could be. They were critical of acts and practices by the journalists involved and their sister paper but they were much more circumspect when it came to going after the Murdoch family. They wanted to maintain editorial independence but you can't outright go after your bosses and get away with it.

It would be the right thing to boycott it, but i'm not sure that's reasonable

It is not the media's job to create the news, but to report on it.

@iFail said:

@TheHumanDove said:

occupy SOPOAAPAAPDUR

thank you for your intelligent post, not at all a strawman there.

Also, all of this "I want my fucking news" shit is basically assuming that publishers can't announce anything without E3. Breaking news, there are these things called press releases. Your fucking game news will turn up eventually. To avoid combating a hugely destructive bill like SOPA just to get some news, only 1/3 of which will actually matter in a year is shortsighted.

While I agree that issues such as SOPA and PIPA are a much much higher priority to us as a consumer, the big difference here would be the year-to-year income a company like Whiskey makes. People who want their news from Giant Bomb during E3 are the customers that help keep this site going; asking for a site to not cover such a big event is like asking a retail store to close during the Christmas season, and telling people off for their want to consume the content they want during one of the most important time for a company is just ludicrous should you want that company to continue.

Ultimately the best thing that each and every website could do is to keep the knowledge or discussion going on the state of SOPA and PIPA, as so many did on the 18th.

Holy shit! I left Screwattack and came to Giantbomb because of that Craig asshole!